Certain Success by Norval A. Hawkins

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[Sidenote: Muscles Express and Impress Ideas]

The coordinated muscles _express_ the mental attitude, as we have
perceived; and equally they _impress_ the mind with _their_ attitude. If
you have a sagging chin, you are incapable of the mental bulldog grip of
persistence. So _tighten up your jaw muscles, and never let them hang
utterly loose_, if you are resolved to develop the characteristic of
"stick-to-it-iveness." _Begin_ with _muscle_ training, for your muscles
must be utilized to start the process of building up your brain-mind
center of persistence.

[Sidenote: Developing Perception]

When you train the particular sense muscles that transmit external
_impressions_ to a particular brain-mind unit (the same muscles that
reflexively _express_ the ideas of that one part of your multiplex ego)
you may be absolutely _sure_ of developing a particular related
characteristic. For example, if you want to sharpen your _perceptive_
faculties so that you will see with the _eyes of your mind_ much more
than the _ordinary_ man perceives, exercise your _physical_ eyes in
taking snap-shots that you can see clearly in detail _with your
imagination_ when you look away from an object after a glance at it. Try
glancing at the furnishings of your room, then shut your eyes and
construct a mental picture. When this is definitely clear to you, open
your eyes. The reality will be very different from your imagined
picture. But _sharpen your perceptive faculties_, develop a "camera
eye;" then the reality will be exactly impressed on your mind. Witnesses
in court often contradict one another, in all honesty, simply because
their ability to perceive actualities is not highly developed. In
consequence, they get false mental impressions of happenings or things
they severally have seen.

[Sidenote: Three Processes Of Mental Development]

There are but three _processes_ of mental development:

The first process comprises _getting information_ from a _sense_ to its
associated _brain center_, which then makes the _mind_ center conscious
that particular information has been transmitted to it.

The second process is _organizing_ the information in the mind center,
with relation to _other_ information _previously_ brought to the mind.

In the third process the mind center directs its co-related brain center
to send out certain _impulses of action_ to the corresponding muscular
structure.

Let us analyze an illustration of these three processes of mental
development. Suppose first you _hear_ something that concerns a
particular prospect for your "goods of sale." Second, you comprehend the
_significance_ to you of what you have heard. Third, your mind directs
your muscles to make a particular _use_ of what you have comprehended.
The original mental impression has been _fully developed_ because you
employed all three processes. If you had not completed the cycle of
development, you would have given your mind only partial exercise with
what you heard.

In order to become a master salesman, you must _take in_ many
impressions, perceive their _significance to you_ and how you can make
use of them, then _act_ on your comprehension of what you have learned.
There are countless failures in the world who might have been successes
if they had not stopped their possible mental development at the first
or second stages.

A man might know an encyclopedia of facts, but be a failure.

He might comprehend how to use his knowledge, and still be a failure.

_Success comes only to the man who acts most effectively on what he
knows_.

[Sidenote: Right Practice Of the Three Processes]

In order to secure quick and effective results, the _practice_ of the
three necessary processes of development should be:

First, _definitely conscious_. You need to _know just what_ quality you
want to develop in yourself.

Second, _discriminative_. You must learn the _differences_ between what
you _want_, and what you _don't want_ to develop in particular.

Third, _restrictive_. It is necessary that in your training to develop a
certain quality, you _concentrate_ your practice on the respects in
which this particular quality differs from other qualities.

Most of us are pretty _definitely conscious_ of what we want. We know
just the qualities we would like to have. But very few people employ
most effectively the _discriminative-restrictive methods of training_ in
their processes of development.

[Sidenote: Importance of Differentiation]

It is impossible to develop a particular quality fully if you only
recognize its _likenesses_ to other qualities. _Real mental development
is accomplished only as a result of the recognition of differences_.
After studying twins for a year, you still might be unable to tell them
apart if you were impressed solely with their remarkable similarity to
each other. Another man, with a mind discriminatively and restrictively
trained to recognize differences, would learn in five minutes to
distinguish the individualities of the twins.

Almost phenomenal development can be attained by use of the
discriminative-restrictive training method. The minutest distinctions
can be perceived if one concentrates his practice for mental growth on
the recognition of _differences only_. Individuals who have lost one
or more senses become extraordinarily adept in detecting contrasts with
their other senses. A normal man, possessed of all his senses, is
capable of even greater development of his powers of differentiation.

You know how remarkably a blind man learns to "see" with his fingers
and ears. But need you lose the sense of sight before you can comprehend
the lesson of his example to you? You realize that you appear to lack
many essential qualities of success. Know now that these are all merely
_dormant_ in you. They can be awakened and developed to an
extraordinary degree if you train yourself consciously in the
discriminative-restrictive use of all your sense tools. You would do it
if you were blind. It certainly should be much easier to accomplish the
desired transformation with your eyes open to aid your other senses.

[Sidenote: Whatever You Lack Now You Can Develop]

The significance of all this is that you need not be permanently
handicapped in your sales-_man_-ship by any present lack of particular
qualifications for success. _It makes no difference what you happen to
be short of now_. By properly coordinating your brain-mind-muscle sets
or centers, and by using all three in the processes of your development,
_you can make yourself over almost miraculously_. Will power, courage,
exact and wise judgment, persistence, patience, rapid thinking,
constructive imagination--_any and all qualities you want_ CAN be
developed in you, even though they now seem not to exist.

Your development is limited only by the practically limitless number of
unawakened cells in your brain. Most of your potential mind centers are
asleep yet. _You can wake up the slumberers with your various sense
muscles, and vigorously exercise them into activity for your success_.
You have been handicapped because you have been carrying so many
"dead-heads" that ought to be working or paying their way.

_Remember that growth of any brain-mind center can be begun and
continued only by the exercise of the coordinated set of sense muscles
in transmitting impressions from outside yourself and in expressing your
thoughts_.

[Sidenote: Your Limitless Brain Capacity]

The number of cells in the human brain has been estimated at from six
hundred millions to two billions. The greatest genius who ever lived
doubtless had scores of millions of brain cells that remained more or
less idle, if not sound asleep, all his life. Nature has furnished you
with a plentiful surplus of grey matter in your head. Do not be afraid
that you will exhaust or tire out your brains by your self-development.
_Put into your work all the brains you can waken with your various
senses. And keep the alarm clocks wound up_.

William James, the great psychologist, wrote, "Compared with what we
ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped; our drafts
are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and
mental resources. There are in every one potential forms of activity
that actually are shunted from use. Part of the imperfect vitality under
which we labor can thus be easily explained. One part of our mind dams
up--even damns up--the other part."

[Sidenote: Growth Can Be Assured And Success Made Certain]

Can you become a big sales MAN? Of course! You have all the necessary
tools to make yourself over in any way you will--your muscles, nerves,
brain, and mind. Use them cooperatively, as they were meant to be used,
_in their respective sets_--not as if you were a mental-physical unit.
_To develop your sales manhood you need only to apply real thinking in
the processes of your daily life_. Study out the reasons and effects of
all your acts and expressions. Your experimental psychological
laboratory should be yourself, undergoing at your hands the
transformation from what you are to what it is possible for you to
become. Begin making your man-stuff over. Each successive step will be
easier to take. _Your growth, when you employ the right processes and
methods, is certain_. Therefore your success in making yourself a big
sales man can be _assured_.

CHAPTER III

_Skill In Selling Your Best Self_

[Sidenote: Practice Of the Art]

If you have developed real capability and first-class manhood, you have
"the goods" that are always salable. But you realize now that the mere
_possession_ of these basic qualifications for success will not insure
you against failure in life. You cannot be _certain_ of succeeding
unless you _know how to sell_ true ideas of your best self in the right
market or field of service, and until you develop _sales skill_ by
continual correct practice.

We will assume that you have had little or no selling experience. You
are conscious that you entirely lack sales art. Therefore, though in
other ways you feel qualified to succeed in life, you may be dubious
about your future. Perhaps you realize that _skill in selling_ true
ideas of your best capabilities is all you need to make your success
certain. But you question, "Can I be _sure_ of becoming a skillful
salesman of myself?" You have no doubt of your ability to _learn_ the
selling process, but very likely you do not believe you ever could
_practice_ it with the art of a master salesman. Consequently you are
not yet convinced of the certainty of your success.

[Sidenote: Success Proportionate To Sales Skill]

Of course success cannot be absolutely assured in advance unless _every
element_ of the secret we have analyzed can be mastered. Hence it is
necessary that you now be shown _certain ways_ to sell ideas--ways that
_cannot fail_, that are adaptable to the sale of _any_ right "goods,"
and that _you_ surely can master. You need to feel absolutely confident
that _if you follow specific principles and use particular methods, you
can impress on any other man true ideas of your best capabilities_. When
you become skillful in making good impressions, you certainly will be
able to sell yourself into such chances to succeed as fit your
individual qualifications.

_Your success with the best that is in you can be made directly
proportionate to your skill as a salesman of "your goods_." Mastery of
the art of selling will enable you to cut down to the minimum the
possibilities of failure in whatever you undertake. Remember that
_success does not demand perfection._ There never was a 100% salesman.
To be a success, you need only _make a good batting average in your
opportunities_ to sell. It is not necessary to hit 1000 to be a champion
batsman in the game of life. Ty Cobb led his league a dozen years with
an average under .400.

[Sidenote: Technique And Tools]

The _foundation_ of sales art is _knowledge of selling technique_. So
the first step in the process of developing your skill as a salesman of
yourself is the study of the _right tools_ for making impressions of
"true ideas of your best capabilities." You must know, also, the
scientific rules that govern the _most effective use_ of these right
tools. Technique, however, is only the _basic element_ of salesmanship.
On the foundation of your sales _knowledge_ it is necessary to build
sales _skill_ that will completely cover up your technique. Your
perfected sales art should seem, and really be _second nature_ to you.

Your salesmanship probably will be crude until you overcome the
awkwardness of handling unfamiliar tools, or familiar tools in ways that
are new to you. But "practice makes perfect." The use of the right
technique in selling true ideas about your best self will soon become
natural.

[Sidenote: Making Success Easy]

The _skillful_ sale of ideas is accomplished _without waste of time or
energy in the selling process_. The unskillful, would-be salesman not
only fritters away his own time and effort, he also wastes the patience
and power of the man to whom he wants to sell his "goods." The sales
artist, however, gets his ideas into the mind of a prospect _quickly_,
with the least possible _wear and tear_ on either party to the sale. No
one appreciates a fine salesman so thoroughly as the best buyer. Skill
in selling true ideas about your particular qualifications will not only
_assure_ your success, but will make it _easy_ for you to succeed.

[Sidenote: Docking Your Sales-man-ship]

The skillful salesman is the captain of his own sales-man-ship. But in
order to make certain of landing his cargo of right impressions he takes
aboard the pilot Science to begin with, and then concentrates on four
factors of the art of selling ideas:

First, _discovering and traversing_ the best channel into the prospect's
mind;

Second, _locating the particular point of interest_ upon which the
salesman's cargo can be most effectively unloaded;

Third, _maneuvering alongside_ this center of the buyer's interest;

Fourth, _securely tying to_ the interest pier so that the shipload of
ideas may be fully discharged.

The primary aim of the skillful salesman _when making port_ is to get
safely to the right landing place as soon as possible and with the least
danger of failure in his _ultimate purpose_ of completing the sale. At
this initial stage of the selling process, however, he concentrates his
thoughts on the _skillful docking_ of his sales-man-ship. The _nature of
the cargo_ a sailor ship captain brings to port has little or nothing to
do with the art of reaching and tying up to the pier. Similarly,
whatever his "goods of sale," the skillful _salesman_ uses the same
principles and methods to dock his salesman-shipload of ideas most
effectively in the harbor of the prospect's mind. So the _art_ you are
studying is _standardized_. When you master it, you can apply it
successfully to the sale of your best self or any other "goods of sale."

[Sidenote: Reasoning And Argument Are Wrong]

Before considering the methods of selling that are most effective, it
will be well to get rid of a mistaken idea that is all too common. A
great many people regard reasoning power, or the force of pure logic, as
an important selling tool. There are so-called salesmen who attempt to
"argue" prospects into buying. Unthinking sales executives sometimes
instruct their representatives to employ certain "selling arguments."
But the methods and language of the debater have no place in the
repertory of a _truly artistic_ salesman or sales manager.

One debater never _convinces_ the other. At best he only can _defeat_
his antagonist. In a skillfully finished sale, however, there should be
neither victor nor vanquished. The selling process is not a battle of
minds. There is no room in it for any spirit of antagonism on the part
of the salesman. So in your self-training to sell true ideas of your
best capabilities, do not emphasize especially the value of logic and
reasoning. If you use them at all in selling yourself, disguise their
character most skillfully. _Never suggest that you are debating or
arguing your qualifications_ with prospective buyers of your mental or
physical capacity for service. You cannot browbeat your way into
opportunities to succeed.

Most employers buy the expected services of men and women in order to
satisfy their own _desires_ for particular capabilities. Few will buy
against their wishes. In order to sell your qualifications with certain
success, you first must make the other man genuinely _want_ what you
offer. Almost always _mind vision_ and _heart hunger_ must be stimulated
to produce desire. Therefore the most skillful salesman of himself does
not use the words, tones, and actions of argument. In preference to cold
reason and logic he employs the arts of _mental suggestion_ and
_emotional persuasion_.

[Sidenote: The Force of Suggestion]

Suggestion is especially effective in producing desire; because an idea
that is merely _suggested_, and not stated, is unlikely to provoke
antagonism or resistance. A suggestion is given ready access to the mind
of the other man. Usually it gets in without his realizing that a
_strange_ thought has entered his head from outside. When he becomes
conscious of the presence in his mind of an idea that has been only
_suggested_ to him, he is apt to treat it _as one of his own family of
ideas_ and not as an intruder. Naturally he is little inclined to oppose
a desire that he thinks is _prompted by his own thoughts_. However, he
would be disposed to resist the same wish if he realized it had been
_injected_ into his consciousness.

All of us know the great force of suggestion; but there are very few
people who so use words, tones, and movements as to make the _most_ of
their power of _suggesting_ ideas in preference to _stating_ them.
Probably no tool of salesmanship will be of more help in _assuring_ your
success than fully developed ability in suggestion, which is the
skillful process of getting your ideas into the minds of others
_unawares_.

[Sidenote: Words Are Doubted]

The _words_ we use are intended to convey pretty definite meanings to
listeners. If we are entirely honest in our words, we expect whatever we
say to be taken at its face value as the truth. Yet each of us knows
that his own mind seldom accepts without question the statements of
other men, however well informed and honest they are reputed to be. You
and I mentally reserve the right to believe or to doubt the written or
spoken _words_ of someone else; because they always enter our minds
_consciously_. We know that the words we hear or read come from _outside
ourselves_.

The skillful salesman proceeds on the assumption that his words will be
stopped at the door of the prospect's mind and examined with more or
less suspicion of their sincerity and truth. Therefore the selling
artist employs words principally for one purpose--to communicate to the
other man information about such _facts_ as cannot be introduced to his
consciousness otherwise. Some facts can be told only in words. But a
master of the selling process uses as few words as possible to convey
his meaning. He depends on his _suggestive tones_ more than on what he
says. He reenforces his speech with accompanying _movements_ and
muscular _expressions_, to get into the mind of the other man by
_suggestive action_ the true _ideas behind the words_ used.

Similarly when you bring your full capability to the market of your
choice, you should not rely upon a mere _declaration_ of your
qualifications; and upon _word_ proof, written or spoken, that you are
_the_ man for the job. Your words are unlikely to be taken at their face
value. Any claims you have a right to make will be discounted heavily if
you _say_ very much about your own ability. You run the risk of being
judged a braggart and egotist when you _talk_ up your good points;
though you may be telling no more than the plain truth.

[Sidenote: Tones and Acts Are Believed]

However, if your _tones_ of sincerity and self-confidence denote really
big manhood; and if your every _act and expression_ indicate to a
prospective employer that you are entirely capable of filling the job
for which you apply, he probably will consider himself very shrewd in
sizing you up. Really _you_ have suggested to him every idea he has
about you, but he will think _he_ has _found_ in you the very
qualifications he desires in an employee. You can do more to sell
yourself by the way you walk into a man's office than you could
accomplish by bringing him the finest letters of introduction or by
"giving him the smoothest line of talk about yourself." He is able to
read the principal characteristics of the real You in your poise and
movements and in the manner of your speech. _He will believe absolutely
any characteristic he himself finds in you_. _What_ you say to him may
have little real influence on his judgment of you. But be sure that he
will note _how_ you speak; and will make up his mind about you from your
tones and actions, rather than from your words. He will think the ideas
you suggest to him are _his own original discoveries_.

[Sidenote: Suggestion By Tones And Acts]

Evidently, before you attempt to achieve success, it is very important
that you study the _art of suggestion_ by tones and actions. When you
know the principles, you should practice this art until you make
yourself a master of skillful suggestion.

You need to know precisely the _effects_ of tone _variations_, the exact
_significance_ of the _various_ tones you can use. It is necessary also
for you to comprehend not only that "Every little movement has a meaning
all its own," but _just what that meaning is_. When you are equipped
with thorough knowledge of _how_ to suggest particular ideas through
tones and motions, you should practice using the principles and methods
of suggestive expression you have learned, until it becomes second
nature _always to speak and act with selling art_. Then you will be a
skillful salesman, sure of your power to sell true ideas of your best
capability wherever you are. Your success will have been made certain
through your sales _art_ built on the foundation of your sales
_knowledge_ by your fully developed sales _manhood_.

[Sidenote: Discriminative Selective Method]

Your increased selling _skill_ will result _naturally_, just as we have
seen that you will _grow_ naturally in sales _manhood_, if you employ
the discriminative-selective method when training your human nature in
the art of suggesting your best self. You need first to recognize the
exact _differences_ of significance among the various tones and
movements at your command. Then your self-training in suggestive
expression should be concentrated on the _particular ways_ of speaking
and acting that will best demonstrate your qualifications for success.
Of course it is equally important to _eliminate all tones and movements
that might suggest unfavorable ideas_ about you. To make sure of your
success, be certain that everything you do and say tells "the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth" about your capabilities. It is
necessary to make sure no word, tone, or movement carries the least
suggestion that might possibly leave a false impression of the real You.

Let us make a brief analysis now of words, tones, and acts--_the three
means of suggestive expression which are the natural equipment of every
man for conveying his ideas to the minds of others_. You cannot employ
the discriminative-restrictive method to develop your selling skill
unless you know very definitely just _what_ your different tools of
expression are, and the almost infinite variety of _uses_ to which they
can be put.

[Sidenote: Four Rules About Words]

For the reasons already explained, words are of much less value than
tones and movements in suggesting ideas the other man will admit to his
mind unawares. But the sales efficiency of words can be very much
increased if they are chosen with intelligent _discrimination_, and if
the choice is _restricted_ to words that have four qualifications.

First, they should be _common_ words.

Second, _short_ words are more forceful than long words.

Third, words of _definite meanings_ are preferable to mere
generalizations.

Fourth, words that make _vivid_ impressions are most effective in
suggesting ideas.

[Sidenote: Common Words]

When you employ words to sell true ideas of your best capability, choose
words that everybody understands. Do not "air your knowledge" in
uncommon language. Unless you are seeking a position as a philologist in
a college, restrict yourself to every-day common speech when selling
your personal qualifications. An important element in the skillful sale
of ideas is making them as _easy_ as possible for the other man to
comprehend. If you use unfamiliar words, it sometimes will be hard for
him to understand what you mean. _The truly artistic salesman avoids
introducing any unnecessary element of difficulty into the selling
process_. So you should discriminate against all unusual expressions and
restrict yourself to the _common_ words that are easy for any man to
comprehend.

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