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TWO : Tour Place in Our Economy

SELLING is not a new art. It is as old as man himself. When man first began to exchange ideas he began to sell. Selling has always been employed as a means of influencing someone to do something. It has been demonstrated in the form of exchanging ideas, products, plans, or services. How- ever, it was soon discovered that, in order to influence a man, it was necessary to please him. If the man was pleased, he would listen and pay attention to your story; otherwise, he paid no attention. Therefore, in order to sell him, it was necessary to know how to please him. Thus opened up an entirely new field for selling. To be successful at this art it was necessary to know the characteristics of the prospect. A study had to be made of his wants, his needs, his hopes, his aspirations, and the many other hidden attributes that controlled his desire to buy. In order for the salesman to understand his prospect, he was compelled to turn the searchlight on himself. This was not all. It was necessary for the salesman to know everything possible about his product, its history, its background, and the part it played in the life of the prospect. It was essential to analyze the markets to comprehend the possibilities of the product, and the various uses in which it might be applied. The salesman had to uncover the unknown needs, and to supply those needs, and to create markets that did not exist before. He had to be able to sense trends and to evaluate them in the light of reason and common sense. The salesman is no longer an order taker with a worn-out valise, a bag of tricks, a bundle of sales cliches, and a stock of stale stories. The salesman of today is a psychologist, a scientist, an analyst, and an artist, all rolled up in one. He is dealing with the greatest thing in life: the mind and its ideas, as applied to the continued development of our economy and the distribution of its products. 

The Need for Creative Selling

Creative selling holds a very definite place in our economy today, and it is the only power that can keep our economy strong, balanced, and capable of expanding to meet the new situations and new conditions that are developing with lightning rapidity. These new situations and new conditions will require new products and new services. Only the salesman can create the new markets necessary for their success. The men and women who sell are not only faced with a responsibility, but with a definite challenge. They must have the daring and ability to create sales. They must stub their toes, wake up, shake off that state of lethargy, and arouse that sleeping giant of creative power and positive action hidden within themselves. They must dare to think for them- selves. They must rely on their own creative power. With faith and confidence, engendered by positive thinking, they can draw on their latent ability and practice and demonstrate the power of creative selling to create sales that others may think impossible. Salesmen who blaze new trails, open up new markets, pioneer new products, and create sales are salesmen who dare to sell things that have not been sold before. While others doubt, they go forward. They think, they seek, they ask, they search, and they find. They open new opportunities and help to furnish employment to millions of people. They have the challenge to dare, the incentive to undertake, and the urge to begin, and soon their ability is turned into power that produces sales. They realize that "he who dares to think" stands secure in the majesty of his own might, and enjoys the blessings of his own efforts. Creative selling is a science and also an art. The science teaches you what to do, and the art teaches you how to do it. Creative selling is the ability and art of increasing the satisfaction of the prospect by convincing him that the thing he buys will best fulfill his needs and desires. In fact, it is creating a market that did not exist before. 

How to Overcome Negative Thinking

Creative selling is an individual accomplishment. It embraces you and the power within you to think and create. These qualities and attributes are individual, and no one but you can develop them. Cut loose and free yourself from all negative thinking, from all petty restrictions and all pygmy notions and all corroded resistance. Negative thinking retards you and holds you back. Open up the channel to positive thinking, and let the creative power flow through. Cast out all your doubts and uncertainties. They are of no value. Turn the power and dominion of positive thoughts on all your doubts, worries, and dreads. Start to develop the power of creative selling, and expect nothing but results. Rejoice and be glad that you have the ability as well as the opportunity to sell. It will be a thrilling experience to sell and serve. You will find that you feel like a new person. You will feel like starting anew every morning. What seemed a burden and a task will became an interesting and profit- able adventure. In the attributes of latent ability and creative power the men and women who sell have undeveloped resources to make the economy of this nation hum with unlimited prosperity, spin with increasing activity, and furnish more of the good things of life to a greater number of people for many, many years to come. With new and better products coming into the market every day, and with new wants and new needs being uncovered almost hourly, everyone who sells or who prepares himself to sell has an unparalleled opportunity to partake of all the good things of life and share in an inexhaustible abundance. Opportunity is not only knocking on your door, but it is ringing the door bell, urging you to avail yourself of the greatest aggregation of un- tapped wealth and prosperity that this nation or any nation has ever known. The potentialities of selling are greater today than ever before. Greater, too, are the rewards of selling. 

How Courage Gives You Power

However, you have your own row to hoe; you have your own life to live, and you have your own sales procedure to follow. You have your own living to make, and I hope some of the ideas expressed in this book will help you. Be courageous and put your creative power into action, and you can- not fail to be successful. Courage, you know, is a spark from heaven. It fills you with the faith to act, and this gives you the dynamic power to perform and to go ahead. Man does not know how good he is until he begins to use his courage. Courage is that quality that enables you to encounter any situation with firmness. It makes you daring and bold. It fills you with valor and the dauntless spirit to conquer all adversities, overcome all obstacles, surmount all conditions, solve all problems, hurdle all hindrances, and make you the master of your affairs. Courage will arouse within you the very essence of creative power, and enable you to make sales you never thought possible. You can in- crease your sales production a hundredfold and keep our economy prosperous and expanding. You can demonstrate the power of creative selling as a vibrant reality. 

How to Make Your Effort Pay Off

Invested effort in selling is rewarded with success. "He that loses his life shall find it." Therefore, harness your forces, discipline your effort, measure your time, marshal your energies, and concentrate your ability on selling. Lose yourself in the needs and wants of the prospect. Make his interests your cause, and do not worry about results. Before you know it you will be cashing commission checks. "Procrastination is the thief of time." Indecision and postponement bring many delays and rob you of many valuable sales. Are you bold? Are you determined? Are you really in earnest? Take hold of yourself. Believe that you can sell and you will have the power to sell. Courage has genius, power, and magic in it. Once you begin to use the positive power of creative selling you will have all the vim, vigor, vitality, force, and power you need. You will get results. Your success and progress will not only be fascinating and stimulating, but they will be beyond your own comprehension. There- fore, learn to be bold and courageous, but always remain humble and know that every ounce of effort you invest in selling will be justly rewarded and fully compensated. The days ahead demand strong minds and understanding hearts, fortified with unfailing integrity, enlivened with creative ability, sustained with great tenacity, buttressed with courageous action, and embedded with true faith and with ready hands. As we travel along our way we take a lesson from an inscription written in letters of gold on one of the pillars of the main court of the great Wanamaker Store in Philadelphia. It was written by John Wanamaker, the founder. "Let those who follow me build with the plumb of Honor, the level of Truth, and the square of Integrity, Education, Courtesy, and Mutuality." 

To be Continued...