The Mind of The Buyer a Psychology of Selling

 THE MIND OF THE BUYER
A PSYCHOLOGY OF SELLING

This book is written for the progressive

salesman, advertiser, sales correspondent

for every o ne who is: engaged in influencing

men to buy . It. doe s not deal with the t ech

nique o f selling ;

each form of selling has its

own technique which must be separately ac

quired . Rather it. deals with principles . I t

recognizes that certain element s are common

to all forms of selling . These element s are

certain occurrenc es within the mind of the

buyer . Whether directed by word of mouth,

by pen or by picture ,

th e mind must perforc e

pass through certain stages on r o ute to the act

of purchase . It i s to describe these mental

processes th at the book is written .

Such a work must necessarily deal with

profound p sychological questions . Such men

tal processes as atte ntion,

interest , desire ,

and confidence require voluminous treatment

in the literature o f theoretical psychology .

The author has endeavore d in this presenta

tion, however, to rob them of their forbidding

dryness by stripping away technical terms

and substituting words of current business

usa ge .

Two outstanding ideal s have governed the

preparation of the work (

1 ) To show the

reader how to take the psychological point of

view toward the business of selling ; ( 2 )

to

teach that in investigating the sale psycho

logically we must employ the metho ds o f

scientific measurement . By repetition and ex

ampl e the author has emphasized these two

ideals . If he shall have made them clear he

will have accomplished his chief aim whether

he teaches a great amount o f psychological

fac t or no t .

The psychologist

- reader will discern a

studied avoidance of the spiritistic conception

o f mind . The mind is here conceived as an

organic unity . Though exposition o f this

point o f vi ew is withheld, as unseemly in a

book o f this kind,

still the phraseology will

be found to fit it, without at the same time

affrighting the non - psychological reader un

familiar with the controversies about the

mind - body rela tion . This avoidance of meta

physical di sputations i s further helped by the

consistent emphasis upon the buyer

’

s be

havior. Obj

ec tive desc riptions are largelyused . And since o ur obj ective psychological

nomenclature is no t cluttered with spiritistic

connota tions,

the aim of being scientific and

at the sa me time understa ndable i s more easily

achieved .

Grateful acknowledgments are due to J . B .

Lippincott Company fo r permission to use

certain passa ges and cuts from the author

’

s

“ Manual fo r the Study o f the Psychology o f

Adverti sing and Selling, with which this

may be used as a text ;

to the editor of The

S cientific M onthly fo r permission to repri nt

portions of Chapter ! I I I ;

to the editor o f

Western A dvertising for p ermi ssion to re

print portions o f Chapter V ;

to Professor

W. F . Book fo r reading the manuscript and

making helpful suggestions ; and to the many

students at The University o f Chicago and

at Indiana University, who by their keen

interest and their scientific zeal have stimu

lated the author to prosecute hi s quest towards

a scientific approach to the mind o f the buyer .

H . D . K .

June,

1 921 .