but once the woman discovers your REAL purpose, watch out for the rolling pin! When a life insurance man found his prospects were constantly saying, “You can’t get to first base with me, buddy,” this salesman didn’t come back with answers that were shiny in the seat or run down at the heel. His sales talk came fresh from the tailors, and was well pressed. It had been to the shoemaker and wasn’t run down at the heel. Nor did it have on gum soles, but just plain, hard, good old leather. His tailor- made reply to these “can’t -get-to-first-base-with- me” prospects was this: “Mr. Jones, it isn’t a case of whether or not I can get to first base with you, but whether your wife will get to first base with the butcher , the baker , the candlestick maker AFTER YOU ARE DEAD, that really counts – isn’t that true?” Here was a leading question even a lawyer would hesitate to answer with a “No.” The salesman usually took the bite out of his prospect’s “canned sales resistance” and found his sale going down the road to success because his words were measured to fit his prospects! Remember this rule: “Don’t let your words get shiny in the seat, and baggy at the knees. Keep them well pressed and groomed!” Avoid Worn-Out Words With Whiskers There is an old codger living down the street from my house, and every time he catches me on a corner I stand there upward of fifteen minutes listening to the same worn-out expressions used by any bore. This man will tell me something about fishing, and again and again he says, “In other words … “ He then tells the story in “other words.” Why do people say, “In other words … “? In an analysis of this in our laboratories and later out in the field of practical face-to-face contact with people, we concluded that this phrase is used by three types of people: 1. The person who fears he hasn’t expressed himself properly and feels that he must keep telling you over and over again, in other words, what he has just told you. 2. The person who feels superior to you and keeps making his examples more “basic,” so called, every time he sees fit to repeat himself in other words. He feels he must “talk down” to your level. 3. The person who just likes to hear himself talk, and so finds excuses to express his ideas or stores over and over again to you. He keeps the conversation in his possession, preventing you from talking, by saying, “In other words … “
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