sons or criticisms very
seldom arouse contradictory attitudes of mind_. The suggested idea
enters the mind of the other man quietly, unaccompanied by a blare of
the trumpet "I Tell You." Opposing ideas are not aware of its presence
until it has supplanted them. _Suggest_ to a chosen employer that he
_means_ to be up-to-date, and he agrees. If you _say_ his methods are
behind the times, he will be apt to defend them instead of following
your lead along the line of suggested improvements.

[Sidenote: Suggested Ideas Tend to Action]

Third, _every suggested idea of action tends to result in the action
itself; whereas a direct attempt to secure action is almost sure to
result in opposition_. Human nature works that way. Your prospect, being
unconscious that a particular idea of action is suggested to him, does
not have his will stimulated to prevent that action. If you come to your
prospective employer and _ask_ for the job you want, he will be on the
_defensive_. But if you _suggest_ to him that he wants you--that he
lacks and needs such services as you present--_he will be impelled to
the affirmative action of offering you the job_.

[Sidenote: Selling Henry Ford]

When I was originally engaged by Henry Ford, it was in the capacity of a
public accountant, for an audit of the business of the Ford Motor
Company, and later for the installation of an accounting system that
would tell accurately every month "where they were at." Back in
1904-1905 the Ford Motor Company was not showing any more profits than
many other motor car manufacturers organized on similar lines. After I
completed my work as an accountant, Mr. Ford talked with me about taking
a permanent position with the Company in the capacity of "Commercial
Manager." That title covered responsibility for the distribution of
products, advertising, collections, selection of branch managers and
their corps of assistants, operation of branch houses, appointment and
direction of agents, employment and control of the entire sales force,
etc., etc. The position was much broader than that of Sales Manager, as
it included also the accounting and organizing of nearly every
department of the business.

For several years prior to that time I had sold my services as a public
accountant and organizer to many large concerns throughout the country,
including twenty-eight different automobile companies. I believed in my
ability, not only to organize a selling and distributing forc