Choice of should we use the appeal to reason and when the appeal to instinct? We cannot answer that question unless we know the kind of person with whom we are dealing and just what we want him to do.
Furthermore, is the transaction one that requires mental analysis and deliberation ? A man who is placing on the market a new article, one satisfying a want hitherto unsatisfied, must appeal to the reason of people. He must make it clear that his article will give satisfaction or relieve them of much discomfort which they in the past have been obliged to endure. If Ile is offering a new office appliance for WO which will do the work of two clerks whose wages are at least eight dollars a week-, lie should use pencil and paper and absolutely convince tbe judgment of the pros pective buyer, but if he is offering something which concerns the comforts of home or the health and well being of children, he will find the instinctive appeal most effective.
Most business men underestimate the value and im portance of the ,instinctive appeal. In the upbuild ing of an efficient business organization, one full of "ginger," loyalty and enthusiasm, the instinctive ap peal is worth a hundred times more than any cold cal culation with regard to the grading of salaries. Many houses give prizes each month to those em ployes who make the best suggestions for the improve ment of their business. To the employe the honor of winning the prize is of much more consequence than the number of dollars.
12. Suiting appeal to good salesman unconsciously considers the character of the person he is addressing. Is Ile reserved, self-centered, his eyes partly closed, his face showing hard lines, his lower jaw prominent and firm? Then the wise salesman gets down to business at once, cracking no jokes and attempting no familiarities. When dealing with a man who has a habit of insisting upon evidence of merit, that habit must be respected. His reason must be convinced.
However, people who are controlled entirely by reason are the exceptions in this world. Reasoning is work which most men like to avoid. To be sure, men like to be told that they are reasonable.
That bit of flattery puts them in a comfortable state of mind, in which they the more easily surrender to an instinctive appeal. Men are a good deal like chil dren, bundles of habits and instincts. Appeal to their reason often leaves them unmoved, while a subtle ap peal to their emotions, prejudices or ambitionl. often drives them into conduct utterly irrational—.
13. Traits in C0771711.071.-It is well to bear in mind that men resemble one another more in their instincts than in their reason. People living in the same en virorunent naturally fall into the same habits and cus toms and acquire common views on many subjects, but in intellectual power the individuals of a com munity differ g,reatly.
At a theatre the downfall of the villain and the rescue of the heroine get equal applause from the boxes and the gallery, but at a lecture on some ab stract topic there is no applause because there is no common response; perhaps only few of the audience understand and appreciate all that is said, and it may be that not a single hearer is in agreement with all the speaker's arguments.
A man who would appeal to all sorts and condi tions of men must stir their common instincts and emotions. This fact is well understood by dema gogues and successful stump speakers in political campaigns.
14. One's own man must take into account his own personality in deciding upon the char acter of appeal he shall make. Personality is such an important matter that I have deemed it worthy of a chapter in this book. A man of unattractive per sonality can often accomplish more by- writing a letter than by a personal visit. Other men have such a compelling personality that they win us almost in spite of ourselves. Said the rough General Van damme of Napoleon : That devil of a man exercises a fascination over me I cannot explain even to. myself, and in such a degree that, though I fear neither God nor devil, when I am in his pres ence, I am ready to tremble like a child and he could make me go thru the eye of a needle or throw myself into a fire.