Anne-Marie RONSEN - How Thought and Love Do It

How Thought and Love Do It

By Anne-Marie RONSEN

The same acre of ground, under a process of intensive
A cultivation, produced seven times as much corn per
acre as it had previously produced. This phenomenal feat
was accomplished by one word, and that word was thought.
Thought did not change the location of this acre of ground,
but it took into consideration all the available elements and
forces that could be applied scientifically to the fertilization
of that ground and utilized them to increase the production
of corn.

This feat for the production of corn should be an inspira-
tion to everyone who sells. It just proves what can be ac-
complished by the application of intensive thought. As it
applies to the production of corn, intensive thought also ap-
plies to the art and science of selling. Creative selling is only
an application of positive thought, and it will certainly pro-
duce more sales and earn more money.

Only recently, a printing salesman called on a prospective
customer. He gave a most scientific sales presentation of his
proposition, including a complete discourse on press work,
an artful display, and a series of comprehensive pictures.
He really made the prospect vibrate with enthusiasm. When
he was ready to close the deal, however, the prospect wanted
to know one thing. What type of paper would be best fitted
for that particular job? The salesman was unable to give

him a satisfactory answer, and, as a result, lost a very sub-
stantial sale. Why? Because the salesman did not know all
the available elements of his job.

In preparing this book, my sole purpose has been to in-
spire those who sell to equip themselves in order to avoid
incidents like the one above. This book is prepared around
thought. It is a process of thinking to help the salesman de-
velop his power to think, to make plans, and to take actions
that he must take to do a better job of selling.

In this book are key ideas and key words on how to at-
tract the prospect and plans on how to create a sale. This
book not only gives you plans and suggestions, but it gives
them to you in a way that makes it easy for you to under-
stand and apply them. In fact, every chapter has had one
thought in mind, and that is to give you practical, usable
ideas, thoughts, and suggestions concerning the improve-
ment of your relations with the prospect, with your job of
selling, and—perhaps most important of all—with yourself.

Thought does it. Thought turns belief and knowledge into
actions and causes things to happen. It gets results in any
field of selling. All things are governed by cause and effect.
Every product you see around you is the visible effect of an
invisible cause. That invisible cause is thought. It travels
faster than anything known. It creates things. In the field of
selling, thought is the invisible cause on the job that pro-
duces the effect—which is the sale.

Positive thought is the greatest power in the universe, and
no man has a monopoly on it. It belongs to anyone who de-
sires to use it, at any place, or at any time. It is certainly the
most important thing in selling, because by applying it you
can achieve everything you desire.

When an engineer installs a machine, the only thing that
concerns him is to see that all parts of that machine func-
tion as a unit.

When a salesman sells a machine, he must take into

consideration all its parts, but he also must take into con-
sideration all parts of the prospect. The prospect is a human
being with feelings. All his parts must be thoroughly co-
ordinated in harmony with a sales presentation, or the sales-
man may lose a sale. The salesman always has at his disposal
the most effective element with which to do this. That ele-
ment is hidden in the power of Love.

Professor Henry Drummond, in his book, The Greatest
Thing in the World, says: "Everyone has asked himself the
greatest question of antiquity as of the modern world: What
is the 'summum bonum'—the supreme good? You have life
before you. Once only can you live it. What is the noblest
object of desire, the supreme gift to covet?"

Then he speaks of our great need for faith and especially
for love, and calls our attention to the great Biblical quota-
tion of Paul: "If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing," to which he adds Paul's
striking climax, "Now abideth Faith, Hope, Love, and the
greatest of these is Love."

Further along in his famous book, discussing the ineffable
power of love, Professor Drummond relates this fascinating
event: "In the heart of Africa, I have come across black men
and women who remembered the only white man they ever
saw before . . . David Livingstone (the great African Ex-
plorer); and as you cross his footsteps in the dark continent,
men's faces light up as they speak of the kind doctor who
passed there years ago. They could not understand him; but
they felt the love that beat in his heart."

Yes, love has an ineffable language of its own, and, in
every heart that beats, there lingers an unsung song of ar-
dent devotion and an unfinished symphony of genuine ado-
ration. Love is present among all people at all times, and the
only way to find it in the prospect is to find it in yourself.
A feeling of kindness and appreciation kindles a sympathetic

understanding of others and gives a keen desire to render
the highest possible service.

What has love to do with selling? Love contains many
valuable ingredients, and upon analysis each of these in-
gredients is found to be a contributing factor to the success
of any salesman.

As an example: Love is kindness, a feeling of respect and
appreciation for the prospect, which inspires you to do kind
things that may contribute toward his happiness.

Love is the humility that saves you from getting puffed
up over a little success.

Love is the generosity that frees you from envy and helps
you to rejoice in the success and well-being of others.

Love is the patience that endows you with the calm assur-
ance that all's well that ends well.

Love is the courtesy that makes you polite and gentle in
the minutest details.

Love is the unselfishness that puts the prospect's interest
above your own and his welfare above your commission.

Love is good temper. Love is not easily provoked. Good
temper qualifies you to see all sides of a proposition, and
enables you to laugh. It develops a sense of humor, which
is an antidote for anger.

Love is sincerity. Sincerity will accept only what is real,
and is always striving for facts. It is seeking the truth, and
endeavoring at all times to practice what is true. It is beg-
ging you at all times to be true to yourself, to your ability,
and to the power within you. As Shakespeare says:

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Love is tolerance. A feeling of tolerance toward others
makes forgiveness easy, and you have understanding and
harmony instead of prejudice and hate.

Therefore, love, as applied to selling, is a genuine attitude
of respect, consideration, and kindness toward every pros-
pect. This feeling toward others eliminates self-importance,
arrogance, and impudence. It permeates every occasion with
a spirit of good will, and inspires the prospect to co-operate
with you.

After 42 years of experience in trying, testing, and ex-
perimenting with every possible element, I have discovered
that love has more power and influence over my mental and
spiritual activities than any other quality or attribute. When
I practice a feeling of kindness and consideration, I seem
to tap a great reservoir of power and strength that enables
me to perform with skill and alacrity. It annihilates doubt,
uncertainty, anxiety, worry, and dread. It directs me without
confusion or conflict. It removes all stubbornness, tenseness,
and rigidness. It makes me more tolerant, more liberal, and
more forgiving. It placates and soothes me. It frees me from
all stress and strain. It relaxes and frees me from all care,
and enables me to sell with pleasure.

In applying the principles outlined in the chapter entitled
"How the Law of Averages Can Double Your Sales," I want
to remind you that the Law of Averages in selling will yield
a more lucrative crop of sales if you inject thought and love
into your procedure.

You can inject thought into your Sales Plan by constantly
improving its quality. As you learned from the "Parable of
the Sower," the secret of the sower's success was in the qual-
ity of the seed that he sowed. The seed had to be of good
quality, in order to take root when it hit on the right soil.
If he sows wind, he will reap a whirlwind. If he sows saw-
dust, then he will reap sawdust. As the seed contains all the
elements essential to produce the plant, so must your Sales
Plan contain the elements of your proposition that are essen-
tial to influence the prospect to buy it. Therefore, the more

thought you put into your Sales Plan, the more effective it
becomes, and the more quickly it yields results.

How can love help? It is very easy to apply the Law of
Averages to a statistical proposition. However, when it comes
to applying it to selling then you must take into considera-
tion the human element, and thus you have the element of
feeling. The only road to feeling is through feeling. There-
fore, you can inject feeling into your sales presentation, and,
if this feeling contains the ingredients of love, you can rest
assured that the Law of Averages will yield a bountiful crop
of sales.

If you apply thought and love to the chapter entitled "The
Power That Sells," you will find that it will work wonders
for you. The contents of this chapter will revitalize your en-
tire Life and put new zest and enthusiasm in your selling
activities. As you recall, this chapter discusses your spiritual
power. Therefore, thought at this very moment will help
you to come to a conscious, vital realization of your oneness
with God and His Divine Presence, and show you how to
draw on his infinite life, infinite intelligence, and infinite
power that is all around you. Love will help you to practice
these principles and enable you to destroy skepticism, dis-
tortion, doubt, dread, worry, and anxiety. It will give you
the power to double your sales and satisfy every want in
your life.

Always remember that thought develops the ideas with
which you sell, but love makes those ideas felt. Thought
visualizes the advantages of the product, but love makes
those advantages live and vibrate. Thought directs you to
the prospect, but love draws the prospect to you.

You, America's salesmen, must continue to tackle tomor-
row's frontiers and blaze the trail of progress with your tra-
ditional vigor and determination. With patience, pluck, and
persistence, engendered with optimism and faith, our pros-
perity will continue to grow and expand and the American

way of life will continue to be the symbol of world progress.
And, as you continue to grow, expand, and prosper, keep
your heart overflowing with gratitude for the infinite bless-
ings that you now enjoy. And may God direct you, guide
you, control you, nourish you, and sustain you, in helping
you to become a better man and a better salesman.