However, you have come with a true service purpose.  You believe he needs you; that you can satisfy a lack in his business.  You feel your interests and his are alike, not different.  You know that you have no intention “to put anything over on him.”  You want your prospect to be absolutely satisfied with what you propose.  Therefore you should welcome every chance to convince his mind and win his confidence. An objection affords you an opportunity to overcome it, and so both to strengthen your proposition and to weaken his resistance.

[Sidenote:  Don’t Set Up Straw Men to Knock Down]

You should not, however, bring up objections that the prospect has not raised in his own mind.  That would be putting up a straw man and knocking him down, which is profitless and unconvincing.  Of course you must clear the path when there is no other way to proceed, but do not block it yourself.  Sometimes it will not be advisable to clear the path.  If you can get around a difficulty you see, without attracting your prospect’s attention to it, you will be wise to go some indirect way to your goal.

Suppose, for example, that you know the salary you want is higher than your prospect has been accustomed to pay.  It will be good salesmanship for you not to refer to the amount you have in mind, until after you have carried him along with you to consider the profits he will make from engaging your services.  Since you plan to show him that these profits will pay your salary, you will be wise to avoid the matter of your compensation until you have approached nearer to the successful conclusion of your selling process.

[Sidenote:  Avoid Troubles by Forethought]

Almost every difficulty and opposition you are likely to encounter can be anticipated. Don’t wait until you come face to face with an obstruction in the way of success.  Let forethought carry you imaginatively into just such a situation. Think yourself out of a possible difficulty before you actually get into it. Then you can win the respect of your prospect by proving on the spot that you are not a man who can be dodged or blocked, or cornered. Every time you pass an obstacle, you will be a long step nearer to success in selling your services.

Suppose an employer says to you, “You are too young.  You have had no experience in this line of work.”  You cannot deny your youth and you should not defend it as if it were a fault.  Nor can you claim experience you have not had.  But it is unnecessary for you to indicate any feeling that inexperience is a demerit.  An ordinary applicant might be discomfited by such resistance to his purpose.  If you are a skillful salesman, you will be prepared to deal with this very obstacle and will turn it to good account.  You can say at once: 

[Sidenote:  Value of Adaptability]