Chapter 19

DON'T USE WORDS THAT ARE “SHINY IN THE SEAT”

 The other person begins to respond with his first “no.”  But try not to give him a chance to be negative.  Avoid trite words that mean nothing.  Words that are baggy in the knees lose business.  Press up your words.  Keep the shine off them.

I OFTEN DROP into a drugstore to get a malted milk.  If the clerk can sell me an egg in it, the store will get five cents more from me, and I will have a fuller, richer drink, which I like.  If the clerk has baggy trousers and baggy words, he'll ignore the good rule of asking leading questions and will perhaps (as they usually do) say rather mildly to me “Like an egg in it?”

I say “no” pretty fast from force of habit.  But on another day and another store I ask for a malted milkshake, and the clerk holds an egg in each of his hands and says:

            “one or two eggs today, sir?” (Wheelerpoint number 4.)

I look at the two eggs.  I find it difficult to say “no” to this question, because “no” will mean nothing.  He wants to know whether I want one or two, not whether or not I want any at all.

After a moment I say, “Oh, one egg will be enough!”  I get the egg, the store gets five cents more, and the average check has gone up!

HANDLING THE DOG IN THE YARD

The vacuum cleaner man knows the dogs will run quicker for a salesman with bags in his knees and a shine in his pants.  He knows, too, the words that are shiny or have bags will not help them get by the dog.  Therefore, he will ask a neighbors child the name of the dog.  Armed with this information, he will open the gate consciously, and address the dog by name, saying “Hello, Butch, how are you today, Butch?  Nice weather, isn't it, Butch?  Is the lady of the house in, Butch?”

Butch, the dog, hears his name, a familiar sound again, and perhaps says to himself: “Guess this fellow has been here before.  He seems to know my name.  I'll take a chance and let him on the porch.”

This is a TESTED METHOD to get by a dog, and if you want to prove this to yourself, use the dog's name as you enter a yard or home with a dog in it, and watch the way his name slows up his bark!

YOUR TEN-SECOND APPEARANCE

You will quickly discover that if you dress up your words -- as well as your appearance -- people will respond faster and more willingly to your wishes, just as they react more favorably to a man in a dress suit than to one with his pants torn in the seat.  The vacuum cleaner man knows that if he shuffles up to the front porch and the woman sees him, she'll perhaps say to her self, “Here comes another tired salesman to rest on my front porch.  Watch me shoo him off fast!”

He knows, too, that there is a philosophy in pressing doorbells, and if he pushes it briskly, he will get quicker action from the woman than if he pressed it weekly like a timid beggar with the baggy pants.  Women instinctively know by the ring of the doorbell just about what to expect on their front porch, just as you can tell the state of mind of the man behind you on a Sunday drive by the tone of his horn!

The seasoned door-to-door salesman knows a further rule, that of stepping to the side of the door, so that the woman finds it difficult to open the door crack and then slam it in his face with a “Not Interested!” If he stands to the side of the door jamb, the woman is forced to open the door wide to see who is on her porch, and here is where the salesman must have ready his best “Tested Selling” smile and his strongest “Tested Selling Sentence.” One of the statements used by the Hoover salesman is:

            “I'm here to show you how to shorten your cleaning time!”

In one being used by the Johns-Manville Housing Guild Man, under the training of Arthur Hood, is to hand a Guild booklet to the women at the door and say:

            “Here is your free copy of 101 Ways to Improve the Home!”

These words don't have a shine on them, and they are not baggy in the knees.  They are TESTED -- and for that reason they work successfully in taking the stutter and stammer out of what a salesman says the head of the prospect suddenly appears at the door.

PUT A PRESS INTO YOUR SALES LANGUAGE

The Hoover man, for instance, when he points to the light on the New Hoover, never says, “Isn’t that a pretty light, madam?”  There's nothing dramatic about that, so he says, “This is our Dirt Finder.  It sees where to clean, and it's clean and where it's been.”

Nor does he point to the gray color of the New Hoover and say, “Isn't That a Nice Color -- It's Barnyard Gray.”  Instead he uses the expression, “It is Stratosphere Gray,” Because the word “stratosphere” stands for speed and lightness.

Every good salesman, whether he is selling behind the counter, on the front porch, in a showroom, or over a telephone, has many three minute sales presentations to use in bringing the brass ring around -- and this prevents saturation of his prospect.

When this seasoned salesman describes anything on his sales package, he uses bright, interesting, cheerful, dramatic sales words.  Then when the brass ring comes around, he has a word or two to GRAB it out of the air.

WATCH YOUR CLOSING WORDS

The Hoover man closes with: “If the Hoover goes, dirt stays; if the Hoover STAYS, dirt goes -- which do you prefer?”  A fine example of “Don't ask if -- ask which.”  This Hoover close is one of many, of course, it is a hard one for a prospect to answer other than by saying she wants the cleaner to stay.

Furthermore if the prospect offers any of the standardized objections, she will find the Hoover man well aware of the “Why” system, and she will be confronted with a series of polite “whys” that she will find difficult to answer in words.

For instance, the salesman will say, “WHY do you want to wait until spring?”  -- “WHY do you feel you can't afford it?”  -- “WHY do you feel you should consult your husband?”

The salesman knows this one word “why” is the HARDEST SINGLE WORD in English language for a person to answer, without hemming and hawing in an effort (often unsuccessful) to express himself clearly.

Try using this word “why” on people, and note the interesting and almost amusing results.  And remember this secret: If somebody uses a “why” on you, come back at him with, “Why do you ask me why?”

A TAILOR-MADE INSURANCE STORY

Convincing people with simple selling language that has been tested to remove the guess and the gamble is too easy selling for any salesman to resort to high-pressure sales tricks, stunts, or sentences.

Sure, you can put the prospect “on the spot” with words.  You can crash front doors with subterfuge -- you can tell a woman you are the gas man, or a “repair man from the vacuum company,” or an “inspector for the company,” but once the woman discovers your REAL purpose, watch out for the rolling pin!

A life-insurance man found his prospects were constantly saying, “You can't get to first base with me, buddy,” this salesman didn't come back with answers that were shiny in the seat or run down at the heel.  His sales talk came fresh from the tailors, and was well pressed.  It had been to the shoemaker and wasn't run down at the heel.  Nor did it have on gum soles, but just plain, hard, good old leather.  His tailor-made reply to those “can't-get-to-first-base-with-me” prospects was this:

“Mr. Jones, it isn't the case of whether or not I can get to first base with you, but whether your wife will get to first base with the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker AFTER YOU ARE DEAD, that really counts -- isn't that true?”

Here was a leading question even a lawyer would hesitate to answer with a “No.”  The salesman usually took the bite out of his prospects “canned sales resistance” and found a sale going down the road to success because his words were measured to fit his prospects!

Remember this rule: “Don't let your words get shiny in the seat, and baggy at the knees.  Keep them well pressed and groomed!”

AVOID WORN-OUT WORDS WITH WHISKERS

There is an old codger living down the street from my house, and every time he catches me on the corner I stand there upward of 15 minutes listening to the same worn-out expressions used by any bore.

This man will tell me something about fishing, and again and again he says, “In other words...” He then tells the story in “other words.”

Why do people say, “In other words”?

In an analysis of this in our laboratories and later out in the field of practical face to face contact with people, we concluded that this phrase is used by three types of people:

1.         The person who fears he hasn't expressed himself properly and feels that he must keep telling you over and over again, in other words, what he is just told you.

2.         The person who feels superior to you and keeps making his examples more “basic,” so-called, every time he sees fit to repeat himself in other words.  He feels he must “talk down” to your level.

3.         The person who just likes to hear himself talk, and so finds excuses to express his ideas and stories over and over again to you.  He keeps the conversation in his possession preventing you from talking, by saying “In other words...”

If you want to be an interesting conversationalist, avoid the expression “In other words...” Instead use Richard C. Borden's famous, “For instance...” Bring out your examples, your benefits, your proofs, by this method, or by saying, “For instance...”

“LET ME MAKE MYSELF CLEARER”

Another worn-out statement with whiskers on it, and one you should cast out of your modern, streamlined vocabulary is: “Let me make myself clearer...” Speak the thing properly the first time and you won't have to make it clearer.  To serve the other persons time by saying the saying once, so clearly that there is no need to repeat it.

It is all right to give examples, or illustrations.  But to “make myself clearer” or to “make it clearer for you” not only insults the other person's intelligence, but makes you a bore.

Avoid words with whiskers!  Send them to the barber!

Whenever a public speaker starts off with, “And now, for the next few minutes, I will discuss...”

That causes the chairs of the president's boardroom to shuffle and your audience to lose interest.  Plunge into the topic without the self-introduction.  Don't be an “And Now...” person.

Here are other whiskered words for good salesmen to avoid:

            I'm telling you...

As I was saying...

Believe me, I told him a thing or two...

Can you keep this to yourself?

Will you keep this confidential, if I tell you...

Well, it was like this -- I says to him...

I wish I had your brains...

You wouldn't have time for a demonstration would you?

My -- you are an intelligent person...

I didn't know, see, otherwise I'd have gone, see...

The house was there, you know, and the entrance here, you know.

Mr. Wilfred J. Funk, of the Digest, has made a list of what he considers the 10 most annoying words: Okay, lousy, terrific, contact, definitely, gal, racket, swell, impact, and honey.  His objection to them, he says, is that they are overworked.

WORDS THAT KILL THE SALE

Ten purchasing agents once told Mandus E. Bridston how certain words that salesmen used would kill the sale.  Here are a few of those statements collected by Mr. Bridston:

            You're absolutely wrong about this!

            Of course if you want something cheaper I can give it to you.

I just happened to be down this way and dropped in!

Do you get me?

See?

Do you understand?

Frankly, I'd like to...

Frankly speaking...

One of the purchasing agents claims that slang goes a long way, and that he would not deal with the man who used slang in lieu of speech.  It seems to this buyer that all day long he has to listen to slang expressions, with one salesman actually calling him “My fran.”

Another buyer condemns the salesman who sells “soft soap, but not merchandise” and is on the alert for the salesman who keeps saying, “Your pleasure is our pleasure” – “We have your interests at heart” – “A person who is as keen as you will appreciate this.”

“My pet peeve,” sums up a third of Mr. Bridston's purchasing agents, “is the-this-is-between-you-and-me salesman.  He's almost as bad as the I-wouldn't-want-this-to-get-around type, or the don't-tell-anybody-that-I-said-this type.”

DON'T FLATTER OBVIOUSLY

Avoid words that bear false flattery.  The prospect is on to them today.  Don't gossip; if you do, the prospect knows you'll gossip about him when you are with someone else.

Don't be a bore with a long string of, “I says to him...” and “He says to me...” and “See?”

Don't be an old codger with a line of, “Well, it was like this...” Give the other person a chance to do some of the talking.  Be a good listener first, and a good talker second, as Professor Borden advises.

It is impossible to list the thousands of worn-out statements that people make to each other every day, that annoy people, that make you want to shout.  You have to inventory your own vocabulary.

See any gray whiskers?  Pluck them out.

Remember, the good rule for making people like you and for keeping you out of trouble is:

Avoid worn-out words with whiskers! 

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