Certain Success Part 29

"If you will lend me ten thousand dollars, and I make good my promises to you, your new experience with me will go a long way toward restoring your lost faith in men. It is natural that you should feel embittered, but the taste in your mouth is unpleasant. Back me up. I will help you get rid of your bitterness, and will replace it with a glow of satisfaction. You cannot doubt that I will make good. You should not let your old prejudice stand in the way of the gratified feeling you will have when I prove to you that all men are not unworthy of trust. After I justify your confidence you will be happier for the rest of your life."

In the ill.u.s.tration the objection is dealt with _emotionally; because its basis is feeling_. No _mental_ appeal is made. The salesmanship in this example is the direct converse of that in the previous ill.u.s.tration.

[Sidenote: The Best Rule]

Usually, however, it is best to counteract objections by making appeals to _both the heart and the mind_ of the objector. In most cases it is safe to a.s.sume that his mental opposition involves his feelings to some degree, and it rarely happens that an objection is so purely emotional that the mind of the prospect does not take part in it at all. So the rule of masterly salesmanship is to use neither the appeal to mentality nor the appeal to feeling _exclusively_, but rather to _stress one or the other, while using both_. If the objection appears to be based _princ.i.p.ally_ on opposition of _mind_, it is more important to reach into the prospect's _mind_ with the answer than it is to draw out his _heart_; and vice versa.

[Sidenote: Emotional and Mental Tones]

If the thought behind the objection arises princ.i.p.ally from _feeling_, it will nearly always be expressed in an _emotive tone_. By this pitch of the prospect's voice you can determine whether he is speaking chiefly from his heart or from his mind. Conversely, of course, the _mental_ objection will be pitched in the high "head" tone. One of the most difficult features of dealing with opposition from the other man is uncertainty as to _how much he means_ of what he says and does. It would be a mistake to take his resistance too seriously or too lightly.

Therefore it will aid your salesmanship a great deal if you are able to discriminate between the mental and the emotional tones in which opposition is expressed. You can reply accordingly.

[Sidenote: The Power Pitch]

It is almost as important that you recognize _the pitch of power_ when it reenforces the words of objection, and that on the other hand you note when the power tone is _lacking_. In the first case you will need to reply with considerable force, whether you appeal to the mind or the heart of the prospect. But when his objection is stated in a powerless tone, even though it may be accompanied by curtness or bl.u.s.ter, you need not waste much force on your answering appeal to his mentality or his emotions.

[Sidenote: Keep Ears Alert]

The mental tone, as we recall from previous study, is pitched higher than either the tone of feeling or the tone of power. The medium, heart tone is vibrant. It rings with sincerity. The power tone is deep, and most sonorous of the three. _Keep your ears alert for these indications_ your prospect will give you unconsciously when he opposes your purpose.

The discriminative reading of the tones of objections will greatly reduce the danger of "getting your wires crossed" when you reply.

[Sidenote: Suggest Strength Without Antagonism]

If you have to deal with opposition expressed in the tone of power or with gestures of force, you will be safe in concluding that considerable _feeling_ is behind the objection. Therefore it will be necessary for you to put _both feeling and power_ into your answer. You should be careful, however, when you meet such resistance, not to make the impression that you are engaged in a contest of power with your prospect. _Throughout the selling process avoid any suggestion that you are fighting back._ Use the tone of force, not to indicate that your strength of purpose is greater than the strength of the resistance, but just to _emphasize the basic soundness_ of your proposition. Thus you can suggest that you are sure of your ground, while you do not dispute the force and sincerity of the other man in making his objection.

Suppose, for example, you apply for a situation in a wealthy firm, and one of the partners turns you down most emphatically by saying that they can't afford to engage any new men at present. You realize the firm may be losing money temporarily, but you believe that your services in the capacity you have outlined will be valuable to the partners. You can come back firmly and not retreat an inch from your position. You need not _antagonize_ by manifesting your determination to have the merits of your proposal given due consideration. You know your prospect feels pretty strongly on the matter of increasing his payroll while business is unprofitable, but you should make him recognize that you believe so thoroughly in your earning capacity that you feel you would justify him in disregarding the temporary depression, while he considers your service worth.

[Sidenote: Units of Tone]

As we have noted previously, it is important to know, at the time an objection is put in your way, _whether or not it is really meant_. When deciding in your mind on the right answer to this problem, you will be helped very much if you size up not only the tone pitch of the objection, but also the _units_ of tone employed by the prospect in his expression of opposition. If he refuses your application, but uses just _one_ tone, you may be sure his negative is not strong. If you do not strengthen it to stubbornness by antagonizing him, but use tact to get rid of his resistance, you will not find it difficult to melt away the obstruction.

However, should the "No" be spoken in two or more tones, with increased stress at the end, your prospect certainly means his rejection to be final. His mind is fully made up for the time being. It would be poor salesmanship to b.u.t.t your head against his fixed idea, just as it would be foolish to tackle a strong opponent when he stands most formidably braced to resist attack. But the two or three toned negative does not mean that the idea behind it is fixed in the prospect's mind _forever_.

Any one is p.r.o.ne to change his mind, _unless he is kept so busy supporting a position taken that he has no chance to alter his opinion_.

[Sidenote: Preventing Stubborness]

Therefore leave alone at first the rock you encounter. Get behind the boulder by taking a roundabout path. Then quietly dig the support from under the negative idea. If you make no fuss while you are undermining the obstacle, it will be likely to topple over and roll from your path without your prospect's noticing that it has disappeared. If his interest is diverted from it, there is no reason why he should turn his mind back to a stubborn insistence on his objection. Should he be conscious that the rock of his earlier opposition has rolled away, he will probably think it lost its balance. He will not realize that you subtly undermined it and got rid of it by your skillful salesmanship.

A salesman of an encyclopedia met a prospect who refused to give favorable attention to him and his proposition.

"No sir-e-e!" declared this objector, shaking his head emphatically. "No more book agents can work me. The last slick one that tried to swindle me is in ja-a-il now, and I put him the-ere!"

He gloated in two or three tones.

[Sidenote: Turning Back A Turn-down]

"Good for you!" praised the undaunted salesman, who had come prepared for adamantine obstacles in his path. "If more book buyers would see that such rascals get what's coming to them, the rest of us salesmen, who represent square publishers squarely, would not have to prove so often that we are not crooks like some fellows who have happened to precede us in a territory. Please tell me the name of the man who swindled you. He might hit my publishers for a job after he gets out of jail, and I want to warn the boss against him. Sometimes those slick rascals pull the wool over our eyes, too. We are always on the lookout to avoid getting tangled up with them."

The salesman pulled out his note book and pencil. When the name was given, he wrote it down painstakingly. He asked the prospect to spell it for him; so that he would be sure to get it right. Then he thanked the man who had said he would have nothing more to do with book agents.

Having "got around" the objector, the salesman proceeded with his selling talk on the encyclopedia, as if he had not been turned down flatly to begin with. In less than half an hour he had secured the signature of the prospect to a contract for the finest edition.

[Sidenote: Be Ready for Opposition]

If this salesman had not been thoroughly prepared to meet the strongest kind of mental and emotional opposition, he could not have come back so quickly with the appropriate answer that undermined the obstacle. You should be likewise ready for the "tough customers" one hears about.

_Practice in antic.i.p.ation various ways of handling every imaginable objection._ Then, when you face an actual difficulty, you will either have on the tip of your tongue a solution of the problem, or your forethought will a.s.sist you to devise on the spur of the moment the way to work out the right answer. Again we observe the importance of full preparation, in a.s.suring successful salesmanship.

[Sidenote: Two Essentials Of Resourcefulness]

No quality is more important to the salesman than _resourcefulness_. Its first requisite is _knowledge_, particularly advance knowledge of the points that are likely to come up in the course of the selling process.

The second is a _mind trained to act quickly and effectively in using_ its knowledge. If you have these two essentials of resourcefulness, no objection will ever catch you napping. It will do you no good to look up the right answer _after you leave the prospect_. Nothing can be more exasperatingly worthless than an idea of something you "might have said"

but could not think of until _too late_. Have all your facts on tap. And be practiced in making use of them in every imaginable way. Rare indeed will be cases that you are not prepared to handle successfully.

[Sidenote: Practicing "Come-backs"]

I know a salesman who trained himself in resourcefulness by typing on about fifty cards all the objections to his goods or proposition that he could imagine. For ten or fifteen minutes every evening he played solitaire with these cards. He would shuffle them, held face down, and then deal off, face up, objection after objection. He never could tell which was coming next. In a few weeks he had trained himself to give an answer instantly to each objection, and to utilize it as a help instead of a hindrance in his selling. Thereafter opposition and criticism from prospects had no terrors for this salesman. He was able to get rid of objections so swiftly, surely, and completely that they never had time to grow formidable in the mind of the other man.

[Sidenote: Adaptive Originality]

Only a little less important than resourcefulness in meeting objections, is _adaptive originality in answering them_. The "pat, new" reply is always very effective. But do not unduly stress the value of the factor of _originality_ alone. It must be coupled with _adaptation to the particular viewpoint of the other man_. You must speak his language, if you would be sure of making him understand you perfectly.

[Sidenote: Use Prospect's Language]

For example, suppose you apply to a watch manufacturer for a position in his office. He seems inclined to question your dependability. You will make a hit with him if you quote a detail from one of his own ads and say, "I have a seventeen jewel movement," and then particularize that number of good points about yourself. Such a reference preceding a specification of your qualities would be adaptive originality. _It would be an expression exactly fitted to the way this prospect thinks._ So it would be more effective than an ordinary answer to the objection.

Adaptive originality in disposing of objections is a manifestation of tact and diplomacy--the fine art of letting the other man down with a shock absorber instead of jolting him to your way of thinking.

[Sidenote: Keep Train of Thought on Main Track]

When your prospect starts objecting, it is up to you to prevent him from wandering far afield. At the objections stage, as at every other step in the selling process, _you should dominate the other man_. Tactfully keep him concentrated on the subject and on your application. If he starts to grumble that some man he has engaged previously was "no good," you can smile and reply, "You would not give _me credit_ for _anybody else's_ fine work, and of course you do not _blame me_ for what _that_ fellow did."

You know what points are relevant to the subject you have come to discuss, and what are not. _Discriminate, and make the prospect follow you._ Restrict your treatment of his objections to points, means, and methods that will keep his ideas from switching onto side-tracks of thought. _When he wanders away from the subject, do not ramble with him._ Promptly and diplomatically run his mind back on the main line of your purpose. _You are operating a through train to success. You must not be diverted into picking either daisies or thistles by the right of way while your salesmanship engine stands idle._

[Sidenote: Patience and Calmness]

Tact and diplomacy include the qualities of _patience_ and _calmness_.

You cannot deal successfully with opposition if you are impatient or fl.u.s.tered. Patience understands the other man and avoids giving him offense; because it comprehends his way of thinking and is considerate of his right to his opinions. _Calmness denotes a consciousness of strength. Hence it inspires admiration._ Keep your patience open-eyed.

See ahead. Do not chafe restlessly because the present moment is not propitious. A better chance for you is coming. Because of your vision have faith in your power to _make_ it come. Whatever may happen, be self-possessed when you meet it. You can give no more impressive proof of your bigness. Your calmness will win the confidence of the other man.

It will help in making the impression of courageous truth. Only an honest purpose can meet attack with quiet fearlessness.

[Sidenote: Win Admiration by Keeping Upper Hand]

_The chief danger to the salesman at the objections stage is that he may lose control of the selling process._ Be on your guard to prevent the other man from dominating you by his opposition. You have the advantage at the start. He cannot be so well prepared to make objections as you should be to dispose of them effectively. _Keep the upper hand._ If you have not antagonized his feelings, your prospect will admire you when he sees that he cannot dominate you and realizes that you will not let him have his own way. You will build up in him a favorable opinion of your manhood, intelligence, and power. _He cannot help appreciating your art in handling him._

[Sidenote: Make Desire Grow]

Dispose of each objection in such a way that you will get yourself wanted more and more as you remove or get around the obstacles encountered. _The prospect's desire for your services should grow in proportion as you overcome his opposition._ It is possible to use objections, or rather their answers, to strengthen your salesmanship so greatly that it will be easy to gain your object--the job or the promotion you seek.

[Sidenote: Hard Climb Leads to Supreme Heights]