Young Lonigan - James T. Farrell [418]
“Well, I’d like to hear what your proposition is,” Studs said, not liking this oozy bastard, but trying to act up to him.
“I’ve got here the kind of proposition a genuine live-wire recognizes immediately for what it’s worth when it is presented to him. He sees that it is a sure-fire proposition that he can make plenty of money out of. I can prove, too, that I’ve got a real money-maker here by showing you the reports of some of our salesmen.” Mr. Peters dug through the papers on his desk and found a blocked-off, criss-crossed sheet. “Here’s a report from one of our salesmen who earned sixty dollars commissions last week.”
Studs’ eyes opened widely, and his suspicion momentarily quieted. Sixty bucks in one week. If sixty, why not seventy or seventy-five? Leaning his elbows on the desk, his head bent forward.
“Here’s another whose net was fifty-four dollars. And fifty-four dollars a week in these days is real money. It’s big money for salesmen new at the game, who are selling a new product which is just being put successfully on the market. I can vouch for that. Our product is new, and anyone starting in with us at this stage of the game has boundless opportunities ahead. There’s no telling where the limits are, and he can make, from his very first week, more money than thousands and thousands of men are earning today after years of work in one line. The opportunities are boundless.”
Perspiring, Studs wished this goofy bald-headed bastard would come down to earth. But, gee, if this only was the genuine article and he could make sixty a week!
“We don’t want coming to us the type of man who cries he’s licked before he has even started, and who blames his failure on the business depression. A business depression is a smart man’s opportunity. Too many people, today, are crying they’re licked and not putting forth their best efforts. Well, that only means so much more opportunity for the live-wire. It’s the time for him to plug, while others whine. It gives him less real competition in selling and if he throws his heart and soul into his efforts and his sales talks, he wins out, just because of the simple fact that so many of his rivals are beating themselves by whining. It is worth repeating that today is the smart man’s opportunity. Today is the time for the real, high-class salesman to show his real mettle. And any man can sell if he has the courage and ambition to make a live-wire of himself. The stuff is there in every man. The question is, if you’ll pardon my language, whether he’s got the guts to bring it out.”
Studs squirmed in his chair. Guts. Well, he had the guts. Studs Lonigan had guts, even if he had nothing else.
“Why, today so many people are whining, and whimpering, and prostrating themselves to Old Man Gloom, that the good salesman has an ocean of clear sailing ahead of him. Because this country is not licked and it won’t be. And the service the good salesman can perform for this country today is to show it that it isn’t licked. What we lack today is confidence. It is contagious. It peps up the sales prospect. Because people, even though they whine and whimper, sigh and decry and put faces on a yard long, cry out that times are bad and they’re licked, people still don’t want to believe it. They want to have faith. They want confidence. And remember this, they are going to pay the man who gives them confidence and faith. This is the one cardinal principle of salesmanship, the principle of the irradiation of confidence,” Mr. Peters emphasized with a snapping gesture of his right fist.
“Yes, I think you’re right. . . . But now, what is the proposition?” Studs asked, trying to make his tone of voice circumspect.
“I’m coming to that,” the man said, knitting his brows.
Studs was sure it was all bull. But Jesus, if it only wasn’t, if he only could knock off sixty a week. Then he wouldn’t have to