Not long ago I asked a very successful man, really a “born salesman,” what he considered the essential qualifications for good salesmanship. He put in the first category of qualifications: confidence in your goods, confidence in your firm, and confidence in yourself, plus enthusiasm, plus earnestness, plus perseverance, plus hard work, plus enjoyment of your work. In the second place he put: general knowledge of merchandise. In the third place he put: personality, and under this heading he included, honesty, neatness of appearance, poise, courtesy, sincerity, and temperance. The natural born salesman, he said, possesses all of these things, and in addition, tact, shrewdness, and understanding of human nature.
Now, there is nothing in this list of qualifications that is not within the reach of every honest intelligent youth who has enough stamina and will power to make his life a success.
You are a child of the Infinite; you bear the stamp of the Creator, and you must partake of His qualities. It is up to you, then, to make good; it is your duty as a man to show your origin, to stand your ground, to maintain your independence, your self-reliance, your dignity, against all attacks. It is up to you to stand for something in your life work, to be counted as one to be reckoned with in any transaction. It is your own fault if you are sucked out of your own plane of vibrations by a bully, a fighter, by any one, be he great or small. Selling honest goods is an honorable pursuit. Bring out your God-given powers. Improve the qualities He has given you and make your work, make your life significant. Don’t be apologetic; don’t be afraid; don’t cringe or wilt under opposition. Feel the importance and dignity of your work and let others feel that you feel it. Say to yourself, “I too am a son of God, the equal of this or any other man. I am going to maintain my poise, my individuality, my faith in myself, no matter what he says. I am as self-reliant, as independent, as forceful as any other man. I shall not be cowed by any one. I am not going to be downed by an obstacle.”
You will find it a wonderful help in overcoming obstacles in every phase of your work to assume a victorious mental attitude, and to carry yourself like a conqueror. If you go about among your fellows with a defeated expression in your face, giving the impression that you are not much of a man anyway, that life has been mostly a defeat, and that you don’t look forward to any success worth while, you certainly cannot hope to, and never will, inspire confidence in others; if your face, on the other hand, glows with the expression of victory, if you carry a victorious attitude, if you walk about the earth like a conqueror, a man victory-organized, you are headed toward victory. Nothing can keep you from winning out, because—and don’t forget this—Success begins in the mind.
CHAPTER XXIV
MEETING COMPETITION: “KNOW YOUR GOODS”
“This is the age of push, struggle and fierce competition.”
“Study your competitor—his manner and method of doing things.”