ENTHUSIASM 463I proudly pleaded guilty to the charge. Observe the word proudly, for
it has an important bearing on this incident. I laid down the manuscript
that I was reading when this saleswoman came in, for I could see that
she was a woman of intelligence. Just how I came to see this you will
see too, from this story. The important point is that I laid down the
manuscript and actually felt myself wanting to hear what she had to say.
With the aid of eleven words, plus a pleasant smile, plus a tone
of genuine Enthusiasm, she had neutralized my mind sufficiently to
make me want to hear her. She had performed her most difficult task
with those few words, because I had made up my mind when she was
announced that I would keep my manuscript in my hands and thereby
convey to her mind, as politely as I could, that I was busy.
Being a student of salesmanship and of suggestion, I carefully
watched to see what her next move would be. She had a bundle of
magazines under her arm and I expected she would unroll it and begin
to urge me to purchase, but she didn't. You will recall that I said she was
selling a combination of six magazines; not merely trying to sell them.
She walked over to my bookshelves, pulled out a copy of Emerson's
Essays, and for the next ten minutes she talked about Emerson's essay on
Compensation so interestingly that I lost sight of the roll of magazines
that she carried. (She was neutralizing my mind some more.)
Incidentally, she gave me a sufficient number of new ideas about
Emerson's works to provide material for an excellent editorial.
Then she asked me which magazines I received regularly, and after
I told her, she smiled as she unrolled her bundle of magazines and laid
them on the table in front of me. She analyzed her magazines one by
one, and explained just why I should have each of them. The Saturday
Evening Post would bring me the cleanest fiction; literary Digest would
bring me the news of the world in condensed form, such as a busy man
like myself would demand; the American Magazine would bring me the
latest biographies of those who were leading in business and industry,
and so on, until she had covered the entire list.