You are not a missionary or a pedagogue--you are just a Salesman and your business is to _take orders_. Let the old fellow keep his foolish ideas and intolerant prejudices, providing you can steer him straight to the ordering point. The active principle in Indirect Resistance is to get rid of his general objections in the easiest and shortest way, by allowing him to retain them, and concentrating your and his attention and interest upon the particular points of your proposition--the positive and material points of your particular case. Avoid disputes on non-essentials, generalities, and immaterial points. You are not striving for first prize in debate--_you're after orders_. Remember the legal principles of the "pertinent, relevant, and material" points, and side-track the "immaterial, irrelevant and impertinent" side-issues, even if you have to tacitly admit them in Indirect Resistance. Here it is in a nutshell: _Sidetrack and Sidestep the Non-Essentials_. The Salesman has now reached the point in which the prospect is manifesting the psychological stage of Consideration--the stage in which he is willing to "look into" the matter, or rather into the subject or object of the proposition. This stage must not be confused with that of Deliberation, in which the prospect weighs the pros and cons of whether he should purchase. The two stages are quite different. The present stage--that of Consideration--is merely the phase of examination, investigation or inquiry into the matter, to see if there is really anything of real practical interest in it for himself. It is more than mere Associated Interest, for it has passed into the manifestation of interested investigation. In many cases the process never gets beyond this stage, particularly if the Salesman does not understand the psychology of the process. Many salesmen make the mistake of trying to make their closing talk at this point--but this is a mistake. The prospect must understand something about the details of the proposition, or the qualities and characteristics of the goods, before he uses his imagination or feels inclination to possess the thing. So here is where the work of explanation comes in. The term "Demonstration" has two general means, each of which is exemplified by stages in the Salesman's work of Demonstration. The first meaning, and stage, is: "A showing or pointing out; an indication, manifestation or exhibition." The second meaning, and stage, is: "The act of proving clearly, by incontrovertible proof and indubitable evidence, beyond the possibility of doubt or contradiction." The first stage is that of "showing and pointing out"--the second, that of of "proof." The first is that of presenting the features of a thing--the second, that of logical argument and proof. And, therefore, remember that you are now at the stage of "showing and pointing out," and not that of "argument and proof."