Certain Success Part 26

[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 att.i.tudes 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 t.i.tle covered responsibility for the distribution of products, advertising, collections, selection of branch managers and their corps of a.s.sistants, 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 Compet.i.tor]

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 compet.i.tor 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 _princ.i.p.al 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 a.n.a.lyze 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.