9. Discussing competitors' goods.—There is an old saying to the effect: If your competitor talks about you, put him on your payroll. It matters little whether what he says is favorable or unfavorable; put him on anyhow. This would indicate that a salesman should avoid being drawn into controversy regarding his competitors' goods. He should know all about them, their strong points and their weak points, so that be may touch these points indirectly in his presen tation. A successful dry goods man has this answer to remarks about competing lines: "The company I am with puts out the best line in this country. If I thought there was a better one, I should be carrying it —and with my record I should have no trouble mak ing the change. Until I have changed you may be sure that I have been unable to locate a line that is better than mine." And he ma3, go on to say a few things about his company and his methods that will clinch that idea in the mind of the prospect. It is best not to discuss competitors' goods.
Some lines of goods seem to invite comparison— addressing machines and tyliewriting machines, for example. It is best to anticipate the _selling points usually made for rival machines by emphasizing simi lar, but stronger points in regard to the machine being sold. Another method is to point out the fact that the machine being sold does not have the weak points of competing articles—always, whenever possible, without mentioning the name of the competing com modity. Whenever the prospect definitely mentions a competing article and asks bow it compares on cer tain points with the one being discussed, the answer should always be given so as to savor as little as pos sible of what is commonly termed "knocking"; and the comparison should generally be accompanied by the admission that the competing article is a good one, albeit with the unmistakable insinuation that the one being sold is a better one.
10. Minimizing objections.—After all is said and done, the salesman must realize that some criticisms are just idly voiced and will quickly fade from the mind of the prospect if the salesman merely ignores and forgets them. If, on the other hand, he makes a mountain out of a mole hill the prospect will un doubtedly do the same. The salesman will learn to discern the opinion in which the prospect himself does not really believe, and to treat it accordingly.
The way to handle an objection of this style is not to answer it in detail, but to touch upon it as briefly as possible and then go right around it, continuing with the main body of the presentation; or, if the presentation has been completed, to use as reserve talk the points that are most calculated to arouse a genuine desire in the prospect.
Objections indicating lack of desire.—It is a psychological fact that the prospect whom the sales man's presentation has not impressed sufficiently to prompt his buying, almost invariably endeavors to qualify his refusal with a reason for not buying. He grasps and voices the first objection or excuse that occurs to him. The salesman must learn to recognize the excuse that arises from this cause, and to realize that he has not made the prospect really want his proposition. Here again, the thing to do is to handle the objection stated as briefly as possible and then en deavor to remedy the real defect—lack of sincere de sire—by launching into a reserve selling talk which, in some cases may amount to presentation from an entirely new angle. A prospect's objection that he
cannot afford to spend the money for a proposition really means, if the prospect has been carefully se lected, that he doesn't care to spend the necessary money for a proposition for which the salesman can arouse no more desire in him than he has yet aroused. And obviously, the thing to do is to increase that desire and not to endeavor to prove to the prospect that he has the money.
12. as a development of the sale, means a want on the part of the in.ospect sufficiently strong to prompt the purchase. All thru the inter view there will have been running thru the prospect's mind some such sub-conscious question as, "Can I af ford to spend the money for the value and advantages offered?" To create desire means to arouse in the prospect's mind an emphatic answering "yes"— strong enough to develop the impulse to reach for a pen and sign the order, if that formality is necessary. This statement presupposes, of course, that all inhibit ing thoughts have been removed or overcome.
A salesman may feel quite sure that lae is holding a man's attention; he may rightly say to himself, "I have his interest." But who can say with any amount of assurance: "I have successfully removed every inhibiting factor and I have created desire"? We shall see that long after we have begun our closing tactics we are still testing for inhibiting factors— there is still a possibility of the prospect's drawing back. He who could, in every case, sense the partial, lar moment when desire has been created, would in deed be a super-salesman, for that is the "psycholog ical moment." 13. Desire and the "you," attitude.—This does not mean that there are no well-defined methods of cre ating a desire upon the part of the prospect. Here again, we come to the importance of the "you" atti tude. There is one great principle underlying the creation of desire, from which special methods can be worked out in the case of any particular commodity. That principle is, to show the prospect how he will profit by the purchase—to show him just why he can not afford not "to spend the money for the value and advantages offered." In applying this principle, the grocery or dry goods salesman, after he has interested his prospect in the quality of the goods and increased that interest by pointing out how readily they can be sold, will-paint a picture of the rapidity- with which the goods will move and will talk in terms of dollars and cents and profits. This method will be followed even if he is endeavoring to stock the dealer up with a branded staple on which the profit is smaller than on the line the prospect now carries. For here he will talk the indirect profit of handling the line—the fact that people will drop in for that particular thing and remain to make other pur chases. Or he may point out that while the profit per unit is smaller than on the line that the prospect is handling, the total profit is larger because the new (roods will have a quicker turnover.