So when you are sizing up your prospect, you should comprehend that the most effective way to get to his heart is through such an appeal as would reach the heart of every man.  Know your own heart surely, then, in order to be certain of knowing his.  All human hearts respond similarly to manifestations of courage, nobility, love, faith, honor, and the like.  We laugh and cry at the same humor and pathos.  Our feelings are closely akin.  We differ from one another only in our minds.  Our individual, acquired habits of thought affect but the degrees of our several heart responses to the gamut of fundamental emotional appeals.

[Sidenote:  Exhaustive Prolonged Analysis Unnecessary]

Knowledge of another man, then, involves first, comprehension that he is like every other man in his emotions, and unlike all other men in the way he thinks.  To a trained observer his habits of thought are clearly indicated by his muscle structure and muscle action.  Exhaustive prolonged analysis is unnecessary.  You can learn to read quickly the mental significance of the comparatively small number of details of muscle structure and action that constitute a fairly complete index to his character.  Then you will be able to judge with certainty practically all the traits of which you need to be sure in order to make the most effective presentation of your services for sale to this particular man.

[Sidenote:  Value of Size-up]

The value of such a dependable size-up can scarcely be over-estimated.  It is not easy to gain the initial chance to present your capabilities to the one man with whom you have chosen to be associated.  But it would be tremendously harder to win a second opportunity to sell your services after failing the first time.  By sizing him up aright while you are presenting your qualifications for his consideration, you will be able to avoid making unfavorable impressions.  You can also adapt your salesmanship to creating the best possible impression of your capabilities and their fitness to his especial needs.

[Sidenote:  The Gruff Reception]

Sometimes a man seeking to gain the big chance that he believes would open the door to success fails to secure his opportunity because he is disconcerted by a gruff reception that he misconstrues as personal to him.  He wrongly interprets natural self-defense as a sign of habitual crabbedness.

A big man often thinks he is “hunted” by people who want to make him the prey of their own purposes.  The employer you have chosen as the means of reaching the goal of your ambition may feel suspicious of your object in approaching him.  He is likely to assume an attitude of extreme reserve, or even of icy indifference.  Possibly his manner will be curt and sharp.  Size up such a reception as just his way of protecting himself against impositions.  His treatment of you is merely a superficial manifestation of the instinct for self-preservation.  It indicates nothing more than that he is wary of any one who calls on him with an unknown purpose.