chapter4.4
“Frankly, I didn’t know what to do,” Mr. Walters said as he related the story to the class.
“Then I remembered what his secretary had said to him—stamps, twelve-year-old son. . .
And I also recalled that the foreign department of our bank collected stamps—stamps taken from letters pouring in from every continent washed by the seven seas.”
“The next afternoon I called on this man and sent in word that I had some stamps for his boy.
Was I ushered in with enthusiasm?
Yes sir, He couldn’t have shaken my hand with more enthusiasm if he had been running for Congress.
He radiated smiles and good will.
‘My George will love this one,’ he kept saying as he fondled the stamps.
‘And look at this! This is a treasure.’
“We spent half an hour talking stamps and looking at a picture of his boy, and he then devoted more than an hour of his time to giving me every bit of information I wanted—without my even suggesting that he do it.
He told me all he knew, and then called in his subordinates and questioned them.
He telephoned some of his associates.
He loaded me down with facts, figures, reports and correspondence.
In the parlance of newspaper reporters, I had a scoop.”
Here is another illustration: C. M. Knaphle, Jr., of Philadelphia had tried for years to sell fuel to a large chain-store organization.
But the chain-store company continued to purchase its fuel from an out-of-town dealer and haul it right past the door of Knaphle’s office.
Mr.Knaphle made a speech one night before one of my classes, pouring out his hot wrath upon chain stores, branding them as a curse to the nation.
And still he wondered why he couldn’t sell them.
I suggested that he try different tactics.
To put it briefly, this is what happened.
We staged a debate between members of the course on whether the spread of the chain store is doing the country more harm than good.
Knaphle, at my suggestion, took the negative side; he agreed to defend the chain stores, and then went straight to an executive of the chain-store organization that he despised and said: “I am not here to try to sell fuel.
I have come to ask you to do me a favor.”
He then told about his debate and said, “I have come to you for help because I can’t think of anyone else who would be more capable of giving me the facts I want.
I’m anxious to win this debate, and I’ll deeply appreciate whatever help you can give me.”
Here is the rest of the story in Mr. Knaphle’s own words: I had asked this man for precisely one minute of his time.
It was with that understanding that he consented to see me.
After I had stated my case, he motioned me to a chair and talked to me for exactly one hour and forty-seven minutes.
He called in another executive who had written a book on chain stores.
He wrote to the National Chain Store Association and secured for me a copy of a debate on the subject.
He feels that the chain store is rendering a real service to humanity.
He is proud of what he is doing for hundreds of communities.
His eyes fairly glowed as he talked, and I must confess that he opened my eyes to things I had never even dreamed of.
He changed my whole mental attitude.
As I was leaving, he walked with me to the door, put his arm around my shoulder, wished me well in my debate, and asked me to stop in and see him again and let him know how I made out.
The last words he said to me were: “Please see me again later in the spring.
I should like to place an order with you for fuel.”
To me that was almost a miracle.
Here he was offering to buy fuel without my even suggesting it.
I had made more headway in two hours by becoming genuinely interested in him and his problems than I could have made in ten years trying to get him interested in me and my product.
You didn’t discover a new truth, Mr. Knaphle, for a long time ago, a hundred years before Christ was born a famous old Roman poet, Publilius Syrus, remarked; “We are interested in others when they are interested in us."
A show of interest, as with every other principle of human relations, must be sincere.
It must pay off not only for the person showing the interest, but for the person receiving the attention.
It is a two-way street—both parties benefit.
“It was Thanksgiving Day and I was ten years old.
I was in a welfare ward of a city hospital and was scheduled to undergo major orthopedic surgery the next day.
I knew that I could only look forward to months of confinement, convalescence and pain.
My father was dead; my mother and I lived alone in a small apartment and we were on welfare.
My mother was unable to visit me that day. ”
“As the day went on, I became overwhelmed with the feeling of loneliness, despair and fear.
I knew my mother was home alone worrying about me, not having anyone to be with, not having anyone to eat with and not even having enough money to afford a Thanksgiving Day dinner.”
“The tears welled up in my eyes, and I stuck my head under the pillow and pulled the covers over it, I cried silently, but oh so bitterly, so much that my body racked with pain.”
A young student nurse heard my sobbing and came over to me.
She took the covers off my face and started wiping my tears.
She told me how lonely she was, having to work that day and not being able to be with her family.
She asked me whether I would have dinner with her.
She brought two trays of food: sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and ice cream for dessert.
She talked to me and tried to calm my fears.
Even though she was scheduled to go off duty at 4 P.M., she stayed on her own time until almost 11 P.M. She played games with me, talked to me and stayed with me until I finally fell asleep.”
“Many Thanksgivings have come and gone since I was ten, but one never passes without me remembering that particular one and my feelings of frustration, fear, loneliness and the warmth and tenderness of the stranger that somehow made it all bearable.”
If you want others to like you, if you want to develop real friendships, if you want to help others at the same time as you help yourself, keep this principle in mind: PRINCIPLE 1—Become genuinely interested in other people.