Sales master Bruce Barton once said, “If you can give only one gift to your son or daughter, let it be enthusiasm.” Not much has change in the last fifty or more years. People still respond more favorably and prefer doing business with enthusiastic and friendly people.
Just to prove that not much has change, in the importance of what influences, I have listed ten statements on how to get a positive response from others. The statements are excerpts from a book that was written within the last fifty years.
1. People will respond more favorably to a positive statement than to a negative one. Advertising contains many positive statements. We know that “Coca-Cola is the pause that refreshes.”
2. People will forget what you say but not how you say it.
3. People will respond more favorably if you adopt a “customer-you” attitude than if you talk about yourself.
4. People will respond more quickly to well-know brands or familiar names than to unknowns. People believe that “You can be sure it’s Westinghouse.”
5. People will respond to specific qualities and colors. Women will buy more hosiery if you will change the color from beige to “Sundown” or “Desert Sand.”
6. People will respond more readily if you give them choices than if you make all decisions for them.
7. People will respond more favorably and quickly when they feel a sense of fair treatment.
8. People will respond to a salesperson who is friendly, courteous, and who expresses the utmost integrity in his manner and actions.
9. People will respond quickly if the salesperson makes a good impression at the beginning of the telephone call. First impressions and most sales start at the telephone; therefore it is impossible to overestimate the importance of creating a good impression as soon as possible.
10. People will not respond favorably to commands, treats, rudeness, loud voices, deceit, or being forced into an appointment against their will. It is against human nature to be forced. “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”
