In fact, you feel “out of sorts” and wish you did not have to see anybody all day. You are longing for a little time to yourself to think things over, to get your bearings, when in comes a salesman’s card. You do not want to see him and would give most anything to get rid of him, although there may be a possibility that he has something that you would like, but you do not want to see him at that particular time.
“Why couldn’t the man have come some other time?” you ask yourself. Against your will you say: “Well, tell him to come in.” You feel grouchy, grumpy, you do not even feel like greeting him pleasantly, and you growl out a “good morning.”
The salesman sits down. Your whole mind is braced against him. You do not care to see him, to talk with him. Everybody braces against a salesman. He is usually put in an unfortunate position. Instead of trying to make it easy for your visitor you make it hard for him. You make no concession if you can help it. You make him fight every inch of his way for your favor.
The tactful salesman sees your mood at once, and he knows he has a hard fight ahead of him; he has to win you over inch by inch. You begin to make all sorts of excuses; you do not need new stock at present, business has been dull, your shelves are loaded down with goods, and you tell him that times are bad, the outlook is anything but promising. He does not oppose or contradict you. On the contrary, he sympathizes with you; he is patient, courteous, affable, but all the time he is trying to get the thin edge of his wedge into your mind. He knows what would win him over if he were in such a mood; his wife or mother probably knows. He has to be won over; force, argument, reason, logic will not do it, only tact will do the trick.
If you have made a study of human nature, learned to size up people quickly, you will sense a prospect’s mood, even though he should try to conceal it, and you will have no difficulty in imagining yourself in his place. He has the same human qualities and the same fundamental passions as yourself. You must always be ready to pour oil on his wounds, not vinegar.
A salesman must not only use all his resourcefulness in business logic, but he must bring into play all his powers of pleasing. He should always come to his customers in a cheerful mood. No matter how upset he feels; no matter what unfortunate news he has had in the morning’s mail about his sick wife, or the children lying almost at death’s door, he must not show any sign of his troubles. A salesman may be in just as unfortunate a plight as his customer is, and even worse, yet he is forced to hide his feelings, and must try to “make good” under all circumstances.
The tactful salesman is “all things to all men.” Not that he is deceitful or insincere, but he understands different temperaments, different dispositions, different moods, and readily adapts himself to all. He keeps his finger on the mental pulse of his prospect, and keeps track of his mental attitude. He knows, for instance, that the moment a prospect shows signs of being bored the salesman should quit, and try later, or otherwise he will prejudice his case fatally, so that the next time he calls this bored suggestion will come to the mind of the prospect, who will refuse to see him.