CHAPTER XII
THE FORCE OF CHEERFUL EXPECTANCY
The habit of expecting great things of ourselves, expecting the best things to come to us, calls out the best that is in us and brings the best to us.
Anybody can get “no” for an answer. A negative attitude attracts a negative response—and most people become negative without realizing it.
If I had a school of salesmanship I would make a specialty of the philosophy of expectancy. I would never lose an opportunity of driving home this philosophy of expecting to make good. I would drive home this lesson of expecting success, expecting to win out, until it should become a dominant note in the salesman’s life.
When a boy I used to go trout fishing in a rough New Hampshire stream with a noted fisherman. He understood the trout and their habits; he knew where the good holes were and the rocks behind which the big trout were waiting. I would fish on one side of the stream and he on the other, and he would catch as many trout as he could carry, while I caught very few.
When this man started out to fish he would say he knew that he was going to get a big string of trout. Whenever he threw in his line he expected to get a trout. I, on the other hand, had no such hope or confidence, I did not know trout and their habits as he did, and I did not expect to catch any. The consequence was I hardly ever got a bite, while the trout nearly always went to his hook.
This is just the difference between a cracker-jack salesman and a poor one. The former knows his business thoroughly and expects to succeed. He approaches his prospect with the air of a conqueror, as a man in the habit of winning. The latter is not well posted, or he fears he won’t succeed. He goes to his prospect in fear and trembling, with doubt in his mind. He doesn’t believe he will get an order, and, of course, he doesn’t.
You should approach every prospect courageously, confidently, not only at the top of your physical condition, but also at the top of your mental condition. You positively must be hopeful, you must expect to take an order. Doubt, fear, or anxiety will queer your sale, because you will communicate whatever is in your own mind to your prospective customer. We radiate our moods. Our doubts and fears are very contagious.
If you carry your goods in a hearse you will not sell them. Do not approach a customer with a long, sad, disappointed countenance, as though you had just returned from a funeral. Remember you are a salesman, not an undertaker. Go to him with a face filled with hope and cheer, with confidence and assurance.