[Sidenote:  Docking Your Sales-man-ship]

The skillful salesman is the captain of his own sales-man-ship.  But in order to make certain of landing his cargo of right impressions he takes aboard the pilot Science to begin with, and then concentrates on four factors of the art of selling ideas: 

First, discovering and traversing the best channel into the prospect’s mind;

Second, locating the particular point of interest upon which the salesman’s cargo can be most effectively unloaded;

Third, maneuvering alongside this center of the buyer’s interest;

Fourth, securely tying to the interest pier so that the shipload of ideas may be fully discharged.

The primary aim of the skillful salesman when making port is to get safely to the right landing place as soon as possible and with the least danger of failure in his ultimate purpose of completing the sale.  At this initial stage of the selling process, however, he concentrates his thoughts on the skillful docking of his sales-man-ship.  The nature of the cargo a sailor ship captain brings to port has little or nothing to do with the art of reaching and tying up to the pier.  Similarly, whatever his “goods of sale,” the skillful salesman uses the same principles and methods to dock his salesman-shipload of ideas most effectively in the harbor of the prospect’s mind.  So the art you are studying is standardized.  When you master it, you can apply it successfully to the sale of your best self or any other “goods of sale.”

[Sidenote:  Reasoning And Argument Are Wrong]

Before considering the methods of selling that are most effective, it will be well to get rid of a mistaken idea that is all too common.  A great many people regard reasoning power, or the force of pure logic, as an important selling tool.  There are so-called salesmen who attempt to “argue” prospects into buying.  Unthinking sales executives sometimes instruct their representatives to employ certain “selling arguments.”  But the methods and language of the debater have no place in the repertory of a truly artistic salesman or sales manager.

One debater never convinces the other.  At best he only can defeat his antagonist.  In a skillfully finished sale, however, there should be neither victor nor vanquished.  The selling process is not a battle of minds.  There is no room in it for any spirit of antagonism on the part of the salesman.  So in your self-training to sell true ideas of your best capabilities, do not emphasize especially the value of logic and reasoning.  If you use them at all in selling yourself, disguise their character most skillfully. Never suggest that you are debating or arguing your qualifications with prospective buyers of your mental or physical capacity for service.  You cannot browbeat your way into opportunities to succeed.