The Psychology of SalesmanshipAtkinson, William Walker
Science
The Psychology of Salesmanship
Atkinson, William Walker
Selling -- Psychological aspects
Desire is a strange mental quality, and one very difficult to define
strictly. It is linked with feeling on one side, and with will on the
other. Feeling rises to desire, and desire rises to the phase of will
and endeavors to express itself in action. Halleck says of Desire: "_It
has for its object something which will bring pleasure or get rid of
pain, immediate or remote, for the individual or for some one in whom
he is interested. Aversion, or a striving to get away from something, is
merely the negative aspect of desire._" Inclination in its various
stages is aroused through the appeals to the feelings through the
imagination. The feelings related to the several faculties are excited
into action by a direct appeal to them through the imagination, and
inclination or desired results. Appeal to Acquisitiveness will result in
a feeling which will rise to inclination and desire for gain. Appeal to
Approbativeness will act likewise in its own field. And so on through
the list, each well-developed faculty being excited to feeling by the
appropriate appeal through the imagination, and thus giving rise to
Inclination which in turn strives to express itself in action through
the will.
In short, every man is a bundle of general desires, the nature and
extent of which are indicated by his several faculties, and which result
from heredity, environment, training, experience, etc. These desires may
be excited toward a definite object by the proper emotional appeal
through the imagination, and by suggestion. Desire _must_ be created or
aroused before action can be had, or the will manifest in action. For,
at the last, we do things only because we "want to," directly or
indirectly. Therefore, the important aim of the Salesman is to make his
prospect "want to." And in order to make him "want to" he must make him
see that his proposition is calculated to "bring pleasure, or get rid of
pain, immediate or remote, for the individual or for someone else in
whom he is interested." In business, the words "profit and loss" may be
substituted for "pleasure and pain," although really, they are but forms
of the latter. But even when the prospect is brought to the stage of
strong inclination or desire, he does not always move to gratify the
same. Why is this? What other mental process interferes? Let us see as
we pass on to the next stage of the purchase, known as:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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