Suggestions in sales and how to use them *

Are we moved by reason or suggestions?

We, are somewhat in the habit of looking upon man as a purely reasoning animal which comes to a decision by carefully weighing all facts and arguments and deliberating whether to do, or not to do, the particular thing under consideration. We are inclined to explain our own actions on this basis, either because we thoroughly believe it, or because we may be a bit sensitive to the suggestion that we acted upon emotion or sentiment without having gone through a thorough reasoning process. If this were true, then logic, cold reason, the appeal to the intellect, would be the only means of influencing intelligent people.

As a matter of fact few, if any, of us ever arrive at our decisions by the process of pure reasoning alone. The most logical of men will have his imagination fired by picturing the thrill of sitting at the wheel of the high-powered and beautiful car at which he has been looking. He anticipates in his mind's eye the pride with which he will show it to his friends.

The purchaser of a suburban home will want to know that a house is well built, suitably laid out and has a good heating plant in the cellar—but it is pride of ownership and a picture of his children playing happily on the front lawn which really sells him.

The jobber or the dealer pictures the goods moving rapidly and profits piling up in the till. The ground work must be laid—the facts established—by logic and reasoning, but the growing confidence in the mind of the prospect is fired into action, giving dynamic force, by the power of suggestion. The best sales talks are, as a rule, therefore a skilful blending of sound reasoning and positive suggestion.

The importance of suggestions

It is not only necessary that the prospect become interested in the salesman's offering, but it is also quite as necessary that he be stimulated to a buying point. A person becomes interested in many things but not always to the point of buying. He is, at the same time, interested in many other things that he desires. If he buys this he cannot buy those other things that he would also like—thus runs his reasoning.

A merchant would really like to put in a salesman's line, but he also wants to keep on handling his present line, to patronize some other salesman, and to hold down his average investment in stock. The office manager is interested in the salesman's office appliance and what it will do, but he also wishes to hold down his capital investment.

The prospect would like this insurance policy, but he also wants a new car. Therefore, in nearly every sale it becomes necessary for the salesman, not only to develop interest by proving his case logically, but also to stimulate that interest to such an extent that it will take preference in the prospect's mind over other interests and desires and crowd them out of the picture. It becomes then an important question as to how best to make the prospect want the salesman's offering more, that is to stimulate the interest created to a buying point. Many times the answer is found in the use of suggestion.

Nature of suggestion

Suggestion has been described as the entrance into the mind of an idea which is so definite and distinct that action tends to follow automatically. In the words of Dr. Boris Sidis of Harvard, "Suggestion is an idea accepted uncritically and acted upon automatically." If an idea be lodged in the mind in definite and distinct form, impulses toward corresponding action are generated. This principle is sometimes called "the propulsive power of ideas."

The salesman will not only create and develop through his sales talk a strong logical idea of the desirability of his offering but he will also manage to make the idea still sharper and more distinct by a process of direct positive suggestion.

Applying Dr. Sidis's definition to suggestion as used in the sale, we shall find that a positive suggestion is accepted uncritically and acted upon if it is presented in such a brief pointed fashion that the prospect's mind takes it in at a glance without being obliged to ponder or reason. It must be a reasonable and somewhat obvious suggestion coming within the range of the prospect's experience so plainly that no points of resistance arise in his mind. It is best offered in such a natural, spontaneous manner that he does not feel the instinctive opposition, really negative suggestion, that instantly arises to combat an attempt to force an idea upon him.

Let us illustrate this simply. An experienced vacuum cleaner salesman has demonstrated his machine thoroughly and shown just what it will do. He has gone over the housewife's rugs and proved how thoroughly his machine cleans by emptying the bag out on a newspaper. He has pointed out the convenience and superiority of his particular machine. In short, he has appealed to his prospect's intellect. It seems logical and reasonable that she should possess this aid to housekeeping.

Abruptly, however, he puts the machine aside and says, "Mrs. Brown, after all I am really asking you to buy more than a vacuum cleaner. I am asking you to seize the opportunity to get out in the afternoons, to take in matinees, to attend an occasional afternoon bridge and be able to do those things with the happy realization that your house is neater and cleaner than would be the case if you worked all day under present methods." Immediately, if this appeal finds a response in the emotions of the housewife, desire for other purchases will be pushed to the background.

Possible comparison between this machine and others as to efficiency and price will be lost sight of. In her mind's eye the prospect sees herself leaving behind an immaculate and well-ordered home of which she may justly be proud as she goes forth early in the afternoon to pleasurable recreations. It may be said that the housewife buys that picture rather than a vacuum cleaner.

Reason versus direct suggestion

This discussion and illustration will enable us to recognize then that the salesman, by a process of reasoning, discussion of the selling points of his offering, and demonstration, furnishes facts and details which lead the prospect to a definite conclusion of worth. By a process of direct suggestion, on the other hand, he assumes all those facts and presents that same conclusion in the form of a description or word picture which makes it so vivid that the prospect sees it Much more clearly. In other words, the salesman takes a word picture and causes the prospect mentally to place himself in it as the central figure.

Appealing to the imagination

So far as salesmanship is concerned the use of suggestion is synonymous with the appeal to the imagination or the emotions of the prospect. A prominent and well-to-do lawyer in a New England town had in his office a veritable rattle-trap of a typewriter whose type was old and out of alignment.

A typewriter salesman had made several ineffectual attempts to get him to buy a new machine. The salesman pointed out that the old machine would not last much longer, and that its appearance was not in keeping with the dignity of the office, but all to no avail. The lawyer clung to the old machine. Then one day the salesman sat down in his own office and typed a page of legal cap on an old machine that he had taken in exchange; the typing was blotchy, broken and out of alignment. Next, he typed a similar page with one of the newest machines in stock. With this material in hand, he called upon the lawyer.

"Mr. Lawyer," he began, "when you go before a jury you are particular as to your appearance. You make sure that your clothes are carefully pressed; that your shoes are polished; that your linen is immaculate. You would never think of appearing in court with your face unshaven. Why? You would be just as good a lawyer, no matter what your appearance. Your arguments would be just as forceful. But you are aware that a poor appearance might lessen others' opinion of your ability—create a bad impression. Mr. Lawyer, you sometimes find it necessary to present your cases without personal appearance.

Sometimes you submit briefs. How do you get up your briefs? Hardly like this (showing the poorly typed sheet), so that their slovenly appearance detracts from the forcefulness of their arguments? Or like this (showing the neatly typed sheet), immaculate and pleasing in dress so that they produce a favorable impression even before they are read?"

This appeal to the imagination put the whole matter in a new light. The lawyer in his mind's eye saw the judge pick up his slovenly brief and frown as he glanced at it. He doubtless recalled close decisions when he had lost though, to his mind, his masterly brief had entitled him to win. The sale was made.

Direct suggestion in advertising

The use of direct suggestion made in advertising is an indication of its power. The major part of most advertisements in our popular periodicals consists of pictures. These pictures are their most prominent features. Take up a leading periodical and turn at random to a double page advertisement which may have cost $10,000 or $11,000 for a single insertion, and we find that frequently more than half of the space is occupied by an illustration, possibly of the interior of a house where the particular material being advertised is used.

Turning the pages we find that pictures dominate the advertising space. Pictures of motor cars, domestic scenes, sanitary bath rooms and kitchens, houses with coloured roofs, fenced flower gardens. Likewise, upon the billboards which face us at every turn, the features that stand out are pictures of something.

Millions of dollars are spent on these pictures. Their purpose is plain. They are designed to implant in our minds not only a clean-cut definite idea of the superiority of a product or service but also a vivid picture of the pleasure, comfort or satisfaction that we personally will find in its use. They weld the uses of the thing advertised into a picture which appeals to our imaginations and in which each of us is likely to place himself as a central figure. They constitute, in brief, an effective use of the principle of direct suggestion.

Direct suggestion in selling

If the salesman himself has imagination, he can construct a word picture which will implant the desired idea in the prospect's mind much more effectively than will a printed picture, because there is behind it the force of his personality and his knowledge of the individual to whom he is making the appeal. Let us observe a few simple illustrations of this fact in several different types of selling.

The automobile salesman has demonstrated his car to a husband and father. He has been all over its mechanical excellencies and its beauty is obvious to the prospect. Assuming that there has been a meeting of minds on these matters, the salesman says : "Mr. Brown, when you and your family get into this car on a hot summer afternoon and go purring along and breezing up hills as though you were scarcely touching the ground, in less than an hour you find yourself forty miles away from town where the air is fresh and cool, and you get out and spread a cloth in the shade of the trees and picnic in the open"—and so on.

The shoe salesman says: "Imagine that show window dressed up with this line of shoes arranged in accordance with this standard layout. Why, men and women passing the shop cannot resist stopping and looking over these latest styles. When they step into the store the sale is virtually made."

The ready-to-wear salesman has his prospect pretty well convinced of the quality and style of his line.

He convinces his prospect with: "I wish you could .have stood beside me on the sales floor of Blank and Company over at Albany last Thursday while I watched them sell fourteen of these garments in less than thirty minutes." That is a vivid picture to paint for the man who buys goods for resale.

Illustrations might be multiplied. Every offering is capable of being handled in this way. The real estate salesman pictures the prospect reaching his home in the suburbs after a hot and busy day in town and being greeted by his happy children. The salesman for a noiseless typing machine pictures the quiet of the office and the increased effectiveness of office employees which will result from the installation. The bond salesman predicts a placid old age fortified with regular income from sound securities in the safety deposit box.

Implanting the direct suggestion

Direct suggestion is often an effective method of meeting price competition. Some time ago a large printing order was to be given out by a firm in New York. A number of dummies were made up and sent to different printers for their estimates. A salesman from one of the printing houses came in to get a dummy. When he received his copy he turned to the man who was to place the order :

"Mr. Buyer, if you are going to award this job to the lowest bidder, I'm beaten now and I won't start. As a matter of fact, however, it is not a low price that you're after. You think too much of quality for that. What you really want is a combination of high quality and reasonable price; and if you place this job on that basis I am going to win. One of the biggest variables in printing is 'make-ready,' the adjustment of the type plates and engravings in the press so that they will print evenly. The printers who submit the lowest bids to you will slap the plates into the press and make the run without adequate `make-ready.' Those who bid slightly higher may fuss around for an hour or two making ready and then, hit or miss, will make the run anyhow. My company will keep a press standing idle all day if necessary in order to get the 'make-ready' perfect. We won't start to print until we are assured of turning out a quality job. Mr. Buyer, we are the lowest priced quality printers in New York. If you want the lowest price compatible with the highest quality and will award this job on that basis, I am going to get your business."

When bids began to come, the differences in amount were startling. But the salesman's talk had made such an impression that this man's house, though its bid was much nearer the top than the bottom, was awarded the job. There is probably no trade in which the price competition is more severe than in printing. Despite that, this salesman by a sincere, convincing "quality" talk was able to relegate price to a place of secondary importance in the mind of his prospect.

He accomplished this by implanting in the mind of the prospect, through direct suggestion the necessity for caution in accepting price without regard to quality, and the conviction that he represented a quality house. Those suggestions were sufficiently strong to stay in the prospect's mind and cause the awarding of the contract on a quality rather than a price basis.

Appeal to caution through suggestion

The insurance salesman very often appeals to the caution of his prospects by picturing the dire position of the family left without the protection which insurance guarantees or the security of the family for which the bread winner has made insurance provision.

An insurance man was talking to a close friend of his one day about a non-cancellable accident and health policy with unusual features. The insurance man had mentioned it to his friend casually and the latter's question had indicated nothing more than polite and academic interest. After they had been discussing it for some time the insurance man said: "You know I tried hard to persuade old Bill Brown," mentioning a mutual friend, "to take one of these policies only a couple of months ago. It wasn't two weeks later that he was taken ill and, as you know, he has been on the flat of his back for eight weeks now.

During all of that time he might just as well have been drawing $50 a week from my company." A slight smile brightened up the corners of his friend's mouth as he turned to the salesman and said, "I suspect now that you have been trying to sell me all along. I had no intention of taking one of these policies, but you have put me in a position where I am scared pink that if I don't I'm bound to get sick or get hit by an automobile or something. I know well that if I do take one, I shall never collect a cent of it. But fix me up just the same."

Other uses of direct suggestion

Positive suggestion plays many minor roles of importance in the selling process. The able salesman intersperses his interview with questions so couched as to bring an affirmative answer. "You agree with that, do you not, Mr. Prospect ?" "That is so, is it not?" "You concede that that is a fact, do you not, Mr. Prospect?" Those are simple examples.

"Let us sit down at your desk where we can be comfortable while we go over this," is a suggestion casually made by the salesman at the outset of an interview, and most times automatically accepted by the prospect.

Throughout his selling talk the salesman says: "You will get this," "We shall have these goods on your shelves inside of a week and they will start to move as soon as you get them in," and the like. He does not prefix his remarks with "If you buy." He mildly suggests that it is a settled matter. In the same way, when the astute salesman has reached his closing tactics he has, for one reason or another, already introduced his contract blank and has it spread before the prospect where it constitutes a direct suggestion to sign. The possibilities are that right at the close he produces a pen or pencil and starts to do some figuring in order to suggest signing to the prospect. These things are not unimportant in taking the rough edges off the contact of minds in the selling process.

Salesman's use of direct suggestion

As has been pointed out, direct suggestion, to be effective, must be brief, pointed, and easily grasped by the prospect in much the same way as he would grasp the significance and appeal of a picture on a billboard while riding past. Exaggeration must be avoided. The suggestion must be entirely reasonable and, if no inhibitive thought is to interfere, must tie in with the prospect's experience. It is best introduced casually. That does not mean that it does not require the driving force of enthusiasm behind it, but its effect will be lost if it sounds like studied effort.

The salesman makes frequent use of direct suggestion at every stage of his presentation as he goes along. Wherever possible he will follow up each selling point with suggestion. That is a logical order of presentation.

At the end of the selling talk, however, and just prior to going into his closing tactics, he gathers the whole thing together, assumes that the facts and details presented have been accepted by the prospect and sums up his whole case in one big picture appealing to the imagination of the prospect, stirring his emotions and inspiring him to action. This climax of interest is naturally the point at which to attempt the close. The study of how best to use direct suggestion in connection with his particular offering will be a subject of study by the salesman who would make the most of himself and his selling opportunities.

Indirect suggestion

It now remains to consider another form of suggestion which is still more important and effective and which involves a deeper principle of psychology. We call it "indirect suggestion" because the stimulating ideas are brought into the mind of the prospect in a roundabout way. We refer to a certain habitual attitude of confidence on the part of the salesman.

The confident attitude of mind

We all admit the power of a confident attitude but far too often we neglect to analyse it and find out what it is, why it works so effectively and how we can develop and utilize it. As we use the term here we mean a state of mind which is governed or controlled by those facts and details in a situation which point toward a successful issue. The salesman who has confidence in himself is one whose estimate or mental measurement of himself is based upon those qualities in himself which make for successful selling.

Similarly he possesses and radiates confidence in his offering, his company, his territory and his job. Habitual confidence is the habit of looking at things from the standpoint of expectation and affirmation. He sees himself going through with his plans. If one will make a study of successful salesmen he will find that almost without exception their habitual mental outlook is one of confidence. Their minds are charged with those facts and details which point toward "getting the business." Their habitual mental attitude is one of expectation.

Psychologists are quite agreed that where a fixed or definite concept is harboured in one's mind there are generated certain corresponding motor forces or impulses, which form a sort of inner dynamo that pushes him along in the direction of his fixed mental outlook.

He thinks success, then he is impelled to act success and success tends to gravitate toward him. He will not always succeed. Other forces may sometimes intervene to stop him temporarily but that confident outlook will be the origin of a driving power which will carry him in the direction of his goal. This attitude of mind will generate a force on the part of the salesman which will show itself in his facial expression, his tone of voice and his whole attitude during the entire sales process and that state of mind will communicate itself to the prospect. This is one of the imponderable forces of salesmanship ; we sometimes call it personal influence, persuasiveness or magnetism. It is a strong factor in tending to cause the prospect to feel as the salesman does toward the offering. It acts as a constant stimulant of interest.

A salesman for a coffee and spice mill who had pushed his way steadily ahead until he had become one of the best producers in his company was characterized, by one who knew him intimately, in the following way:

"His company is a good substantial concern but there is nothing particularly outstanding about it, They are fairly well organized and have a good plant, They do a jobbing business and also manufacture a line of specialties under their own brand. They take the usual good care of their customers and have some capable men in the organization. This salesman considers his company as one of the best in the business. When he talks about the personnel of his organization and especially his line of branded specialties his eyes fairly shine. He can't see anything else but that his products are at the head. He is absolutely loyal to the company and to the line. He will fight for both. As for his own personality, he is a man of good intelligence and ability but nothing unusual excepting that he seems to be sure of himself. He is not conceited but he has no doubt of his ability to get the business. When he goes into a town he seems to think that it is full of chances for business and that he is equal to the job. When he loses a sale, as every man does, he smiles. He is certain that he will get the next one. That seems to be his state of mind and so he keeps at it. The result is that when evening comes he usually has a good bunch of orders to send in. He has such a feeling of confidence about his products that he makes the other man feel the same way. It is hard to stop a man like that. In the long run he is bound to come through."

How to develop a confident attitude

There is a plain and simple technique for developing the habit of confident thinking. It is done in the same way in which a physical habit is formed, by constant repetition until it becomes automatic. In that respect, the mind works in the same way as does the body. If one performs a thing often enough the action becomes habitual. We are all conscious that we have the power to choose and control whatever facts and details we shall allow to dominate our minds. We can entertain and emphasize the favourable facts or the unfavourable ones as we choose.

The habit of confident thinking is formed by choosing to entertain the favourable facts and keeping at it until the habit is formed. Some men are temperamentally so constituted that they do this naturally—others do the opposite. Still others possess a mixed temperament. But any salesman can train himself to think positively. This is merely a matter of mental exercise. Fill the mind with favourable facts, hold on to them and let your actions be guided by them. Do this constantly until it becomes habitual. This does not mean that one should shut his eyes to the hard facts or unfavourable details which can be found in every situation.

The confident man faces them squarely and properly evaluates them but does not allow them to dominate or control his final estimates. His habitual viewpoint is determined by the best there is in a situation.

A specific program

Let us make this more specific by applying it to the details of the salesman's job. Most concerns are fairly well organized with certain outstanding men among their personnel, and have certain distinctive business policies applying to grades, brands, publicity, methods of distribution and the like. The concern may be large with wide reputation and prestige, or small with the advantages of close supervision and a family spirit of cooperation. Most concerns are well equipped for service and have a well defined "keynote" of courtesy and efficiency in the organization.

The salesman can easily live up to these strong points and fix in mind the details of each. Then let him practice holding them resolutely in mind. Let him base his habitual conception of the company upon these favourable points, so that they control his fixed attitude of mind and keep him sold on his company.

The result of this will be a state of confidence that will operate as a constant positive suggestion upon his prospects. This does not mean that he will shut his eyes to the faults and weak spots in his company but it does mean that he will not allow them to control his estimate of it. His viewpoint is governed by the best there is in the organization.

The same procedure can be followed with reference to the salesman's measurement of himself. Every man possesses qualities which are admirable such as courage, industry, intelligence, and honesty. On the other hand, he has certain faults and weaknesses. The danger is that he will secretly estimate himself by these latter qualities.

The term "inferiority complex" expresses a real state of mind—far too common among salesmen. The trouble is that in their mental estimates of themselves, they have permitted these inferior qualities to gain control. This is wholly futile, and is merely the result of a vicious mental habit, which carries a constant fear of failure.

The skilful salesman's attitude is just the reverse. His estimate of himself is governed by the best there is in him. He develops, through constant practice, a habit of confidence which carries an ever-present suggestion of success.

The same principle holds true in the matter of his proposition, his territory and his job or occupation of selling. It constitutes a law which operates throughout every phase of the selling process. This development of confidence has such a determining influence upon the salesman's success that he will do well to work out a definite program along the foregoing lines and follow it persistently. Confidence acts as an indirect suggestion that works automatically and will prove to be one of the most valuable of his selling assets.

Preventing worry, fear and discouragement

One most important result of the foregoing is that it shuts out a state of worry, fear and discouragement. These are the banes of the selling job, and tend toward inefficiency and failure. There are always plenty of adverse circumstances in every situation which, if allowed to, will dominate his viewpoint and cause the salesman to become discouraged.

He is defeated in advance because he lacks that driving force which is generated by confident thinking. In other words, he lacks the feeling which is the direct result of an assured attitude of mind. He lacks that constant suggestion of success which, in the case of the confident salesman, permeates every stage of the sales process and constitutes a powerful personal influence. The man who worries is in the same fix as the man at the wheel of a car when his engine is stalled for lack of gasoline. The cure for worry and fear is to get the habit of confident thinking.

While this principle is one of the most important in successful selling, there are some things which it will not do. It is a big thing but it is not the whole thing. Because some men become obsessed with it and carry it to ridiculous extremes, a word of warning is in order.

Confident thinking will not do away with the necessity for a thorough knowledge of the offering or of the principles and methods involved in making sales, nor will it take the place, in handling the sale, of courtesy, tact and common sense. However, it is not exaggeration to state that, other things being equal, it will produce such a powerful stimulation of interest that sales can .more easily be closed.