Reduce Resistance By Suggestion
Direct presentation of ideas indicates an intention to inform, to teach, to direct the mind of the other man. Every human individual, whether a child or a centenarian, re-acts in opposition to such an effort at instruction. There is something in all of us alike which makes us wish to think and decide for ourselves. Hence the value of the art of suggestion in getting yourself wanted.
Ideas you suggest enter the mind of the other man so unobtrusively that he does not realize you originated them. He has no feeling that you intend to influence his mind. Consequently he makes no resistance to the suggested ideas. It never pays to reason when selling an idea; because reasoning invariably brings out a reaction of opposition. You will not create a desire for your services by presenting them logically, or by making an argument regarding your capabilities. One of the greatest students of the human mind assures us that "most persons never perform an act of pure reasoning; but all their acts are the results of imitation, habit, suggestion, or some related form of thinking."
Three Reasons For Using Suggestion
Suggestion is remarkably effective in persuading and in arousing desire because:
First, every "suggested" idea is accepted as absolutely true unless it is contradicted by other ideas already in the mind of the prospect. This is because the prospect thinks a suggested idea is his. He adopts it and makes it his own. That is, his mind takes the suggestion and interprets it in terms of his own thoughts. Of course he believes what he himself thinks. Say to a prospective employer that you would particularly like to work in association with him, and he may believe you are "shooting hot air." He will have no such feeling if you tell him details about his business that have especially interested you. Show him that you have been studying and observing his methods. Give him to understand that you have also investigated other businesses. Thus without saying it, you suggest to his mind that you have come to his office because you really would prefer to be employed there. He will believe the suggested idea; though he might have scoffed at the statement.
Suggestion Avoids Contradiction
Second, suggestion is effective in persuasion and in arousing desire because suggested ideas which include no comparisons or criticisms very seldom arouse contradictory attitudes of mind. The suggested idea enters the mind of the other man quietly, unaccompanied by a blare of the trumpet "I Tell You." Opposing ideas are not aware of its presence until it has supplanted them. Suggest to a chosen employer that he means to be up-to-date, and he agrees. If you say his methods are behind the times, he will be apt to defend them instead of following your lead along the line of suggested improvements.
Suggested Ideas Tend to Action
Third, every suggested idea of action tends to result in the action itself; whereas a direct attempt to secure action is almost sure to result in opposition. Human nature works that way. Your prospect, being unconscious that a particular idea of action is suggested to him, does not have his will stimulated to prevent that action. If you come to your prospective employer and ask for the job you want, he will be on the defensive. But if you suggest to him that he wants you—that he lacks and needs such services as you present—he will be impelled to the affirmative action of offering you the job.