How to influence men : the use of psychology in business / by Edgar James Swift.

  • Edgar James Swift
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: How to influence men : the use of psychology in business / by Edgar James Swift. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sponse in the prospect. This comparison makes the inter- action of stimulus and response quite intelligible, and it also shows that salesmanship is wholly dependent upon under- standing and conforming to the principles of human nature. But the appeal, as we have seen, is much more complex than it appears from this brief statement. What the sales- man says is not all that there is in the stimulus. His per- sonal appearance, his voice, and that quality which for want of a better name we call personality—all of these play their role. Then, too, even when we view the situation superficially, there may be other factors operating as stimuli. The presence of other men, for example, may set up opposing stimuli, or the prospect’s eyes may fall upon papers and documents lying on his desk which call to mind troublesome problems. Evidently the whole situation with all of its details, plays its part in the final outcome; and some of these details favor the response that the sales- man hopes to produce, while others oppose it. We shall find in a later chapter that many other factors besides those which have been named enter into all situa- tions. The relations between the more superficial elements, for example, play a subtle role in the fascinating drama of salesmanship, as they do in every other play of human ingenuity. When a salesman understands the general and personal characteristics of men, a prospect, during a sales talk, becomes a different individual with altered ideas and ambitions. If the salesman has not changed in conse- quence, he has failed to rise to the possibilities. This alteration in the prospect is a new fact, which originated in the relation between some of the conditions of the situa- tion or in the course of its development. In the present chapter, however, we shall treat the sell- ing situation as though it were comparatively simple, re- serving for later discussion the more complicated relations which always prevail in human intercourse. This assump- tion of simplicity is rather necessary, since certain out-
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