Certain Success Part 4

Good sales letters are so rare that the ability to write them has erroneously been called "a gift." It is not. Any one of educated intelligence can write his ideas; _provided he has clear, definite thought-images in his own mind_. But cloudy thinking reflects only a blur on paper.

[Sidenote: Using Sales Letters]

A letter that plainly conveys true ideas is a sales letter; for it gets across to the mind of the recipient a clear, definite mental impression of the writer's real personality and thoughts.

In all your correspondence, throughout the period of preparation for your chosen life career, send out true ideas of your best capability. If you do, you doubtless will find the door of your desired opportunity open by the time you are fully prepared to knock. Successful business is always ready in advance to welcome "comers;" whenever and wherever they are sighted. Therefore project your personality far and wide through your letters. Employ the medium of correspondence, with salesmans.h.i.+p knowledge and skill, even when you write the most ordinary messages to your acquaintances or to strangers. That is, _think out certain ways to sell particular ideas about yourself_; then incorporate these bits of salesmans.h.i.+p in your letters.

A young man in his senior year at college selected a large corporation as his prospective employer. He did not know any of the executives of the company, but he worked out a plan to get acquainted through letters.

He was especially desirous of entering the field of foreign trade, and had made a fairly comprehensive study of the export business. He wrote to the president of the corporation, gave a brief outline of articles and books he had read; then complimented the great company by declaring that he realized the knowledge he had acquired was theoretical and abstract, and that he wished to gain practical, concrete ideas by studying the methods of the corporation. He enclosed with his letter ten cents in postage stamps, and requested that he be sent any forms, instruction sheets, sales bulletins, etc., the president was willing to let him have for study.

[Sidenote: Getting A Future Chance]

His letter was referred to the vice-president in charge of sales, who in turn pa.s.sed it on to a department manager with instructions to supply the matter requested. In the course of a week the college student received a bulky package. Meanwhile a letter had been sent from the department head which stated that the vice-president in charge of sales had referred to him the request for forms, instruction sheets, etc., and that they would be forwarded under separate cover.

The student took advantage of the three opportunities opened to conduct correspondence with the executives of the corporation. He first wrote courteous, carefully worded "thank-you" letters to the president, vice-president, and department head. These were all in his own hand, so that his good penmans.h.i.+p might make an individual impression. After these letters were dispatched the student mastered the material that had been sent to him. Then he wrote three supplemental letters of appreciation, and made concise comments on some of the methods of the corporation, with comparisons from his previous reading of books and articles on foreign trade. He stated that he intended to make further investigation along these particular lines and that if he learned anything he thought might be interesting to the company he would write what he found out. In the course of a month he sent a letter which detailed his investigations. This he addressed to the department head only. But he also penned brief letters to the president and vice-president, in which he informed them that he had written in detail to the department head.

[Sidenote: Effect of Follow-up Letters]

The correspondence continued throughout the remainder of the student's senior year at college. The letters from the business men soon evidenced more than formal courtesy. They grew personal and indicated real interest. A month before his graduation the student was invited to call at the company's office after Commencement. He went, made an excellent impression in interviews with the vice-president in charge of sales and the department head, and though the ink on his sheepskin was not yet dry, he gained his object. He was engaged by the corporation and began training as a prospective representative of the company in foreign territory.

Thus through the correspondence medium of salesmans.h.i.+p a young man who had no advantage of personal influence or acquaintance secured exactly the chance he wanted. Similar opportunities are open to any one.

[Sidenote: Personal Selling]

_Every moment of your life when you are in the presence of other people, you have chances to sell true ideas about the best that is in you._ You will not need to seek such opportunities for personal salesmans.h.i.+p.

Chances come to you continually to make good impressions on the minds of the men and women you meet from day to day.

Be a skillful salesman of true ideas about yourself always, even in the most casual relations you have with other people. Sell the best possible impressions of yourself to pa.s.sers-by on the street, to your fellow riders in cars, to clerks and customers of stores you visit, to your home and business a.s.sociates. Put selling skill, as second nature, into each word, tone, and action of your social and business life.

Realize that in whatever you do or say, consciously or unconsciously, you _are_ selling ideas about your capability or your incapacity. You are making more or less definite impressions--you are affecting your opportunities to succeed, and are forming good or bad habits--all the time. _Control the effects of your words, tones, and acts by saying and doing, consciously and intelligently, only what will aid in selling true ideas of your best capabilities._.

[Sidenote: Practical Psychology]

Of course you already know that each word and tone and act of your life makes _some_ impression on the people who hear or see you. But probably you have not realized fully that _particular ways_ of saying and doing things have _distinct and different effects_, each governed by an exact law of psychology. You perhaps do not know now _just what_ impression is made by a certain word, or tone, or act. To be a master salesman of yourself you need to study the science of mind sufficiently to acquire _working knowledge_ of common mental actions and reactions. Familiarity with at least the general principles of psychology is of the utmost importance in using the selling process effectively.

Do not shy from study of the science of mind because it is an "ology"

and therefore may seem hard. _You are a psychologist already_. You know that certain things you do and say make agreeable or unfavorable impressions on other people. In a _general_ way you know _why_. It is necessary only that you a.n.a.lyze _specifically_ what you realize now rather indefinitely. If you do not care to study a _book_ on psychology, just use your own mind as your psychological laboratory for continual self-a.n.a.lysis.

Answer for yourself such questions as, "Exactly what effect will this particular word, or tone, or act have--and just why?" You can work out pretty well the _practical knowledge of psychology_ you must have in order to sell ideas about your capabilities most effectively. You simply need to apply _purposeful intelligence_ in everything you do and say; instead of making impressions without comprehending that by each word and tone and act of daily living you are influencing, favorably or adversely, your chances to succeed.

[Sidenote: Three Factors of Selling Process]

Think of yourself as one of the _three factors_ of the selling process.

The _goods of sale_ are your best capabilities, of course. The second factor is the _prospective buyer_, the man who has need of such qualities or services as you could supply. The _agent of sale_, or third factor, is yourself. If you will keep in mind always the conception of yourself as _the uniting link_ between your "goods of sale" and the prospective buyer, you can be a salesman of yourself every minute. At any moment except when you are alone you may encounter and influence a possible buyer of your best capabilities. You are continually within sight and hearing of people whose impressions of you might affect your chances to succeed in life. Therefore always be alert to grasp every sales opportunity within your reach.

[Sidenote: Twelve Steps]

It will be essential, also, that you have knowledge of the successive _steps_ of the selling process, as well as knowledge of your goods of sale and knowledge of practical mind science. Otherwise you might omit inadvertently to use some round of the ladder to certain success, and tumble to failure. These steps are so important to understand that the last nine chapters of the companion book are devoted to them exclusively. It will suffice here just to state what they are.

1. Preparation For Selling; 2. Prospecting; 3. The Plan Of Approach; 4. Securing An Audience; 5. Sizing Up The Buyer; 6. Gaining Attention; 7. Awakening Interest; 8. The Creation Of Desire; 9. Handling Objections; 10. The Process Of Decision; 11. Obtaining Signature or a.s.sent; 12. The Get-Away That Leads To Future Orders.

[Sidenote: Five Degrees of Effort]

Another element of necessary knowledge about the selling process is the cla.s.sification of sales according to the five degrees of effort required to close them.

1. A sale completed by response to the mere demand of the buyer.

_Example_--While a street car strike is on you are driving, an automobile down town. A man in a hurry to catch a train stops you and says, "I'll give you two dollars to take me to the station." You transport him in response to his call for your services.

[Sidenote: Distinguish Degrees of Effort]

2. A sale completed by the buyer's acceptance on presentation only.

_Example_--A man is walking along a country road in the summer time. He sees a sign in the door-yard of a farmhouse; BERRY PICKERS WANTED. He presents himself as a candidate and the farmer at once engages his services.

3. A sale completed immediately after a desire of the buyer has been created by a definite, intentional effort of the salesman.

_Example_--A man out of work wants a job that will employ his physical strength. He encounters three men who are struggling to load a very heavy box onto a truck. He takes off his coat and proves his strength by the ease with which the box is lifted when he helps. He inquires which of the three men is the truck boss; and asks for a job. He is hired because he has made the boss want the aid of his strength in handling heavy loads.

4. A sale completed only after persuasion of the buyer.

_Example_--a.s.sume that the truck boss in the next preceding ill.u.s.tration refuses at first to hire the applicant who has demonstrated his strength. It is necessary then for the man out of a job to talk his prospective boss into the idea that he needs a fourth man in his gang.

5. A sale completed only after a decision by the buyer as to the comparative benefits of purchasing or of not buying.

_Example_--You and another candidate apply for the same position in an office. You appear to be about equal in capability. The employer "weighs you in the balance" against the other applicant. This is a sale requiring the fifth degree of effort. Manifestly you will need to use a very high quality of skill to get into the mind of the prospective buyer of services the idea that you are likely to be of more value as an employee than your compet.i.tor for the place. Then you must skillfully prompt him to accept your application.

[Sidenote: Difficult Sales Most Worth Making]

When you appreciate exactly how sales differ in the degrees of effort necessary to close them, you will realize the wisdom of preparing to sell your particular qualities and services _with full comprehension of all the difficulties commonly met_ by candidates for desirable positions.

Countless men have died failures because they used throughout their lives only the first or second degrees of effort. Consequently all their attempts to get good jobs were futile. The non-success of millions of other worthy men has been due to their use of no more than the third or fourth degrees of selling effort.

[Sidenote: Sales of The Fifth Degree of Difficulty]

Sales of the fifth degree of difficulty sometimes demand knowledge and skillful use of the entire selling process. _They are the sales most worth making._ The applicant for a new position or for a promotion is _certain to succeed_ in his purpose if he knows how to complete a sale of the true idea of his best capabilities. In order to do this he must control the _weighing process_ of the buyer; and be skillful in _prompting acceptance_ of his "goods of sale."

When you _master_ and reduce to _every-day practice_ the fundamental principles you can learn from this set of books, you will be a.s.sured of making a successful average in handling sales of the fifth degree of effort.

They are sales of the kind the _professional_ salesman makes with complete confidence every day. _His_ methods, applied to the marketing of _your_ goods of sale, will work such wonders for you that you soon should build up self-confidence equal to the matter-of-fact a.s.surance of the master salesman of clothing, insurance, and other _materials_ of sale. He _knows_ when he begins a season or starts on a trip that he will make a good batting average.

[Sidenote: Desired Results In Selling]

Comprehend, further, exactly what _results_ are desired by the skilled salesman whose work is based on scientific principles.

The _immediate_ results desired are:

First, _confidence_;