the door and to _induce_ the
extension of welcome to your ideas.

[Sidenote: Our Old Acquaintance Again]

Here again we meet our old acquaintance, the discriminative-restrictive
method. You must _discriminate_ between the process of knocking at the
door of opportunity and the process of securing the invitation to come
in. Then, in _practicing_ these related but different steps of the
selling process, it is necessary that when you knock you _restrict_
yourself to the use of the methods that are most effective in gaining
_attention_. Similarly you should restrict yourself to using the very
_different_ methods of securing _interest_, when you work to get an
invitation for your ideas to come inside the other man's mind and make
themselves at home there.

[Sidenote: Process of Compelling Attention]

Psychologists define "Attention" as "that act of the mind which holds to
a given object perceived by one or more senses, to the _exclusion_ of
all other objects that might be perceived at that time by the same or
other senses." A knock at a door attracts attention because it
temporarily diverts the previous attentiveness of the mind to other
things, and concentrates it on a new object of attention. The sense of
hearing is _struck_. Whether or not the mind is _willing_ to hear, it
_cannot help perceiving_ the sudden new sound. Its attention is
_forced_. The instant the knock is heard, the mind is compelled to drop
or suspend what it has been thinking about; though this _exclusive_ new
attention to the knock may last but a fraction of a second.

Our _senses_ function under the control of the sub-conscious mind. It is
futile for us to _will_ that we _won't_ hear, or see, or taste, etc. We
_have_ to take in sense impressions, whether we want to do so or not.
Therefore, if you employ restrictively the _sense-hitting_ method, you
can force the man upon whom you call to give his _attention_ to you or
to the presentation of your ideas.

[Sidenote: Inducing Interest]

It is necessary to discriminate, however, between the use of the avenues
to reach the mind center of _attention_, and the use of very _different_
ways into the mind center of _interest_. If you start wrong, there is
very little chance that you will arrive at the right destination. The
center of interest is wholly under the control of the _conscious_ mind.
Your prospect can refuse to be interested, if he chooses, despite your
determination to interest him. _His inter