They sent him East loaded with facts about “the glorious West” and brim-full of Los Angeles peptimism.  Aided by cold weather in Michigan that winter, the western real estate man eventually sold California irrigated ranches to a score of Michigan farmers who suddenly had made sufficient money to retire from potato raising, and who were old enough to be strongly attracted by the idea of owning and cultivating land in a more genial climate.  Thus a sentence in a letter led straight to the success of the clerk who perceived his prospects and knew how to make the most of them.

[Sidenote:  Know Local Conditions]

While distances have been bridged by modern swift means of communication and transportation, every locality has opportunities for success that are peculiar to it alone.  Conversely every locality is handicapped in certain ways.  Therefore in your prospecting for success study the conditions in your especial field.  As a salesman of yourself, you should know your “territory,” its advantages and disadvantages in particular respects.  Men are doing business in your town.  There is no better way to gain a prospect to succeed with a house in your home community than to demonstrate to the head of the concern that you comprehend just what he is “up against” on the one hand, and on the other what “edge” he has on businesses in the same line located elsewhere.  You could make no worse mistake, you could injure your own prospects no more, than by showing ignorance of local conditions, or inappreciation of the circumstances in which your prospect’s business is being conducted.

[Sidenote:  Turn to Account What You Learn]

Not only should you know as many facts as possible regarding opportunities in your chosen field; it is even more important that, by the use of your imagination you relate these facts to practical ways of turning them to account for your benefit.  In order to derive the maximum of benefit from your prospecting, you must make the best use of every item of knowledge you gain.  Sometimes the mere possession of particular knowledge will increase your chances to succeed.  But almost invariably you can multiply the value of what you learn if you prospect in your own mind for ideas about putting the facts to the most profitable use.

Do not forget that the primary object of true salesmanship is service to the other fellow.  Therefore prospect your own thoughts with the purpose of making what you know especially valuable to some one else, your intended employer for instance.  In every step of the selling process you should think first of how you can serve your prospect with something that he lacks and needs.

[Sidenote:  Prospect Needs]