The Way To Get Cooperation

I am sure you have much more faith in ideas that you discover for yourself than in ideas that are handed to you on a silver platter. If so, isn’t it bad judgment to try to ram your opinions down the throats of other people? Isn’t it wiser to make suggestions — and let the other person think out the conclusion?

Mr. Tan, sales manager in an automobile showroom, suddenly found himself confronted with the necessity of injecting enthusiasm into a discouraged and disorganized group of automobile salespeople. Calling a sales meeting, he urged his people to tell him exactly what they expected from him. As they talked, he wrote their ideas on the blackboard. He then said, “I‘ll give you all these qualities you expect from me. Now, I want you to tell me what I have a right to expect from you.” The replies came quick and fast: loyalty, honesty, initiative, optimism, teamwork, and eight hours a day of enthusiastic work. The meeting ended with new courage, and new inspiration and Mr. tan reported that the increase in sales was phenomenal.

“The people had made a sort of moral bargain with me.” said Mr. Tan, “and as long as I lived up to my part in it, they were determined to live up to theirs. Consulting them about their wishes and desires was just the shot in the arm they needed.”

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No one likes to feel that he or she is being sold something or told to do a thing. We much prefer to feel that we are buying of our own accord or acting on our own ideas. We like to be consulted about our wishes, our wants, and our thoughts.

Take the case of Alice Lee, an artist. She lost thousands of dollars in commissions before she learned the truth. Alice Lee sold sketches for a studio that created designs for stylists and textile manufacturers. She has called on one of the leading stylists in her area once a week, every week for 3 years. “The stylist never refuse to see me,” said Alice Lee, “but he never bought.” he always looked over my sketches very carefully and then said: “No, Alice, I think I can’t use your sketches.”

After 150 failures, Alice Lee then decided on this new approach. With half a dozen unfinished sketches under her arm, she rushed over to the stylist’s office. “I want you to do me a little favor if you will,” she said. “Here are some uncompleted sketches. Won’t you please tell me how we could finish them up in such a way that you could use them.?”

The stylist looked at the sketches for a while without uttering a word. Finally, he said, “Leave these with me for a few days, Alice, and then come back and see me.”

Alice returned 3 days later, got his suggestions, took the sketches back, and had them finished according to the stylist’s ideas. The result? All accepted.

After this, the stylist ordered scores of other sketches from Alice, all drawn according to the stylist’s ideas. “I realized why I had failed for years to sell to him,” said Alice. “ I had urged him to buy what I thought he ought to have. Then I changed my approach completely. I urged him to give me his ideas. This made him feel that he was creating the designs. And he was. I don’t have to sell him. He bought.”

The same psychology was used by an X-Ray manufacturer to sell his equipment to one of the largest hospitals in Thailand. This hospital was building an addition and preparing to equip it with the finest X-ray equipment. Dr. L…, who was in charge of the X-ray department, was overwhelmed with sales representatives, each singing the praises of their own company’s equipment.

One manufacturer, however, was more skillful. He knew far more about handling human nature than the others. He wrote a letter something like this:

“Our factory has recently completed a new line of X-ray equipment. The first shipment of these machines has just arrived at our office. They are not perfect. We know that, and we want to improve them. So, we should be deeply obliged to you if you could find time to look them over and give us your ideas about how they can be made more serviceable to your needs. Knowing how occupied you are, I shall be glad to send my car for you at any hour you specify”

“I was surprised to get that letter,” Dr.L… said. “I was both surprised and complimented. I had never had an X-ray manufacturer seeking my advice before. It made me feel important. I was busy every night that week, but I canceled a dinner appointment in order to look over the equipment. The more I studied it, the more I discovered for myself how much I liked it.

“Nobody from that manufacturer had tried to sell it to me. I felt that the idea of buying that equipment for the hospital was my own. I sold myself on its superior qualities and ordered it installed.” said Dr L..

So, think about this, “Isn’t it wiser to make suggestions and let the other person think out the conclusion?”

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That’s all for now, my friends. See you all in my next articles.

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