His first words to the merchant were: "I have come to talk to you about the service you are giving to your customers." He then proceeded to show how people who wanted to order goods over the phone found it difficult to do so because they were kept wait ing while others talked over the one wire. Many times, he pointed out, this delay caused them to decide not to order by phone, but to buy later in person. Sometimes the result was that the trade went to an other store. If the customer was sufficiently patient to wait, she had to explain the object of her call to the clerk who answered the phone on the first floor, ex plain it again when she was connected on the second story extension, and, after holding the wire while the proper clerk was called, she was obliged to go over the whole matter, with him, a third time.
Aleam‘vhile the clerk downstairs had been called from his work, the first clerk who had answered the upstairs extension had been disturbed, and Ile or some one else had then to go after a clerk in the department to which the order belonged, and the latter probably had to travel the length of the floor to reach the tele phone. All this time, customers in the store were being neglected and kept waiting because the clerk who should have been at a certain station vvas out of his department answering the telephone.
The principal theme in the telephone official's talk was customers and not telephones. The customer was a subject in which the merchant was greatly in terested, so he asked: "What would you suggest?" The telephone man suggested two trunk lines, a switchboard, an extension for each department, and an advertisement in the paper to the effect that the store was especially well equipped to give the cus tomer the best kind of service on telephone orders. The contract was signed immediately. Thruout the interview the salesman had taken the "You" attitude.
18. Interest.—Interest is attention sustained and developed. Attention is a temporary interest which the prospect takes in the proposition, and which he challenges the salesman to foster and sustain. Inter est as a development in the sale means that he has met that challenge and secured the undivided mental con centration of the prospect.
If interest is aroused at all it will show very early in the sale. If the prospect can be induced to give more than momentary attention to a proposition, it is safe to assume that his interest has been aroused. In discussing the matter of' attention we have treated several factors that haa,-e to do with interest. When we discuss the adoption of the "you" attitude or other methods of securing the prospect's participation in the sale, we are discussing ways and means of increas ing interest and ripening it into desire.
The chief characteristic of the interest stage of the selling process centers in the presentation—a thoro talk on the proposition, especially as regards its rela tion to the prospect. This presentation may be a logical detailed description, or it may be a vivid ap peal to the prospect's imagination. To one prospect
the salesman may talk price; to another, quality. With one he must pose as a final authority as to the statements Ile makes; with another, he will take the attitude of merely reminding the prospect of things that he already knows, or of refreshing his memory on things foro-otten. Whatever the dominant note, however, the presentation should be related as closely as possible to the prospect's interests and shmild be couched in such language that not even a city editor could detect a superfluous word.
19. Salesman's vocabulary.—Two men try to ex press the same idea. One flounders about, deals in vague generalities, and ends by giving no clear idea of just what he is driving at. The other uses specific, homely, image-making words that drive the point home in a trice. The salesman's vocabulary should be replete with the latter sort of words. It is only the learned man who can think in terms of abstract generalization; and even he more easily grasps spe cific thoughts, framed in telling phrases. The sales man should see that his presentation is free from dull, hackneyed expression, and that it is built up of strong, straightforward, specific Anglo-Saxon words.
20. Law of mental domination.—Affirmation pure and simple, separated from all arguments and all proofs, is frequently one of the surest means of im pressing the prospect. It is a curious fact that an excess of logical arguments will give rise to the sus picion that the salesman is endeavoring to bolster up a weak case. The more concise the affirmation and the freer it is from all appearance of proof, the greater its authority. This may well be remembered in build ing the presentation.
21. Interruptions in the interview.—Where the presentation of the proposition consumes any con siderable length of time, the salesman is in constant danger of some interruption which may take the pros pect's mind off the proposition and endanger the in terest that has been created. The salesman should be prepared immediately to resume the talk at the point of interruption in some forceful and interesting manner. The idea is to plunge the prospect immedi ately back into the state of mental concentration in which he was before the interruption occurred. The showing. of a new piece of the salesman's equipment is an effective way of doing this. When the interrup tion has been more than momentary the prospect should be reminded of the point where the conversa tion stopped, by some such statement as: "When we were interrupted, we were discussing the mechanical features." If the interruption has been for as long as ten or fifteen minutes, the chances are that the prospect has grown cold and must be warmed up again. This is done by a concise review of the whole proposition up to the point at which the interruption occurred. The presentation proceeds as usual from that point.