Certain Success Part 22

There are many more such _favorable sense impressions_ which you could make by simply standing in manly erectness while waiting to receive the exclusive attention of your prospect. You might employ all the sense-hitting features of bearing and manner referred to above. The effect of the sum of these would be the _forced agreeable attention_ of your prospect. He simply could not help noticing the various items that would strike his different senses; nor could he help being agreeably impressed; though he might not give you any indication of the effect you had compelled.

[Sidenote: Continual Attention Necessary]

It is highly important that you should be able first to _gain_ the favorable attention of your prospect, and second to _hold_ it until his interest is aroused. It may also be necessary for you to _regain_ his attention if it is temporarily lost and diverted to some other object.

The master salesman realizes it is essential to have the attention of his prospect _continually centered_ upon the ideas presented, _throughout the selling process_. Only a poor salesman of ideas would go right on talking, even though it might be clearly evident that he did not have the exclusive attention of the man addressed.

[Sidenote: Regaining Attention]

When you proffer your capabilities for purchase by a prospective employer, do not make the mistake of continuing to present your best selling points if you have any doubt that his attention is exclusively yours. _Stop your selling process if his attention wanders or is diverted_. Use the sense-hitting method to compel it to _come back_ to you and your ideas. If some one should enter his office while you are talking to him, or if his telephone should ring, stop short in your presentation. (Your sudden silence, in itself, will be attention compelling.) Do not go on with your sales presentation until the interruption is over. Then use some sense-hitting method of making sure that his attention is again concentrated on you and your ideas.

[Sidenote: Sense Hitting]

An acquaintance of mine who had especially fitted himself for business correspondence, typed striking paragraphs taken from form letters he had devised and pasted the slips of paper on stiff filing cards. He carried with him to his interview with the president of a large corporation about thirty-five or forty of these cards. His prospecting had indicated that in the course of the half hour he had planned to take up with a presentation of his capabilities this executive would be interrupted often by telephone calls and the entrance of subordinates. The salesman's size-up also revealed that his prospect's attention was likely to wander to the things on his desk. From time to time when the correspondent was presenting his ideas the president reached out his hand and picked up a paper. Evidently he was inclined to give but flighty attention to his caller.

[Sidenote: Striking More Than One Sense]

The salesman, however, had "come loaded" for exactly this situation. He had worked out his selling plan in detail. As he developed idea after idea, he used a device for regaining attention by hitting at the prospect's senses of _sight_ and _hearing_. Just as soon as the president's hand wandered to a paper, the salesman ruffled the cards he held, quickly selected one, and clicked it down on the desk top before his prospect. He had to do this perhaps a dozen times before he felt confident he had clinched the interest of the executive. If the salesman had used words merely, what, he said in presenting his ideas to the prospect might have gone in one ear and out the other. But his action of ruffling the cards struck the president's senses of sight and hearing compellingly; as did the clicking of the card on the desk top when it was presented for reading. Repeatedly the return of the prospect's wandering attention was forced subconsciously; yet no disagreeable impression was made on his conscious mind. In the course of half an hour the correspondent succeeded in selling his services at a very satisfactory salary.

[Sidenote: "Come Loaded"]

If you similarly "come loaded" for sense-hitting, you will be able to get your prospect's attention originally, and to regain it whenever it is temporarily lost. In advance of your call on the man to whom you want to sell your services, think out things you can do that will strike one or more of his senses forcibly, without making disagreeable impressions.

You can take with you to the interview specimens of your work, or testimonials; and hold them in your hand where they will attract notice.

Or you might plan to use attention-compelling gestures.

[Sidenote: Tone Variations]

Changes of tone will make the other man "perk up his ears" if his attention wanders; so plan to introduce variety into your manner of speaking. Don't just open the spigot of your mind and let your ideas run out in a monotone. Variety of voice is pleasing, as well as attention-compelling.

I know a salesman who is in the habit of using a spotlessly clean big handkerchief to help him keep the prospect's mind concentrated on the proposition being presented. Whenever the other man's attention is diverted, this salesman whisks his handkerchief from his pocket and touches his lips with it. The flash of white hits the sight-sense of the prospect and brings back his wandering attention to the salesman.

[Sidenote: Sense Hitting Should Help The Sale]

But such devices are superficial. _The best sense-hitting means of compelling attention, directly relates some sense effect to the salesman's purpose._

The correspondent who ruffled his cards and clicked them down on the prospect's desk would not have been so successful if on each card he had not pasted a specimen of his work as an efficient letter writer. If he had brought a pack of blank cards, for example, the repeated use of his device for getting attention might have irritated the other man. To a.n.a.lyze the ill.u.s.tration further; if the correspondent had brought the specimens of his work on letter paper, not pasted on stiff cards, they would have been much less effective. He could not have ruffled them, and would have been unable to make the clicking sound he used to hit the other man's ears.

[Sidenote: Suggesting Capability]

Suppose you apply for a situation as a bookkeeper or an accountant. One of the best sense-hitting devices you could use to compel attention to your ability would be a collection of complicated tabulations in your handwriting, made neatly without a correction or an erasure. Such an exhibit of painstaking workmanship, if complemented by a neat, attractive personal appearance, would _force_ the employer to _notice_ you and the proofs of your qualifications. You certainly would make a most favorable impression. Your prospect would imagine his books and records as you would keep them. When presenting the evidences of your capability as an accountant, you could suggest other qualities than those mentioned--such as the proper pride of a good workman, serious earnestness, dignity, keen intelligence, etc. Such _suggestions made with the aid of sense-hitting devices_ would help you to complete the sale of your services.

[Sidenote: Make Your Qualities Stand Out]

Perhaps you wish particularly to impress your qualities of alertness, energy, love of work, and physical stamina. Then sit or stand easily erect when you call on your prospect. If you should slump or loll in your chair, you would suggest that you lacked the very characteristics on which you are depending to get the job.

_Make your best qualities stand out noticeably_ in your bearing. Should you apply for a position of great trust, requiring the exercise of the finest discretion, be sure to look the other man frankly in the face and let him see into your eyes. Also modulate your tones to the pitch of discretion and confidence. Your manner, your expressions, your voice will all draw attention to your fitness for the chance you want.

[Sidenote: Original Methods]

Such ill.u.s.trations as have been given above should be understood as merely suggestive of ways to use the sense-hitting method of compelling attention. _Do not copy_ the suggestions offered. _Think out for your individual use a collection of sense-hitting devices of your own._ Then you will be able to select various ways to gain and to re-gain attention when you are in the presence of a prospect. No matter what may be your ability and ambition, _there are features of your character and your service capacity that you can utilize to make direct sense appeals_.

Find out for yourself what they are, and plan how to use them most effectively. If you cannot gain attention to your qualifications, or if you are unable to recall wandering attention, you may lose the chance you have succeeded in getting. _Insure yourself_ against the possibility of such a disaster; so that your previous good salesmanship in securing an interview will not all go for naught.

[Sidenote: Out-of-the-Ordinary Things]

If you do something _out of the ordinary_, the force of your sense-hitting will be much greater than if you employ only common devices for gaining attention. It is better to _do_ something that compels attention to your recommendations than to _say_ "I want to call your attention to these letters."

[Sidenote: Danger of Distracting Attention]

However, there is always the danger that in gaining attention by _unusual_ means you may attract too much attention to the _device_ you use, and so distract notice from the _proposition_ you are presenting for sale. Therefore be sure that whatever extraordinary thing you do to compel attention _contributes directly to your main purpose_ and does not lead your prospect off on a _side track_ of thought.

A business house once got out an advertising novelty and had samples distributed by the salesmen as gifts to their princ.i.p.al customers.

The novelty was an ingenious mechanical device. It attracted so much attention to itself that when a salesman put it on the desk of a prospect before beginning his sales talk, the attention of the other man was drawn from what the salesman was saying and was given to the novelty. The prospect would pick up and examine the advertising device while the salesman was presenting ideas regarding his standard line of goods. As a result, many of the best points of the sales talks were unnoticed. The advertising novelty was a detriment. The sales volume fell off while it was being distributed. The slump was traced directly to the mistake of having the _salesmen_ pa.s.s out the attention-compelling device _which was not related to the staples of the house line_.

[Sidenote: The Remedy]

The distribution was made by mail thereafter, in advance of the salesman's call. It was effective then as an introduction for the traveler; because by the time he came to see the prospect, the novelty of the advertising device had worn off. It was no longer an attention-distracter.

[Sidenote: Three Ways To Compel Attention]

Remember that the attention of your prospect is always given to _something_. If another object of attention is more compelling than _your_ means of forcing his notice, your attempt will fail. Therefore be sure that your attention-getting device has at least one of three points of superiority.

(1) It can be _stronger_ than the other appeal to the same sense. If your prospect's attention to what you are saying wanders because a phonograph starts to play in the next room, you can recall it to your presentation by slapping your hands together to emphasize a point, or you can change your tone suddenly. His sense of hearing will be struck compellingly by your device.

(2) Your appeal for attention can be made to _more_ senses than are being reached by the distraction. The phonograph music hits only the ears of your prospect. Besides slapping your hands together or changing your tone, you can supplement such appeals to his tone sense by an appeal to his sense of sight. You can make a gesture, or display a letter for him to read just at that moment.

(3) Your appeal can hit the senses of your prospect more _insistently_ than the other. If the phonograph music proves very attractive to him, you will need to _keep hammering_ at him with forceful changes of voice, with gestures, by touching him, or by doing something else to make his attention to the music "let go."

[Sidenote: Summary]

To summarize the most effective method of gaining attention--_hit each sense to which you appeal as strongly as you can, without making a disagreeable impression, strike as many senses as possible, and keep on using your sense-hitting device as long as necessary to get or to recover exclusive favorable attention_.

Many a man has gained success because he first gained attention. He stood out from the crowd, or was able to make his qualities noticeable.

When one is fully qualified for success, he may need only to attract attention to his capabilities; then he is likely to be given the chance he wants.

[Sidenote: "I'm Not Interested"]

Often, however, the salesman is discomfited after he gains attention.

The prospect halts the selling process by declaring, "I'm not interested." Suppose you are able to compel your prospective employer to notice you favorably, but he balks there and shows no inclination to buy your services. He has listened attentively to all you have said. He has concentrated his mind upon you, and has not wandered in thought to other subjects. Yet you perceive that he is inclined to put you off or to turn you down. Evidently, in order to prevent such a contretemps, you need to resort now to a _different selling step_, which you have not taken previously.

It is necessary that you have at your command a way to induce interest.

This interest-inducing means must be as _sure_ in its effects as the sense-hitting method of compelling attention. Otherwise you could not be certain of success with the selling process. If the effectiveness of every step cannot be a.s.sured in advance, you will not rely confidently on salesmanship to achieve your ambition.

[Sidenote: Discriminate Between Attention And Interest]

Probably you have never worked out in your mind exactly _the reasons why you are interested_ in particular things and in certain people. Let us make an a.n.a.lysis. Your _attention_ might be attracted so strongly to a vicious criminal that for the time being you could think of no one else.

Yet his fate might be a matter of such indifference to you that you would have absolutely no _interest_ in the man. But suppose you should see in his face, or in an expression of his eyes, something that haunted your memory appealingly. It would induce you to read the newspaper accounts of his trial. You would feel a little sorry for him, on learning that he had been sentenced to a long term in prison. Very likely you would say to yourself, "I suppose he is a mighty tough character, but I believe there is something in him that isn't altogether bad." Your intuition would tell you he possessed undefined traits that you like. In _your own liking_ for these characteristics that you vaguely discerned in him when you saw him, _is the key to the interest he induced_.

[Sidenote: What and Whom We Like]

What do we like? Whom do we like?