How To Win Friends And Influence People Part 37

2. I made it clear that, until I had heard the customer's story, I had no opinion to offer. I told him the company made no claims to being infallible.

3. I told him I was interested only in his car, and that he knew more about his car than anyone else in the world; that he was the authority on the subject.

4. I let him talk, and I listened to him with all the interest and sympathy that he wanted - and had expected.

5. Finally, when the customer was in a reasonable mood, I put the whole thing up to his sense of fair play. I appealed to the n.o.bler motives. "First," I said, "I want you to know I also feel this matter has been badly mishandled. You've been inconvenienced and annoyed and irritated by one of our representatives. That should never have happened. I'm sorry and, as a representative of the company, I apologize.

As I sat here and listened to your side of the story, I could not help being impressed by your fairness and patience.

And now, because you are fair - minded and patient, I am going to ask you to do something for me. It's something that you can do better than anyone else, something you know more about than anyone else. Here is your bill; I know it is safe for me to ask you to adjust it, just as you would do if you were the president of my company. I am going to leave it all up to you. Whatever you say goes."

Did he adjust the bill? He certainly did, and got quite a kick out of it, The bills ranged from $150 to $400 - but did the customer give himself the best of it? Yes, one of them did! One of them refused to pay a penny of the disputed charge; but the other five all gave the company the best of it! And here's the cream of the whole thing: we delivered new cars to all six of these customers within the next two years!

"Experience has taught me," says Mr. Thomas, "that when no information can be secured about the customer, the only sound basis on which to proceed is to a.s.sume that he or she is sincere, honest, truthful and willing and anxious to pay the charges, once convinced they are correct.

To put it differently and perhaps mare clearly, people are honest and want to discharge their obligations.

The exceptions to that rule are comparatively few, and I am convinced that the individuals who are inclined to chisel will in most cases react favorably if you make them feel that you consider them honest, upright and fair."

PRINCIPLE 10 Appeal to the n.o.bler motives.

11 THE MOVIES DO IT. TV DOES IT.

WHY DON'T YOU DO IT?

Many years ago, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin was Evening Bulletin was being maligned by a dangerous whispering campaign. A malicious rumor was being circulated. Advertisers were being told that the newspaper was no longer attractive to readers because it carried too much advertising and too little news. Immediate action was necessary. The gossip had to be squelched.

But how?

This is the way it was done.

The Bulletin Bulletin clipped from its regular edition all reading clipped from its regular edition all reading matter of all kinds on one average day, cla.s.sified it, and published it as a book. The book was called One One Day. It contained 307 pages - as many as a hard-covered It contained 307 pages - as many as a hard-covered book; yet the Bulletin Bulletin had printed all this news and feature had printed all this news and feature material on one day and sold it, not for several dollars, but for a few cents.

The printing of that book dramatized the fact that the Bulletin carried an enormous amount of interesting carried an enormous amount of interesting reading matter. It conveyed the facts more vividly, more interestingly, more impressively, than pages of figures and mere talk could have done.

This is the day of dramatization. Merely stating a truth isn't enough. The truth has to be made vivid, interesting, dramatic. You have to use showmans.h.i.+p. The movies do it. Television does it. And you will have to do it if you want attention.

Experts in window display know the power of dramazation.

For example, the manufacturers of a new rat poison gave dealers a window display that included two live rats. The week the rats were shown, sales zoomed to five times their normal rate.

Television commercials abound with examples of the use of dramatic techniques in selling products. Sit down one evening in front of your television set and a.n.a.lyze what the advertisers do in each of their presentations.

You will note how an antacid medicine changes the color of the acid in a test tube while its compet.i.tor doesn't, how one brand of soap or detergent gets a greasy s.h.i.+rt clean when the other brand leaves it gray. You'll see a car maneuver around a series of turns and curves - far better than just being told about it. Happy faces will show contentment with a variety of products. All of these dramatize for the viewer the advantages offered by whatever is being sold - and they do get people to buy them.

You can dramatize your ideas in business or in any other aspect of your life. It's easy. Jim Yeamans, who sells for the NCR company (National Cash Register) in Richmond, Virginia, told how he made a sale by dramatic demonstration.

"Last week I called on a neighborhood grocer and saw that the cash registers he was using at his checkout counters were very old-fas.h.i.+oned. I approached the owner and told him: 'You are literally throwing away pennies every time a customer goes through your line.'

With that I threw a handful of pennies on the floor.

He quickly became more attentive. The mere words should have been of interest to him, but the sound of Pennies. .h.i.tting the floor really stopped him. I was able to get an order from him to replace all of his old machines."

It works in home life as well. When the old-time lover Proposed to his sweetheart, did he just use words of love? No! He went down on his knees. That really showed he meant what he said. We don't propose on our knees any more, but many suitors still set up a romantic atmosphere before they pop the question.

Dramatizing what you want works with children as well. Joe B. Fant, Jr., of Birmingham, Alabama, was having difficulty getting his five-year-old boy and three-year- old daughter to pick up their toys, so he invented a "train." Joey was the engineer (Captain Casey Jones) on his tricycle. Janet's wagon was attached, and in the evening she loaded all the "coal" on the caboose (her wagon) and then jumped in while her brother drove her around the room. In this way the room was cleaned up - without lectures, arguments or threats.

Mary Catherine Wolf of Mishawaka, Indiana, was having some problems at work and decided that she had to discuss them with the boss. On Monday morning she requested an appointment with him but was told he was very busy and she should arrange with his secretary for an appointment later in the week. The secretary indicated that his schedule was very tight, but she would try to fit her in.

Ms. Wolf described what happened:

"I did not get a reply from her all week long. Whenever I questioned her, she would give me a reason why the boss could not see me. Friday morning came and I had heard nothing definite. I really wanted to see him and discuss my problems before the weekend, so I asked myself how I could get him to see me.

"What I finally did was this. I wrote him a formal letter.

I indicated in the letter that I fully understood how extremely busy he was all week, but it was important that I speak with him. I enclosed a form letter and a self- addressed envelope and asked him to please fill it out or ask his secretary to do it and return it to me. The form letter read as follows:

Ms. Wolf - I will be able to see you on __________ a t __________A.M/P.M. I will give you _____minutes of my time.

"I put this letter in his in-basket at 11 A.M. At 2 P.M. I checked my mailbox. There was my self-addressed envelope.

He had answered my form letter himself and indicated he could see me that afternoon and could give me ten minutes of his time. I met with him, and we talked for over an hour and resolved my problems.

"If I had not dramatized to him the fact that I really wanted to see him, I would probably be still waiting for an appointment."

James B. Boynton had to present a lengthy market report.

His firm had just finished an exhaustive study for a leading brand of cold cream. Data were needed immediately about the compet.i.tion in this market; the prospective customer was one of the biggest - and most formidable - men in the advertising business.

And his first approach failed almost before he began.

"The first time I went in," Mr. Boynton explains, "I found myself sidetracked into a futile discussion of the methods used in the investigation. He argued and I argued.

He told me I was wrong, and I tried to prove that I was right.