Sellers need to know how to ask - Selling maxims from 17th Century Spain

The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Balthasar Gracián 1647 contains some 300 maxims some of which are still relevant to professional selling in 2014. 

Below Gracián describes the skills of persistence, timing, thw effectiveness of corporate hospitality, closing and sales psychology some 400 years ago. 

No 3. Know how to Ask.

With some nothing easier: with others nothing so difficult.

For there are men who cannot refuse: with them no skill is required.

But with others their first word at all times is No; with them great art is required, and with all the propitious moment. Surprise them when in a pleasant mood, when a repast of body or soul has just left them refreshed, if only their shrewdness has not anticipated the cunning of the applicant.

The days of joy are the days of favour, for joy overflows from the inner man into the outward creation. It is no use applying when another has been refused, since the objection to a No has just been overcome.

If you are out and about with your smart phone and

you want tapas sized selling tips to go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

Each post in the "The Tapas Bar" is less than 250 words.

(If you need genuine Tapas eat at Tapas Revolution
, Westfield, West London @tapasrevolution

Nor is it a good time after sorrow. To oblige a person beforehand is a sure way, unless he is mean.

7 effective closes in Selling


Other selling tips from Gracian

 Selling Trust

Know the price of things

Your Selling Persona

Courtesy Selling

Don't over-explain in Selling

Know how to ask in selling

We all need the touch of a seller

My short book review of Gracian's Art of Prudence