Article October 10, 1931 Issue

Salesmanship

CHARLES CLAUDE CASEY

THE salesman who is also a Christian Scientist needs to make careful and earnest preparation for his work each day. Few business men, perhaps, have as many temptations to become mesmerized, particularly on the subject of delay and obstruction, as has the salesman. When, therefore, he goes out to his day's work, he needs to be prepared to reject the subtle arguments of error, particularly the arguments for delay. Fear of failure makes failure seem real, just as fear of disease makes disease seem real. The salesman meets these subtle arguments, and he must repel them. Mental preparation, then, is especially important for him — preparation that will enable him to unsee what the eyes and ears are apparently constantly bringing to him.

Modern practice tends toward so-called high-pressure salesmanship, which has the effect of making the prospective customer an antagonist on the checkerboard of business. But the genuine customer should be a friend — certainly a business friend. Surely no earnest student of Christian Science would wish to sell anything in a way that would make an enemy of the buyer. The sale must be at least as much in the customer's interest as in the salesman's interest.

The salesman who is an earnest student of Christian Science needs especially to guard his thought against a false basis of approach to his customer. He needs to "stand porter at the door of thought," as Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 392), and constantly to remember that God is source of his substance; that he does not go to see a particular prospect to find out whether divine Love's promise of abundance for him is going to be fulfilled. Even from a purely material point of view, he could hardly expect the prospect to give him an order because he needs money. That is not the purchaser's point of view. The salesman's calls, as a whole, have a bearing on his supply only in that they are his demonstration of usefulness.

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