KEEPING FIT AND SALESMANSHIP
To keep fit is to maintain perfect health; and perfect health
depends upon a perfect balance of mind and body, unimpaired
physical vigor and absolute inner harmony, a mental poise which
nothing can disturb.
There is a vast amount of ability lost to the world through
poor health, through not keeping in condition to give out the
best that is infolded in us.
“I want you,” said Philip D. Armour to one of his employees, “to grow
into a man so strong and big that you will force me to see that you are
out of place among the little fellows.”
If you want to be a salesman “so strong and big” that you will be “out
of place among the little fellows,” you must be as physically fit as was
John L. Sullivan in his prime. At that time the mere sight of Sullivan
entering the ring struck such terror into the heart of his opponent
that the fight was half won before a blow was struck. It seemed to the
small man like a desperate venture to tackle a giant with such a superb
physical presence. The famous pugilist’s appearance had as much to do
with his success as had his knowledge of the technique of the ring.
If you want to win out (and who does not?) you must enter the ring—the
arena of life—with all the power you can muster, in superb health, at the
top of your condition, capable of putting up your biggest fight. You can
do this and come out with your flag flying if you are good to yourself,
if you keep fit. But if you allow all sorts of leaks of power to drain
away your energy, your brain force, your will power, you will be in no
condition to make the fight of your life.
You should be as well prepared physically for the contest as the prize
fighter who is determined to keep his record. Or, like the Greek god
Hercules, you should be able to win largely by the force of your reserve
power. It was said that Hercules made such an impression of great reserve
force on his antagonist that he never had to put forth much strength in
wrestling. He won as much by the impression of confident power which he
radiated, as by the degree of strength he exerted.
In other words, if you do not back up your general ability and special
training with robust health you will be forever at a disadvantage in
the game of life. You must keep yourself fit for your job, always in a
condition to do your best or you will be handicapped in the game.
It is the law of life that the “weakest shall go to the wall.” Frailness
of body is an inevitable handicap in life. Physical weakness largely
discounts the possibilities of achievement. The slow but striving
tortoise may beat out the hare in the race. The steadfast, plodding
student may take the prizes of life which his more brilliant competitor
never attained. But the tortoise, though slow, is sound of body. Cripple
him and all his plodding will avail him little.
True, there have been weak men who have done wonders in life in spite of
frailness and physical infirmity. But they are only the exceptions that
prove the rule. Alexander Pope, “the gallant cripple of Twickenham,”
sewed up in canvas; St. Paul, short in stature, of inferior presence
and almost blind, are types of the men whose great souls overcame
their bodily weakness. Cæsar, Pascal, Nelson, were other types of the
indomitable spirit which can not be limited by sickness or infirmity.
But, in the main, the man who “makes good” has good health.
As a salesman you carry all your capital with you. You are in business,
but you carry everything connected with it, your factory, your sales
department with you. Your machinery assets are mental, and if you don’t
do your best to keep them in fine condition you will show about as
much sense as a farmer who would leave all his valuable farm machinery
out-doors in all sorts of weather, to be ruined by wind and dew, rain
and snow. Your skill, your expertness, your facility of expression, your
tact, your discretion, your power of discrimination, your knowledge of
human nature, your courage, your initiative, your resourcefulness, your
cheerfulness, your magnetism, in fact, every one of your mental faculties
is a part of your business capital, is an asset, and its condition
depends entirely on the care you take of the engine which furnishes the
motor power for all your mental machinery. That engine is your body.
The physical soil is the soil in which your faculties are nourished. If
this soil is impoverished, if your vitality is low, if you are sapping
your energies by vicious, ignorant, or foolish habits, your faculties
will not thrive.
Some time ago an ambitious young fellow came to me and asked me to tell
him how to increase his ability and his power to achieve things. He was
pale and emaciated, with something like signs of dissipation in his
face. The young man seemed very anxious to get along in the world but,
evidently, he had taken the wrong path. A few questions brought out the
fact that although not dissipating in the ordinary sense, the course
he was pursuing was almost as disastrous to his health. He was sitting
up till one or two o’clock at night, studying, while working very hard
in the day-time, and to brace up his depleted strength he was not only
drinking coffee and tea to excess, but he was also taking whiskey, and
even drugs. He did not seem to know that this artificial stimulus to his
brain was like a whip to a tired horse, and that it was only a question
of time until he would be a physical and mental wreck.
It is amazing how ignorant many otherwise intelligent people are when it
comes to a question of body and health building. Young people often ask
me to tell them how they can increase their ability, and in nine cases
out of ten I find that, like the young man above, they are doing some
fool things that defeat the very object they have in view.
Now, the surest way to increase your ability, to multiply and strengthen
your faculties, is to lay a good foundation of health, and to guard it
as you would your most precious possession—for that is really what it
is. Vigorous, abounding health will emphasize, reinforce and multiply
the forcefulness of all the faculties, and the sum of these faculties
constitutes your ability, the force that achieves, that creates.
It will make a tremendous difference to you what sort of a man you
take to your prospect. I say “you take,” because you are the master of
the salesman. There is something bigger back of the salesman, than the
salesman himself. You are the salesman’s manager, his trainer, his
educator. There is a master in you, who, to a very large extent, dictates
the sort of a man “you take” to your prospect, because he will be the
sort of a man _you_ make him. To be a whole man, mentally, physically,
and spiritually is your business. To be deficient on any of these planes
is to be only two parts a man. To be one hundred per cent. a man—that is
your problem.
The human machine is very complicated, and even a little thing may
seriously impair its harmony and efficiency. A bad fitting shoe may
cut down your effectiveness temporarily, or as long as you wear it,
twenty-five per cent. A speck of dirt in the eye would cripple a
Napoleon, as a hair in the works would seriously injure the best
timepiece in the world. A hasty, bolted lunch, of poor, adulterated
food, may impair your digestion, cut down your brain power and make you
ineffective when it is of the utmost importance that you be effective.
Efficiency lies in the symmetry and perfect functioning of all of your
organs. If they are not trying to help you make a sale; if you have
treated them badly and they are protesting, they will beat you. You may
think that, no matter how you feel, you can put a deal over by sheer will
power, but remember that your will power is dependent upon the harmonious
action of all your bodily functions. It will weaken just as soon as any
one of these is impaired. If not one, but several of them—your digestive
organs, your liver, your heart, your kidneys, your brain, are fighting
against you, trying to defeat your purpose, you will not win out no
matter how hard a fight you put up. Many a superb salesman has finally
lost out by making an enemy of all the organs which make for health and
success.
Do you realize what goes into every sale you make? Did it ever occur to
you that your brains, your education, your training, your experience,
your skill, your ingenuity, your resourcefulness, your originality, your
personality—about all your life capital is flung into every selling
transaction?
The result of every canvass you make will depend very largely upon
how much of yourself you fling into it, and how intensely, how
enthusiastically, cheerfully, and tactfully you fling yourself in. You
cannot bring the whole of yourself to the sale unless every function of
your body gives its consent. Your physical organism must be in perfect
harmony or your vitality will be lowered, and you will be robbed of a
certain percentage of your possible power.
The great thing when you approach a prospect is to be all there, not to
leave ten, fifteen, twenty or twenty-five per cent. of yourself in the
bar-room or in some other vicious resort the night before. Do not fling
a lot of your ability away in bad food, or in a too rich and complicated
diet, viciously taken. Be sure when you call on a prospect that you take
a good digestion along with you; it is the best friend of your brain.
If your digestion is ruined by over-eating, or if your brain is not
well fed, no amount of will power, or cocktail or whiskey braces, will
compensate for the loss you suffer.
Many a promising salesman has failed to make good because he made a habit
of turning night into day and could take only about half of himself to
his work. Many a cracker-jack salesman has lost a sale by partaking
too heartily of dinner, or by a fit of indigestion brought on by some
indiscretion in eating.
Multitudes of people go through life working hard, trying desperately
to succeed, but are terribly disappointed by the meagerness of their
achievement, simply because they did not take care of their health. They
are all the time devitalized; they lack blood, or it is of poor quality;
it lacks fire and force, and, of course, the brain and all the faculties
deteriorate to correspond with the blood.
The achievement follows the vitality, and this in turn depends on the
general care of the body. The kind of food, its quality and amount,
the manner in which we partake of it, our physical habits, work, rest,
recreation, sleep,—these are the things on which health and vitality
depend. These furnish our physical energy and achievement depends upon
energy. It would be impossible even for the brain of a Webster to focus
with power, if fed with poor ill-nourished blood.
Everywhere we see bright, educated young men and women, with good brains,
crippled by poor health, mocked by great ambitions which they can never
realize. A large part of their ability is lost to the world because of
some physical weakness which might be remedied by careful, scientific
living.
Just glance over the young men you know and see what a small part of
their ability goes into their life work, because of their impaired
assets, through foolish or vicious living habits. They are selling their
integrity, squandering their life capital in all sorts of dissipation,
bringing perhaps not more than twenty-five per cent. of their actual
ability to their life work.
How often we hear the remark: “Poor fellow! he was always a victim of bad
health, but for that he would have accomplished great things.” “Mentally
able but physically weak” would make a good epitaph for thousands of
failures.
A weakness anywhere in you will mar your career. It will rise up as a
ghost all through your life work, at unexpected moments, mortifying,
condemning, convicting you. Every indiscretion or vicious indulgence
simply opens a leak which drains off your success and happiness
possibilities. There is no compensation for waste of health capital.
Health raises the power of every faculty and every possibility of
the man, and there is no excuse for losing it through carelessness,
dissipation or ignorance.
Nor can one plead mere weakness or lack of energy as a handicap, an
excuse for failure. Nature is no sentimentalist. If you violate her law
you must pay the penalty though you sit on a throne. She demands that you
be at the top of your condition, always at your best, and will accept no
excuse or apology.
Whatever your work in life, the secret of your success and happiness
is locked up in your health, in your brain, your nerves, your muscles,
your ambition, your ideal, your resolution. It is up to you to be a
whole man. You cannot afford to be less. You cannot afford to dwarf your
career or botch it by going to your task with stale brains. You cannot do
first-class work with second-class brain power, with a brain that is fed
by poison,—blood vitiated by abnormal living or dissipation. You cannot
afford to go to your work used up, played out. Trying to sell merchandise
with stale brains keeps many a salesman capable of real mastership in
a mediocre position. You cannot do a master’s work with a muddy brain
which was not renewed, refreshed, by plenty of sound sleep, healthful
recreation, and vigorous exercise in the open air.
In other words, if you expect to make the most of yourself you must be
good to yourself. Strangled health means strangled ability. If you murder
your health you murder all your chances in life.
No man ever does a great thing in this world who does not protect the
faculties he is using with jealous care. Watch your generating power.
Remember that you see the world largely through your stomach. Its
condition will determine the condition of your brain. Poor digestion
gives you poor blood, and poor blood a poor brain. Few people realize
what a tremendous factor health plays in their success. Men give the
brain credit for a large amount of their success which is due to the
stomach, which has everything to do with physical health and robust
vitality.
Not long ago I was talking to a salesman who said he guessed he was
losing his grip; didn’t know how it was, but he was not making sales as
he used to. He didn’t have the same grit and enthusiasm; guessed he was
sliding down hill, going backward instead of forward. Formerly, he said,
he always approached a customer with the expectation of getting an order,
but latterly he was in great doubt; he could not get on full steam, a
resolute determination to win. Now, when a man gets into this condition
he is not fit to solicit business. Nature is calling to him: “Stop, Look,
Listen.” It is time for him to call a halt, and see what is the trouble
with his engine.
If you would be a master in your specialty heed Nature’s danger signals,
which she puts up all through your body. That “tired feeling” is one of
them; brain fag, headache, is one of them; indigestion is one of them;
apathy, “don’t feel like it,” poor appetite,—all these things are signals
to slow down. But instead of slowing down and repairing, most of us
try to speed up with all sorts of stimulants and run past these danger
signals, with the result that we either wreck our life train or very
seriously injure it.
No man can afford to ignore Nature’s warnings, but least of all can the
salesman, on whose physical condition everything depends. Other men can
depute their work, at least for a time, to those under them; but the
salesman cannot do this, for he is strictly a one-man concern, and
everything depends on his health. He must always be at the top of his
condition; and every quality needed in his work is sharpened and braced
by vigorous health.
How comparatively easy it is, for instance, for a healthy man to be
hopeful, optimistic, enthusiastic. How difficult for a chronic dyspeptic
to be any of these—to be kind, gentle, generous, cheerful, obliging.
His natural disposition may not be at fault, for the tendency of ill
health is to make a man cross, crabbed, fault-finding, fretful, hard,
pessimistic.
“Touchiness,” a defect which makes so many men and women unbearable,
usually comes from some weakness or physical ailment. A great many
so-called “sins” are due to a depleted physical condition. It is so much
easier for a man to control himself when he is well, to say “No” with
emphasis, when, if he were suffering from some physical disability, he
might say “Yes,”—anything to get rid of annoyance and to get into a more
comfortable condition.
How much health has to do with one’s manners! How easy to be courteous
and accommodating when one feels the thrill of health surging through
his whole being; but how hard to be polite, gentle, amiable, when one
feels ill, weak, and nervous, and wants to be let alone! How hard to
carry on an interesting conversation when all of one’s physical standards
are down!
Then again, how the health affects the judgment! The judgment is really
a combination of a great many other faculties, and the condition of each
seriously affects the quality of the combination.
One’s courage is largely a matter of physical health. How quickly
the ailing man, to whom everything looks blue, becomes discouraged!
Everything looks black to people whose physical standards are demoralized.
Horse trainers know that a horse’s courage during the contest depends
a great deal upon its being in a superb physical condition. It is
the same with the horse’s master—man. Courage, poise, masterfulness,
resourcefulness, physical vigor go together. Nervousness, timidity,
uncertainty, doubt, hesitation, usually accompany depleted vitality.
The bull-dog tenacity which plays such a part in every life worth while
has a physical basis. The will power, which is a leader in the mental
kingdom, depends very largely upon the health. How different, for
example, obstacles look to the man who is ailing all the time, suffering
pain, compared with the way they look to a man who is full of vigor
and energy. The man who is well plans great things to-day, because he
feels strong and vigorous. Obstacles are nothing to him; he feels within
himself the power to annihilate them. But to-morrow he is ill, and the
obstacles which were only molehills yesterday, loom up like mountains,
and he does not see how he can possibly conquer them.
We look at things through our moods, and moods are largely a question
of physical health. The man who is strong and full of the courage of
abounding vitality wants something hard to wrestle with; he feels the
need of vigorous exercise. But the man whose vitality is low has no
surplus to spare. Slight difficulties look formidable to him; trifles
are exaggerated into serious obstacles, which seem insurmountable. There
is confusion all through his mental kingdom, and his faculties will not
work harmoniously. There is a tremendous wear and tear on the physical
economy of the man in poor health.
The faculty of humor was given man to ease him over the jolts, to oil the
bearings of life’s machinery; but ill health often crushes out the sense
of humor, and makes life, which was intended to be bright and cheerful,
sad and gloomy. Loss of good red blood corpuscles has much to do with
one’s sense of humor as well as one’s manners and disposition. The man in
poor health is in no condition to appreciate the joys of life. Everything
loses its flavor in proportion to his lowered vitality.
Ill health very materially weakens the power of decision. A man who,
when in vigorous health, decides quickly, finally and firmly, when in
poor health, wobbles, wavers, reconsiders. His purpose, which was once a
mighty force in his life, lacks virility, has lost much of its strength.
In fact, all of his life standards drop in proportion to the decline in
physical vigor.
Again, the quality of health has a great deal to do with the quality of
thought. You cannot get healthy thinking from diseased brain cells or
nerve cells. If the vitality is below par the thought will drop to its
level.
What magic a trip to Europe or a vacation in the country often produces
in the quality of one’s thought and work. The writer, the clergyman, the
orator, the statesman, who was disgusted with what his brain produced
comes back to his work after a vacation and finds himself a new man. He
can not only do infinitely more work with greater ease, but his work
has a finer quality. The writer is often surprised at his grip upon
his subject and his power to see things which he could not get hold of
before. There is a freshness about his style which he could not before
squeeze from his jaded brain. The singer who broke down comes back from a
vacation with a power of voice which she did not even know she possessed.
The business man returns with a firmer grip upon his business, a new
faculty for improving methods, and a brighter outlook on the world. The
brain ash has been blown off the brain cells which were clogged before;
the blood is pure; the pulse bounding, and, of course, the brain cells
throw off a finer quality of thought, keener, sharper, more penetrating,
more gripping.
Many a salesman could add twenty-five or fifty per cent. to his power by
easing the strain of life now and then, especially when Nature hangs out
any of her warning signals.
Supposing an Edison or some other great inventor should discover a secret
for doubling one’s ability, what would we not all do or give to get this
secret? Yet every one knows a process for doubling ability which never
fails. It is health-building, vitality-building, by simply exercising
common sense in the matter of living. There is nothing complicated in
this; it means eating just enough, not too much or too little, of the
foods that give force and power, scientific eating of these foods;
scientific care of ourselves, exercise, recreation, play; getting out of
doors whenever possible and absorbing power from the sun and air; getting
plenty of sleep in a well-ventilated bedroom; regular systematic habits;
right thinking, triumphant thinking, holding the victorious attitude
toward life, toward our work, toward our health, toward everything. Now
here is the secret of doubling ability. We all have it; all that is
necessary is to put it in practice.
There is no other thing that will pay a salesman better than putting it
in practice every day. Keeping himself in superb physical condition will
not only give a wonderful flavor to life, but it will add great interest
and charm to his personality. Good health is the foundation of personal
magnetism; it is the secret of the sparkle in the eye, the buoyant
spirit, the keen whip to the intellect which sharpens all the wits.
Many a sale has been clinched by the pleasing appearance of a salesman,
the charm of a bright, flashing eye, a clear skin, a firm step, and a
straight pair of shoulders.
How quickly we can tell by the appearance of horses on the street what
sort of care they get. How fine a carefully groomed horse looks and
how well he feels. He seems to have a sense of pride in his personal
appearance, whereas the horse which is seldom if ever groomed, shows his
neglect by the sharp contrast.
The same thing is true of individuals. I have a friend who takes infinite
pains to keep himself in prime condition. He says his human machine
is his most precious asset and that he cannot afford to neglect his
exercise; he cannot afford to be irregular in his eating habits, or to
eat foods which are not body builders, health and force producers; he
cannot afford to lose sleep, or to do anything which will lower his
vitality. He is equally careful about his grooming, and always looks fit,
in the pink of condition. Another friend of mine is just the opposite. He
will take a hot bath in about ten minutes; he dresses in a hurry; never
bothers about his exercise or his food, and the result is the two men
present as great a contrast as the well-groomed, well-cared for horse and
the ill-groomed, ill-cared for one.
It is of little use to have all the qualities which make a good salesman
if these qualities are not kept in prime condition. Yet there are a
great many salesmen who do not take time enough to care for themselves
properly, to keep their wonderful machine in fine trim, in superb
physical and mental condition.
It was said that Ole Bull could never be induced to go on playing unless
his violin was in perfect tune. If a string stretched the least bit,
no matter how many thousands were waiting for him, he would stop until
he had put his violin in perfect tune again. Ole Bull would not allow
himself even for a moment to be anything but a master.
You cannot go to your prospect with the brain of a master salesman,
victory-organized, if your instrument is out of tune. If you do not keep
yourself tuned to concert pitch; if you do not take the trouble to make
a fine adjustment of your wonderful human instrument each day; if you do
not put yourself in tune each morning for the day’s work; if there is the
least inharmony in any of the marvelous mechanism of your body, you will
go on all day producing discord instead of harmony. In other words, you
will be a failure instead of a success.
When you approach a prospect be sure you are “in tune with the Infinite,”
(with the highest law of your being) that you are all there, that you are
not sixty, seventy-five, eighty, ninety or ninety-nine per cent. present,
but that you are all there, that you are a hundred per cent. present, and
that this hundred per cent. is ready to strike the blow. More will depend
upon your body and mind being in complete harmony, in perfect tune than
on all of your special training in salesmanship.
In this age of fierce competition physical vigor plays a tremendous part.
It is an age of efficiency force, an age which requires masterfulness.
The victors in the great life game to-day, as a rule, are men with
powerful vitality, tremendous staying power. Whether you win out or lose
in the game will depend largely on your reserve power, your plus vitality.
Keep yourself always fit so that you can do your best, _the highest thing
possible to you_, with ease and dignity, without struggle or strain, and
you will be a master salesman. Always be at the top of your condition,
and you can approach your prospect with the assurance of victory, the air
of a conqueror, with the superb confidence that wins. Keep your human
machine in perfect tune, and you will radiate power, masterfulness; you
will exhale force and magnetism from every pore; you will be the sort of
salesman that every customer is glad to see—A MASTER SALESMAN.
APPENDIX
SALES POINTERS
“There are two chief classes of men that you will approach.
“One class is ruled chiefly by reason, the other by
impulses—emotion—prejudices—enthusiasm—likes and dislikes.
“The first class can be convinced only by hard matter-of-fact,
mathematical arguments—the kind of evidence that will pass a judge in
court. The minds of these men are clear, cold, logic engines. They
are impressed only by facts and figures, and will do no business with
salesmen who offer them anything else.
“The other class—of impulsive or emotional men—is amenable to heart sway
persuasion.
“You will not find it so necessary to convince their reasons. Give them
the best evidence you have, but mix it with something more.
“Be careful of their prejudices, watch out for the revelation of their
likes and dislikes, discover their enthusiasm, suit yourself to their
moods.
“Sooner or later, if you know your business, you will uncover the
vulnerable spot in an emotional man and he is yours. Strike him with the
right kind of persuasion and you can walk out with his order.
“Study your prospects. Learn to read the book of human nature. The
formulas for success in selling are written on its pages.”
* * * * *
Don’t be a slave of precedent. It is an enemy of progress. Know the
technique of salesmanship, but don’t be its slave. Study men at the top
and then ask yourself, “Why can’t I do what they have done?” RESOLVE NOT
TO BE A LITTLE FELLOW.
* * * * *
No matter how much you know about salesmanship your personality, your
character, will be the chief factors in your success.
While the technique of salesmanship is important, yet it is the man
behind the salesman that does the business. It is the human power back of
the mere technique that makes the sale.
* * * * *
THREE KINDS OF SALESMEN
The Heavyweight,
The Featherweight, and
Just plain WAIT.—Selected.
* * * * *
“Some salesmen are not always successful salesmen—BUT, successful
salesmen are always SOME salesmen.”
* * * * *
“A master salesman is a self-made salesman—BUT a self-made salesman isn’t
always a master salesman.”
* * * * *
Always keep in mind the man at the other end of the bargain. If he does
not make a good bargain you will lose in the end, no matter how much you
may sell him.
* * * * *
Follow your prospect’s mind. Let him do much of the talking. If he sees
you are trying to push him and expecting to change his mind he will brace
up against you.
* * * * *
THE SALESMAN’S CREED
To be a man whose word carries weight at my home office, to be a booster,
not a knocker, a pusher, not a kicker; a motor, not a clog.
To believe in my proposition heart and soul; to carry an air of optimism
into the presence of possible customers; to dispel ill temper with
cheerfulness, kill doubts with strong convictions and reduce active
friction with an agreeable personality.
To make a study of my business or line; to know my profession in every
detail from the ground up; to mix brains with my effort and use method
and system in my work. To find time to do everything needful by never
letting time find me doing nothing. To hoard days as a miser hoards
dollars; to make every hour bring me dividends in commissions, increased
knowledge or healthful recreation.
To keep my future unmortgaged with debt; to save money as well as earn
it; to cut out expensive amusements until I can afford them; to steer
clear of dissipation and guard my health of body and peace of mind as my
most precious stock in trade.
Finally, to take a good grip on the joy of life; to play the game like
a gentleman; to fight against nothing so hard as my own weakness and to
endeavor to grow as a salesman and as a man with the passage of every
day of time. THIS IS MY CREED.—W. C. HOLMAN.
* * * * *
Salesmanship is the ability to sell the largest possible quantity of
goods, to sell an increasing quantity of goods, to get the greatest
possible results from the advertising done by his house, to make a
regular customer of a new buyer, and to hold the friendship of a regular
customer.—H. E. BOWMAN.
* * * * *
Never sit down or stand, if you can possibly avoid it, below where your
prospect is seated. The man who is the highest always has the advantage,
the superior position. Many salesmen can do better standing while the
prospect is sitting.
* * * * *
Approach your prospect as a professional, not as an amateur, not as a
little fellow, or _almost_ a salesman, but approach him with the air of a
professional. Give him to understand that you are no third-rate salesman.
Your manner will have everything to do with the impression you make.
Establish confidence as quickly as possible. Business men are constantly
dealing with mean, tricky men, unscrupulous men, hypnotizers,
bull-dozers, but when they strike the real article, the genuine man, they
will give him their confidence.
* * * * *
Remember your whole success will often turn on the first two or three
minutes of your interview. Just here your knowledge of human nature is a
tremendous factor. You must size up your man quickly and find the line of
least resistance, the best approach to his mind. Not only his temperament
but his health, the frame of mind he happens to be in, all must be taken
in at a glance.
* * * * *
Be a tactful salesman. You will often be told that tact cannot be
cultivated, that it is a quality that is born in one, but remember that
every man is tactful when he is courting the girl he is dead in love
with. If you are dead in love with your work and bound to win you will be
tactful.
* * * * *
Make it an invariable rule never to use any influence or to say anything
in the presence of a prospect which will lessen your self-respect. If you
do, you lose power. _You are not paid for being less than a man._
* * * * *
A real salesman sells goods. Fakers sell customers. Don’t be a mere
order-taker; be a salesman.
* * * * *
ANOTHER “SALESMAN’S CREED”
“I believe in the goods I am handling, in the company I am working for,
and in my ability to get results.
“I believe that honest stuff can be passed out to honest men, by honest
methods.
“I believe in working, not weeping; in boosting, not knocking, and in the
pleasure of my job.
“I believe that a man gets what he goes after; that one deed done to-day
is worth two deeds to-morrow, and that no man is down and out until he
has lost faith in himself.
“I believe in to-day and the work I am doing; in to-morrow and the work I
hope to do, and in the sure reward which the future holds.
“I believe in courtesy, in kindness, in generosity, in good cheer, in
friendship, and in honest competition.
“I believe there is something doing somewhere for every man ready to do
it.
“I believe I am ready right now.”
* * * * *
Do you ever go to see a prospect expecting to be turned down—to meet
unanswerable arguments or deep-rooted prejudices that you can’t overcome?
If you do, it’s pretty likely that that’s what happens.
* * * * *
Half-knowledge is worse than ignorance.—MACAULAY.
* * * * *
This is one business man’s motto: “Nothing pays like quality.” There is
a whole sermon in this motto, for what is there that pays like quality?
There is no advertisement like it. Quality needs no advertisement, for it
has been tried. Talk quality. A high-class salesman tries to convert his
prospect from a lower to a higher grade, for there is not only greater
satisfaction but also larger profit both for seller and buyer in the high
grade article.
* * * * *
Did you ever realize that when you are working for another you are
really selling yourself to him, that your ability, your education, your
personality, your influence, your atmosphere—everything about you is sold
for a price? Every time you sell goods you are selling part of yourself,
your character, your reputation, what you stand for—it is all included in
the sale.
* * * * *
Progress depends upon what we are, rather than upon what we may
encounter. One man is stopped by a sapling lying across the road;
another, passing that way picks up the hindrance and converts it into a
help in crossing the brook just ahead.—TRUMBULL.
* * * * *
Fate does not fling her great prizes to the idle, the indifferent, but to
the determined, the enthusiastic, the man who is bound to win.
* * * * *
How true it is, as some one says, that true salesmanship consists in
_selling goods that don’t come back to people who do_. This is the whole
story. Selling goods that give perfect satisfaction in such a pleasing,
attractive way that the customer comes back; leaving a pleasant taste
in the customer’s mouth, pleasant pictures in his memory of the way you
treated him, so that he will put himself out to look you up the next
time, this is the salesmanship which every one can cultivate. One doesn’t
need to be a born salesman to do this. Every one can treat a customer
kindly, pleasantly, with a cheerful, helpful manner, in an accommodating
spirit. The best part of salesmanship can be acquired.
* * * * *
Winning back a customer who had quit buying of your house because
you have offended him, or because he thinks the house did not treat
him right, is a tough proposition. It is not every salesman who can
successfully tackle such a job as this. It takes great tact and a lot
of diplomacy, and yet a diplomacy that does not show itself. The art of
arts is to conceal art. A great diplomat leaves no visible trace of his
diplomacy. It will pay to acquire the art of the diplomats. It will pay
better to avoid offending customers.
“We broke all output records to-day.” This was the message Andrew
Carnegie’s superintendent sent him one day. “_Why not do it every day?_”
wired back the ironmaster. Why not beat your sales record every day? You
don’t know what you can do until you try.
* * * * *
“The salesman that tries to sell, without using his upper story, has a
lot of good loft space unoccupied.”
* * * * *
To be a conqueror in appearance, in one’s bearing, is the first step
toward success.
Walk, talk and act as though you were a somebody. Let victory speak from
your face and express itself in your manner.
* * * * *
Every dishonest trick, every deception, every unfair transaction, is a
boomerang which comes back to hit the thrower.
* * * * *
You should make your prospect feel that you are a real friend, that you
are something more than an ordinary seller of merchandise, that you are
trying to be of real service to him, and that you would not take the
slightest advantage of him in any way. A man’s friendship should be worth
a great deal to you, whether you get the particular order you are after
or not.
* * * * *
The “selling sense” is to the salesman what the “nose for news” is
to the journalist. No knowledge, however profound, of mere technical
salesmanship will make a salesman of you if you lack selling sense,
into which many factors enter,—such as tact, spirit of kindliness, good
fellowship, good judgment, level-headedness, horse sense, initiative,
courage.
* * * * *
Like the good things you eat, a superb quality leaves a good taste in
the mouth. The article that is a little better than others of the same
kind, the article that is best, even though the price is higher, “carries
in its first sale the possibilities of many sales, because it makes a
satisfied customer, and only a satisfied customer will come again.”
* * * * *
Staying power is the final test of ability. The real caliber of a man is
measured by the amount of opposition that it would take to down him.
The world measures a man largely by his breaking down point. Where does
he give up? How much punishment can he stand? How long can he take his
medicine without running up the white flag? How much resisting power is
there in him? What does the man do after he has been knocked down? This
is the test.
Where is _your_ giving up point, _your_ breaking point, _your_ turning
back point? This will determine everything in your career.
* * * * *
If you represent a large house, make a careful study of the top-notchers
and cracker-jack salesmen in your firm. Study their history, their
methods; get at the secret of their great success and their big salaries.
The study of men above you will whet your ambition, will sharpen your
perceptions and will make you more ambitious, more determined to win out,
and this will enable you to make an impression of progressiveness upon
your firm. They will see that you are growing, that you are reaching out,
that you have no idea of getting into a rut or becoming petrified in your
methods.
* * * * *
Thomas Brackett Reed, the famous Speaker of the House of Representatives
for many years, used to say that one-half of the battle in Congress is to
get the speaker’s eye. Get your prospect’s eye first of all, and then you
will not only get his attention, but you will interest and hold him. No
other feature has such power to command and hold as the eye.
It is said that the moment a wild beast tamer shows the slightest signs
of fear when he enters a cage of wild animals his game is up. They will
leap upon him and kill him. The animals watch the trainer’s eye and they
can very quickly tell when he has lost his courage or shows the slightest
sign of fear.
* * * * *
Remember that suggestion is the soul of salesmanship. The first thing you
should do when you go into a prospect’s office is to suggest harmony,
good will. Antidote all possible antagonism, kill prejudice. A pleasing
personality is all suggestion. Suggestion is the soul of advertising, and
to sell you must advertise. A salesman must be his own advertisement.
* * * * *
“JUST KEEP ON, KEEPIN’ ON.”
If the day looks kinder gloomy
And your chances kinder slim;
If the situation’s puzzlin’,
And the prospects awful grim;
And the prospects keep pressin’
Till all hope is nearly gone,
Just bristle up and grit your teeth,
And keep on, keepin’ on.
Fumin’ never wins a fight,
And frettin’ never pays;
There ain’t no use in broodin’
In these pessimistic ways.
Smile just kinder cheerfully,
When hope is nearly gone,
And bristle up and grit your teeth,
And keep on, keepin’ on.
There ain’t no use of growlin’,
And grumblin’ all the time,
When music’s ringing everywhere,
And everything’s a rhyme.
Just keep on smiling cheerfully,
If hope is nearly gone,
And bristle up and grit your teeth,
And keep on, keepin’ on.—SELECTED.
* * * * *
All salesmen may take to themselves the following advice on promises,
printed by Gimbel Brothers, for the benefit of all employees of their New
York store.—
“MAKE no promises which you cannot fulfill.”
“Every individual connected with this establishment is hereby instructed
not to make promises which cannot be absolutely satisfied.
“_You must fulfill at all costs those promises you do make; in behalf of
this business._”
* * * * *
“He who is content to rest upon his laurels, will soon have laurels
resting upon him.”
* * * * *
“A sour clerk will turn the sweetest customer.”
* * * * *
“A real salesman is one part talk and nine parts judgment; and he uses
the nine parts of judgment to tell when to use the one part of talk.”
* * * * *
Whenever you say “Good morning,” “Good afternoon,” or “Good evening,”
let your words be not only cheerful, but sincere. The only was to
be genuinely sincere is through cultivating a genuinely friendly
disposition. It is hard to fake sincerity. Many salesmen think they can,
but they only fool themselves. Learn to love mankind as a whole, and you
will then be able to be genuinely sincere with each unit in humanity.
* * * * *
“Never explain the nature of your business on the door-step—that
is, before you are advantageously placed in the presence of your
prospect.—Expect to get in, and you will.” These are the words of an
expert in salesmanship. Every expert realizes how full of truth they are.
* * * * *
A salesman must be self-possessed, which means that he should have no
fears. Keep before your mind constantly these facts: You are all right;
your goods are all right, and your house is all right; therefore you have
no cause for fear; you have every reason to be serene.
* * * * *
Keep your samples out of sight as much as possible, even for your regular
trade. Many salesmen leave their samples at the hotel, and call first on
prospective customers, making an appointment for a certain hour. This is
very effective, where possible. The display of goods is, unquestionably,
very helpful in selling, but it is a decided advantage to have part of
the stock out of sight. The element of curiosity comes in, and, as we
have explained, this helps to get the right kind of attention.
* * * * *
Carrying a cigar or a cigarette, even though freshly lighted, usually
detracts from a man’s appearance. A tooth-pick in evidence is always very
bad taste, and often it has been fatal to sales. Newspapers stuck into
pockets, or carried in one’s hand, suggest that a man is not all there,
that he is thinking more of the topics of the day than of his business.
They are evidence of lack of concentration, and more often than the
salesman may think he handicaps himself by having these in sight.
* * * * *
Jake Daubert, the well known authority in baseball, has concluded an
article on his specialty with these strong words of advice: “_Always
know ahead of time what you must do with the ball after you get it._”
To a salesman I would say—think out all possible difficulties that may
arise during the progress of a prospective sale. Be prepared for every
emergency. Cultivate patience, calmness, and celerity, for they give a
powerful advantage to their possessor.
* * * * *
Seizing the psychological moment is of great importance. Admiral Dewey
seized it very effectively when he gave the command, “You may fire when
you are ready, Gridley.” A salesman can win by “_firing_” at the right
moment. He can, likewise, and should, stop “_firing_” and close the deal
at the right moment. It is all psychological—a matter of mind meeting
mind.
* * * * *
Avoid as much as possible technical terms, unless you are talking to
customers who, you are sure, understand them. For instance, a Life
Insurance salesman makes a great mistake ordinarily, to talk about “legal
reserve,” “accrued dividends,” “extended insurance,” “paid-up values,”
“accelerative endowments,” “expense ratios,” “percentages of increase,”
etc. As a matter of fact, it is quite probable that a large number of
those to whom he talks will not understand even the words “liabilities”
and “assets.”
* * * * *
Many a salesman has been ruined or seriously injured by carrying a side
line. All of the great things of the world have been accomplished by
concentration upon a specialty.
* * * * *
A good tip to both young and old salesmen is, to study the business
producers both in your firm and out of your firm. Examine their methods;
learn to do what they have found effective; benefit by their strong
points; but beware of their weaknesses, for even the most successful
salesman will be found to have certain weak points, at times. You can
quickly and conclusively recognize these. Guard against them. While you
can learn much from older and more experienced salesmen, never be a
slavish copy of any one. Whatever you do be yourself.
* * * * *
Every time a man who is trying to hold an audience turns his eye from
it he cuts the magnetic current which is flowing between them and if he
does this often the people will get uneasy; they will begin to move in
their seats and he will lose his power over them.—His magnetic connection
with those he addresses is made through the eye. The trained speaker
knows this, and unlike the amateur who, from sheer nervousness, often
looks down to the floor, or refers to his notes when it is not absolutely
necessary to do so, he avoids everything that would tend to break the
magnetic current between himself and his audience.
Just here is a hint for the salesman. It is imperative that you should
keep this current between yourself and your prospect flowing freely. An
attractive personality added to the constant flow of magnetism through
your eye will rivet his attention and add immensely to your selling power.
* * * * *
THE SALESMAN’S IDEAL
I want my Selling Talk to be a Service Talk—one that will be worth
others’ time whether they buy my goods or not.
I want it to tell only the truth, and that as fully as may be.
To be a perfectly human statement easily understood by others.
To show simply and plainly how both I and my goods can serve.
To contain Wit only as that conforms to Wisdom.
To be presented in full view of the fact that every man’s time is his
property—only to be secured by honest methods.
To result from personal self-persuasion, as I would wish to persuade
others.
To prove of such real value to patrons that my goods shall be always to
the fore rather than myself.
To so demonstrate the Merits of my goods and service, that others will
crave them when in need of either.
This is my ideal.—SELECTED.
* * * * *
WHY THIS SALESMAN DID NOT SUCCEED
He was too anxious.
He could not read human nature.
He did not know how to approach his prospect.
There was not a real man back of the solicitor.
He scattered too much; could not concentrate his talk.
He knew enough, but could not tell it in an interesting way.
He tired the prospect out before he got down to business, and could not
see when he was boring him.
He went to his prospective customer in the spirit of “I will try” instead
of “I will.”
He could not take a rebuff good-naturedly.
He ran down his competitor and disgusted his prospect.
He did not believe he could get an order when he went for it.
He tried to make circulars and letters do the work of a personal canvass.
He unloaded cheap lines and off-style goods on one customer and then
bragged about it to the next.
He did not thoroughly believe in the thing he was trying to sell, and of
course could not convince others.
He was too easily discouraged; if he did not secure orders from the first
man he solicited, he lost heart and gave up.
He did not concentrate on one line. He carried side lines. He thought if
he could not sell one thing, he could another.
He did not have enough reserve argument to overcome objections. He lacked
resourcefulness.
He had to spend most of his time trying to overcome a bad first
impression.
He gave the impression that he was a beggar instead of the representative
of a reliable house.
He did not look out for the man at the other end of the bargain.
He overcanvassed. He said so many good things about the article he was
selling that the prospect did not believe they were true.
He was polite only while he thought he was going to get an order, but
when turned down, got mad and said disagreeable, cutting things.
He lacked tact or the power of adaptability; he always used the same line
of argument, no matter what the man’s position, degree of intelligence,
temperament or mood might be.
He did not have a proper appreciation of the dignity of his work. He
thought people would look upon him as a peddler.
He did not like the business; his heart was not in it; and he intended
working at it only until he could get a better job.
He never liked to mix with people, and therefore was not popular.
He did not organize himself, could not work to a plan, had no program.
He introduced politics and his fads in business.
He didn’t realize that every sale is an advertisement for or against the
house.
He was always gloomy and despondent. He carried his samples in a hearse.
He did not believe it paid to be accommodating.
* * * * *
WHY THIS SALESMAN SUCCEEDED
He thoroughly believed in the things he was trying to sell.
He was tactful and knew how to approach people.
He did not waste a customer’s time but was quick to the point.
He concentrated on what he was selling.
He was reliable and gave one the impression that he stood for good
merchandise.
He approached a customer with the conviction that he would win his order
and he usually did.
He worked hard.
He was always looking out for the man at the other end of the bargain.
He stopped when he had convinced his prospect and did not raise doubts by
boring him.
THE END