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The momentum of a salesman depends on two things—his "weight," which includes his personality, character, and knowledge, and his "velocity," which is his rate of performing the "work units" of his job.
A SALESMAN'S "WEIGHT"
In other parts of this book we discuss the qualities of the master salesman. These include his spiritual qualities such as persistence, enthusiasm, ambition, determination, and courage; also his appearance, optimism, friendliness and his store of knowledge. This might be summarized as his personality, character, and knowledge.
Personality is what we see and hear when we observe a man. This includes—
Face—How does it look? Clothes—Are they attractive? Manner—Is it engaging?
NEWTON'S LAWS APPLIED TO SELLING 139
Voice—Is it pleasant?
Bearing—Is it erect and alert?
Attitude—Is it cordial, tolerant, and poised?
Character includes the more basic and serious qualities, such as—
Integrity—Is he absolutely honest?
Dependability—Does he keep his promises?
"Strength of character" traits—Is he confident, mature,
kind, industrious, and persistent?
Religious convictions—Does he have a basic philosophy?
Knowledge covers a multitude of subjects which we discuss in another part of the book. Knowledge is the one part of the salesman's "weight" most easy to acquire. Classes, books, fellow salesmen, and many other sources of information and training are available to any man who wants them.
Sir Francis Bacon said, "Knowledge is power," and he also was the one who wrote, "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man."
The Bible put it this way— "A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength."
SPEED-VELOCITY"
The most talented, attractive, and wise man in the world is helpless unless he works. Just as a stationary body has no momentum, so the "stationary man" has no power either.
For five years I was the sales manager for a company that booked dates on musicians, lecturers, and entertainers. Each year when the season opened on January 1st, we hired about 50 salesmen. At the end of the first two weeks we let half of them go. At the end of the first month we dismissed about half of the rest. Then we carried on with those that were left. We would have been delighted to have the entire 50 prove to be worldbeaters, but it never did work out that way.
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