From time to time when the
correspondent was presenting his ideas the president reached out his
hand and picked up a paper. Evidently he was inclined to give but
flighty attention to his caller.
[Sidenote: Striking More Than One Sense]
The salesman, however, had "come loaded" for exactly this situation. He
had worked out his selling plan in detail. As he developed idea after
idea, he used a device for regaining attention by hitting at the
prospect's senses of _sight_ and _hearing_. Just as soon as the
president's hand wandered to a paper, the salesman ruffled the cards he
held, quickly selected one, and clicked it down on the desk top before
his prospect. He had to do this perhaps a dozen times before he felt
confident he had clinched the interest of the executive. If the
salesman had used words merely, what, he said in presenting his ideas to
the prospect might have gone in one ear and out the other. But his
action of ruffling the cards struck the president's senses of sight and
hearing compellingly; as did the clicking of the card on the desk top
when it was presented for reading.
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