_Getting Yourself Wanted_
[Sidenote: Show a Need For Your Services]
A great many salesmen mistakenly believe that if they can interest a
prospect thoroughly in their goods, he is almost sure to buy. When this
stage is reached, they think they only need to keep his interest growing
to close the sale. If, instead, it drags on interminably, they are
utterly at a loss regarding what _more_ they should do to secure the
order.
Do not fall into a similar error when selling true ideas of your best
capabilities. Not only is it necessary that you induce your prospective
employer's _interest_ in your personal qualifications, but you need to
make him realize there is a _present lack_ in his business which you can
fill to his satisfaction. _You must get yourself wanted._
You might make an excellent first impression on the man you have chosen
as your future chief. He might listen attentively to your presentation
of ideas, and question you so interestedly that you would expect him to
say at any moment, "All right. The job is yours." Then, instead of
engaging your services, he might remark, "I'll keep your name on file."
Or he might say, "I know a man who probably could use you. I'll give
you a note to him." You would win a cordial farewell handshake from your
prospect, but not an acceptance of your proposal to work with him. You
would leave without the job. _Your failure would be due to your
inability to get yourself sufficiently wanted_.
[Sidenote: See Yourself Through Your Prospect's Eyes]
Now imagine yourself in the place of this employer. See your application
through his eyes. Unless you can look at yourself from the prospect's
viewpoint, you may not comprehend your deficiency in salesmanship.
The employer upon whom you called said to himself while you were trying
to sell your services, "Here is a very attractive man. He presents an
interesting proposition. But I have no real need for such an employee;
therefore it would be poor business for me to engage him, much as I
should like to do so. I am sorry that at present I have no place for him
in my organization. He's a man I'd like to keep track of, so I'll file
his name and address for possible future reference. Meanwhile I'll give
him a note to my friend Smith. I hate to turn him down cold; he's such a
fine man."
Evidently the employer did not feel a _lack_ in his own business. You
failed to make him realize any _need_ for your services.
[Sidenote: Proving A Need]
Contrast with this illustration the case of an efficiency engineer who
secured his chance to overhaul a factory by demonstrating to a
manufacturer that he needed a new order-checking system. The engineer
"beat" the old system and brought to the manufacturer's office a lot of
goods he had secured that could not be checked. His salesmanship
compelled attention, induced thorough interest, and proved there was a
hole that should be filled. When the lack was shown convincingly, the
manufacturer wanted it satisfied. The sale of the engineer's services
was quickly closed.
[Sidenote: Getting Yourself Wanted Is Only One Step Ahead]
Do not jump to the conclusion that you are sure of the job you desire,
just as soon as you get yourself wanted. You are not yet at the end of
the selling process. The prospect has only been conducted successfully
another step forward toward your goal. _The moment after he realizes the
lack in his business, he is apt to question most critically your
qualifications for filling it._
[Sidenote: Analysis Naturally Follows Desire]
_As soon as a man begins to feel a real tug of desire for anything, he
examines it with new, increased interest to make sure there isn't
something the matter with it._ The suit of clothes that only induces his
interest in a shop window is passed by after a look. However, if he says
to himself, "That's the kind of suit I want," he goes in and examines
the workmanship and the cloth, in search of faults. The salesman may
need to overcome certain objections of his prospect before the order can
be secured.
But we have not reached the objections stage of the uncompleted sale.
That is the subject of the next chapter. Let us retrace our steps to
study the essence of the art of getting yourself wanted.
[Sidenote: Two-part Process of Getting Yourself Wanted]
There are two parts to the process. First, you must show the prospect
what he lacks; that in his business there is _an unoccupied opportunity
for such services as you believe you are capable of rendering to his
benefit and satisfaction_. Second, you need to _picture yourself filling
the place and giving the service_; to show him imaginatively _your
qualifications at work in his business_.
[Sidenote: Sincerity Of Service Purpose]
Of course it is primarily necessary that you believe in your own
capability, and in the value to the other man of the qualities you have
brought to him for sale. Unless you have this feeling yourself, you will
not be likely to draw out his reciprocating desire for your services.
You are not dealing now with his mind. _Desire proceeds from the heart.
It is emotional, not mental_. The least suspicion of your insincerity
would check your prospect's feeling that he wants you as an employee.
You must feel that you have come with a purpose of genuine service, and
you must draw out his similar feeling.
[Sidenote: Desire Comes Out of the Heart]
When you knocked at the door of your prospect's mind, and when you
sought to induce his welcome for your ideas, your object was to get him
to take your thoughts _into_ his head. The line of action is _reversed_
at the desire stage of the selling process. Until now _you_ have been
the moving party. You have been getting yourself and your ideas into his
consciousness. But while attention and interest are _receptive_
processes, the emotion of genuine desire starts with an _outward moving
impulse from the prospect_. It isn't enough that he open his heart and
let you enter, as he has admitted your ideas to his mind. _If he really
wants you, his feeling of desire will come out after you_.
[Sidenote: Service Value is Appreciated]
You have revealed to your prospect a lack in his business, and have
pictured yourself filling it to his satisfaction. You have done him a
double service. It is human nature to _appreciate_ such a genuine
service, and to _want more_ like it. The first service is accepted with
appreciation, but when the square man wants more _he makes a move to get
it, and expects to pay for it_. As soon as you have shown the lack and
your ability to fill it, and have pictured yourself "on the job," it
will be natural for your prospect to want you there in fact.
The colored porter who washed the windows and scrubbed floors in the
general offices of a manufacturing corporation was ambitious to rise in
the social scale and to earn a larger salary. One evening he went to
the private office of the president, and presented for sale an idea of
his capability for a different job.
[Sidenote: Official Welcomer Wanted]
"Boss," he began, "You-all ain't got nobody dere to de front doah to
make folks feel welcome-like when dey comes in heah. Down in Virginny my
ol' gran-pap useter weah a dress suit ever' day an' jist Stan' in de
front hall of his ol' massa's house, a-waitin' to bow an' smile to
comp'ny whad'd come in. If you'll jist rent me one o' dem dar suits,
Boss, I could stan' out in the front office an' make folks feel we wuz
glad to see 'um, lak' mah gran'pap did. When ennybody comes heah now,
dey ain't nobody pays much 'tention to 'um. You'd orter git somebody on
dat job, Boss; an' I reckon I'm jist 'bout cut out foh it, suh."
The colored man compelled attention by presenting himself at the door of
the sanctum. He induced interest in his proposal. Then, in addition, _he
pointed out a lack and that he could fill it_. Immediately the president
_visioned_ the old darkey as an official welcomer, and _wanted_ him. _He
reached right out for the service offered_. The sale was closed at once,
and the colored man shone in his new glories within a week.
[Sidenote: Conflict of Heart and Mind]
Often a man desires with his heart things that his mind does not
approve. Therefore when you work to get yourself wanted, _appeal to the
heart of your prospect, rather than to his mind_. Then if _his_ mind
raises objections to his desire for your services, _your_ mind at a
later stage of the selling process will overcome or get around his
mental opposition. When the time for that step arrives, _his heart_ will
already have been won as _your ally_, and will help you dispose of the
objections _his mind_ has raised.
[Sidenote: Get Yourself Liked]
As a preliminary to getting yourself wanted, get yourself _liked_. Make
such an impression, do and say such things, as will draw out of the
heart of your prospect _a friendly feeling_ for you. You know of people
who have been boosted to notable successes because influential men took
personal interest in their advancement.
I recall an office boy who was always ready to perform little extra
services. He held his employer's overcoat one day, and the boss rather
absent-mindedly handed him a tip. The boy shook his head and declined
the dime.
"I didn't do that for a tip. You always treat me fine, and I just like
to show you I appreciate it."
The boy's _heart had spoken_, and the employer's _heart responded at
once with an especial liking_ for the lad. The seed of personal interest
having been planted in the heart of the president, his liking grew. The
boy was advanced to better and better positions. He made good on his
merits, but he was helped very much because his employer _wanted_ him to
succeed.
[Sidenote: The Common Heart of Man]
Reference has previously been made to the fundamental likeness of all
men at heart and to their differences in mind. Send out with your voice
an appeal to only the _minds_ of your audience--read a table of
statistics, for example--and it will affect all your hearers
_differently, depending on the mental characteristics of each
individual_. But tell a story of great courage, of self-sacrifice, of
love--_the same fundamental effect_ will be produced on all the _hearts_
in the audience; though, of course, the various individuals will respond
with _different degrees of emotional intensity_.
As has been said before, in order to look into the heart of another man
you need but see clearly into your own. There you will find all the
emotions of human nature, no matter how you may differ from other men in
mentality. Hence if you would prompt the heart of another man to want
your services, just _do the things he would need to do to win your
liking for him_. Imagine the cases reversed, and be guided in your
selling process by what you see.
[Sidenote: Popular Men]
To look at this step from another angle--_if you would be likable, you
must find other men likable_. If you like people only within a limited
range, you will similarly narrow your own likableness. If, however, you
genuinely like all men--like them for their faults and frailties as well
as for their merits--you will appeal to the intuitive heart of any other
man. You will draw out his liking for you because _the magnetic power
of your own heart will not be restricted_ to pulling your way the
friendly feelings of only a few people. Instead, you will be a "popular"
man, a man who is _generally_ well liked.
You meet certain men whom you like at sight. You desire further
acquaintance, or friendship with them. But these men have not prepared
themselves to suit _you_ in particular. Most _other_ people who meet
them have the _same feeling_ toward them that you experience. The men
you like at sight, and who make friends wherever they go have developed
in themselves _feelings of friendliness for all men_. As like breeds
like, liking draws liking.
[Sidenote: Artificial Methods Never Deceive The Heart]
If you try to develop particular traits, only because you believe they
will attract other men to you, you will not make your nature likable.
Such _artificial methods_ of making yourself attractive _never deceive
heart intuitions_. You will not become popular by proceeding
_selfishly_. But if you develop within yourself a heartfelt interest in
your fellow men, if you are full of genuine desire to serve them with
your friendship, _you will attract the liking of nearly all the people
you meet_. They will want to know you better and to be your friends.
[Sidenote: No Insulation Against Human Magnetism]
There is "no sich critter" as a natural grouch. A man who has that
reputation is _repressing his natural emotions_--that is all. He does
not express his true feelings. He attempts to deny that he has them.
_But they are inside him, and you can pull them toward you_ if you bring
your likableness to bear upon his heart. He will feel the tug, and will
be drawn to you by your magnetic power. _There is no insulation that can
prevent the pull of human magnetism_. So treat the crab with a feeling
of real liking for the human nature inside, and don't be discouraged by
his shell. Be more than ordinarily likable when you have to deal with a
surly prospect. Exert all the magnetism you have. He will feel drawn to
you. You will get yourself wanted.
J. Pierpont Morgan, Senior, was noted for being unapproachable. But it
is said that he took a great liking to a certain newsboy who never acted
afraid of him and who treated him as an ordinary mortal. This gamin
always had a cheery word for everybody. That he made no exception in Mr.
Morgan's case won the heart of the austere financier, who helped the boy
to get an education and to start in business.
[Sidenote: Do Not Over-sell Likability]
The emphasis placed on the importance of likableness as the _principal_
factor in getting yourself wanted may have made you forget the _primary_
necessity of showing your prospect _a real lack in his business, and
that you are capable of filling it_. It is possible to attract an
employer's liking for you, whether he has a place for you or not. But
his liking will do you no good unless you can also make him see he has a
need for you.
_Success is not to be won by getting in where you are not wanted,
however likable you may be_. You must sell the idea of your service
_value_ as well as the ideas that your services would be _liked_. You
_cannot over-develop_ the quality of likableness, but you _can
over-sell_ it, to the detriment of your own best interest.
[Sidenote: A Winning Personality Sometimes Fails]
One of the most conspicuous failures I know is a man who has "a winning
personality." Times without number his genuine agreeableness has won him
fine chances to succeed, but in the positions he has held he has never
studied the needs of his employers for other qualities than likability.
Consequently he has fallen down on all his big chances. Today he is just
a popular door man for a big department store. His intelligence and his
physical ability are so evident that he is an object of pity and wonder
as he smiles and bows to customers of the store. Undoubtedly if he had
studied the different opportunities he has had, and had fitted himself
into all the requirements of a particular situation, his winning
personality would have helped him higher and higher toward the mountain
peaks of success instead of leaving him on an ant hill.
[Sidenote: Three Impressions Necessary]
Of course the mind of your prospective employer acts in co-ordination
with his heart when you attract him so much that he really wants the
service you proffer. He imagines you rendering that service. He thinks
what "might be" if you were associated with his business. He paints
mental pictures that please him, and he wishes his vision to come true.
But when he begins to imagine you rendering service, the picture of your
agreeable personality will not be pleasant to him if he sees that he
doesn't really need you. _In order to get yourself wanted it is
necessary that you show him the lack, and that you can fill it, and that
you would be likable when filling it_. If you make these three
impressions on the mind and heart of your prospect, your success in your
purpose will be assured. You will not fail to get yourself wanted.
[Sidenote: Desire is Turning Point Of the Sale]
In salesmanship "desire is the determinant of the sale." By this is
meant that _when the salesman sufficiently stimulates a real desire in
his prospect, he has climbed the highest grade of difficulty_. If he is
skillful, the selling process from then on should be comparatively easy
sledding. You realize that if you can get yourself wanted by an
employer, the matter of landing a job in his business should not be
hard. We therefore are considering now _the turning point in the process
of selling the true idea of your best capabilities in the right field_.
After you get yourself wanted, the odds are no longer against you, but
grow increasingly in your favor. If, having succeeded in getting
yourself wanted, you then fail in your ultimate purpose, you should
blame no one but yourself.
[Sidenote: The Use of Tactful Suggestion]
A very skillful use of _tact and diplomacy_ is necessary to success in
pointing out to a prospect something that he lacks, and your capability
for filling that lack. A man is apt to resent your "picking flaws" in
his business. He is likely to regard you as an egotist if you _assert_
that he needs you. You will not get yourself wanted if you make the
impression that you are a critical fault-finder with "the big-head."
Rather, you should pattern after the example of the professional
salesman of goods. In the processes of persuasion and creating desire he
employs the arts of _suggestion in preference to making direct
statements_. He is a tactful diplomat. Learn from his methods, as
explained in "The Selling Process."
You have come to a chosen employer, with a real service purpose; but be
careful not to _offend_ in your presentation. Do not bring him your idea
for improving his business as if it were a great discovery you have
made. He won't like it if you open his eyes to his lacks in that
fashion. You might better suggest that while you have perceived what he
needs, you have no doubt he either has seen it already or would have
perceived it if his time and attention had not been engrossed by other
things. You will be liked if you so present a picture of the lack and of
yourself satisfying it.
[Sidenote: Rubbing the Prospect the Wrong Way]
_You are apt to get yourself cordially disliked if you rub your
prospect's pride in his business the wrong way_.
An accountant sought an opportunity to become the auditor for a
manufacturing corporation. He had gained considerable "inside knowledge"
of the company's lax business methods. But when talking to the president
he exaggerated the relative importance of these defects. In his
eagerness to impress the executive with the need for an auditor, he
over-drew the danger from leaks in the company's accounting system. The
president was exasperated. His pride was stung. What had been said
reflected on his capability as an executive. So he turned savagely on
the accountant.
"If we're so rotten as all that," he snarled, "how could we make money
and pay dividends? No doubt you are right in your criticisms of our
methods. But if I had a man like you around here, continually finding
fault and picking everybody and everything to pieces, the whole business
would be demoralized. The ideas you have brought to me are worth a
thousand dollars, and I'll give you my check for that, but no crepe
hanger can work for me."
[Sidenote: Avoid Teaching]
When you present your capabilities for sale, don't suggest that you
think your prospect's business will go to the "demnition bow-wows" if
your services are not engaged. _Understate the lack and your fitness to
fill it_. You may be sure the employer will appreciate fully the value
of the new ideas you bring, and the worth of your services.
[Sidenote: Pope's Rule]
None of us really like "teachers." Nowadays the most successful
educational methods follow the rule laid down by Alexander Pope, "Men
must be taught as if you taught them not; and things unknown proposed as
things forgot." Do not suggest that you are a "know it all." Much less
make the impression that the other man does not know. Communicate to him
the idea that you believe he has overlooked the lack to which you call
his attention. With modest confidence present your capabilities. You
need not assert in words that you will fill the bill. Your prospect can
see that. In everything you suggest and say, show that you genuinely
like him and his business. Manifest sincere admiration. _Make him feel
that you have come to his office because you especially want to work
there. That will make him want you in his service_. Use suggestion to
increase his desire for you.
[Sidenote: Reduce Resistance By Suggestion]
_Direct_ presentation of ideas indicates an intention to inform, to
teach, to direct the mind of the other man. Every human individual,
whether a child or a centenarian, _re-acts in opposition_ to such an
effort at instruction. There is something in all of us alike which makes
us wish to think and decide for ourselves. Hence the value of the art of
suggestion in getting yourself wanted.
Ideas you _suggest_ enter the mind of the other man so unobtrusively
that _he does not realize you originated them_. He has no feeling that
you intend to influence his mind. Consequently he makes no resistance to
the suggested ideas. _It never pays to reason when selling an idea;
because reasoning invariably brings out a reaction of opposition_. You
will not create a desire for your services by presenting them
_logically_, or by making an _argument_ regarding your capabilities. One
of the greatest students of the human mind assures us that "most persons
never perform an act of pure reasoning; but all their acts are the
results of imitation, habit, suggestion, or some related form of
thinking."
[Sidenote: Three Reasons For Using Suggestion]
Suggestion is remarkably effective in persuading and in arousing desire
because:
First, _every "suggested" idea is accepted as absolutely true unless it
is contradicted by other ideas already in the mind of the prospect_.
This is because the prospect thinks a _suggested_ idea is his. He adopts
it and makes it his own. That is, his mind takes the suggestion and
interprets it in terms of his own thoughts. Of course he believes what
he himself thinks. _Say_ to a prospective employer that you would
particularly like to work in association with him, and he may believe
you are "shooting hot air." He will have no such feeling if you tell him
details about his business that have especially interested you. _Show_
him that you have been studying and observing his methods. Give him to
understand that you have also investigated other businesses. Thus
without _saying_ it, you _suggest_ to his mind that you have come to his
office because you really would prefer to be employed there. He will
believe the suggested idea; though he might have scoffed at the
statement.
[Sidenote: Suggestion Avoids Contradiction]
Second, _suggestion is effective in persuasion and in arousing desire
because suggested ideas which include no comparisons or criticisms very
seldom arouse contradictory attitudes of mind_. The suggested idea
enters the mind of the other man quietly, unaccompanied by a blare of
the trumpet "I Tell You." Opposing ideas are not aware of its presence
until it has supplanted them. _Suggest_ to a chosen employer that he
_means_ to be up-to-date, and he agrees. If you _say_ his methods are
behind the times, he will be apt to defend them instead of following
your lead along the line of suggested improvements.
[Sidenote: Suggested Ideas Tend to Action]
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_.
[Sidenote: Selling Henry Ford]
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.
[Sidenote: Statement Avoided Suggestion Used]
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.
[Sidenote: Negative Suggestions]
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_.
[Sidenote: Speak the Prospect's Language]
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_.
[Sidenote: Deceptive Suggestions]
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.
[Sidenote: Motive of Suggestion]
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_.
[Sidenote: Over-Suggestion of Ability]
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.
[Sidenote: Selling Out To Competitor]
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.
[Sidenote: Self-Respect]
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_.
[Sidenote: Postpone Criticism Until Desire Is Stimulated]
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_.
[Sidenote: Right Time to "Face The Music"]
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.
[Sidenote: Concentrate On Suggesting Qualifications]
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_.
[Sidenote: Gaining Prospect's Confidence]
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_.
[Sidenote: Picture Yourself 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.
[Sidenote: No Doubt About Success]
_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.