Some time ago a man and his wife went into a large store in an eastern city to buy a chandelier. The man, in a rather querulous tone, asked to be shown a Renaissance chandelier. “Now, be sure,” he said to the salesman, “to show me a real Renaissance, small and not too expensive.” The salesman perceived he had a difficult customer to deal with, but one who appeared to have a fixed idea in mind. Being extremely tactful, he knew his first task was to humor his customer, and then try to find out exactly what type of fixture had been pictured in his mind. By cordiality and an exchange of remarks on general subjects, the salesman eased the man’s mind, and by skillful questions found out exactly what sort of chandelier he wanted. Then he expressed himself pleased at having a customer with clear ideas about the sort of article he wished, as it made it so much easier for the salesman to suit him.

Only tact could ever have won over that man and satisfied his whim.

Blessed are they who possess tact! Let them rejoice and be glad in the possession of an inestimable gift, and let those who have it not bend all their energies to its acquisition.

Tact is one of the greatest aids to success in life. As a friend-winner and business-getter it is invaluable. One prominent business man puts tact at the head of the list in his success recipe, the other three things being; enthusiasm, knowledge of business, dress.

I know a man who solicits subscriptions for a periodical, who has such an exquisite way of ingratiating himself into others’ favor that he gets nine subscriptions, on an average, out of every ten people he solicits. His tactful approach has won you over before you realize it, and it is much harder for you to refuse even the thing you do not want than to take it.

Tact enables you to pass sentinels, gates and bars, gain an entrance to the very sanctum sanctorum where the tactless man never enters. Tact gets a hearing where genius cannot; it is admitted when talent is denied; it is listened to when ability without it cannot get a hearing.

As “every fish has its fly,” so every person can be reached, no matter how odd, peculiar or cranky by the one who has tact enough to touch him in the right place.

What is this miracle worker called Tact?

Tact is variously defined as “Peculiar skill or adroitness in doing or saying exactly that which is required by or is suited to the circumstances”; “It is the gift of bringing into action all the mental powers in the nick of time”; “It is a combination of quickness, firmness, readiness, good-nature and facility.” Webster’s dictionary gets at the kernel of this wonderful quality. Tact, it says, is “adroitness in managing the feelings of persons dealt with; nice perception in seeing and doing exactly what is best in the circumstances.”

It is in “managing the feelings” of his customer that the tactful man scores his strongest point. It is in sensing his moods, in being able to put himself in his place that he is always equal to the situation, that he always exercises that “nice perception in seeing and doing exactly what is best in the circumstances.”

One of the best means of acquiring a tactful manner is to try to put yourself in your prospect’s place, and then act toward him as you would like to have some one act toward you in like circumstances.

You are very busy, troubled about a lot of things. You may be short of capital, you may have big notes coming due, business may be dull, many things may have been going wrong with you. You may have come to your office upset by domestic troubles, you may not feel well, however well you look. Perhaps yesterday was broken up by all sorts of interruptions. You started out this morning resolved to do a splendid day’s work, and hoping that you would not be bothered with callers. Perhaps you do not feel like talking business. You may have a lot of things on your mind which are perplexing you, hard problems to solve; the reports of business put on your desk this morning may have been anything but encouraging.

In fact, you feel “out of sorts” and wish you did not have to see anybody all day. You are longing for a little time to yourself to think things over, to get your bearings, when in comes a salesman’s card. You do not want to see him and would give most anything to get rid of him, although there may be a possibility that he has something that you would like, but you do not want to see him at that particular time.

“Why couldn’t the man have come some other time?” you ask yourself. Against your will you say: “Well, tell him to come in.” You feel grouchy, grumpy, you do not even feel like greeting him pleasantly, and you growl out a “good morning.”

The salesman sits down. Your whole mind is braced against him. You do not care to see him, to talk with him. Everybody braces against a salesman. He is usually put in an unfortunate position. Instead of trying to make it easy for your visitor you make it hard for him. You make no concession if you can help it. You make him fight every inch of his way for your favor.

The tactful salesman sees your mood at once, and he knows he has a hard fight ahead of him; he has to win you over inch by inch. You begin to make all sorts of excuses; you do not need new stock at present, business has been dull, your shelves are loaded down with goods, and you tell him that times are bad, the outlook is anything but promising. He does not oppose or contradict you. On the contrary, he sympathizes with you; he is patient, courteous, affable, but all the time he is trying to get the thin edge of his wedge into your mind. He knows what would win him over if he were in such a mood; his wife or mother probably knows. He has to be won over; force, argument, reason, logic will not do it, only tact will do the trick.

If you have made a study of human nature, learned to size up people quickly, you will sense a prospect’s mood, even though he should try to conceal it, and you will have no difficulty in imagining yourself in his place. He has the same human qualities and the same fundamental passions as yourself. You must always be ready to pour oil on his wounds, not vinegar.

A salesman must not only use all his resourcefulness in business logic, but he must bring into play all his powers of pleasing. He should always come to his customers in a cheerful mood. No matter how upset he feels; no matter what unfortunate news he has had in the morning’s mail about his sick wife, or the children lying almost at death’s door, he must not show any sign of his troubles. A salesman may be in just as unfortunate a plight as his customer is, and even worse, yet he is forced to hide his feelings, and must try to “make good” under all circumstances.

The tactful salesman is “all things to all men.” Not that he is deceitful or insincere, but he understands different temperaments, different dispositions, different moods, and readily adapts himself to all. He keeps his finger on the mental pulse of his prospect, and keeps track of his mental attitude. He knows, for instance, that the moment a prospect shows signs of being bored the salesman should quit, and try later, or otherwise he will prejudice his case fatally, so that the next time he calls this bored suggestion will come to the mind of the prospect, who will refuse to see him.

I was recently talking with a man who said that a salesman who did not know his business had just taken a half hour of his valuable time, trying to sell him a bill of goods that he really did not want. He said the man did not know enough to see that he was making no impression, that he was not convincing him. And although he took out his watch several times, turned around nervously in his chair, kept taking up letters from his desk, making all sorts of hints and suggestions for the salesman to get out, yet he still kept on trying to make a sale. The only redeeming quality about him, he said, was his persistency.

Now, ill-timed persistency is simply lack of tact; there is nothing praiseworthy in it. You should be able to tell by the look in your prospect’s eye whether you are really interesting him or not, and if you are not you cannot convince him that he needs what you have to sell.

Getting solid with a prospect, making a favorable impression upon him, unlocking his mind, is very much like making love to a girl. You cannot browbeat, you cannot be arbitrary or disagreeable; only the gentle, attractive, tactful methods will win. The least little slip on your part may close the door forever. No force will answer, it is all a matter of attraction and conviction. No level-headed man is going to buy until he is convinced, and tact is the most powerful convincer in the world.

Tact is never offensive. It is always a balm, allaying suspicion, and soothing and pleasing. It is appreciative. It is plausible without being dishonest, apparently consults the welfare of the second party and does not manifest any selfishness. It is never antagonistic; it never opposes, never strokes the fur the wrong way, and never irritates.

Little seven-by-nine salesmen are constantly putting stumbling blocks in their own path. They are always “putting their foot in it.” They persist when persistency is ill timed. They make some unfortunate remark or allusion. They are not good students of human nature; they put up a poor sort of an argument, the same sort of talk to every man, to men of different prejudices, different ages, different dispositions. In other words, they are not tactful, and they are all the time tripping themselves up, getting into snarls, and making blunders which lose them business.

Some one says: “The kindly element of humor almost always enters into the use of tact, and sweetens its mild coercion. We cannot help smiling, oftentimes, at the deft way in which we have been induced to do what we afterwards recognized as altogether right and best.” There need be no deception in the use of tact, only such a presentation of rightful inducements as shall most effectively appeal to a hesitating mind.

A public school teacher reproved a little eight-year-old Irish boy for some mischief. The boy was about to deny the fault when the teacher said, “I saw you, Jerry.” “Yes,” replied the boy as quick as a flash, “I tells them there ain’t much you don’t see with them purty black eyes of yours.” The native wit of that youngster would make him a good salesman. We do not know whether it appeased the teacher, but it certainly showed a readiness to size up and deal with a delicate situation that would have done credit to an older head.

The following paragraph, in a letter which a merchant sent out to his customers, is an example of shrewd business tact:

“We should be thankful for any information of any dissatisfaction with any former transactions with us, and we will take immediate steps to remedy it.”

Think of the wealthy customers that have been driven away from big concerns, by the lack of tact on the part of a salesman. A successful business man recently told me his experience in buying a suit of clothes at one of the leading clothiers in New York City. “The salesman who waited on me,” he said, “showed me various suits of all colors and styles. He did not interest me in any particular one. He distracted my attention, being plainly indifferent and showing that he did not care whether I bought or not. After spending an hour’s time, I left the place in disgust. I said to myself, ‘A house carrying thousands of suits, and a good salesman, should certainly sell me one suit.’ I went to another house. Then the purchase became to me more than anything else a study of salesmanship, how various salesmen handle customers. The salesman at this other place gained my confidence right at the start, showed me only three suits, interested me in a particular one, showed me why I should buy that one, and within eighteen minutes’ actual time I paid the price, and now I am enjoying the wearing of that suit.”

This shows how even the best quality of merchandise will go back to the shelf unless handled by a conscientious, tactful salesman.

It is true that there are always certain customers in every large establishment who are very hard to convince. They are suspicious, and often very disagreeable and difficult to get on with, but their patronage is valuable, and every employer prizes the salesman who can handle these difficult customers, who can please them and send them away friends instead of enemies of the house.

It must be remembered that the real test of salesmanship is the ability to handle difficult customers. Most people don’t realize what is best for them to buy; they can’t make up their minds without the salesman’s help, or they are peculiar in their nature and require tactful management.

Many women make a business of going about among the department stores, perhaps without the slightest idea of buying anything. It becomes a sort of fixed habit with them. Some of them have a chronic habit of indecision. They will run about the stores for weeks before they make up their minds to buy a thing that they need. They are so afraid that they will see something cheaper and much better suited to their needs after they have purchased that they postpone purchasing as long as possible. If they want a pair of shoes, a dress, a hat, or some other article, they will go round all the stores in town looking, or “shopping,” as they call it, before they buy.

I know of a very clever saleswoman in a big store who has marvelous skill and tact in approaching these “lookers” or “shoppers” and turning them into customers. She begins by asking if the lady has been waited upon, and if there is anything she can do for her? With a pleasant smile, in a very sweet voice, she gets into conversation with her, and before the habitual “looker” realizes it she has become a purchaser.

To know what to do, what to say, at just the right moment is capital a thousand times more valuable than money capital, for a man with rare tact will start in business without a dollar and make a greater success than the tactless man who starts with a fortune. How many people in this country to-day owe their success and fortune more to the possession of tact than to ability? Tact will distance ability without it every time.

A man who with a party of friends had been fishing a long time became quite disgusted because he did not get a bite when everybody else was pulling in the speckled trout. After awhile he discovered that he had no bait on his hook. He might have been fishing there yet and never have had a bite.

Everywhere in society and in the business world we find men fishing with baitless hooks. They have no use for people with fine manners. They are gruff, uncouth. They do not believe in catering to the feelings of others. They have never learned the art of baiting things. They call a spade a spade. They have no use for frills, for decorations. They believe in striking out straight from the shoulder every time, no matter what the conditions.

Many tactless people go through life trailing bare hooks and they wonder why the fish do not bite. They do not know how to adjust themselves to conditions. They are misfits. They appear to have been fitted for some rougher sphere and to have been dropped by accident to the earth amid conditions totally unsuited to them.

The tactless salesman is a misfit. He must either learn how to bait his hook properly, or else go into some other business for which he is better fitted.