SELLING LUMBER 141 



put the brake on to do that. Stenographers tell me I talk 200 

 words a minute. You ask him to take a seat. He will sit down 

 slowly, deliberately (illustrating). Adjust himself deliberately. 

 And as I said, his words come out at about the rate that I am 

 now addressing you (speaking very slowly). You can almost get 

 his last word before he says it, because you are thinking a little 

 ahead of him and know just what that last word is going to be. 

 Now he is not a weak man. Slow does not mean weak. He Temperament 

 may be a lightning calculator, as far as foresight is concerned, 

 and prudence and thoroughness. It just means that his nerves 

 move slowly. The medium is the man that is not one nor the 

 other. Now, that is simple, and, gentlemen, that is all there is 

 to temperament. The man is born with the nerves in that con- 

 dition. Temperament is something he will carry with him all his 

 life. The man will talk slow ; he will move slow, at a certain rate. 



But now, how do you handle him? Here is the cue: Al- I 

 ways take the pace from the customer. Always take the pacej 

 from the customer. If you are handling a quick man, I would Taket h e Pace 

 say to him : "Here, Mr. Jamison, are the inch pine boards that of the Cus- 

 you are looking for. You notice the varying widths? They are 1 

 very practically cut to subserve almost any purpose you have 

 in mind." In other words, get the selling points, whatever they f , 



are, about that particular board, to him very fast. 



Now for a slow man I check myself. If; a man talks slow 

 to me I get a kind of feeling that he doesn't know his selling 

 talk, he doesn't know what to say next, and I feel like saying: 

 "Oh, you old slowpoke, get a hustle on." But if I start dealing 

 with a slow man I would say (speaking very slowly) : "Here, 

 Mr. Jamison, these are the inch pine boards' that you are looking 

 for." I quit. (Pauses). I say, "You notice the varying widths? 

 They are very practically cut to subserve almost any practical pur- 

 pose you may have in mind. (Pauses). I would like you to no- 

 tice, Mr. Jamison, the compactness of the fibre." Go slow. Now, A Slow Man 

 if you go fast with a slow man you rush on to the X, Y, Z of ^ried*' 

 the facts that are perfectly familiar to you, but he can't follow 

 you, gentlemen. And you think you have got your knowledge 

 across, but you haven't at all. He is way behind ; and you only 

 irritate him; you get on his nerves. You are a salesman, and 

 want to do the business; but it is the manner that you handle 

 him in. He doesn't know what is wrong with you, but he doesn't 

 like to deal with you. If you have a fast man to deal with, don't 



