est must be induced_. Any
attempt to _compel_ it is apt to have a fatal result. Nearly always
such an effort to force interest develops antagonism, instead.

But there are methods of _inducing_ interest that are just as sure to
succeed as are the sense-hitting methods by which attention may be
compelled. This _double step_ in the process of selling the true idea of
your best capabilities in the right market can be taken with absolute
_certainty_ of success if you know and practice the principles in
accordance with which the master salesman sells his ideas of goods to
prospects. We are to study these principles now, as applied to the sale
of your qualifications for success in the field you have selected.

[Sidenote: Exclusive Agreeable Attention]

When you enter the office of your prospect--your chosen future employer,
for example--he will be giving his attention to _something_. No one,
while he is awake, can be wholly _non_-attentive. Your function, at this
stage of the selling process, is to compel him to stop paying attention
to something or somebody _else_, and to give _you and your ideas_ his
exclusive attention.

[Sidenote: Avoid Making Unfavorable Impressions]

Of course good salesmanship makes it advisable also to avoid creating a
_disagreeable_ impression while forcing yourself and your ideas upon the
attention of your prospect. The _conscious_ mind governs a man's likes
and dislikes. So if you knock compellingly at the door of _that_ mind to
gain attention, you may arouse very _unfavorable_ attention. For
illustration, a boisterous greeting of your prospect, or a very noisy
entrance into his office, would doubtless compel his attention by the
direct hammering on his senses. But the attraction of his attention to
you would affect the operations of both his conscious and sub-conscious
minds, and his conscious mind would be disagreeably impressed. His
compelled attention, therefore, might result in your being thrown out.

[Sidenote: Gaining Both Attention And Interest]

However, you can knock at the _sense_ doors of the _sub-conscious_ mind
with such unobjectionable sense-hitting methods that while agreeable
_attention_ will be _compelled_ thereby, you can also be sure that a
favorable impression on the conscious mind of the prospect will be
_induced_. For illustration, if your prospect is evidently busy at his
desk when you are admitted to his office, you might compel his attention
by entering very quietly