[Sidenote:  Win Admiration by Keeping Upper Hand]

The chief danger to the salesman at the objections stage is that he may lose control of the selling process. Be on your guard to prevent the other man from dominating you by his opposition.  You have the advantage at the start.  He cannot be so well prepared to make objections as you should be to dispose of them effectively. Keep the upper hand. If you have not antagonized his feelings, your prospect will admire you when he sees that he cannot dominate you and realizes that you will not let him have his own way.  You will build up in him a favorable opinion of your manhood, intelligence, and power. He cannot help appreciating your art in handling him.

[Sidenote:  Make Desire Grow]

Dispose of each objection in such a way that you will get yourself wanted more and more as you remove or get around the obstacles encountered. The prospect’s desire for your services should grow in proportion as you overcome his opposition. It is possible to use objections, or rather their answers, to strengthen your salesmanship so greatly that it will be easy to gain your object—­the job or the promotion you seek.

[Sidenote:  Hard Climb Leads to Supreme Heights]

Therefore do not quail from the obstacles you meet.  Recognize in each an opportunity to succeed in demonstrating your capability; a chance to increase the respect, confidence, and liking of your prospective employer. Remember, if there were no difficult, steep mountains to scale, the supreme heights of success could not be gained. So, with shining face, climb on and up undaunted!

CHAPTER XI

The Goal of Success

[Sidenote:  “Nearly Succeeded” Means “Failed”]

After an applicant for a position seems to have the coveted opportunity almost in his grasp, he is sometimes unable to clinch the sale of his services.  He does not get the job.  His failure is none the less complete because he nearly succeeded. No race was ever won by a man who could not finish. However successful you may have been in the earlier stages of the selling process, if your services are finally declined by the prospective employer you have interviewed, your sales effort has ended in failure.

When one has made a fine presentation of his capability, and therefore feels confident of selling his services, it shocks and disheartens him to have his application rejected.  “It takes the starch out of a man.”  He is apt to feel limp in courage when he turns his back on the lost chance to make good, and faces the necessity of starting the selling process all over again with another prospect.  It is harder to lose a race in the shadow of the goal than to be disqualified before the start.  The prospect who seems on the point of saying, “Yes,” but finally shakes his head is the heart-breaker to the salesman.