[Sidenote:  Prospect Lacks]

Undoubtedly you know men to whom success has come because they made other men realize they fitted into particular needs.  A young acquaintance of mine foresaw that a manufacturer would want an assistant within a year or two; though the executive himself was unaware that he was developing such a need.  My acquaintance got a minor job under him in order to make a good impression in advance.  Long before the head of the business realized that he was breaking in a confidential assistant, the young man had qualified for the position he had perceived in prospect.

Your chosen employer may not know of the lack that you have prospected in his business.  He may not have the least idea that he wants you.  Prospecting his needs is part of your job as a salesman of yourself.

An expert accountant sold himself into a fine position as the auditor of a great corporation by anticipating that the Company would need to have its system of book-keeping revolutionized in order to prepare for the Federal income tax.  He prospected what was coming to that business; then sold the president comprehension that he lacked an expert accountant he was going to need badly before long.

One of my own experiences as an accountant illustrates the value of specific prospecting.  When I was studying accountancy, I bought every authoritative publication on the subject.  For one set of forty books I had to send to London.  Each volume related to the peculiar accounts, terms, etc. of one business.  There was a book on brewery accounting, another on commission house accounting, and so on through the list of forty businesses.  To each volume I afterward owed at least one client.  For instance, I got a commission to make a cost survey for a tobacco company, largely because I was able to convince the president that I knew a good deal about the tobacco business.  I talked intelligently to him regarding the processes of his industry.

[Sidenote:  Reasons Behind Habits]

When you prospect an individual’s personal qualities, traits, or hobbies, do not stop after learning the facts.  Study out the reasons behind habits and opinions.  It may help you only a little to know that your intended employer is a Republican or a Democrat; that he is conservative or radical in his social opinions.  But your chances of success in dealing with him will be greatly increased if you know exactly why he belongs to one or the other political party, and the reason he is a “stand-patter” or a “progressive.”  Use knowledge of why’s and wherefore’s with the skill of a salesman bent on securing an order from a prospective buyer.  But be sure you get the fundamental facts, for often “appearances are deceiving.”

[Sidenote:  Your Personal Responsibility]