A successful business man tells me that every victory he has gained in a long career has been the result of hard fighting, so that now he is actually afraid of an easily-won success. He feels that there must be something wrong when anything worth while can be obtained without a struggle. Fighting his way to triumph, overcoming obstacles, gives this man pleasure. Difficulties are a tonic to him. He enjoys doing hard things, because it tests his strength, his ability. He does not like doing easy things, because it does not give him the exhilaration, the joy, that is felt after a victorious struggle.
Some natures never come to themselves, never discover their real strength, until they meet with opposition or failure. Their reserve of power lies so deep within them that any ordinary stimulus does not arouse it. But when they are confronted with obstacles, when they are ridiculed, “sat down upon,” or when they are abused and insulted, a new force seems to be born in them, and they do things which before would have seemed impossible.
Whenever a motive is great enough, an emergency large enough, a responsibility heavy enough, to call out the hidden reserve in our nature, latent energies spring forth which astonish us. The thin-skinned, sensitive salesman succumbs to the first breath of opposition or discouragement.
It is unfortunate to allow the customer ever to say “No,” but do not let a “No” overwhelm you. Remember this is your test. If you stick to your guns and don’t show the white feather a “No” will bring out the best that is in you. Whenever you hear “No,” call to mind men like Napoleon and Grant, who thrived on opposition and rebuffs.
It is not an easy matter to find salesmen who are capable of coping with all sorts of antagonism. But they are the ones in demand. Such men are not easily argued down—they can put up a stiff fight against every kind of opposition. Where the weak salesman retires from the field beaten, the man with grit and stamina is only taking his second breath. He does not let a rebuff or two phase him. Some salesmen are so weak that they cannot even maintain their own individuality in the presence of a prospect with a strong, vigorous mentality. He will annihilate their arguments in a twinkle. They fall down before his onslaught and say, “Yes, I guess you’re about right, Mr. Blank. I hadn’t thought of that before. But I guess you know best.” They cannot hold their ground, maintain their arguments, because they allow themselves to be drawn out of their current of mental vibration, to be overcome by the current of the stronger mentality.
I know two salesmen who go out from different houses over similar territory with the same line of goods. One of them sells four or five times as much in a year as the other. One man starts out with the expectation, the determination to sell, and, of course, he gets a very large salary on account of his great ability to sell. The other man gets a very small salary, just barely enough to enable him to hold on to his job, because obstacles seem so great to him. He returns oftener with excuses for not selling than with orders. He has not the ability to annihilate difficulties, to overcome obstacles, which the other man has. He brings back to his house small orders, or none, because he cannot overcome the objections of his customers, cannot convince them that they want what he has to sell.
I once saw an advertisement of a big firm for a manager, which, after describing the sort of man wanted, and saying that no other need apply, closed with, “The man must be able to cope with antagonism.” Now, the trouble with the unsuccessful salesman I speak of is: he is not able to cope with antagonism. He hoists the white flag the moment the enemy confronts him. He has no fight in him, and surrenders before a shot is fired. When a prospect or customer puts up an objection he is done. “Well, I guess perhaps you are right,” he says, “it may be better for you not to buy now.” This salesman lacks stamina. There is not enough lime in his backbone, not enough iron in his blood. He is a good honest soul, but he lacks the virility that characterizes the great salesman.
Remember that every weak strand in your character, every hindering peculiarity, every unfortunate habit, will cripple your sales and mar your success. Sensitiveness, timidity, shyness, lack of grit or courage, all of these weaknesses are virtually cutters-down of your ability to sell. Timid, shy or sensitive people are often morbidly self-conscious. They are always analyzing, dissecting themselves, wondering how they appear, what people think of them. These things keep the mind diverted from its real object and are all destroyers of concentration and power.
Over-sensitiveness is a very serious handicap in salesmanship. The man who is not able to take his medicine with a smile, who is not able to cope with a surly, a cantankerous, a quick-tempered or a sharp-tongued customer, has no place in salesmanship. In other words, a great salesman must be able to carry on his selling campaign at the points where the ordinary salesman falls down. To do this he must not be thin-skinned. He must be able to stand all sorts of abusive talk under which the sensitive, over-refined salesman quails. He must be ready to push on vigorously at the point where the salesman who lacks grit will quit and turn back. He must be able to stand having pepper and salt sprinkled on his sore spots without wincing. He should keep one thing continually in mind: that his business is, at all costs, to make a sale.