We all laugh at the young swain who courts a girl devotedly for months and uses every art he knows to sell her the idea that he would make her happy as his wife; but who turns pale, then red, and chokes whenever he has a chance to pop the question.  Often the girl must go half way with prompting.  When, thus encouraged, he finally stammers out his appeal for her decision, she accepts him so quickly that he feels foolish.  Women are reputed to be better “closers” of such sales than men.

You smile at the comparison of courting with salesmanship.  Yet the selling process is as effective in making good impressions of the sort of husband one might be as in impressing an employer with the idea that one’s services in business would prove desirable.

[Sidenote:  Selling a Future Husband]

The young man bent on marriage needs to prospect for the right girl, to secure an audience, to compel her attention, to regain it when diverted to other admirers, and to develop her curiosity about him into interest.  He must size up her likes and dislikes; then adapt his salesmanship to her tastes, tactfully subordinating his own preferences to hers.  If she is athletic, he will play tennis or go on tramps with her, however tired he feels after his work.  If she is sentimental, he will take her canoeing and read poetry to her, though he may prefer detective yarns.  Throughout his courtship he will do his utmost to stimulate in her a desire to have him as a life partner.  Whatever objections she makes to him, he will get rid of or overcome.

Suppose he has taken all these preliminary selling steps successfully, and at last the time comes for pinning the girl down to a definite answer to the all-important question, is there any likelihood that it will be a refusal?  Of course not!  If his earlier salesmanship has been masterly, the reasons why she will be inclined to accept him in the end are of much greater weight and number than any causes for rejection that she may have thought of previously.

[Sidenote:  Never Weaken At the Finish]

He should not fear to close the sale.  He has been “going strong” until now; why should he weaken at the finish?  The master salesman does not quaver then, or doubt his success.  He asks his prospect’s decision bravely and with confidence, or he assumes it as a matter of course and kisses the girl.  His heart beats faster than usual, but he is not afraid of hearing “No.”

You should feel the same way after leading your prospective employer successfully through the preliminary stages of the process of selling your services to him.  Do not falter now. Promptly emphasize the idea that the weight, amount, and quality of your merits are fully worth the compensation previously discussed. If you are sure of that, if you have valued your services from his standpoint, and not just from your own, you will feel no doubts about the acceptance of your application.  You will put your prospective employer through the process of decision as courageously and confidently as you first entered his presence.