Third, every suggested idea of action tends to result in the action itself; whereas a direct attempt to secure action is almost sure to result in opposition. Human nature works that way. Your prospect, being unconscious that a particular idea of action is suggested to him, does not have his will stimulated to prevent that action. If you come to your prospective employer and ask for the job you want, he will be on the defensive. But if you suggest to him that he wants you—that he lacks and needs such services as you present—he will be impelled to the affirmative action of offering you the job.
When I was originally engaged by Henry Ford, it was in the capacity of a public accountant, for an audit of the business of the Ford Motor Company, and later for the installation of an accounting system that would tell accurately every month "where they were at." Back in 1904-1905 the Ford Motor Company was not showing any more profits than many other motor car manufacturers organized on similar lines. After I completed my work as an accountant, Mr. Ford talked with me about taking a permanent position with the Company in the capacity of "Commercial Manager." That title covered responsibility for the distribution of products, advertising, collections, selection of branch managers and their corps of assistants, operation of branch houses, appointment and direction of agents, employment and control of the entire sales force, etc., etc. The position was much broader than that of Sales Manager, as it included also the accounting and organizing of nearly every department of the business.
For several years prior to that time I had sold my services as a public accountant and organizer to many large concerns throughout the country, including twenty-eight different automobile companies. I believed in my ability, not only to organize a selling and distributing force for successfully marketing a standard product, but also to extend that force over a world field and to control it in all the details of its operations, from opening the mail to the declaration and payment of dividends, more efficiently than the average sales or commercial manager. So I had no hesitancy in undertaking the Ford job, which, even at that early date, I visualized as culminating in a big one.
When I finally engaged my services with the Ford Motor Company on a permanent basis, the business was represented by only a few hundred scattered, unorganized, uncontrolled, and non-directed dealers. My work during the following twelve years was concentrated on developing and enlarging yearly this small hit-or-miss distributing aggregation into a compact force of thousands of well-trained, highly efficient sales and service representatives of the Ford Motor Company. They were all Ford "boosters," and by their loyalty and intensive co-operation they "put across the Ford" in the big way that today makes the little car so conspicuous everywhere throughout the world.
Note that while my experience with the Ford Motor Company as a public accountant convinced me that what the business needed then was a commercial manager and sales organizer, and I believed myself fitted for the position, I did not make that statement to Mr. Ford; because it would have been poor salesmanship. He might have thought me entirely qualified to deal with figures, but not so capable of handling sales agents and dealers.
So I never said to him that I was the man he needed. But I suggested it by presenting my ideas of how the job should be done. He accepted my ideas as good, and was influenced by the natural suggestion that resulted from them. He told me that he wanted me to become Commercial and Sales Manager. It was the opportunity for success that I most desired. I got myself wanted without having to overcome any resistance in the mind of the man with whom I had chosen to work.
You recognize how true to human nature are incidents of this sort. You know how powerful is the force of affirmative suggestion. But have you appreciated how surely desire is killed by negative suggestions? If you make displeasing impressions, you will get yourself not wanted. Therefore you must be careful to avoid certain things your prospect would not like, just as you should be careful in doing things that are likable.
If your prospecting and sizing up of an employer indicate that he is very painstaking, suggest to him how particular you have been to prepare yourself in knowledge of his needs. If he is a man who weighs ideas carefully, suggest to him your qualities of judgment and decision. Perhaps he is characterized by a marked constructive imagination. Suggest that you, too, have imaginative power. Bring out conspicuously the particular elements of your qualifications that are most likely to suggest ideas akin to his own. Speak those phrases of the language of suggestion which he best understands, and that are most likely to impress him with the idea that you and he think alike.
A caution is necessary here. In any suggestion that you make, convey neither more nor less than the actual truth regarding your capabilities. Avoid any possibility of deception.
I recall the case of a young man who quite won the heart of a dignified bank president whose tastes were very quiet. The young man studiously avoided the slightest appearance of flashiness in his dress and manner. He spoke in modulated tones. His movements were subdued. He had exactly the quiet pose that suited his prospective employer. The banker stressed his appreciation of the characteristics manifested by the applicant, and the young man "overdid it" by suggesting that he was always decorous in his manner.
The bank president had occasion to entertain a visiting financier who wanted to go to the ball game. A few seats away the young man whose application was being considered rooted boisterously for the home team, unconscious of the contradiction he presented to the suggestions he had made in the banker's private office. The new impression was made more disagreeable because the boisterous behavior suggested to the banker that the young man had not conveyed a true idea of himself previously. When he came next morning for the answer to his application, he received a cold "No."
The young man really was not boisterous except on the rare occasions when he let off steam, as at a ball game. If he had conveyed the truthful impression that he was nearly always quiet, and had taken pains to admit that occasionally he "let loose," but only in proper surroundings, he would not have killed his chances by the negative suggestion of untruthfulness.
After all it is your motive that determines the right or wrong use of suggestion in getting yourself wanted. If you keep carefully in mind a purpose to suggest less instead of more than the truth about your capabilities, you need not fear that you will offend by over-drawing the picture of your real self.
If your motive is wrong, it will lower the quality of your manhood. If you suggest a wrong motive to the other man, the effect is to lower his manhood qualities in considering you. It is particularly important not to stimulate a motive that may afterward operate to your detriment.
I know a young man who was so eager to show his willingness to work that he suggested absolute tirelessness. His employer, though he appreciated what this young man did, kept overloading him. Finally the employee broke down and made a serious mistake. He was unjustly dismissed from service because he had encouraged his employer to depend on him altogether too much, and disappointment resulted.
Do not pretend a higher degree of ability than you possess. Attempt no more than you can do well. You will succeed in getting yourself wanted if you manifest promise of growth in capability. If you are a sapling, do not pose as a full grown tree of knowledge.
Sometimes it happens that a man can present his capabilities for sale and appear especially desirable to another man because he possesses certain knowledge the employer would like to have. Maybe you have sought to gain your chance by carrying to a competitor of your former employer the latter's secrets. If you come with the suggestion that you will sell out, you are offering a service that does not command full respect, and you are appealing only to the lower motives of your prospect. You do not thereby get yourself wanted. He wants what you know. What you have learned fairly by working for one man, you have a right to sell fairly to another man, of course. But do not suggest that this special knowledge is the principal element of your desirability. Suggest, rather, that it is only incidental to your all-around fitness for the job you want.
Use what you know without pandering to the lower motives of your new employer. Impel him to like you for what you are, and not merely for what you bring. Open his eyes to your better nature, not to the worst side of you. He will see in you the better qualities of himself and appreciate them. Have your own motives right; then there will be no danger that you will appeal to the wrong motives of the other man.
Of course you must have the highest respect for your own motives. This necessitates high character. You must be honest in the very structure of your being. You need, too, absolute faith in yourself and in your proposition, and faith in the desirability of your service to the other man. Finally, you must be consecrated to the motive of rendering him service.
It is poor salesmanship to let your prospect begin to analyze your faults until you have made yourself thoroughly pleasing to him. Before you complete the selling process you should admit your own faults, rather than let him discover them. But skillfully postpone this step until you get yourself wanted. Then your prospect will be inclined to co-operate in disposing of objections to you; whereas if criticisms arise too soon in the selling process they may prevent him from liking you thoroughly, and may check your purpose before you get yourself wanted.
A merchant received an application for employment in his private office from a young man who created so pleasing an impression that the employer decided to make him his secretary. He outlined his ideas to the applicant, who entered into them most enthusiastically; thereby increasing the liking of his prospective employer for him. Then the young man sat up straight in his chair, looked the merchant squarely in the eye, and said, "No one in this city knows it, but when I was eighteen years old I stole ten dollars and was sentenced to the reform school. That was seven years ago. I never have done anything dishonest since, and I never will again. But you have a right to know my whole record before you employ me in a position of such trust." If the candidate had confessed his blemished record before making himself thoroughly desirable, it is practically certain that he would not have won the place. He got it because he handled the objection after instead of before creating the desire for his services.
We shall consider in the next chapter how to meet and handle objections, how to deal with your faults. But as we postpone our study of that step in the selling process; so should you postpone consideration of your faults and shortcomings, until you get yourself wanted. Do not dodge direct questions, but courteously request that you be permitted to answer them a little later. At this stage of selling the true idea of your best capabilities concentrate upon the moderate, truthful suggestion of your qualifications.
The first result to be desired in selling is the confidence of the buyer. Use all your manly qualities to win this confidence deservedly. Then when you honestly admit your faults and shortcomings, you will be aided to win out in the end by the confidence you have already inspired in the other man.
Very often the applicant for a position fails to get it because he merely presents the abstract idea that his services are for sale. He does not picture himself in actual service. The presentation of abstract ideas is an appeal only to the interest or mind side of the other man. The presentation to his imagination must go beyond his interest, if his heart desire for the services is to be secured. Therefore it is highly important to your success in getting yourself wanted that you plan how you actually would serve on the job, and when you are talking with your prospective employer, speak as if you were at work.
If you imagine yourself fitted into a particular job, and show yourself there to the mind's eye of your prospect, he will have to go through the mental process of getting you out of the imaginary job. That will be much harder for him than it would have been to keep you out in the first place. If you merely present the services you could render, and don't picture yourself as actually rendering them, you haven't won even the imaginary job. But if you do paint yourself into a chosen place, and can make your prospect see you in that position, the suggestion will impel him to copy imagination with actuality. He will consider you as if you were on the job. Evidently when you have won this advantage, he will be inclined to want to keep you at work, unless you do something or manifest some quality that makes you undesirable.
Getting yourself wanted is a process that can be brought to a successful conclusion with absolute certainty. It is not difficult to understand human nature if you are willing to see clearly into yourself. It is only necessary, then, that you subordinate your personality to the personality of the other man. Learn what he wants, and avoid showing him that you want something from him. Show him instead that you can supply what he lacks. Complete and round out the process by suggesting the particular qualities in yourself that your prospecting and size-up have indicated to be the qualities he especially likes. He will want you then. He can't help it.
CHAPTER X
Obstacles In Your Way
There is no great mountain in the world that has a natural, smooth road with an easy grade all the way to the top. Mountain climbing requires some hard work. It involves getting around, or going over, or removing many obstacles that block the path upward.
You will encounter similar difficulties, obstacles, and resistance on your way to success. If you cannot pass them, your ambition will be defeated. You will quit the climb, discouraged; or will be driven back, a failure. In order to assure your success you must now ascertain dependable ways to conquer obstacles. This advance knowledge will make them seem less formidable. Since you will have definite plans for dealing with the difficulties that may obstruct your path, you will not feel hopelessly blocked when you face them.
No great mountain has ever been scaled by a novice ignorant of the science, and unskilled in the art of climbing to supreme heights. But an expert mountaineer learns from mastering one peak something about how to climb others. He develops ability to conquer any and all obstacles he may meet. He proves repeatedly that what would be impossible to a novice is a certainty to him. He starts the most difficult ascent with absolute confidence that he will gain the top.
You likewise can feel sure of your ability to reach the highest peaks of success. In preceding chapters you have been shown how to take advantage of the easiest way up by following the guide marks of salesmanship at every step. Now we are to study the obstacles you will encounter, in particular the objections the prospect may raise to frustrate your purpose. At this stage of the selling process you will be like a mountaineer fighting in the Alps. It will probably be necessary that you overcome or evade considerable human resistance while you are climbing toward your goal.
Let us assume that you have already gained a chance to sell your capabilities to the particular man through whom you expect to succeed. He has heeded your knock and welcomed you into his interest. You have made such a presentation of your desirability and service value that he wants you to be associated with him. But now it will be natural for him to begin a critical analysis, seeking whatever faults he can discover or imagine in you or your proposition. Your success or failure in your ultimate purpose is likely to depend on how you handle the criticisms he raises. Therefore it is of vital importance that you learn in advance sure ways to gain your goal despite normal opposition.
Recognize first that it is natural for your prospect to raise objections, whether he is favorably impressed or not. His resistance to your purpose may be only a precaution. Perhaps it does not indicate opposition at all. He may want you to convince him you are all right; so that he will feel entire confidence in his own judgment when he finally does as you wish. Or he may object for no other purpose than to test you thoroughly. If this is the case, his sympathies will all be with you while you are dealing with the obstacles he puts in your way.
Evidently objections of this sort should not be handled the same as the objections of opposition. It is necessary that you distinguish between the two kinds and that when dealing with each specific objection you determine in your own mind what is its source. There should be nothing in your method of handling the obstacle that might antagonize your prospect. You should take fullest advantage of his every inclination to cooperate with you in his thoughts and feelings. He may be "pulling for" you strongly when he seems to be "bucking" the hardest.
An objection really is a favorable sign. If you call upon a prospective employer who, after hearing your presentation, begins to find fault with it and with you, or tries to evade your proposal, you may be sure that you have carried him along a considerable distance toward the accomplishment of your purpose. He objects or evades because he is on the defensive. "You have him going." He is wary, and so takes measures for self-protection. The moment your prospect begins to raise objections in your way, he indicates that he is not entirely comfortable in his own mind about escaping from your salesmanship. He has felt the tug of desire; but he does not feel sure yet that you deserve his confidence, or else he has a pretty positive idea that in this matter of your possible employment his interests and yours are different. He is looking out for himself.
However, you have come with a true service purpose. You believe he needs you; that you can satisfy a lack in his business. You feel your interests and his are alike, not different. You know that you have no intention "to put anything over on him." You want your prospect to be absolutely satisfied with what you propose. Therefore you should welcome every chance to convince his mind and win his confidence. An objection affords you an opportunity to overcome it, and so both to strengthen your proposition and to weaken his resistance.
You should not, however, bring up objections that the prospect has not raised in his own mind. That would be putting up a straw man and knocking him down, which is profitless and unconvincing. Of course you must clear the path when there is no other way to proceed, but do not block it yourself. Sometimes it will not be advisable to clear the path. If you can get around a difficulty you see, without attracting your prospect's attention to it, you will be wise to go some indirect way to your goal.
Suppose, for example, that you know the salary you want is higher than your prospect has been accustomed to pay. It will be good salesmanship for you not to refer to the amount you have in mind, until after you have carried him along with you to consider the profits he will make from engaging your services. Since you plan to show him that these profits will pay your salary, you will be wise to avoid the matter of your compensation until you have approached nearer to the successful conclusion of your selling process.
Almost every difficulty and opposition you are likely to encounter can be anticipated. Don't wait until you come face to face with an obstruction in the way of success. Let forethought carry you imaginatively into just such a situation. Think yourself out of a possible difficulty before you actually get into it. Then you can win the respect of your prospect by proving on the spot that you are not a man who can be dodged or blocked, or cornered. Every time you pass an obstacle, you will be a long step nearer to success in selling your services.
Suppose an employer says to you, "You are too young. You have had no experience in this line of work." You cannot deny your youth and you should not defend it as if it were a fault. Nor can you claim experience you have not had. But it is unnecessary for you to indicate any feeling that inexperience is a demerit. An ordinary applicant might be discomfited by such resistance to his purpose. If you are a skillful salesman, you will be prepared to deal with this very obstacle and will turn it to good account. You can say at once:
"Because I am young, I am adaptable to your methods, instead of being set in ways that might differ from yours. True, I am not experienced. Therefore, I haven't any wrong ideas to unlearn. Think of me as raw material that won't have to be re-made, and that can be easily shaped as you want to form it. I realize it will take some work on your part, but the product will be satisfactory to you when it is done. It seems to me that the only question involved is whether or not I would make it worth your while to do the work on me. The fact that I have come to you of my own choice proves I really want to be employed here. I assure you now that I will make my services worth any pains you take to teach me your methods, and I will be just as eager to remain as I am to start."
Analyze this method of dealing with any particular obstacle. Plan to get rid of the obstruction completely, leaving the way ahead smoothed. When the objection of the prospect is so skillfully disposed of, his desire for your services is stimulated. He wants you more, because he likes you better now that you have cleared away the obstacle. Thus you have utilized the objection as a help in selling yourself successfully. Just so a mountain climber uses the rocks he encounters as holding places to help him climb higher.
Your prospect may say that he has no need for such services as you offer. He may state reasons why you are not needed in his Business. But if you have prepared yourself thoroughly, each disclaimer of his lack, every suggestion of an objection, will give you an opportunity to prove in some specific way your service value to him.
The president of a manufacturing company had an ironclad rule that all positions in his business were to be filled by promotion. He never hired a new employee except to start at the bottom. A competent young office man applied for a situation. He was turned down flatly. The company's policy was quoted as the reason. He met this obstacle in a new way.
"One of the principal reasons I came to you, Mr. Blank, is that I hope to benefit from your rule myself. I want to get into a company where I will know that the way to advancement is sure without going outside for my chance. But by my experience in other employment I have developed certain capabilities that would warrant you in making an exception to your rule, in my case.
"You do not audit your own books. Yet you have been self-auditing your methods of office operation. Another thought I want to suggest. You know that in the royal families of Europe the stock runs down because they don't get in fresh blood. I would not advocate a change in your general policy. But you have already made an exception to your rule in having your books checked by a public accountant whom you engage by the year for that purpose.
"I propose to bring in the outside viewpoint for the study of your office system, with the expectation of suggesting possible improvements. I want to introduce fresh blood, and yet to become part of your organization family. It is sound business for you to engage me because I am from the outside. You need an auditor of your operations as much as an auditor of your accounts."
This view of the matter had never been presented before to the employer. It won him over to the proposal. The new man broke in where every preceding applicant had failed.
Thus far we have considered actual obstructions, real blocks in the salesman's way. Now let us turn our attention briefly to obstacles that are only apparent, to resistance that is but a feint.
Your prospect may try to put you off. Or perhaps he will attempt to evade uttering a downright refusal, and instead will make some sort of an excuse for not doing what you wish. If you dignify these artificial or merely apparent obstacles by treating them as real obstructions, you will hinder your own progress toward success.
You have secured your chance to present your services for purchase. You have made real progress toward the successful accomplishment of your ultimate purpose. Nearly always if you let yourself be put off for any reason, without making a definite advance toward your final goal, you will lose some of the ground already gained. When your prospect attempts to evade the issue by making an excuse or by postponing further consideration of the subject, he tacitly admits that your position is strong. But if you have to start the selling process all over again at another time, if you let him put you off when your position is strong, you will be weaker when you attempt to resume your sale.
Should you be put off, do one of two things. Either disregard the evasion entirely and go straight ahead with your selling process; or, if you consent to the postponement or evasion, take advantage of your strategical position of strength to make a definite advance toward the accomplishment of your purpose. For examples of the two methods let us consider suppositious cases.
Your prospective employer might say, "I'll think over your application. Come in next week and I'll let you know my decision." You can handle this evasion effectively by going directly ahead and proposing, "I am perfectly willing that you should think over my usefulness to you, but during the week you are considering me for future employment, let me actually work on the job. If you decide that you don't want to keep me, tell me so at the end of the week and there will be no charge for my time." You will be driving straight toward your goal, not even pausing when he attempts to put you off.
This effort at evasion or postponement might be handled in a different way. You could say to the prospective employer, "Very well. I will return in a week for your decision. Meanwhile I will submit some additional references as to my character and energy. I ask also that you permit me to save a week instead of wasting it. I should like your permission to spend this next week in your office, studying the job. Then if you decide to employ me, as I believe you will, I will be already broken in." Such a proposal is hard to refuse. While you would consent to the postponement or evasion of decision, you would be strengthening your own position.
In one way or the other you can make progress. Either you can brush the evasion aside and carry your prospect through to the closing stage of the sale of your services, or you can close an intermediate sale on the spot, as in the second illustration.
Do not, therefore, treat evasions and postponements as real obstacles. Even in case you cannot induce your prospect to go ahead with you, or close an intermediate sale, you can avoid being blocked by his attempt to put you off. When he sees that he cannot get rid of you by his subterfuge, he will be forced to make a real objection. He will not give you another weak excuse after you have disposed of his first attempt to evade. When he tries to block you by making a real objection, after the failure of his excuse or postponement, he will fall right into your plan of the sale. You will be all ready for the objection he states. You will know exactly how to handle it and turn it to good account so that his opposition will be weakened and you will add to your strength.
Let us suppose your prospect comes out with the flat statement, after you prevent him from putting you off, "No, I have made up my mind not to add any new employees for the present." He thinks that settles the question. In reality it affords you a sales opening. You retort, "Your attitude is perfectly right. You do not want to add to expense. I should feel the same way myself, were I in your position. However, I am not going to be an expense. I shall be a money-maker. I know you have no objections to increasing your profits." His opposition would have given you your lead.
A man applied for a position in a bank. Business in general was dull; so the president tried to put him off. The position sought offered any one filling it opportunities to develop increased business for the bank along certain lines. Thus the objection of dull times was plainly unsound. The applicant felt, however, that it would be a mistake to urge very strongly his ideas about increasing the business. He believed the president would not accept them if fully stated. So the young man met the attempted evasion by drawing the banker on to a step that committed him only to the beginning of the program outlined.
"I appreciate that business is not rushing at present," he said. "Therefore you will have time to study how I propose to develop some new business. If you were very busy, you would not be able to investigate my plan thoroughly. You may not care to put it into effect just now, but while you have comparative leisure let me give you an illustration of ways in which my idea can be worked out.
"It is unnecessary to discuss salary or a definite engagement at present, if you prefer to wait awhile. But with your permission I should like to come in here for a month and demonstrate a few of my ideas in actual practice. At the end of that time I will show you a chart of the results."
The evasion was turned into a selling aid. The banker, naturally desirous of making additional profits, could not very well turn down such a proposal. He would have felt a little ashamed to accept services without paying for them. Therefore he gave the applicant a chance and agreed to pay him a moderate salary from the beginning. The new man went to work immediately, and very soon demonstrated such value that his compensation was increased to an entirely satisfactory amount.
Already in this chapter you have been warned against handling an objection in such a way that the natural antagonism of the man who makes it will be increased by your method of dealing with his opposition. When he resists you, or puts obstructions in your way, you of course must take the measures that are necessary to enable you to proceed with your purpose, notwithstanding the obstacles he raises. But if he acts antagonistic, be careful not to appear to fight back. Avoid making the impression that you regard him as an opponent. Your difficulty in closing the sale will be lessened if you keep him from feeling at any time that he needs to adopt measures of self-protection against you.
When your progress is obstructed, it is necessary that you use a very high degree of diplomacy and tact. This will carry you much farther toward your purpose than any manifestation of naked force. Of course you must meet many objections squarely. You will encounter obstructions that cannot be avoided, opposition that will not step aside. There will be occasions when it will be necessary for you to employ force. But you can always conceal "the iron hand in the velvet glove" if you exert your force in tones and with gestures or movements, rather than by making word statements. The art of suggestion can be employed as effectively at the objection stage as at any other step of the selling process.
Let us assume that you are a greenhorn. But you believe yourself capable of filling a certain position. You apply for it. Your prospective employer questions your capability because you lack experience. He refuses your application, and declares he is unwilling to run the risk of having you make mistakes that might be expensive to him.
You know that you are very careful, and that you would not take any important action on your own responsibility if you were in doubt whether or not you were right. You feel that his objection is unsound; that he is exaggerating caution. But it would certainly be a mistake for you to say, "Nonsense!" That would make him bristle.
Of course you want to show him that you do not take his objections seriously. You can make the right impression by smiling at his statement. You can reinforce the effect of your smile by making a horizontal gesture with your hand. If you shake your head slightly, force will be added to your denial of incapacity or rashness. It may not be necessary for you to say anything. Possibly your suggestion will be stronger if you simply ignore the point he has raised against you. Usually, however, in such a case it is best to employ a few quiet words in disposing of the objection; though chief reliance should be placed on the suggested meaning behind the statement.
I recall the case of a man who handled an objection of that sort by first smiling while shaking his head and making a gesture of negation, and then said, "I could not lose much for you, but if I were reckless or irresponsible I certainly would lose for myself this opportunity that you see I want very much. I have a great deal more at stake than you. You may be sure I shall not risk losing my chance to succeed, by causing you any losses." The tone used was the heart pitch of sincerity, with the final assurance in the deeper tones of power. The tone and the manner of the applicant for the position indicated such strength that the prospect felt the weakness of his objection and did not persist in it.
When you make a direct admission of the point the prospect raises against you, have a strong answer ready and give it to him at once. Otherwise you will not rid his mind entirely of the objection. In most cases it is preferable to make only an indirect or qualified admission of the point raised. Then the objection, not having been strengthened by your full confirmation, can be overcome without the use of much force or power.
If your prospective employer says to you, "We are not making any money. I do not intend to put on a new man," diplomacy requires you to admit unequivocally the truth of his assertion that his business is not profitable. He may be exaggerating a temporary condition, but he would take offense if you should question his blunt statement. Therefore agree with him, and having prepared the opening with your tact, introduce to his mind agreeable ideas of satisfying his want for profits. You might say, "I realize business is poor. That is one of the reasons I come to you just now. If you were making plenty of money, you would not appreciate the value of my ideas for increasing your profits. The results of the work I propose to do might not be sufficiently conspicuous among other large earnings to attract your especial notice. This period of depression gives me the very opportunity I need to prove to you that I would be a money-maker, and not an expense to you. Surely you would like to have me demonstrate that. All I ask is a chance to convince you. Judge me by the results."
Analyze this unequivocal admission of the validity of the objection. Such cases can often be handled most effectively by granting the point raised, directly and without any reservations, and then answering the objection in such a way that it is completely removed as an obstruction. This is good salesmanship.
Suppose, however, you feel the objection of poor business is unsound. Let us assume that this prospective employer you are interviewing has a dull season every year. Therefore the condition of which he complains is simply normal, and his objection is put forward as an excuse for rejecting your application. In such a case you do not want to make the obstruction more formidable by fully admitting its validity. Yet tact forbids you to deny its soundness. It will be better salesmanship to recognize indirectly the point raised than it would be to give your full agreement with the objection, as in the above example of an unequivocal admission. You might use such an answer as this:
"I notice, Mr. Blank, that you are making some extensive repairs on your factory. Though this involves additional expense in your dullest season, you are having the work done now because this is your slackest time. True, your profit showing at present will not be so good as it would be if you did not make the repairs. But the earnings of your business will be improved during your busiest season and you will avoid the extra expense of interrupting your production when it is at the maximum. This, of course, is the time to have your repair work done. It would not be good business to put it off.
"My proposal that you engage me now is directly along the line of your own policies. What I would do in your office might be called repair work. Your dull season is the time to have it done. I can introduce my efficiency ideas now without disorganizing your operations. Then, when you are busiest, the new system will be in perfect working order, for your service."
When you study illustrations of the application of basic principles, do not give them merely superficial consideration. Examples are of slight value unless they suggest to you how you should use your imagination to make illustrations of your own in actual practice of the principles. Whatever your need for help in selling your services, and whatever difficulties you may have to overcome or get around, you will find in the pages of these books cues to the methods of certain success. Evidently, however, the scope of the series of chapters must be somewhat limited. None of the answers to the major problems of salesmanship are omitted from the contents, but you must apply and fit the given solutions to your individual necessities.
Turn your thought now to the different bases of objections. It is of the utmost importance that you know whether the obstruction is raised by the mind or by the heart of your prospect. Mental resistance can be met and overcome by ideas, by points introduced by your mind into the mind of the other man. His heart may not be involved. But if there is "feeling" in his opposition, it is necessary that you displace it with a different feeling toward you and your proposal. The heart of your prospect must be turned from antagonism to friendliness, if it is involved in an objection. Therefore when a point is made against you, decide from the evidence whether the obstacle raised has an emotional or a mental basis. Treat it accordingly. Use your own mind principally in dealing with the purely mental objection of the prospect. But depend on drawing out his heart with yours if his emotions are involved in his opposition.
Suppose you have a plan about engaging in a certain business. You have worked it out carefully and are confident that it is "a winner." But you need financial backing. So you go to a man who has money, and apply to him for a loan. He listens to your plan. When you finish explaining, he refuses your request. He uses the mental tone of cold business when he states his reason. "You offer me no security. I am not in the habit of lending money without it." His words and manner indicate that he has listened to your plan without the slightest feeling of sympathy for your purpose. His emotions have not been stirred. He is turning you down simply because his mind is opposed to the form of investment you propose for his money. It would be futile for you to make an emotional appeal to this man, in the hope of getting rid of his mental objection. He would be disagreeably impressed were you to attempt to stir his heart. You cannot offer him the security he has in mind, but you need not be balked for that reason. It is possible for you to make an appeal to his mind only, and to suggest to him ideas of security that he has not considered.
"Mr. J.P. Morgan," you might remind him, "when asked the basis upon which he loaned money, replied, 'Character, principally.' I offer you the security that Mr. Morgan considered most important. You know my reputation is good. You perceive that my plan is sound, and that I have thought it out thoroughly. You do not expect me to lose money. I have proposed to protect you as fully as possible by agreeing in advance that I will take no step until after your approval has been given. Therefore, in addition to my character, I am offering you the security of your own mature, sound judgment on all operations.
"Don't you believe that my squareness, guided by your advice, would secure you? I have applied for a loan of only ten thousand dollars. You will absolutely control the expenditure of the money. You know, therefore, that at the worst I could not have a large loss. I have offered you life insurance to protect you against the possibility of my death within the next five years. It is altogether improbable that I should have a loss of as much as a thousand dollars in the new business. Certainly you have sufficient confidence in my ability and integrity to believe that I could and would repay you a thousand dollars with interest before the expiration of five years. I expect, and you expect, that my venture will prove successful. I have planned a sound business enterprise, free from the dangers of speculation. With the cooperation of your judgment, your loan would be a secure investment. I believe you are now convinced of that."