Self Control
The subject of suggestion constitutes so vitally an important part of
this lesson, and of this entire course, that I will now proceed to
describe the three mediums through which it usually operates;
namely, what you say, what you do and what you think!
When you are enthusiastic over the goods you are selling or the
services you are offering, or the speech you are delivering, your state
of mind becomes obvious to all who hear you, by the tone of your
voice.
Whether you have ever thought of it in this way or not, it is the tone in which you make a statement, more than it is the statement itself, that carries conviction or fails to convince. No mere combination of words can ever take the place of a deep belief in a statement that is expressed with burning enthusiasm.
Words are but devitalized sounds unless colored with feeling that is born of enthusiasm. Here the printed word fails me, for I can never express with mere type and paper the difference between words that fall from unemotional lips, without the fire of enthusiasm back of them, and those which seem to pour forth from a heart that is bursting with eagerness for expression.
The difference is there, however. Thus, what you say, and the way in which you say it, conveys a meaning that may be just the opposite to what is intended. This accounts for many a failure by the salesman who presents his arguments in words which seem logical enough, but lack the coloring that can come only from enthusiasm that is born of sincerity and belief in the goods he is trying to sell.
His, words said one thing, but the tone of his voice
suggested something entirely different; therefore, no sale was made. That
which you say is an important factor in the operation of the principle of
suggestion, but not nearly so important as that which you do. Your acts will
count for more than your words, and woe unto you if the two fail to
harmonize.
If a man preach the Golden Rule as a sound rule of conduct his words will fall upon deaf ears if he does not practice that which he preaches. The most effective sermon that any man can preach on the soundness of the Golden Rule is that which he preaches, by suggestion, when he applies this rule in his relationships with his fellow men.