l, "All, right, I'll bring your mail that way." _Such a close is
practically sure to succeed_.

[Sidenote: Using the Negative Positively]

A man who was not at all prepossessing applied to me one day for a job.
He conducted the sale of himself very skillfully, but I meant to put him
off. It was our dull season, and his looks didn't make a hit with me
anyway. However, he realized there was a good deal on the negative side
of the scale, and he weighed his disqualifications honestly; though he
depreciated the importance of his unprepossessing appearance. Then, in
contrast to the negative side, he showed me very weighty and attractive
reasons for employing him. He started by grinning good-humoredly.

"I'm not a prize beauty," he remarked. "But the other day I was reading
about Abraham Lincoln, and the book made me feel encouraged about
myself. I don't believe I'm any homelier or any more awkward than he
was. I don't expect to be a parlor salesman, anyhow, or to rely on my
good looks to get orders. I plan to succeed by work. I'm going to be on
the job early and late and every minute between. I'll believe in what
I'm selling--down to the very bottom of my heart. I'll make anybody see
I'm in dead earnest. I look honest, and I am. I'll be square with
customers and with you. I guess that out in the field a reputation for
always being willing to help, and for telling the truth straight, will
count more than anything else. I know I'm inexperienced, but that's a
fault I can cure mighty soon." He grinned again. "I'll start right away
to get the greenness off, if you'll tell me where to hang up my hat."

His good nature warmed me into smiling with him. I could not help
feeling inclined to try this man. I decided to give him his chance at
once. He started my impulse to accept his services, and I pronounced the
decision in his favor that he prompted. Of course he made good. That was
a foregone conclusion. He had mastered the selling process, and was an
especially fine closer. He succeeded in getting more than his quota of
orders the first year. Selling never seemed to be hard work for him.

[Sidenote: Two Ways To Prompt Pronouncement]

The pronouncement of the prospect's decision can be prompted, his
favorable action can be brought about, in _two ways_. First, as we have
seen, _the salesman can suggest, directly or indirectly, the action he
wants the other man to take_. Second, _the salesman himself can do
something_ that the pros