But just as the experienced engineer continues to acceler ate the motion of his train so that the passengers are hardly aware of it, you must accelerate the motion of your pros pect's mind so that he will not be aware of what you are doing to him. It is a complicated matter, of course, for you to carry on a sort of double campaign in this manner. For remember that all this time you have got to be talking intelli gently about your proposition to keep your prospect inter ested. Yet while STou are doing this you must also be wide awake for opportunities of making trifling requests of your prospect which he will not hesitate to grant. But don't forget that each time you do this you. are very gradually increasing the chance of your prospect's giving you an order when the time comes for you to ask for it.
O. 'Transferring attention to goods.—The first at tention that a salesman secures will be directed to him self. It is a peculiar psychological fact that any im pression, favorable or unfavorable, that the salesman makes upon the prospect in his approach will be trans ferred to the goods, when attention is diverted to them. Without thinking much about it the prospect assumes that a reliable house will not be represented hy a poorly dressed or careless salesman. The article of good quality would seem to call for a man of quality to recommend it. The converse is also true; the large calibered salesman will suggest a reliable house; the man of quality will suggest an article of quality.
The salesman must divert the prospect's attention from himself to his goods if the sale is to progress. Any exaggeration of dress or manner, a loud voice or violent gestures will make this difficult. A gentle manly, low-voiced salesman with an easy manner can divert his prospect's attention to the goods by placing them before him or making some strong, positive state ment regarding them.
Any unnaturalness of speech or manner is likely to delay this diversion of the prospect's attention. The salesman who uses a standard presentation and has not made it his own so that he can deliver it naturally, will find it difficult to direct his prospect's attention to the article sold. A great many of the so called clever openings have this defect.
Strange as it may seem, the man who talks easily and well is likely to meet the same difficulty. It is not uncommon for a prospect to become wary of the smooth talker who calls upon him for the evident pur pose of getting an order. A mild, gray-haired man who was after a large machinery order said, very early in his interview with the company's president ; "I'm not much of a salesman ; you see, I have been on the buying end nearly all my life and I find myself constantly taking the buyer's point of view." It was
not until he walked out with the order in his pocket that those who had heard him began to realize just how much of a salesman he really was.
7. Opening talk.—The opening remarks of a salesman should be conservative. No superlatives should be used. Any over-emphasis or seeming ex aggeration at this point will cause the prospect to be come wary and possibly to close his mind against the proposition.
There is a subtle appeal to the prospect's vanity which may be used in the opening talk. The average man dislikes to feel that he does not measure up to a proposition. Any implication of doubt as to his con cern's being able to dispose of a certain quality of goods, or of his being able to take advantage of a service designed for progressive business men, will cause him to concentrate his mind on proving that the implication is unjust. If the implication is too strong, however, or is in an offensive form, his antagonism will be aroused as well.
8. An interest-provoking question.—An adroitly framed questio» can make this appeal to a man's vanity and get his attention. To quote Mr. AYHham iNlaxwell, vice-president of Thomas A. Edison, I ne. : Suppose you are selling SIMS. If they are high-priced saws, tisk this question the instant you get your man to look you in the eye: "Have you an organization that can sell a very high-grade saw?" There is no possible answer he can make which will put you on the defensive until he yields you his attention and invites you to talk, which is what you are there for. I.et us construct some answers a buyer might make to such a question: If a saw salesman asks the question: "Have you an or ganization that can sell a very high-grade saw?" and his rejoinder to the buyer's is a polite but emphatic reitera tion of the original thought, the buyer must finally invite an elucidation of that thought.
Any similar question will serve. Please fix this point in your mind: You haven't properly analyzed your goods if vou can't frame an inoffensive, attention-getting question -for use in your approach. The other day I was talking to a man who sells prints to shirtwaist manufacturers. He said, as nearly every salesman will say : "My line is different from any other." He also said: "There is no question I could ask a manufacturer of shirt waists, except to request him to look at my samples." I asked him to name the chief talking point about his goods.