d not have to prove so
often that we are not crooks like some fellows who have happened to
precede us in a territory. Please tell me the name of the man who
swindled you. He might hit my publishers for a job after he gets out of
jail, and I want to warn the boss against him. Sometimes those slick
rascals pull the wool over our eyes, too. We are always on the lookout
to avoid getting tangled up with them."

The salesman pulled out his note book and pencil. When the name was
given, he wrote it down painstakingly. He asked the prospect to spell it
for him; so that he would be sure to get it right. Then he thanked the
man who had said he would have nothing more to do with book agents.
Having "got around" the objector, the salesman proceeded with his
selling talk on the encyclopedia, as if he had not been turned down
flatly to begin with. In less than half an hour he had secured the
signature of the prospect to a contract for the finest edition.

[Sidenote: Be Ready for Opposition]

If this salesman had not been thoroughly prepared to meet the strongest
kind of mental and emotional opposition, he could not have come back so
quickly with the appropriate answer that undermined the obstacle. You
should be likewise ready for the "tough customers" one hears about.
_Practice in anticipation various ways of handling every imaginable
objection._ Then, when you face an actual difficulty, you will either
have on the tip of your tongue a solution of the problem, or your
forethought will assist you to devise on the spur of the moment the way
to work out the right answer. Again we observe the importance of full
preparation, in assuring successful salesmanship.

[Sidenote: Two Essentials Of Resourcefulness]

No quality is more important to the salesman than _resourcefulness_. Its
first requisite is _knowledge_, particularly advance knowledge of the
points that are likely to come up in the course of the selling process.
The second is a _mind trained to act quickly and effectively in using_
its knowledge. If you have these two essentials of resourcefulness, no
objection will ever catch you napping. It will do you no good to look
up the right answer _after you leave the prospect_. Nothing can be more
exasperatingly worthless than an idea of something you "might have said"
but could not think of until _too late_. Have all your facts on tap. And
be practiced in making use of them in every imaginable way. Rare indeed
will be cases that you