Joseph Francis MacGrail

“ Remember you are a salesman, not an undertaker. Go to him with a face filled with hope and cheer, with confidence and assurance.
If you are a winner, your whole canvass will be conducted as though you expected to change the prospect’s mind before you get through with him, no matter how antagonistic he may be, or how determined at the outset not to purchase.
There is a good deal of truth in the remark, “If you cannot learn to smile, you cannot learn to sell.” The best salesmen are cheerful, optimistic, hopeful. They appreciate the commercial value of a smile, of always looking pleasant. ”

“ It is a very difficult thing to resist that magnetic charm of personality which has swayed judges and juries from justice, and has even changed the destinies of nations. We have not the heart to deny or refuse, to say “No” to the man or woman who grips us with the impalpable force of a magnetic personality.
When logic and argument fail, when genius says “impossible,” when pluck and persistency give up, when influence has done its best and quits, when all the mental qualities have tried in vain, the subtle something which we call personal magnetism steps in and without apparent effort wins. ”

“ No matter how fine a brain or how good an [114] education a salesman may have, without the steam of enthusiasm, which propels the human machine, his work will be ineffective. It is the enthusiastic man in every trade or profession, the man with fire and iron in his blood, whose enthusiasm is at the boiling point, who makes things move in this world. The half-hearted, indifferent, aimless worker, who is never aroused to the two-hundred-and-twelve degree of live interest and enthusiasm in his especial task, is headed for failure. He will never be his own manager. ”

“ Is there anything grander than the man who stands foursquare to the world, who does not love money or influence as he loves his reputation, and who would rather be right than be President?
The salesman who has made such a reputation, a reputation of never misrepresenting, never deceiving, never trying to cajole or over-influence, who never tries to sell a man what he knows he does not want or what would not be good for him, who does not try to palm off “out of season” goods or cover up defects, is certainly a comfort and a treasure both to his employer and his customers. ”

“ You can’t presume on your intimacy with a man to sell him goods; and it is seldom you can get his trade away from a successful salesman, even if you have identical goods and quote the same price. The salesman has become the buyer’s friend too, in a different way to what you are, but still a friend and deserving of consideration. No doubt business friendship plays a very large part in business getting with all salesmen. You know how hard it often is, to break in on the trade of another man, simply because he has won the friendship of his customers. ”

“ Many a superb salesman has finally lost out by making an enemy of all the organs which make for health and success.
Do you realize what goes into every sale you make? Did it ever occur to you that your brains, your education, your training, your experience, your skill, your ingenuity, your resourcefulness, your originality, your personality—about all your life capital is flung into every selling transaction? ”

“ 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. ”

“ I know a man who is a valuable solicitor if his employers can only keep him keyed up to the right point, supplied with enthusiasm. When his enthusiasm is at high tide he accomplishes wonders, but the moment it ebbs he is good for nothing. And his enthusiasm often ebbs; it is very uncertain. One day he will impress you as a powerful man, a man with great determination, vigor and push—he makes everything move; then you meet him on one of his off days, when the tide is out, and scarcely know him. His mentality is flabby, his courage is down. ”

“ Selling goods that give perfect satisfaction in such a pleasing, attractive way that the customer comes back; leaving a pleasant taste in the customer’s mouth, pleasant pictures in his memory of the way you treated him, so that he will put himself out to look you up the next time, this is the salesmanship which every one can cultivate. One doesn’t need to be a born salesman to do this. Every one can treat a customer kindly, pleasantly, with a cheerful, helpful manner, in an accommodating spirit. ”

“ Why is it that one man will so easily change our whole mental attitude and make us do voluntarily the very thing that we had no idea of doing an hour before, and thought we never could do, when another might have talked to us until doomsday about the same thing, and never changed our mind a particle regarding it? Why is it that one man will convince us that we ought to buy an article which we were sure a few minutes before that we not only did not need or desire, but under no circumstances would buy?
Because he is a past master of the gentle art of persuasion. ”

“ It will rise up as a ghost all through your life work, at unexpected moments, mortifying, condemning, convicting you. Every indiscretion or vicious indulgence simply opens a leak which drains off your success and happiness possibilities. There is no compensation for waste of health capital. Health raises the power of every faculty and every possibility of the man, and there is no excuse for losing it through carelessness, dissipation or ignorance.
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Nor can one plead mere weakness or lack of energy as a handicap, an excuse for failure. Nature is no sentimentalist. ”

“ It is the conquest, the conquest of the heart, by words that speak kindliness and assure confidence, which distinguishes the prosperous salesman, justly proud and progressive.—Henry Frank.
Many a man with a good brain fails as a salesman, or remains a mediocre one, because he has never learned to express himself with ease and fluency. A lame, hesitating, poverty-stricken speech is fatal.
The ability to talk well is to a man what cutting and polishing are to the rough diamond. The grinding does not add anything to the diamond. ”

“ When the customer sees this, naturally he will not buy there. He will go to another house or to a salesman who will tell him the truth, who will be honest with him.
Sincerity, genuineness, transparency, carry great weight with us all. Just think what it means to have everybody believe in you, to have everybody that has ever had any dealings with you feel that, there is a man as clean as a hound’s tooth and as straight as a die; no wavering, no shuffling, no sneaking, no apologizing, no streak of any kind in his honesty; you can always rely on his word. ”

“ The A1 salesman knows how to steer his course between the enthusiasm that excites suspicion, arouses distrust, and the enthusiasm that persuades and convinces. There is now and then one who with abounding enthusiasm, guided by good judgment and horse-sense, pours his very life into his sale, just as a great advocate flings his life into his pleading. He is the sort of man who will win out in any proposition he attempts to put through. ”

“ An employer measures his employees largely by the spirit in which they do their work. The salesman who goes to his task with energy, determination, and enthusiasm, by his very bearing gives assurance that the thing he undertakes will not only be done, but will be done as well as it can be done. On the other hand, when a salesman drags himself about as though existence were a burden, when he takes hold of his work with repugnance, as though he dreaded it, it does not take an expert judge of human nature to know that he will never amount to anything. ”

“ Talk quality. A high-class salesman tries to convert his prospect from a lower to a higher grade, for there is not only greater [258] satisfaction but also larger profit both for seller and buyer in the high grade article.
Did you ever realize that when you are working for another you are really selling yourself to him, that your ability, your education, your personality, your influence, your atmosphere—everything about you is sold for a price? Every time you sell goods you are selling part of yourself, your character, your reputation, what you stand for—it is all included in the sale. ”

“ For the gritless every defeat is a Waterloo, but there is no Waterloo for the man who has clear grit, for the man who persists, who never knows when he is beaten. Those who are bound to win never think of defeat as final. They get up after each failure with new resolution, more determination than ever to go on until they win.
Have you ever seen a man who had no give-up in him, who could never let go his grip whatever happened, who, every time he failed, would come up with greater determination than ever to push ahead? ”

“ Throw off your shyness, your morbid sensitiveness, your timidity. Get rid of your lack of faith and courage. Confidently expect that you are going to be a great salesman, a distinctive one, a salesman with individuality, with originality, with inventiveness, a man of resource and power. Never allow yourself to think that anything is true about you that you wish to be otherwise, because the thought you hold in mind is the model of your life building. ”

“ The art of a salesman shows itself in his ability to focus his energies quickly and to size up his prospect in many respects at a glance. He must see what kind of a temperament he has to deal with. He must know what to do and what to say to each particular man. Before entering a strange office he has no idea what sort of a man will confront him, whether one who is fat or lean, of a nervous or a phlegmatic temperament, whether vigorous or in delicate health, whether a thin-skinned, sensitive man or one of a coarse type with a rhinoceros hide. ”

“ A salesman often finds a would-be customer’s mind absolutely opposed to his. He does not want the merchandise, or at least he thinks he does not, and is determined not to buy it. He braces himself against all possibility of persuasion, of being influenced to do what he has decided not to do. A little later, however, he cheerfully buys the article, pays for it, and feels sure he really wants it. His entire attitude has been changed by the art of persuasion, of winning over, which was all done by successive logical steps, each of which had to be taken in order, or failure would have resulted. ”

“ While it is an indispensable factor in salesmanship, too much enthusiasm develops weakness, destroys one’s good sense and good judgment and one’s ability to convince people. And the power of carrying conviction to the mind of a prospective buyer is the very marrow of salesmanship.
I have known over-enthusiastic young salesmen to be so completely carried away with the possibilities of what they were selling, to exhibit so little judgment and so much fervor in their canvass, that they aroused suspicion in the minds of their prospects as to their good judgment. ”

“ Many a salesman queers a sale by not stopping when he is through—his tongue outlasts his brain. He has not tact enough to see that when he has convinced his prospect it is time to close the deal. Others again make the mistake of lingering after their object is accomplished, squandering their own and their prospect’s time to no purpose.
If there is anything a business man appreciates in a caller it is a regard for the value of [106] his time. Every minute is precious with a busy man, and directness, conciseness of statement, saying a lot in a few words, always makes a favorable impression. ”

“ Why is it that one salesman can often accomplish three or four times as much as another? The difference is not always that of ability. It is often a difference in the effort—in the character of the effort. One salesman tries harder. He adds enthusiasm and a splendid zest to his work, which increases the quality as well as the quantity of the result.
Joyous zeal, dead-in-earnestness, will sell more goods than all the technical training in the world, minus enthusiasm. ”

“ On the other hand, there are lukewarm salesmen who put so little of themselves into their sale, so little enthusiasm and zest, so little magnetism, so little diplomacy and tact, and so little of the art of persuasion, that they remain third or fourth rate all their lives. They barely get a living in a field where the energetic, enthusiastic man makes a fortune.
The salesman or other worker who gives only his second best instead of his best, who [118] gives indifference instead of enthusiasm, who doesn’t think it worth while to fling his soul into his work, never amounts to much. ”

“ It is amazing how ignorant many otherwise intelligent people are when it comes to a question of body and health building. Young people often ask me to tell them how they can increase their ability, and in nine cases out of ten I find that, like the young man above, they are doing some fool things that defeat the very object they have in view.
Now, the surest way to increase your ability, to multiply and strengthen your faculties, is to lay a good foundation of health, and to guard it as you would your most precious possession—for that is really what it is. ”

“ No knowledge, however profound, of mere technical salesmanship will make a salesman of you if you lack selling sense, into which many factors enter,—such as tact, spirit of kindliness, good fellowship, good judgment, level-headedness, horse sense, initiative, courage.
Like the good things you eat, a superb quality leaves a good taste in the mouth. ”

“ It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most. Everybody knows that the salesman is supposed, at least, to treat a customer decently; but the over-plus of service, the extra courtesy and kindness, the spirit of accommodation, the desire to be obliging, the patience and helpfulness in trying to render the greatest possible service—these are the things customers appreciate most highly, and these are just the things that tie customers to certain houses. ”

“ It is the point at which economy ceases to be a virtue and becomes a vice. In this age of competition, when the law of the survival of the fittest acts with seemingly merciless rigor, no one can afford to be indifferent to the smallest detail of dress, or manner, or appearance, that will add to his chances of making a success in life.
Remember that the world takes you largely at your own valuation; your prospective customer will be repelled or attracted by your appearance, and your clothes are as important as your bearing and manners. ”