Six

I’jimalntiau vi-ik:i r»

December 21 } !)f>2

COYSTMiCTIYE S ALESM .4 Y it u ll i!

Continued from 'Previous Issue

Ho who relics upon argument is leaning on
a weak reed. Persuasion i< what wins sales.
It is easy to win an argument and lose a sale.
It is the 'part of the good salesman to persuade
toward a sale and win a customer.

Persuasion is based, among other things, on
knowledge of what makes men tick. It requires
acquaintanceship with human instincts, which are
still, in spite of our advancement in culture,
powerful in provoking us to action.

Persuasion many be exercised in words or
direct appeal to one of the buyer’s senses. It avoids,
courteously, a head-on collision about some doubtful
point. It doesn't talk down to the prospect,
but keeps itself on the informative plane.

Persuasion means knowing the answer in
advance. The salesman will try to anticipate
every objection, and be ready with a persuasive
reply. Sometimes it may be wise not to wait
for anticipated objection, but to work the answer
smoothly into your conversation. Once let a man
express his objection or criticism and you have
a .most difficult task to persuade him to abandon
his position.

When your customer feels in his heart that
you are. genuinely interested in him, and want
to help him unde,standingly, you have piogrc-sed
a long way toward a sale. He feels im-utant,
because you have ' .ken ; ho trouble to study him
and his needs. William .Jam \s wrote: 'Die doepe-t

need in human nature i the craving to be
appreciated’.

Why Do People liny t

More sales can be made by the salesman
who investigates carefully the reasons why buyers
enter the market. Sometime the prospect does
not even know that he wants what the salesman
lias to sell ; at other times he is wavering between
wanting and not wanting.

J’nusally, buying is set in motion by one
of these desires : gain, utility, prestige, pleasure.
If the product promises to give a new benefit,
or to protect a benefit the prospect already lias
then the product has high appeal. There still
remains the task of enabling the prospect to
decide that there is a strong logical ipason for
his purchase, and that your product will satisfy
his desire in a better way than others would.

These convictions must be presented by the
salesman in a way to ho undeistood, and the
salesman must have put his finger on the com-
pelling motive or much of his sales talk will
bo wasted or harmful.

A salesman was trying to sell a stove to an
elderly lady. He described the construction
features at* great length, talked about H.T.lYs
thermostats and automatic daper control. Then
the customer interrupted him with this wonderfully
human question: “Tell me, mister, will it keep

an old lady warm ?”

From a long list of selling points, it may
he dillicult to select tlnw that will best sell a
product. It is here that the salesman has the
opportunity to use hi- knowledge of human nature
and his intelligent, application of what he has
learned about his goods. The- selection needs to
be ma le anew for each prospect, on the basis
°f tin* salesman's observation and his summing up
o! the prospects interests at the in meat*

The art ol creative salesman ihip conM-ts
largely in showing people how certain goods inav

satisfy wants. He i< a w i~ • salesmri who can

discern with sour* degree of aecur »ewhat rates

I L'he>t in th • prospect's mind, ami then show

h »w the product, or service m • t-s that requirement.
W'licn there i» a meeting of the mind of the
buyer with that of the seller, a s.de result.

rhi< is a proiri\.mme for salesmen which
demands hard work and straight thinking.
Constructive selling is not the easiest of jobs.
Die solution of its problems calls for pet severance
and courage and initiative and imagination It
is a programme, t >o, which requires planning.
-Many otherwise well qualified salesmen are being
kept from advancement to more important positions
chiefly because t hey shun system and defy orderliness
in the way they go about their work.

On Sal s prrs illation

liie salesman who docs not think and plan
ahead approaches his sale presentation at a dis-
advantage. He may be stepped at once by an
outright adverse decision to which he has no
adequate response, or by failing to look ahead he
may lose the sale before making an opportunity to
domostrate the product.

l-.v ryihing else in selling is cither preparation