When a boy I used to go trout fishing in a rough New Hampshire stream with a noted fisherman. He understood the trout and their habits; he knew where the good holes were and the rocks behind which the big trout were waiting. I would fish on one side of the stream and he on the other, and he would catch as many trout as he could carry, while I caught very few.

When this man started out to fish he would say he knew that he was going to get a big string of trout. Whenever he threw in his line he expected to get a trout. I, on the other hand, had no such hope or confidence, I did not know trout and their habits as he did, and I did not expect to catch any. The consequence was I hardly ever got a bite, while the trout nearly always went to his hook.

This is just the difference between a cracker-jack salesman and a poor one. The former knows his business thoroughly and expects to succeed. He approaches his prospect with the air of a conqueror, as a man in the habit of winning. The latter is not well posted, or he fears he won’t succeed. He goes to his prospect in fear and trembling, with doubt in his mind. He doesn’t believe he will get an order, and, of course, he doesn’t.

You should approach every prospect courageously, confidently, not only at the top of your physical condition, but also at the top of your mental condition. You positively must be hopeful, you must expect to take an order. Doubt, fear, or anxiety will queer your sale, because you will communicate whatever is in your own mind to your prospective customer. We radiate our moods. Our doubts and fears are very contagious.

If you carry your goods in a hearse you will not sell them. Do not approach a customer with a long, sad, disappointed countenance, as though you had just returned from a funeral. Remember you are a salesman, not an undertaker. Go to him with a face filled with hope and cheer, with confidence and assurance.

If you are a winner, your whole canvass will be conducted as though you expected to change the prospect’s mind before you get through with him, no matter how antagonistic he may be, or how determined at the outset not to purchase.

There is a good deal of truth in the remark, “If you cannot learn to smile, you cannot learn to sell.” The best salesmen are cheerful, optimistic, hopeful. They appreciate the commercial value of a smile, of always looking pleasant. Optimism is contagious. Everybody likes a sunny soul.

I knew a young man who would not impress people as having any marked ability, and yet this young man got fifteen thousand dollars salary, and did business enough to warrant it. He had a perfect genius for making friends. People seemed to be drawn to him as naturally as iron filings are attracted to a magnet. Everywhere he went he was the center of a circle, whether on a train, in a store, or in a hotel corridor. Everybody wanted to get near him. He seemed to radiate a hearty good cheer and good-will towards everybody. There was nothing mean or narrow about him. He was generous to a fault. He was always ready to jump up and grip you by the hand and shake it as if he was really delighted to see you—and he was. There was nothing put on. He loved everybody and wanted to help them. He was in some ways not a good business man, but his customers always anticipated his visits, and would say, “Isn’t it about time for Charlie to be around? It does one good to see that fellow. He is all sunshine.” Everybody knew him on his Western route, which he traveled for years. The hotel clerks all liked him and they tried to give him the best room possible whenever he came, often saving one for him for days. He was always given the best seat in the dining-room and the best waiter, and when the orders were called off in the kitchen the waiter would say, “Give me an Al steak for Charlie, for he is such a good fellow.” Wherever he went the door flew open to him. He did not have to push hard, as others do, to get in, for everybody knew that when he came it meant a good laugh and pleasant memories.

A strong determination and tenacious persistence will sometimes enable a man to become a fair salesman, even when he lacks a pleasing personality or a persuasive manner. He conquers from sheer force of continual pounding, until he wears his would-be customer out. But a pleasing personality, charm of manner, a sunny disposition, an optimistic outlook upon life, genuineness, honesty of purpose, and simplicity, when accompanied by a positive mentality and robust determination, are the qualities which win out in a big way.

Everything depends upon the attitude of mind with which you approach a difficulty. If you are cowed before you begin, if you start out with an admission of weakness, a tacit acknowledgment of your inability to meet the emergency that confronts you, you are foredoomed to failure. Your whole attitude lacks the magnetism that attracts success.

A book agent sometimes comes into my office, and I know by the way he enters that he does not expect to make a sale. Instead of walking with his head up, with an air of confidence and assurance, he sneaks in, apologizes, and asks me to please do him the honor to give him two or three minutes of my valuable time. He has lost his first chance by making a bad impression upon me, and it takes more time than I can give him to overcome it. He is beaten before he begins.

Quite another sort of agent calls on me occasionally, and I always buy from him whether I want what he has for sale or not. He enters with such an air of modest assurance, such confidence and expectancy in his bearing; he is so cheerful and interesting, that I positively cannot turn him down. He wins at the very outset by making a good, quick impression upon me, and getting my confidence.

Dr. Frank Crane, in an article on “A Consumer’s Views on Salesmanship,” gives the salesmen among other valuable points, these:

“First of all, be good-natured. I here and now confess that nine-tenths of what induces me to buy, is the ability of the seller to jolly me along. Cheerfulness and signs that you feel good, enjoy life, and are full of glee inside, are better than a letter of introduction from Mr. Rockefeller. Avoid personal intimacies. Let me talk about myself, and look interested while I am explaining, but don’t speak of yourself any more than you can help. Take an ax and chop the pronoun ‘I’ out of your vocabulary. What do you care?—Jolly me along.”

When Dr. Crane says to “jolly” him along, he does not mean that a salesman should be frivolous, or deceitful. He simply means that he ought to make a customer feel good, make him realize his importance. Show your customer that you are interested in his needs and his problems.

If you really believe in your heart, and expect, that you are going to sell, you will communicate your faith to your prospect. This faith suggestion, if vigorously backed by the magic of polite persistence, and consistent cheerfulness, will tend to produce results like itself, just as the doubt, the failure suggestion, produces a failure result.