[Sidenote: Two Parts of Sizing-up Process]

When you have learned how to see and hear many details clearly at the same time, _unsuspected by your prospect_, you will be a master of the first essential of skillful character reading. The second necessary element of proficiency in sizing up men is the _relation or a.s.sociation of each detail observed, with the particular characteristic it denotes_.

To begin with, _perceive points_ about your prospect. Then ask yourself about each, "_What does this mean?_"

[Sidenote: Practice Makes Perfect]

Of course you will not become an expert judge of other men at once. But get the habit of seeing and hearing _specific indications of characteristics_ wherever you go. You will soon find that your mind has been opened to new, clear ideas of people.

It is possible for anyone to become a mind reader. It is necessary only to _note_ and _think out_ the meaning of character signs and thoughts.

Trained specific observation will read and interpret these signs. When you become skillful in sizing up other men, this art will help you very much in gaining the best possible receptions everywhere you go. Also, if you are able to read your prospect's thoughts and character, you can avoid antagonizing his ideas.

[Sidenote: Remove Unnecessary Difficulties]

Gain knowledge of other men in order to make it easy to sell them true ideas of your best capabilities. It is not _hard_ to succeed if you take the _unnecessary_ difficulties out of the process of gaining your chances.

CHAPTER VIII

_The Knock At The Door Of Opportunity and The Invitation To Come In_

[Sidenote: Selling is Not a Mechanical Process]

The process of selling ideas comprises several steps, part or all of which the salesman may need to take in order to close a particular sale successfully. In our study we are considering step after step in regular order, but the actual selling process cannot be reduced to such exact.i.tude and routine. Before we begin our a.n.a.lysis of this "presentation" step, it should be clearly understood that success in selling ideas is not achieved by going through a _machine-like_ process.

We follow a regular sequence in these chapters, but it is unlikely that you will ever complete a sale of your services by taking the various steps of the selling process in the precise order of our study.

[Sidenote: Be a Fully Equipped Salesman]

You may need to use them all in order to succeed in a specific instance.

Again, without taking many of the steps here a.n.a.lyzed, you might be able to gain the success opportunity you most desire. _The object of this book is to fit you for any and every condition you are likely to meet_ in your efforts to gain opportunities for your ambition. It is improbable that in order to get your desired chance and to make the most of it you will have to _use_ all you learn of the secret of certain success. You cannot afford, however, to run an _avoidable risk_ of being at a loss regarding what to do at any stage of the process of selling to a selected prospect true ideas of your best capability. You need to know the most effective ways to deal with situations that may never happen, but which, on the contrary, _might_ be encountered. You cannot start _confidently_ on your quest for success unless you are _fully_ equipped.

[Sidenote: Reducing the Odds Against You]

If you believed it would be necessary for you to do everything contained in this book in order to gain the opportunities you desire, you likely would feel very skeptical about succeeding. You might think, "A single little slip and I'd lose out. It's a thousand to one against me." The fact is that the odds on the side of failure are very heavy in the case of an _ordinary_ man. If you can _reduce_ them only a little _in your own case_, you will get a start towards success because of the slight lessening of your handicap.

[Sidenote: Value of Knowing a Single Step]

I recall a man who mastered but three principles of _prospecting needs_.

With this limited knowledge of salesmanship he was able to induce a great financier to open the door of opportunity and take him into a field of rich chances to earn a fortune. Another friend of mine got his start solely from knowledge of a manufacturer's princ.i.p.al hobby. What he knew about the "single tax" enabled him to plan a sure approach to the mind of the factory owner. A young lawyer in Chicago seized upon a chance for fame and wealth in his first meeting with a poor, seemingly unsuccessful inventor. In each of these instances a single step of the selling process, taken correctly, carried the salesman through the door of opportunity and brought him within reach of the beginnings of success.

[Sidenote: Get Ready for Imaginable Happenings]

_You_ may not need to knock at that door, nor wait for an invitation to come in. In _your_ case, perhaps, the door stands open, with a "Welcome"

mat just outside. Yet if you _do need_ to knock with your ideas for admittance to another man's mind, and if it ever becomes _necessary_ for you to win a welcome, this chapter will prove valuable reading. You will be helped to gain your desired chance, and the danger of your failure will be minimized, if you _know how_ to knock and exactly _what to do_ to a.s.sure your welcome.

Even the master salesman can never be absolutely certain of the reception he will have from any prospect. Therefore he "goes loaded" for all imaginable contingencies. You, the salesman of yourself, should be likewise prepared with knowledge of how each and every step in the selling process may be taken most effectively. Whatever emergency arises, you must be ready to take the fullest advantage of a favorable turn, and equally ready to reduce as much as possible any disadvantage you encounter.

[Sidenote: Knocking and Getting In]

Of course it will avail you nothing if you succeed only in _reaching_ the particular man through whom you have planned to gain success. And after you meet him it will do you no material good to _size him up_ correctly; if you are then unable to hold his _attention_ to your presentation of ideas. Your preliminary skillful salesmanship would all be wasted. Evidently, in order that you may continue the process of gaining your chance, it is necessary that you should know how to knock on the door of his mind in such an _agreeable but compelling_ way that he will be _forced_ to let his attention come out _pleasantly_ to you and your purpose. Hence right knocking at the door of opportunity immediately follows the size-up as an essential part of the process of making success certain.

It is necessary next for you to know how to prevent a turn-down on the front porch of your prospect's mind, and how to insure _the admission of your ideas to his thoughts_. You can compel your prospect to open the door of his attention, but in order to get _inside_ his mind and secure his _interest_ in your purpose, you must win his _willing invitation_ for your ideas to enter his thoughts and make themselves at home there.

[Sidenote: Certain Success Methods]

We have seen how you can make certain of gaining your chance to reach the door of opportunity. You can size up surely your prospect's dominant characteristics and what he is thinking. Likewise you can guarantee to yourself, first the attention, and second the interest of the man you have come to see. It is necessary only that you use the methods of the master salesman to _compel_ the opening of the door and to _induce_ the extension of welcome to your ideas.

[Sidenote: Our Old Acquaintance Again]

Here again we meet our old acquaintance, the discriminative-restrictive method. You must _discriminate_ between the process of knocking at the door of opportunity and the process of securing the invitation to come in. Then, in _practicing_ these related but different steps of the selling process, it is necessary that when you knock you _restrict_ yourself to the use of the methods that are most effective in gaining _attention_. Similarly you should restrict yourself to using the very _different_ methods of securing _interest_, when you work to get an invitation for your ideas to come inside the other man's mind and make themselves at home there.

[Sidenote: Process of Compelling Attention]

Psychologists define "Attention" as "that act of the mind which holds to a given object perceived by one or more senses, to the _exclusion_ of all other objects that might be perceived at that time by the same or other senses." A knock at a door attracts attention because it temporarily diverts the previous attentiveness of the mind to other things, and concentrates it on a new object of attention. The sense of hearing is _struck_. Whether or not the mind is _willing_ to hear, it _cannot help perceiving_ the sudden new sound. Its attention is _forced_. The instant the knock is heard, the mind is compelled to drop or suspend what it has been thinking about; though this _exclusive_ new attention to the knock may last but a fraction of a second.

Our _senses_ function under the control of the sub-conscious mind. It is futile for us to _will_ that we _won't_ hear, or see, or taste, etc. We _have_ to take in sense impressions, whether we want to do so or not.

Therefore, if you employ restrictively the _sense-hitting_ method, you can force the man upon whom you call to give his _attention_ to you or to the presentation of your ideas.

[Sidenote: Inducing Interest]

It is necessary to discriminate, however, between the use of the avenues to reach the mind center of _attention_, and the use of very _different_ ways into the mind center of _interest_. If you start wrong, there is very little chance that you will arrive at the right destination. The center of interest is wholly under the control of the _conscious_ mind.

Your prospect can refuse to be interested, if he chooses, despite your determination to interest him. _His interest must be induced_. Any attempt to _compel_ it is apt to have a fatal result. Nearly always such an effort to force interest develops antagonism, instead.

But there are methods of _inducing_ interest that are just as sure to succeed as are the sense-hitting methods by which attention may be compelled. This _double step_ in the process of selling the true idea of your best capabilities in the right market can be taken with absolute _certainty_ of success if you know and practice the principles in accordance with which the master salesman sells his ideas of goods to prospects. We are to study these principles now, as applied to the sale of your qualifications for success in the field you have selected.

[Sidenote: Exclusive Agreeable Attention]

When you enter the office of your prospect--your chosen future employer, for example--he will be giving his attention to _something_. No one, while he is awake, can be wholly _non_-attentive. Your function, at this stage of the selling process, is to compel him to stop paying attention to something or somebody _else_, and to give _you and your ideas_ his exclusive attention.

[Sidenote: Avoid Making Unfavorable Impressions]

Of course good salesmanship makes it advisable also to avoid creating a _disagreeable_ impression while forcing yourself and your ideas upon the attention of your prospect. The _conscious_ mind governs a man's likes and dislikes. So if you knock compellingly at the door of _that_ mind to gain attention, you may arouse very _unfavorable_ attention. For ill.u.s.tration, a boisterous greeting of your prospect, or a very noisy entrance into his office, would doubtless compel his attention by the direct hammering on his senses. But the attraction of his attention to you would affect the operations of both his conscious and sub-conscious minds, and his conscious mind would be disagreeably impressed. His compelled attention, therefore, might result in your being thrown out.

[Sidenote: Gaining Both Attention And Interest]

However, you can knock at the _sense_ doors of the _sub-conscious_ mind with such un.o.bjectionable sense-hitting methods that while agreeable _attention_ will be _compelled_ thereby, you can also be sure that a favorable impression on the conscious mind of the prospect will be _induced_. For ill.u.s.tration, if your prospect is evidently busy at his desk when you are admitted to his office, you might compel his attention by entering very quietly and by standing in silence without interrupting him until he has had an opportunity to finish what he is doing. His sound sense would be struck, paradoxically, by your exceptional quietness. His sense of equilibrium would also be affected by your perfect poise while waiting. Your whole att.i.tude would impress him so favorably that his especial interest in you would be induced. His greeting would be pleasant.

Suppose your prospect looks up from his work when you enter his presence, and you approach close to his desk; if you are immaculate in dress and body, you will appeal agreeably to his olfactory sense. The law of the a.s.sociation of ideas will then begin to work in your favor.

Your prospect will get subconsciously a conscious impression of your clean character.

You might wear a fresh flower in your b.u.t.tonhole and so strike several of his senses pleasantly. But unless the flower is inconspicuous and in good taste it would make an unfavorable impression.

[Sidenote: Good Impressions]

Let us a.s.sume now that when you enter the office of your prospect, he is disgruntled about something. You can take some of the heat out of his ill temper by your appearance of cool self-confidence and good nature.