SUG G E S TI ON IN T H E SALE^159
th e secon d i dea sendin g f orth th e mot or im
p ul se abd t he n com e s th e third idea sta r ting
up m oto r imp ul se ab e. By thi s tim e th e p re
cio us nervo us energy t h a t wa s availabl e for
th e a c tion is exh a us te d an d dissipa ted, a nd i t
st a rt s up no ac tion a t all. Th e c orrec tion fo r
such a situa tio n i s to m ake only o ne sugge stion
a t a tim e.(^4). Make p o sitive sugges ti ons. A negative
s ugge sti on i s one c ontaining “ no o r “ no t”
a nd sh oul d b e avoided. Viola tion s of thi s l aw
are exce edingly n umerou s i n selling, pa rticu
l arly i n th e ma nufa c ture of busin es s sl ogans.
“ D on’t say sa y i s a favorit e fo rm.
Acc ep t no sub sti tut e, i s a n oth er.
Th e p sych ol ogical offense in nega tive sug
gestio n is th a t th e real motive force of a
ph ra se lies i n th e i dea o f th e a c ti on, no t in
th e way th e a ction i s m odifie d verbally. In
th e sl oga n “ Acc ep t no sub sti tut e, ” th e real
i dea i s “ Accep t sub sti tute .” To negate it
do e s no t m ate ri ally w eake n i ts fo rc e. Th e
ph ra se really suggests to th e buye r th a t h e
sh o ul d ‘a ccep t a sub stit ut e.
A very lit tl e analysis of sellin g ph ra se s
from this p oin t of vi ew will show t ha t many
o f th em do no t p ut i nto th e min d of th e b uye r
t h e i dea i nt ende d by th e selle r. Le t u s, by