Certain Success Part 18

In order to make him appreciate better just what your contemplated job means, you can _separate_ it into the different functions you will perform. The mere fact that the job has a great many parts will be effective in impressing him with the idea that it is worth more pay.

Then you can take each part or function of your job and show it as a _whole_ opportunity. For instance, if you are a correspondent, you might demonstrate just how letters of different length could be s.p.a.ced on the stationery to develop a uniformly artistic impression that would help to get more business by mail.

All your imaginative powers can be made to work _together_ to accomplish the one certain result you desire. "Constructive imagination is always characterized by a definite purpose, which never is lost sight of until the image is complete."

[Sidenote: Friendly Courage]

Thousands of men have failed, after getting right up to the door of opportunity, because they had to turn away in order to screw up their _courage_. No one can hope to succeed if he lacks _the quality of bravery necessary to gain chances_.

True bravery is not c.o.c.kiness or swaggering. It is simply a _kindly self-confidence_ that makes no impression of a threat to others, and gives no suggestion that the man who has it feels there is the slightest reason for being afraid of anybody else.

[Sidenote: No One To Fear]

Really, if you have planned just how to approach each prospect with a true service purpose, there is no one in the world you need to fear.

Lack of courage is usually due to lack of preparation for what might be antic.i.p.ated. Sometimes a man is fearful of another because of his own consciousness that he has come to that other man princ.i.p.ally for the purpose of _taking something away from him_. This consciousness causes a guilty feeling, which undermines courage. If through imaginative planning you know in advance about what to expect, and if you feel your intentions toward your prospect are absolutely square, you will not be afraid to seek your chance anywhere. Your courage will not ooze.

[Sidenote: "Right is Might"]

True courage is based on a _permanent consciousness of right feeling and thinking, coupled with the sense of power_ that is expressed in the maxim, "Right is might." Such courage can be developed by the discriminative-restrictive process with absolute certainty, as is explained in the companion book, "The Selling Process."

[Sidenote: Big Mental Outlook]

Our study of plans of approach would be incomplete without emphasizing the prime necessity for a _big mental outlook_. To a.s.sure your success in gaining the chances you want it is necessary that you vision imaginary situations of the future and fit into them the facts you know now or may be able to learn.

However, you cannot develop maximum skill in gaining your chances if you are unable to learn anything except through personal experience.

Personal experience is valuable, no doubt. But you must develop the ability to _think out the significance of other men's experiences_, and must be capable of _applying what you learn to your own imaginary use_.

The big view-point, the ability to learn from observation as well as from experience, will develop in you broad and varied conceptions of other men. It will make you tolerant of characteristics that differ widely from your own. You will respect the view-point of the other fellow, and will recognize that he may be perfectly fair in his att.i.tude and opinions, however widely he may differ from your ideas. Your big mental outlook should make you feel friendly toward him as your prospect, and you can make the approach of _courage that is friendly_.

[Sidenote: The Sentry And the Pa.s.sword]

Perhaps you will meet opposition to your entrance when you come to gain your chance. It is likely that some sentry in the outer office of your prospect, or the sentry of his own mind when you reach his presence, may halt you at the portal of opportunity with the challenge, "Who goes there?"

Your answer should be spoken confidently, "A friend."

The test will then be made by the sentry, "Advance, friend, and give the countersign."

_The secret pa.s.s-word to Opportunity is, "Service."_

Prove you know the countersign, speak it with courage, and you will find yourself no longer an object of suspicion, no longer regarded as a possible enemy.

_You have nothing to fear if you plan to approach your prospect as a true friend who has come with a carefully thought out, intelligent offer of service that he lacks._

CHAPTER VII

_Knowledge of Other Men_

[Sidenote: Unlocking The Other Man's Heart And Mind]

We have seen how you can make certain of _gaining_ your introductory chance. Now we are to consider the first step in the _most effective use_ of this opportunity to begin building your own success.

Let us say that you have chosen a particular man as the sort of employer with whom you want to work. Your prospecting has convinced you that in his business you have found the right market for your present services and a promising field for the future big success you are ambitious to achieve. Therefore you wish to sell him a true idea of your best capabilities. We will a.s.sume that you have pa.s.sed the threshold of his private office, but your object in calling upon him has not yet entered _his thoughts and feelings_.

Before you state the ideas and service intention you have brought, make certain of the best possible reception from him. You need to take every practicable precaution against being rebuffed. You want to a.s.sure yourself of a welcome. Having gained this chance to start the sale of your capabilities, it is of vital importance not to take the next step in the selling process _blindly_, lest you stumble. Hence you should _size up_ the other man before you announce your purpose in calling.

What you may learn from reading his character correctly will help you to gain admittance into his mind for your ideas. It should a.s.sure a welcome from his heart for your sincere desire to serve him.

[Sidenote: Skeleton Key Unavailing]

Golden opportunities to succeed in a particular business cannot be unlocked with a skeleton key of knowledge about human nature. Knowledge of _all_ men supplies merely the shaft and general shape of the key blank, which must then be notched and filed to fit the characteristics of the individual whose mind and heart you wish to open for the admission of your ideas and feelings. Unless you can get into that _one_ mind and that _one_ heart with your service purpose, you will be shut out from the opportunity you want. It is important that you know the traits of men in general, of course. Such knowledge, however, should be supplemented by a _specific_ and true conception of the particular man through whom you hope to reach your chance to succeed.

Do not confuse in your present thoughts the process of _prospecting_ the characteristics of a man _before_ meeting him, with the later process of _sizing him up at the time of the interview_. It is highly important to acc.u.mulate in advance as much knowledge as possible of your prospect's individual traits. But what you learned about your chosen future employer before you gained the chance to present your ideas to him in his office should be used _merely as a guide_ in sizing him up on the spot.

[Sidenote: Stop, Look, Listen]

Take nothing for granted now. Through your personal, specific observation either confirm or disprove every item of information that has come to you from other people previous to meeting this man face to face. Your informants may or may not have had correct conceptions of his characteristics. It would be unwise, even unsafe, for you to rely implicitly on _their_ judgment of him. You need to _be certain you know him as he really is_; so that you can present your purpose with the confidence a skilled salesman feels when he is sure he understands the princ.i.p.al traits of the prospect he is addressing. In reaching this man you have gained your first chance. You cannot afford to risk losing it by haste. _Do not advance farther in the selling process until you have made certain of the ground you are to tread._ It is very bad salesmanship to begin introducing ideas and feelings to a mind and heart that are unknown to you except from hearsay.

"But," you say, "I'm not a mind reader. And I can't look into another man's heart."

True. Yet you should be able to read the _signs_ of his thoughts; which he manifests in his words, tones, and acts. And you need not see into _his_ heart to know what it contains; since fundamentally _all_ men are much alike at heart. Just look clearly into your own heart at its best.

You will find there the basic emotions and feelings that civilized men have in common everywhere.

[Sidenote: Character a.n.a.lysis by Types Not Reliable]

Character a.n.a.lysis by "types" is unreliable. I believe as little in phrenology as in palm-reading. I have directed thousands of men in business. Personal experience has proved to me that the _permanent_ structure of a particular human body is not an invariably true index to the characteristics of the inner, or ego man who owns that body.

He has had no control over the color of his hair or eyes. He cannot reshape the bones of his face, nor alter the b.u.mps on his head. To believe that such permanent structural details of the "natural" _outer_ man determine or denote the peculiar apt.i.tudes of the _inner_ man is to credit the exploded doctrine of fore-ordination.

Therefore, when you have gained the chance to present your capabilities for sale to a chosen prospect with whom you believe you will have the best opportunities to succeed, and when you are swiftly shaping your presentation plans to fit his personality, don't size up merely the factors of his make-up with which he was born. You will be apt to mistake his true character if you have come to his office with the delusion that the blonde type of man is fundamentally different _in nature_ from the brunette type. Get out of your head any misconception that a man is foredoomed to practically certain failure in a particular career because he has a big nose, sloping brow, and receding chin; and that another man with a snub nose, bulging forehead, and protruding jaw is destined almost surely to succeed if he selects a certain vocation.

No "mind man" with a normal, healthy body is limited in his possibilities of success by being born with red, or black, or tow hair; or because the bones of his head happen to be shaped in a particular way. The ego is the master, not the slave, of the body.

[Sidenote: True Signs of Character]

_The true signs of character are to be read only in the words, tones, and movements_ of a man--and in his muscle structure _as he has developed it_ or has left it _undeveloped_. We already have seen in a previous chapter how a mind center and its co-ordinated set of muscles develop each other. So the positive characteristics of the inner man are revealed clearly by the muscle structure built up by his habits of thinking and feeling and action. On the other hand, his deficiency in certain mental and emotional development is indicated negatively by his lack of the muscle structure that naturally would be co-ordinate with such development.

The relation of muscular development to mental development, as explained in an earlier chapter, suggests the one _sure_ way to judge a man's habits of thinking. _Observe discriminatingly his various muscle structures, and his muscle activities in detail._ The development of certain sets of _muscles_ proves a co-ordinate development of the _mind centers_ most directly connected with these muscle structures.

Similarly the _mental action_ of a man is indicated by his _physical manifestations_ with his muscles in movements.

Hence if you learn to read the _mental significance of particular muscle structures and of particular muscle actions_, you will be able to size up both the _habits_ of thought (individual characteristics) of a man, and what he happens to be thinking _at the time_ you come to present your services or ideas for sale.

[Sidenote: Recapitulation]

Before going on with our study of the subject of this chapter, let us summarize the preceding pages to make sure that we know thoroughly the somewhat difficult but very important ground we have gone over thus far.

You chose a certain man as your prospective employer because you believe that if you succeed in a.s.sociating yourself with him you will have the best opportunities to achieve your ambition. You are now standing in his presence. You need to size up his true character quickly in order that you may be sure of presenting your capabilities in the particular way that is likely to be most effective with him. You wish to impress this one man with right ideas of your qualities and their value. You want him to perceive that he lacks and requires just such services as you purpose to offer for sale. You realize it is unsafe for you to jump at conclusions about his characteristics. You pause briefly to size him up before presenting your proposition, rather than to proceed blindly in ignorance of his habits of thought, and with no clue to what he happens to be thinking at the time you call. You must know all it is possible to find out on the spot regarding him.