IMAGINATION 415I cannot recall an incident in my entire life in which the soundness
of the seventeen factors that enter into this course was more clearly
manifested than it was in securing the release of 8---.
It is but another link in a long chain of evidence that proves to my
entire satisfaction the power of Imagination as a factor in salesmanship.
There are endless millions of approaches to every problem, but there is
only one best approach. Find this one best approach and your problem
is easily solved. No matter how much merit your goods may have, there
are millions of wrong ways in which to offer them. Your Imagination will
assist you in finding the right way.
In your search for the right way to offer your merchandise or your
services, remember this peculiar trait of mankind:
People will grant javors that you request jor the benifit oj a third person
when they would not grant them if requested jor your benifit.
Compare this statement with the fact that I had asked the governor
to release 8---not as a favor to me, and not as a favor to 8---, but
for the benefit of the 160,000 unfortunate inmates of the prisons of
America.
Salespeople of Imagination always offer their wares in such termi-
nology that the advantages of those wares to the prospective purchaser
are obvious. It is seldom that anyone makes a purchase of merchandise
or renders another a favor just to accommodate the salesperson. It is a
prominent trait of human nature that prompts us all to do that which
advances our own interests. This is a cold, indisputable fact, claims of
the idealist to the contrary notwithstanding.
To be perfectly plain, people are selfish!
To understand the truth is to understand how to present your case,
whether you are asking for the release of someone from prison or offering
for sale some commodity. In your own Imagination, plan the presenta-
tion of your case so that the strongest and most impelling advantages to
the buyer are made clear.
This is Imagination!