sly_ has used and what is now required to
_finish_ the sale. Let us be sure we know how to discriminate; so that
our work at the closing stage may be restricted to the processes that
are required to assure success in taking the particular step necessary.

[Sidenote: New Process Necessary To Close]

Throughout the series of selling steps that precede the closing stage,
the continuing purpose of the salesman is to make the prospect _see_ the
proposal in the true light, as the salesman himself views it. When the
selling process draws to a conclusion, the purpose of the salesman
changes. Now he wants the prospect to _decide_ and then _act upon_ what
has been shown to his mind's eye. If the salesman is to control the
close, he must do something _new_ to prompt decision and to actuate its
pronouncement.

The unskillful closer, instead of changing his previous sales tactics,
nearly always devotes his final efforts to making the prospect _see
more clearly_ the pictures already laid before his mind. He tries to
impress the prospect with a _re-hash of perception_, by emphasizing more
strongly than before the favorable points brought out clearly at earlier
stages. Of course it is important that at the close of the sale the
prospect have all these points in view, but it is not good salesmanship
to emphasize only the appeal to his _perceptive_ faculties. The guest
who has had a good dinner does not need to be told just afterward what
he has eaten, or reminded of the courses by having them brought in
again.

[Sidenote: Logic and Reason Won't Win]

As it is a mistake to serve at the close of a sale only a re-hash of
favorable points; so is it bad salesmanship to rely on a dessert of
"logic and reason" for the finishing touch. _Logic and reason provoke
antagonism. They are ineffective in bringing about either a favorable
conclusion of mind or action on such a decision._

If you have presented your capabilities fully to a prospective employer,
do not wind up by marshalling reasons why he should engage you. Avoid
the use of the "major premise, minor premise, argument, and logical
conclusion." _You cannot debate yourself into a job_, for the judge is
made antagonistic by your method, which puts him on the defensive. It is
human nature to resist a decision that logic tries to force. No man
arrives at his conclusions of mind by putting himself through a
reasoning process. A normal person does not need to reason about things
he knows.