4 THE M I N D O F T HE B UY E R
comm on— t o influenc e th e mind o f th e b uye r.
Any selle r, th en, who wi sh e s to b e succ essful
m ust study th e min d of th e b uy er—in o th er
w ords, m u st take th e p sych ol ogi c al p oin t o f
view.
Th e mind a stream. In disc ussing th e
min d o f th e b uye r w e m ay p rofit ably use
Jam es’s figure o f sp eec h a nd pic ture i t a s a
stream, c onsisting o f th e sum- total of m en ta l
p ro c esses going on withi n th e i ndi vidual
i deas, sen sa tion s, feelings, voli tion s and a c
ti on s. Th ere a re two ch a racteri stics o f th e
stre am which deserve speci al notic e
Characteristics o f the mental stream.
- Th e min d n ever sta nd s still. I t i s i n
c on stan t m o tion. Th e th ough t s of o ne mo~
men t a re quic kly replac ed by o th e rs. Th e
min d o f th e b uye r i n a sa l e consi sts of a pro
c ession o f sensa tion s, feelings, and willings.
F rom the b eginning to th e conclu sion of th e
sal e th ese fl o w along like a st ream. - Th e mi nd i s c omplex. I t is no t a simpl e
thing th a t we a re dealing with, b u t a n organ
i sm o f m any qualitie s an d p owers. I t will
b e o ur ta sk i n th is book to desc ribe this
stream ; to slow i t up a nd examine i t s con
t ents. W e sh all analyze it i n two direc tions
l ongi tudinally an d c ros s-sec tionally. In th e