solve not to lose his poise and agreeableness
under any circumstances. Irritability never attracts business. To say
the right thing in the right place is desirable, but it is quite as
important, though more difficult, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the
moment of temptation.

It is not the legitimate business of the salesman to force upon a
customer what is really not wanted, but many times the customer does
not know what he wants nor what he might be able to use. Hence the
competent salesman should know how to influence the customer towards a
favorable decision, using all honorable and approved means to bring
about such a result.

The customer's unfavorable answer is not to be accepted always as final.
He may not clearly understand the merits or uses of the article offered.
He may need the explanations and suggestions of the salesman in order to
reach a right conclusion. Here it is that the salesman may fulfill one
of his most important duties.

There is a wide difference between self-reliance and obtrusiveness.
Every man should have a full degree of self-confidence. It is needed in
every walk in life. But the salesman, more than most men, must have an
exceptional degree of faith in himself and in what he has to sell.

This self-confidence, however, is a very different thing from boldness
or obtrusiveness. Courtesy and considerateness are cardinal qualities of
the well-equipped salesman, but boastfulness, glibness, egotism,
loudness, and self-assertion, are as distasteful as they are
undesirable.

The eloquence and persuasiveness of silence is nowhere better
exemplified than in the art of salesmanship. One man says much, and
sells little; another says little, and sells much. The reason for the
superior success of one over the other is mainly due to the fact that he
knows best how to present the merits of what he offers for sale, knows
how to say it concisely and effectively, knows how to ingratiate
himself, largely through his personality, into the good graces of the
prospective buyer, and knows when to stop talking.

Modern salesmanship is based primarily upon common sense. A man with
brains, though possibly lacking in other desirable qualifications, may
easily outdistance the more experienced salesman. It is a valuable thing
in any man to be able to think accurately, reason deeply, and size up a
situation promptly.

The salesman should at all times be on his best talking behavior. It is
not advisable for