5. Unreasoned has been sug gested that inhibitions may be unreasoned. That is, the prospect himself may have no clear idea of why he does not desire the salesman's proposition. The salesman must maneuver here to make the prospect concentrate sufficiently to bring the inhibiting thought to a focus; he should also endeavor to elicit from the prospect some definite expression that will give him a clue to the unvoiced objection. It is possible to re move a conscious, reasoned inhibition but an unfor mulated one is often beyond the control of the sales man.
The salesman may take this unformulated resist ance as an indication that he has not made the pros pect want his proposition bard enough; and, by doub ling back and. using his reserve in such a way as practically to give the prospect a new selling talk, he can probably remove the resistance by increasing the prospect's desire.
6. Tact in opposing the all that even the best salesman can do, doubts or excuses will sometimes be voiced. Then there is danger of killing the prospect's idea too quickly. It humiliates a man to have the props rudely kicked out from under a statement that he has advanced as sound. When the salesman wins such an out-and-out argument or other wise humiliates the prospect he usually loses a sale.
The salesman will steer his course to avoid a head-on collision. He is glad the prospect mentioned that point. He hesitates—it is something new, something ingenious that the ordinary run of pros pects would not think of. He can see that there may be something in it. And then he mildly wonders whether this point or that point which possibly the prospect may have overlooked, would not modify the point in question. And then the prospect begins to discover answers to his own objections and ends up by trying to prove to the salesman just why his orig inal point was unsound. Every statement made, however, has been positive no matter how softly in sinuated. The salesman has started with statements with which the prospect must agree and has stopped just at the point where the prospect begins to discover things for himself.
7. Faulty presentation creates • inhibitions.—It is possible to create inhibitory thoughts in the mind of the prospect by the methods used or statements made during the presentation. A specialty salesman is likely to emphasize the big users of his product to such an extent that the small business man to whom he is talking will come to the conclusion that only big busi ness men can use the product to advantage. A staple salesman can make such a point of high quality with the grocer in an ordinary neighborhood that his pros pect will come to the conclusion that the article would move only in wealthy coniinunities. An automobile
salesman who endeavored to show his prospect that he had perfect control of his machine at high speed on crowded Fifth Avenue, was stopped by a traffic policeman and served with a summons to appear in court next morning on a charge of reckless speeding. The occurrence spoiled the sale.
The suggestion to buy a product because substan tial men in the community have bought it will often be a strong incentive to action for the young fellow; to the man who values independence highly,- and 1,vho thinks he possesses individuality the suggestion may be obnoxious, unless it is very gradually- introduced. Negative suggestions have no place in the selling talk.
8. Daring and a bit of daring at this point is a short-cut to the order. Hugh Chalmers tells how he was once sent to sell a cash register to a typical "hard customer." At the end of the selling talk, the prospect said, rising as if to end the interview: "Your proposition is all right but it costs too much money." Mr. Chalmers replied: "That is an objection we often hear. You know the selling policies of my company well enough to know that I have been supplied with more than fifty an swers to that one objection and you have listened to me long enough to know that I know every one of those answers. They are so forceful that they would convince any,- man. Now, I can use these arg-uments here and get your order but it will take me two hours to do it. Your time is worth something, why not sign now?" This was clever and proved successful in this particular case. It would be dangerous, however, unless the salesman were sure of his prospect.
An independent attitude, where it can be safely and effectively assumed, is a powerful weapon with which to make the prospect forget his doubts or ex cuses and lean the salesman's way. Our exclusive agency man of the key-rings, referred to in the previ ous chapter, met most objections to his exclusive agency plan in somewhat this manner : "Now, Mr. Dealer, we don't argue this proposition at all. I am here merely to explain it to you, to answer any ques tions that may occur to you, to get your opinion, and, if the proposition as I describe it appeals to you, to allow you to have the exclusive agency in this town for these goods. If, when I am thru, you don't care to accept the proposition, all well and good. I shall simply have to go over this ground again with one of the other hardware men." This courteously inde pendent attitude, where it can be assumed, is just as effective as over-anxiety is weak.