SELF-CONTROL 527If you are a master salesperson you know that it is necessary for
you to keep your prospective purchaser on the defensive. You also know
that it will be fatal to your sale if you permit the buyer to place you on
the defensive and keep you there. You may, and of course you will at
times, be placed in a position in which you will have to assume the
defensive side of the conversation for a time. But it is your business to
exercise such perfect poise and Self-Control that you will change places
with your prospective purchasers without them noticing that you have
done so.
This requires the most consummate skill and Self-Control!
Most salespeople sweep this vital point aside by becoming angry
and trying to scare the prospective purchaser into submission, but the
master of the craft remains calm and serene, and usually comes out the
wmner.
When I use the term salesperson) I mean all people who try to
persuade or convince others by logic or by appeal to self-interest. We
are all salespeople, or at least we should be, no matter what form of
service we are rendering or what sort of goods we are offering.
The ability to negotiate with other people without friction and
argument is the outstanding quality of all successful people. Observe
those nearest you and notice how few there are who understand this
art of tactful negotiation. Observe, also, how successful are the few who
understand this art, despite the fact that they may have less education
than those with whom they negotiate.
It is a knack that can be cultivated.
COMMENTARY
An advertising representative for a magazine once received an angry phone call
from one of his customers. The magazine s production department had placed
incorrect information in a small ad, and the client was furious. For ten minutes he
yelled and screamed.