Such illustrations as have been given above should be understood as merely suggestive of ways to use the sense-hitting method of compelling attention. Do not copy the suggestions offered. Think out for your individual use a collection of sense-hitting devices of your own. Then you will be able to select various ways to gain and to re-gain attention when you are in the presence of a prospect.  No matter what may be your ability and ambition, there are features of your character and your service capacity that you can utilize to make direct sense appeals.  Find out for yourself what they are, and plan how to use them most effectively.  If you cannot gain attention to your qualifications, or if you are unable to recall wandering attention, you may lose the chance you have succeeded in getting. Insure yourself against the possibility of such a disaster; so that your previous good salesmanship in securing an interview will not all go for naught.

[Sidenote:  Out-of-the-Ordinary Things]

If you do something out of the ordinary, the force of your sense-hitting will be much greater than if you employ only common devices for gaining attention.  It is better to do something that compels attention to your recommendations than to say “I want to call your attention to these letters.”

[Sidenote:  Danger of Distracting Attention]

However, there is always the danger that in gaining attention by unusual means you may attract too much attention to the device you use, and so distract notice from the proposition you are presenting for sale.  Therefore be sure that whatever extraordinary thing you do to compel attention contributes directly to your main purpose and does not lead your prospect off on a side track of thought.

A business house once got out an advertising novelty and had samples distributed by the salesmen as gifts to their principal customers.  The novelty was an ingenious mechanical device.  It attracted so much attention to itself that when a salesman put it on the desk of a prospect before beginning his sales talk, the attention of the other man was drawn from what the salesman was saying and was given to the novelty.  The prospect would pick up and examine the advertising device while the salesman was presenting ideas regarding his standard line of goods.  As a result, many of the best points of the sales talks were unnoticed.  The advertising novelty was a detriment.  The sales volume fell off while it was being distributed.  The slump was traced directly to the mistake of having the salesmen pass out the attention-compelling device which was not related to the staples of the house line.

[Sidenote:  The Remedy]

The distribution was made by mail thereafter, in advance of the salesman’s call.  It was effective then as an introduction for the traveler; because by the time he came to see the prospect, the novelty of the advertising device had worn off.  It was no longer an attention-distracter.