Certain Success by Norval A. Hawkins

N >> Norval A. Hawkins >> Certain Success

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[Sidenote: Follow-ups]

Perhaps what has been said thus far has over-emphasized the process of
prospecting for the _first_ chance to succeed. Maybe it suggests to you
that if one can get an opening, the hardest part of the effort to assure
success will have been accomplished. But a successful career in
salesmanship is not built on single orders closed. The master salesman
keeps on selling the same buyer and develops him into a steady customer.
He continues all the while to prospect the needs of that buyer, just as
thoroughly as if he were planning his first approach.

_Your initial success should be completed by after-service._ In order to
continue progressing toward your goal, you must "deliver the goods"
right along. You cannot keep your success growing unless you prospect
unremittingly for more and better opportunities to render service. Give
satisfaction in larger amount and improved quality from month to month,
and year after year. If you would continue to succeed, look ahead always
for more prospects and _seek in each of them new chances to broaden your
usefulness_.

[Sidenote: The Art of Prospecting]

If you prospect _skillfully_ (with art), your chances to find what you
seek will be remarkably increased. So look for your prospects
_cheerily_. Be _frank_ and _expressive_ in your quest. Show your
_sympathetic_ side, and thus appeal to the _kinder_ tendencies of other
people. The best way to avoid the world's coldness is by _warming_
everybody you meet with your own cordiality. Be _courteous_. Especially
cultivate the art of talking _with_ people instead of _at_ them. Use
_tact_ and _judgment_ in dealing with your prospects.

Thousands of men are shut away from the open minds and hearts of others
by doors of concealment and reserve. You need to open such doors. You
can do it only by frankness on your own part, which will induce people
to feel like telling you their secrets. Frank expression of your
opinion, provided it has a sound foundation, will often draw out the
hidden opinions of others and reveal to you prospects that you might
never discover unaided. Do not, however, be dogmatic or arbitrary in
saying what you think. Speak your beliefs casually. Then you will not
discourage those honest differences of opinion that enlighten one's own
ideas.

Rid your face of sharpness if you would be a good prospector for your
best chances to succeed. Avoid "the cutting edge" in your voice and
manner when you make inquiries about opportunities you seek. You are
likely to be most effective in prospecting if you _cultivate an easy
attitude of friendliness_. The master salesman does not set his jaw when
prospecting. He uses curved, instead of straight line gestures to
supplement his words. He suggests a "ball-bearing" disposition, not
"corners."

[Sidenote: Sympathetic Attitude]

Be a good mixer when looking for your prospects. Learn the art of
_companionship_. The first essential is fellow feeling. Therefore do not
go about with a chip on your shoulder, but with your face a-smile and
your palms open to offer and to receive hand-clasps. Sympathize with the
ambitions of other men, with their hopes and dreams. Remember that each
part of every work of man, however substantial and enduring it now may
be, was once no more than a figment of the imagination of some one's
mind. So do not be altogether "practical" when prospecting. It is a
mistake to neglect to prospect visions.

[Sidenote: Have a Leader]

When the master salesman prospects, he uses very effectively a "leader"
idea. You know how aggressive stores advertise leaders that draw trade
in other things. Your prospecting of your various capabilities should
enable you to decide which of your qualifications will make the most
effective leader in the case of a certain employer. Do not expect him to
perceive _all_ your merits immediately. Concentrate his attention and
interest on _one or two elements_ of your fitness to fill his especial
needs. Prospect to make sure which of your possible leaders would be
most likely to influence him in your favor. Then _use these selected
elements of your character very prominently_ to open the door of your
initial chance. Countless successes have been founded on well chosen
leaders.

A little bake shop in Chicago competes successfully to-day with a great
chain-store company that has an immense establishment directly across
the street. The shop sells as its leaders home-made English tarts that
no chain-store could supply. These draw buyers for groceries and other
goods the chain-store sells much cheaper, but which the purchasers of
tarts order with their pastry rather than cross the street and divide
their marketing.

[Sidenote: Summary]

Now let us summarize "Your Prospects." They are not far away nor far
ahead in time. They are in your own hands right now. You _cannot fail_
in life if you recognize and use most effectively all the opportunities
available to you at present. You suffer from no lack of chances to
succeed. You only need to open your physical eyes and the eyes of your
mind to _see_ fine prospects every day. Then if you _imaginatively
relate your abilities to what you perceive, and plan how you can fit
yourself into a chosen place of real service_, you will have begun the
selling process successfully. At the outset of your career it is
possible for you to reduce difficult obstacles to temporary set-backs
that you can get around or overcome.

[Sidenote: Success A Matter Of Fractions]

There is only a narrow margin of difference between success and failure.
_Success is a matter of fractions and decimals, not of big units_. A few
thousand American soldiers and marines turned the tide of German victory
at Chateau Thierry. "It is the last straw that breaks the camel's back."

If you _begin_ the selling process by the finest prospecting, and _keep
on_ with equal effectiveness throughout all the following steps of
salesmanship, you will gain so many more chances than you otherwise
could get that _your success in the end will be assured_. The master
salesman works with _certainty_ that he will secure his quota of orders.
He knows in advance that he will succeed; _because he knows sure ways to
sell_.

Good prospecting is just a natural process, intelligently comprehended.
It is neither mysterious nor hard. It is one of the preliminary,
understandable ways to make success not only _sure_, but _easy_ to
attain.

CHAPTER VI

_Gaining Your Chance_

[Sidenote: Getting Inside The Door]

We will assume that you have qualified yourself to succeed; that you
have developed your best capabilities in knowledge, in manhood, and in
sales skill; that you have completed the general preparation necessary
to assure your success in marketing your particular qualifications; and
that you also have learned how to find and to make the most of your
prospects. After these preliminaries you are ready to take the next step
in the selling process, and to begin putting your capabilities, and what
you have learned from preparation and prospecting, to _specific use in
actual selling_.

In order to succeed, you must not only be _qualified_ for some
_particular_ service work, but you also need _chances to demonstrate_
your capabilities and preparedness for effective service. If you stand
all your life in complete readiness for success but outside the door of
opportunity, you will be a failure despite your exceptional
qualifications and preparations for handling chances to succeed. _It is
necessary that you get inside the door._ We will study now the _sure_
ways and means of entrance.

[Sidenote: The Salesman's Advantage Over the Buyer]

One great advantage the skillful salesman has over even the best buyer
is that he can _plan_ completely _what_ he will do and _how_ he will do
it to accomplish his selling purpose. The prospect is unable to
anticipate who will call upon him next; so it is impossible for him to
avoid being taken _unawares_ by each salesman. He can make only general
and hasty preparations at the moment to deal with the particular
individual who comes intent on securing his order.

The good salesman, however, works out in advance the most effective ways
and means to present his proposition. Each move in the process of
selling his ideas to a prospect is carefully studied and practiced
beforehand. The effects of different words and tones and acts are
exactly weighed. When the thoroughly prepared salesman calls on a
possible buyer, he has in mind a flexible program of procedure with
which he is perfectly familiar and which he can adapt skillfully to
various conditions that his imagination has enabled him to anticipate.
Hence the master salesman usually is able to _control the situation_, no
matter how shrewd the prospect may be; because the salesman's chance to
plan assures him a great advantage over the unprepared or incompletely
prepared other party to the sale.

[Sidenote: Dominate The Interview with Confidence]

If you would likewise "dominate" the man to whom you want to sell your
capabilities, prepare "plans of approach" to his interest before calling
on him; in order to make sure of presenting your qualifications most
strongly. He can oppose your salesmanship with but comparatively weak
resistance; because _he has had no such opportunity as you to get all
ready for this interview_. The skillful salesman is confident that he
can control the selling process he begins. When you seek a selected
chance for the success you desire, you should feel similar assurance of
ability to sell your services. You will possess this feeling if you
prepare your "plan of approach" as the master salesman gets ready for
his interview with a prospective buyer.

[Sidenote: The Two Entrances]

You have to make two distinct "entrances" in order to gain your desired
chance to succeed. You need to get _yourself_ into the _presence_ of the
employer you have selected. Then it is essential that you get the _true
idea_ of your capabilities and preparedness into his _mind_. Your
"approach" to his attention and interest, therefore, involves a _double_
process. It is important that you plan intelligently the most skillful
ways and means of making the _two_ entrances; through the _physical_ and
the _mental_ closed doors that now shut you out from the opportunities
you have prospected and desire to gain.

No master salesman would call on an important prospect before planning
in his own mind how to take the successive steps of the interview
expected. Nor would a master salesman neglect to think out in advance
several specific methods of getting past any physical barriers he might
encounter between the outer door of the general office and the inner
sanctum of the man he must meet face to face in order to close a sale.

[Sidenote: Ordinary Way Of Getting Job]

But when the _unskilled_ salesman of his own capabilities seeks a
situation, he usually neglects to make careful, detailed plans to reach
his prospect in the most effective way. He does not prepare to create
the particular impressions that would be most apt to assure him the
attention and interest of the employer upon whom he calls. Nearly always
when a man out of a job answers an advertisement or follows up a clue to
a possible opening for his services, he thinks the most important thing
is to "get there first." The only advantage he hopes to gain over other
applicants is a position at the head of the line.

Have you ever stopped to analyze the mental attitude of an employer
toward the half dozen, dozen, or score of men who answer his
advertisement for the services of one man? He thinks, "Here are a lot of
fellows out of jobs. Probably most of them are no good, or they wouldn't
be out of jobs. They are competing for this place. Each sees there are
plenty of others who will be glad to have it. Therefore it is likely
that I can get a man without paying him much to start with, and he
probably won't be very independent for a while after I hire him. I'll
take my pick of the lot, and keep the names and addresses of two or
three others in case he doesn't make good."

[Sidenote: Shearing The Sheep]

Then the employer calls in the applicants as if they were so many sheep
to be sheared by sharp cross-examination. Practically every candidate
enters the private office with a considerable degree of sheepishness in
his feelings, whether he tries to appear at ease or not. The employer
first eyes him in keen appraisal. He then proceeds briskly to clip off
facts about him. The man sitting behind the desk absolutely dominates
the situation. He finishes his questioning, and disposes of the
applicant as he pleases.

What chance to gain the desired opportunity for service does each
candidate have in such an uncontrolled process of getting a job? He has
one-sixth, or one-twelfth, or one-twentieth of a chance for success;
according to whether there are six or a dozen or a score of applicants.
Also, practically without exception, men who come seeking a position and
find that it has been filled make no further efforts to secure the
opportunity for which they have applied; though the successful candidate
may not make good and the position may soon be vacant again. Your own
experience and observation have made familiar to you this common way of
looking for jobs. You know that in such cases the employer has all the
advantage. Certainly the applicants who try to gain a chance to work by
this method use no _salesmanship_ at all.

[Sidenote: The Salesman's Method]

How would a "salesman" candidate for such a situation proceed? First, he
would avoid the mistake of presenting himself as _merely one of a crowd_
of competing applicants. He would _make his particular personality stand
out_. Before calling, he would do some prospecting to discover just what
capabilities were needed to fill the position advertised. Then he would
plan different ways of tackling the prospective employer. When all
ready, but not before, he would go to the address.

If he should find a crowd there, he would not merge with it. He would
avoid stating his business immediately in the outer office, rather than
identify himself with the other candidates waiting. He would have a plan
to get an interview later, after the dispersal of the crowd. If he
should be told then that the position had been filled, he would go right
ahead with his selling program regardless of the rebuff. He would
proceed to sell the boss the idea that _he_ was an especially well
fitted man for the job. He would assume that no one else could give such
satisfaction.

Nevertheless the employer might feel that he had no place open for the
latest candidate. In this event the applicant would demonstrate with
salesmanship that he was the sort of person it is worth while for any
business man to keep track of. Such a real "salesman" of his own
capabilities, if put off for the time being, would be reasonably sure to
get his desired chance the next time that employer might require such
services as he could supply.

[Sidenote: A Salesman Cost Clerk]

A young acquaintance of mine wanted to secure a chance in the office of
a prominent manufacturing corporation, under a certain executive whom he
regarded as the most capable business man in the city. The company had
advertised for a minor clerk in the cost department, which was managed
by the particular executive. My acquaintance called, and found seven
other applicants waiting in the general office. He did not join them,
but sent in his card to the busy head of the cost department with the
penciled request, "May I see you for twenty seconds in order to make a
personal inquiry?" He was promptly admitted to the private office, and
then stated his purpose in calling. He was careful to be extremely
brief.

"My name is James A. Ward. I believe, Mr. Blank, I am the man you want
for the clerkship in your cost section. In order to save your time, may
I have permission to make some inquiries of the chief clerk in that
department, to learn just what qualifications are required and what the
work is? Then when you talk with me, it will be unnecessary for you to
explain details."

[Sidenote: Securing A Stand-in]

Taken unawares, the executive was not prepared to refuse the courteous
request. Moreover, he was impressed with the distinctive attitude of the
young man. He instructed that the candidate be taken to the cost
department. There my acquaintance made an excellent impression on the
cost accountant and several clerks. Thus in advance of any other
applicant he secured a "stand-in" with a number of persons who might
influence the judgment of their chief in selecting a new man. When he
had learned the nature of the work to be done, Ward did not make the
mistake of thrusting himself again into the sanctum. Instead, he wrote a
note to the executive on whom he had called first.

"Dear Mr. Blank:

I know now exactly what the job in the cost department is, and that
I can fill it. But I should like to think over the best ways to
give you complete satisfaction, before talking with you about it.
Please telephone to me at Main 4683 when it will be convenient for
you to see me.

Respectfully,

James A. Ward."

The young man sent his note into the private office and left at once.
There now were nine applicants on the anxious seat in the reception
room. Ward did not wish to be asked to wait his turn. He felt sure the
executive would inquire of the costs manager about him, and he got away
from the office quickly so that there would be an opportunity for his
chosen prospective employer to receive the full effect of the good
impression made in the cost department.

[Sidenote: Giving Opportunity A Chance to Catch Up]

My acquaintance was not at all worried lest some other candidate be
chosen in his absence. The measures of salesmanship he had taken made it
practically certain that the executive would not employ any one else
before talking to him. Ward went to his room and waited for the
telephone call he was sure would come. While he sat expecting it, he
used the time to think out the best ways to approach the big man with
whom he wanted to work.

The salesman candidate was summoned in about an hour. None of the
applicants ahead of him had come prepared with any definite plans.
Therefore my acquaintance, who knew in advance just what the conditions
were and who had decided exactly how he would present his particular
capabilities, found it easy to secure the chance he desired. He is
earning a salary of four thousand dollars a year now, and is on his way
up to a five-or-six-figure job. He will get there, "as sure as
shooting." A salesman like that cannot be kept down.

[Sidenote: Turning Failure Into Success]

I asked Ward one day what he would have done if the telephone call he
expected had not come. He replied that he would have gone to see the
executive next morning anyhow, and that he had planned carefully how he
would approach him.

"I'd have sent in a note that I was ready to report some ideas I had
worked out regarding his cost-keeping as a result of the thinking I had
done since learning his system. He wouldn't have refused to see me, even
if he had hired some one else meanwhile. Then I'd have told him the very
things that got me the job. They would have assured me a chance in his
office, whether he had a place for me right then or not," Ward asserted
positively. "If that plan of mine hadn't succeeded," he amended, "I'd
have known he wasn't the kind of man I wanted to work for, after all.
But it turned out exactly as I knew it would," my friend ended with a
grin.

Can you imagine a man of such sales ability failing to get a chance
almost anywhere? Yet Ward did only what any one, with a little
forethought, might have done in the circumstances. Analyze the selling
process he used, and you will perceive that there was nothing marvelous
about it--it was all perfectly natural. Is there any good reason why
_you_ cannot employ similar methods to gain the chance you want?

[Sidenote: Service Purpose is Essence of Salesmanship]

Let us dig into what Ward did, and find the "essence" of his
salesmanship in the ways and means he employed to assure his two
"entrances," to the presence and into the mind of the executive. _He was
successful principally because he made the impression that he had come
with a purpose of rendering real service to the other man._ His plan of
approach assured him the opportunity he wanted because it was designed
to serve the head of the department in his need for particular
capabilities. _Very rarely will any one refuse a needed service._ So,
coming with a purpose of service, Ward made certain in advance that he
would be welcomed to his opportunity. The essence of a successful plan
of approach to the mind of any prospect is _a carefully thought-out idea
of how to supply him with exactly what he lacks_.

Just as the service purpose well planned is the key to the door of a
man's _mind_; so is it the "Open Sesame" to his _presence_. Plan how to
bring to the attention of a prospect your real service motive in coming
to him, and how at the same time you can indicate to him your
capabilities; then you will be as sure as was my ingenious acquaintance
that no office door will long remain closed to you. _You only need to
use the processes of the master salesman to gain any chance you want._
You will succeed almost always in your immediate object; and if you are
unsuccessful in your first or second sales attempt you will be
absolutely certain to get some other good opportunity very soon.

[Sidenote: Make a "Vacancy" For Yourself]

It is not necessary to wait until the employer for whom you have chosen
to work advertises a job. You should plan ways and means of gaining an
entrance into his business organization, regardless of any "vacancy" he
may have in mind. Plan exactly how you can serve him. Prospect for a
need that he may not realize himself. Afterward work out a particular
method of showing him clearly _what he lacks_, and that _you are the
man_ to fill the vacancy you yourself have discovered and revealed to
him.

An elderly man who was down on his luck and who, on account of his grey
hair, had been unable to get various kinds of work he had sought,
devised a novel plan of approach that gained him a coveted chance in a
big department store. He came to the main office and reached the sales
manager without difficulty by appearing to be just a customer of the
store. Then he whisked from under his coat a pasteboard sign on which he
had printed, PORTER WANTED--TO KEEP SIDEWALK CLEAN.

"I'm after that job, sir," he explained his presence.

The sales manager waved the old man away.

"You're in the wrong place," he said curtly. "Employment office is on
the top floor."

"I made the sign myself," the applicant declared, standing his ground.
"The employment manager--you--no one in this store has realized, I
think, how filthy your sidewalk is. If you will come down with me and
look at it, I'm sure you will want to have it cleaned and will instruct
that I be given the chance. It is hurting your sales, as it is now. Kept
clean, as I would keep it, it would be a fine advertisement of the
store's policies, and would help sales."

The old man's plan of entrance gained him his initial opportunity. He
swept the sidewalk only two weeks. Then the sales manager made a place
for him behind a counter, where he is serving customers with
satisfaction to-day.

[Sidenote: Distinguishing Characteristic Of Masterly Salesmanship]

You will recall that in a previous chapter the _ability to discriminate_
was stated as the _distinguishing characteristic_ of masterly
salesmanship. The ability to perceive differences, and skill in
emphasizing them, will _assure_ success in selling either ideas or
goods.

The discriminative-restrictive study of anything is certain to give one
a much clearer and more definite understanding of it than could be
secured by a study of its likeness to something else. If, when
describing two people, you _compare_ their points of _resemblance_, you
do not paint a clear picture of either. But if you _restrict_ your
comments to the _differences_ in their features, you will portray a
pretty definite mental image of each.

[Sidenote: "Different" Ways Win]

You have been given several examples of ways and means to gain an
entrance into the presence and into the mind of an employer. You will
note that each applicant _restricted_ his plans of approach to
methods that were entirely _different_ from those ordinarily used
in getting a job. The purpose of the salesman in every case was to
bring out the difference between him and competing candidates for the
situation. The selling processes described were successful because
_discriminative-restrictive principles of skill were employed to bring
to the attention and interest of the prospect the service capabilities
of the one applicant, in distinction from all others_.

When you plan to gain the chance you most want, you can assure yourself
of success if you will work out in your own mind how to do _something
effective that is different_ from the methods commonly used in attempts
to gain opportunities, and that will impress your _real service purpose_
in applying for your chance.

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