Page 29 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

work and study, and if you have a grim determination to succeed, you have
most of the important qualifications of a good salesman.

Of course, if you are imaginative, can see the inherent value in a proposition
quickly, if you have the knack of explaining values in interesting and forceful
terms, if you have any natural qualities of leadership—so much the better.
But, important as these qualities may be, many men who have them in only
the smallest degree succeed in selling.

You may ask what is meant by “natural qualities of leadership.” Were you
ever the captain of a sandlot or high school baseball team? Are you invariably
appointed to some office in any little group, lodge, association, or club you
join? Do people gravitate toward you and go out of their way to see you or
please you? If these things are true, you are a natural leader and there is no
better way to capitalize your inherent abilities than in a career as a salesman.
But if you like to be alone, if you would rather read about a football game
than go to one and yell your head off, if you would rather sit by the fire of a
winter’s night and read a good book than go to a party, perhaps you had
better not try selling—unless you are willing to fight hard to overcome your
natural inclinations.

To add one word of caution: Don’t pay too much attention to what your
friends tell you. Many a potentially good salesman has been ruined by the
well-meant, but mistaken, advice of wives, friends, mothers, or
schoolteachers. After all, it is up to each man to decide for himself what he
wants to do, whether it is running a retail store, building up a manufacturing
business, farming, selling or anything else. You know in your own mind
whether you want to sell or not. Once you have made up your mind, go
ahead. If you are the sort of person who is constantly swayed back and forth
in your opinions and your desires by the advice of friends, then perhaps you
had better not try to be a salesman.

Getting the Name on the Order Blank

When you begin to sell you are almost sure to find nearly everyone will
promise you some business. You will be told, “I will keep you in mind,” or “I