Certain Success Part 23

Things that are _like_ our own ideas. People who are _like_ the ideas we have about likable people. Interest is all a matter of recognizing points of likeness.

In order to draw your prospect beyond the attention stage of the selling process, and to induce his interest in your "goods," you must impress on him suggestions of the similarity of your ideas to ideas already in his own mind. _He will like your ideas in proportion to their resemblance to his own way of thinking_ on the same subjects. So you should express yourself as nearly as possible in his terms, and attract his interest by making him feel that your mind and his are much alike.

[Sidenote: Non-Interest]

One day I was sitting in the private office of a very wealthy philanthropist. A salesman presented a letter of introduction to the millionaire, who in turn introduced me to his caller. The newcomer thereupon proceeded to present most attractively a business proposal. He offered my friend an excellent opportunity to make a good deal of money by joining an underwriting syndicate. The millionaire at once declared he was not interested. "I have all the money I want," he said, and bowed the salesman out. The ideas that had been presented to him were altogether _different_ from his own financial motives.

[Sidenote: Interest]

That same afternoon another promoter called upon my friend with a project for investment in a house-building corporation. This second salesman evidently had prospected the philanthropist and had planned just how to interest him. He did not stress the profits to be made from investment in the stock of his corporation, but referred to them in a minor key. He emphasized the need of the city for more homes, and cited instances of distress due to the housing shortage.

My friend was thoroughly interested. He took home the salesman's prospectus for further study. Since he was a good business man, he satisfied himself that the investment would be profitable. But he subscribed for fifty thousand dollars worth of securities princ.i.p.ally because they represented a project _like his own ideas_ of the way money should be put to work for human happiness.

[Sidenote: Know Prospect's Likes and Dislikes]

When you call on the man you have selected as your future employer, go equipped with all the prospecting knowledge regarding him that you have been able to get. Be sure you know his strongest likes and dislikes.

Size him up on the spot, for the purpose of supplementing what you have previously learned about him. Hit his attention with sense-appeals related to his peculiarities. Then, in order to make sure of his interest, present some idea that is of the kind _he_ especially likes.

He will open his mind and welcome your idea at once.

[Sidenote: The Man of Quick Decisions]

Suppose he has a reputation for brusqueness and quick decisions, and is impatient about any waste of time. You probably would help your cause by looking him straight in the eye and saying bluntly something like this:

"I want to work for you because you are my kind of a man. Ask me any questions you want, now. You won't have to call me on the carpet for information about my work after you hire me. Pay me two hundred dollars a month, and I won't be back in this office to get a raise until you send for me."

I know a young man who secured a good job from an "old crab" in just that way, within three minutes after they first met.

Two men sought the position of office manager of an automobile company.

The owners of the business were thorough mechanics who had designed their own car, but who were comparatively unfamiliar with office operations. They were not at home outside their factory.

[Sidenote: Mistake of Speaking Different Language]

The first candidate for the vacant position brought the finest recommendations of his qualifications for office management. The other applicant had had much less experience, and was not nearly so well qualified. But the first man was a poor salesman of his capabilities. He failed to recognize, when he explained his ideas to the partners, that he was talking to a pair of mechanics. They did not understand the language he used. His presentation of his qualifications as an office manager would have impressed an employer accustomed to sitting at a desk. But the partners were intuitively prejudiced against the capable candidate who was so very _unlike themselves_ in all respects.

[Sidenote: Speaking the Same Language]

The other applicant was shrewd. He used salesmanship in presenting his lesser qualifications for the position. He talked in terms borrowed from the language of shop practice. He compared the plans he suggested for the office supplies stock room, with the "tool crib" in the factory. He explained his idea of office organization by using as a model a chart of the plant departments. He compared office expenses with factory overhead.

The owners of the business understood very little about the subjects he discussed, but he used words and expressions that were familiar to them.

So his ideas, as he presented them, impressed the partners as _like their own way of looking at things_. The better salesman, who knew how to interest his prospects, got the five-figure job; though he was a less capable office executive than the disappointed applicant.

[Sidenote: Fitting Ideas To Prospect's Mind]

Do not try to sell another man particular ideas because _you_ like them.

You are not the buyer. Sell him ideas that _he_ likes. Fit the ideas you bring him to the characteristics of his mind.

If you judge him to be a quick thinker, do not hesitate in indecision a moment longer than is necessary for you to make up your mind confidently. On the other hand, should he be a deliberate thinker, be careful not to make an impression that you are rash or impulsive in your decisions.

[Sidenote: Clothes and Interest]

If he is inclined to be finical about his dress, or over-particular regarding orderliness, he will be interested if your garb is punctiliously correct and if you suggest to him the habits of precision.

I read a little while ago the story of a young man who lost the chance to become the confidential a.s.sistant of a noted financier. The young man missed his opportunity because he made the mistake of wearing a soft collar when he called for the final interview with the financier.

[Sidenote: Avoid False Pretense of Interest]

_Do not, of course, put on false pretenses_, to make your prospect like you and your ideas. Remember that you must _live up_ to a first good impression. So appear nothing, say nothing, do nothing that is untrue to your best self. But without any dishonesty you can indicate that your way of thinking has points of similarity to the slant of the other man's mind. If he is a Republican, while you are a Democrat, and the subject of politics comes up, do not pretend to be an elephant worshiper. Admit your party allegiance casually, and remark that you are not hide-bound in your political faith, but open-minded. Maybe he will employ you with the hope of converting you to Republicanism.

[Sidenote: Few Direct Opposites]

There are few ideas regarding which honest men are diametrically opposed on principle. You can suggest to your prospective employer the idea that you are in accord with his way of thinking; though you may differ widely in many respects. You need not emphasize the _degree_ of your likeness in mind. Certainly it would be very poor policy to stress your differences of opinion.

[Sidenote: Like Breeds Like]

_Any likeness of your suggestions to the ideas of the other man will impress him agreeably._ He will be pleased to find the points of resemblance, and they will help to gloss over a possible prejudice in his mind against you. The a.s.sociation of your similar ideas on a subject will suggest to him imaginative pictures of your a.s.sociation with him in his business. "Like breeds like." He will place you mentally in a situation where the likable qualities he has found in you might be employed to his satisfaction.

[Sidenote: Inside the Door]

Then you will be safely _inside the door_ of his interest. Without realizing it, your prospect would like to bring about the condition he has imagined. He is beginning to want you in his employ; though as yet he has no deep-seated desire for your services. Objections to you may spring up in his mind, but you certainly have been successful throughout the processes of getting his response to your knock, and of securing for your ideas his invitation to come into his thoughts for a better acquaintance with your purpose.

[Sidenote: Unwelcome Guests]

After admitting your ideas to his mind, he may wish he had not welcomed them. He may find objectionable things in you or in your proposal.

Sometimes a man responds to a knock on his door, and becomes sufficiently interested in the caller to invite him to enter the house; but regrets afterward that he extended the welcome. This change of heart and mind is usually due to something done by the visitor after his admittance. However, we are not considering just now any step of the selling process beyond winning a welcome. In later chapters we will study how to make the most effective use of hospitality and the things to avoid that might impress the host as abuses of the privileges of a guest.

[Sidenote: Furniture of The Mind]

Ideas have been called "the furniture of the mind." We have already seen that they are the developments of _repeated sense impressions_. A particular mind center is partly or wholly furnished with ideas in proportion to the man's use of his sense avenues to bring in ideas from outside himself. The doors of the mind swing inward most readily when the new mental furniture brought along a sense avenue matches the ideas already in the mind center. Doubtless the young man who lost the interest of a great financier by wearing a soft collar would have been able to hold it if he had dressed according to his prospect's ideas.

[Sidenote: One Likable Thing Helps]

_If there is one thing about you that another man dislikes, it disproportionately tinges his entire att.i.tude of mind toward you. On the other hand, if you have one especially likable feature, it tends to lessen the disagreeable impression of things about you that the other man does not like._

So, when you come to a prospect as a salesman of your best self and have gained his attention, avoid making disagreeable suggestions to his mind, and have at your command a number of sense appeals you are sure he will like. You certainly will secure his interest if you follow this selling process.

To win his interest you need not induce your prospect to like you _all through_ or in _every respect_. If he likes but one thing about you at first, he will be interested enough to give you the chance to develop more interest. _The interest that produces the fruit of acceptance is often a growth from only one seed sown by the salesman of ideas_.

[Sidenote: Avoid Over-Emphasis]

At this stage of the selling process it is not wise to plunge ahead fast. Do not go to the _extreme_ on any subject that you find is interesting to your prospect. His interest may be mild, and he might be prejudiced if you seem to display excessive concern about something that he considers of minor importance. I recall the experience of a man who was complimented on keeping an appointment to the minute. He _over-emphasized_ the virtue of punctuality and irritated his prospect, who was not always on time himself. The job went to another applicant.

[Sidenote: Moderate Att.i.tude]

_Be moderate_ in your att.i.tude when you work to secure the beginning of interest, lest you raise an obstacle in your path. Until you are sure you have won a considerable degree of interest, you cannot lead strongly in any direction without running the risk of losing some of the advantages you have gained. Therefore at the interest stage proceed warily. "Watch your step."

[Sidenote: Hobbies]

Be especially careful not to gush over a hobby of your prospect, in which his interest may not be so great as you suppose. _Hobbies are dangerous_. Don't harp on one. It requires consummate art to show enthusiasm about another man's hobby without arousing his suspicions regarding your sincerity.