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双语《如何享受人生,享受工作》 第十七章 人人都喜欢的诉求

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2022年07月01日

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Chapter 17 An Appeal That Everybody Likes

I was reared on the edge of the Jesse James country out in Missouri, and I visited the James farm at Kearney, Missouri, where the son of Jesse James was then living.

His wife told me stories of how Jesse robbed trains and held up banks and then gave money to the neighboring farmers to pay off their mortgages.

Jesse James probably regarded himself as an idealist at heart, just as Dutch Schultz,“Two Gun”Crowley, Al Capone and many other organized crime“godfathers”did generations later. The fact is that all people you meet have a high regard for themselves and like to be fine and unselfish in their own estimation.

J. Pierpont Morgan observed, in one of his analytical interludes, that a person usually has two reasons for doing a thing: one that sounds good and a real one.

The person himself will think of the real reason. You don't need to emphasize that. But all of us, being idealists at heart, like to think of motives that sound good. So, in order to change people, appeal to the nobler motives.

Is that too idealistic to work in business? Let's see. Let's take the case of Hamilton J. Farrell of the Farrell-Mitchell Company of Glenolden, Pennsylvania. Mr. Farrell had a disgruntled tenant who threatened to move. The tenant's lease still had four months to run; nevertheless, he served notice that he was vacating immediately, regardless of lease.

“These people had lived in my house all winter—the most expensive part of the year,”Mr. Farrell said as he told the story to the class,“and I knew it would be difficult to rent the apartment again before fall. I could see all that rent income going over the hill and believe me, I saw red.

“Now, ordinarily, I would have waded into that tenant and advised him to read his lease again. I would have pointed out that if he moved, the full balance of his rent would fall due at once—and that I could, and would, move to collect.

“However, instead of flying off the handle and making a scene, I decided to try other tactics. So I started like this:‘Mr. Doe,’I said,‘I have listened to your story, and I still don't believe you intend to move. Years in the renting business have taught me something about human nature, and I sized you up in the first place as being a man of your word. In fact, I'm so sure of it that I'm willing to take a gamble.

“‘Now, here's my proposition. Lay your decision on the table for a few days and think it over. If you come back to me between now and the first of the month, when your rent is due, and tell me you still intend to move, I give you my word I will accept your decision as final. I will privilege you to move and admit to myself I've been wrong in my judgment. But I still believe you're a man of your word and will live up to your contract. For after all, we are either men or monkeys—and the choice usually lies with ourselves!’

“Well, when the new month came around, this gentleman came to see me and paid his rent in person. He and his wife had talked it over, he said—and decided to stay. They had concluded that the only honorable thing to do was to live up to their lease.”

When the late Lord Northcliffe found a newspaper using a picture of him which he didn't want published, he wrote the editor a letter. But did he say,“Please do not publish that picture of me any more; I don't like it”? No, he appealed to a nobler motive. He appealed to the respect and love that all of us have for motherhood. He wrote,“Please do not publish that picture of me any more. My mother doesn't like it.”

When John D. Rockefeller, Jr., wished to stop newspaper photographers from snapping pictures of his children, he too appealed to the nobler motives. He didn't say:“I don't want their pictures published.”No, he appealed to the desire, deep in all of us, to refrain from harming children. He said:“You know how it is, boys. You've got children yourselves, some of you. And you know it's not good for youngsters to get too much publicity.”

When Cyrus H. K. Curtis, the poor boy from Maine, was starting on his meteoric career, which was destined to make him millions as owner of The Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies' Home Journal, he couldn't afford to pay his contributors the prices that other magazines paid. He couldn't afford to hire firstclass authors to write for money alone. So he appealed to their nobler motives. For example, he persuaded even Louisa May Alcott, the immortal author of Little Women, to write for him when she was at the flood tide of her fame; and he did it by offering to send a check for a hundred dollars, not to her, but to her favorite charity.

Right here the skeptic may say:“Oh, that stuff is all right for Northcliffe and Rockefeller or a sentimental novelist. But, I'd like to see you make it work with the tough babies I have to collect bills from!”

You may be right. Nothing will work in all cases—and nothing will work with all people. If you are satisfied with the results you are now getting, why change? If you are not satisfied, why not experiment?

At any rate, I think you will enjoy reading this true story told by James L. Thomas, a former student of mine:

Six customers of a certain automobile company refused to pay their bills for servicing. None of the customers protested the entire bill, but each claimed that some one charge was wrong. In each case, the customer had signed for the work done, so the company knew it was right—and said so. That was the first mistake.

Here are the steps the men in the credit department took to collect these overdue bills. Do you suppose they succeeded?

1. They called on each customer and told him bluntly that they had come to collect a bill that was long past due.

2. They made it very plain that the company was absolutely and unconditionally right; therefore he, the customer, was absolutely and unconditionally wrong.

3. They intimated that they, the company, knew more about automobiles than he could ever hope to know. So what was the argument about?

4. Result: They argued.

Did any of these methods reconcile the customer and settle the account? You can answer that one yourself.

At this stage of affairs, the credit manager was about to open fire with a battery of legal talent, when fortunately the matter came to the attention of the general manager. The manager investigated these defaulting clients and discovered that they all had the reputation of paying their bills promptly. Something was wrong here—something was drastically wrong about the method of collection. So he called in James L. Thomas and told him to collect these“uncollectible”accounts.

Here, in his words, are the steps Mr. Thomas took:

1. My visit to each customer was likewise to collect a bill long past due—a bill that we knew was absolutely right. But I didn't say a word about that. I explained I had called to find out what it was the company had done, or failed to do.

2. I made it clear that, until I had heard the customer's story, I had no opinion to offer. I told him the company made no claims to being infallible.

3. I told him I was interested only in his car, and that he knew more about his car than anyone else in the world; that he was the authority on the subject.

4. I let him talk, and I listened to him with all the interest and sympathy that he wanted—and had expected.

5. Finally, when the customer was in a reasonable mood, I put the whole thing up to his sense of fair play. I appealed to the nobler motives.“First,”I said,“I want you to know I also feel this matter has been badly mishandled. You've been inconvenienced and annoyed and irritated by one of our representatives. That should never have happened. I' m sorry and, as a representative of the company, I apologize. As I sat here and listened to your side of the story, I could not help being impressed by your fairness and patience. And now, because you are fair— minded and patient, I am going to ask you to do something for me. It's something that you can do better than anyone else, something you know more about than anyone else. Here is your bill; I know it is safe for me to ask you to adjust it, just as you would do if you were the president of my company. I am going to leave it all up to you. Whatever you say goes.”

Did he adjust the bill? He certainly did, and got quite a kick out of it. The bills ranged from $150 to $400—but did the customer give himself the best of it? Yes, one of them did! One of them refused to pay a penny of the disputed charge; but the other five all gave the company the best of it! And here's the cream of the whole thing: we delivered new cars to all six of these customers within the next two years!

“Experience has taught me,”says Mr. Thomas,“that when no information can be secured about the customer, the only sound basis on which to proceed is to assume that he or she is sincere, honest, truthful and willing and anxious to pay the charges, once convinced they are correct. To put it differently and perhaps more clearly, people are honest and want to discharge their obligations. The exceptions to that rule are comparatively few, and I am convinced that the individuals who are inclined to chisel will in most cases react favorably if you make them feel that you consider them honest, upright and fair.”

APPEAL TO THE NOBLER MOTIVES.

第十七章 人人都喜欢的诉求

我是在密苏里乡下杰西·詹姆斯村附近长大的。有一次,我拜访了密苏里科尔尼的詹姆斯农场——那时杰西·詹姆斯的儿子住在那里。

他的妻子给我讲了杰西在火车上偷盗后成立了钱库并让周围农民拿这些钱还房贷的故事。

杰西·詹姆斯或许认为自己本质上是理想主义者,就像几代之后的达奇·舒尔茨、“双枪”克劳利、艾尔·卡彭和很多其他犯罪集团的“教父”们一样。实际上,你遇到的所有人都把自己看得很崇高,希望自己有好的名声,大公无私。

J.皮尔庞特·摩根在分析这个问题的时候发现,人们做事时通常有两个理由:好听的理由和现实的理由。

当事人一定会想着现实理由,这是毋庸置疑的。然而我们其他人,作为一个本质上的理想主义者,都喜欢那些好听的理由。所以若想改变别人,请触动对方高尚的动机。

这在商业中是否太过不切实际?让我们用宾夕法尼亚州格兰诺登市法瑞尔·米切尔公司的哈密尔顿·J.法瑞尔的例子检验一下。法瑞尔先生有一个很讨厌的房客,威胁要搬走,而离合同截止日期还有四个月,可是这个人依然不顾合同条例通知房东他要立刻搬家。

“这些人整个冬天都住在我的房子里,在全年最贵的季节。”法瑞尔先生向我们讲道,“而我知道在秋天前很难把房子租出去,我想到本该进账的租金打了水漂。相信我,这样下去我会破产的。

“通常我会强烈谴责房客,让他好好读合同。我会指出如果他要搬家就要一次性付给我所有合同范围内的租金,而我会采取一切办法收回这些租金,我会这样做也能做得到。

“然而我不希望上演如此戏剧性的场景,我决定试试其他方法。所以我是这样开始跟他交谈的:‘先生,我听说了你的事,现在依然觉得不可思议。我出租房子那么多年了,看得多了便也会看人了。我一直觉得你是个说话算话的人。实际上我依然坚信这一点,所以我想赌一把。

“‘这是我的提议。请你再仔细考虑一下搬家这件事。如果下个月你告诉我你还想搬家,那么我答应你,我会接受你的搬家要求,然后承认自己看人的眼光有问题。然而我相信你是个说话算话的人,会履行我们之间的合同。说到底,文明还是野蛮,这都是自己的选择。’

“当第二个月来临时,这位先生来见我,亲自把租金拿给了我。他说他和他的妻子重新考虑了搬家的事,他们决定留下,遵守合同才是唯一体面的方式。”

当已故的罗德·诺斯克利夫生前在报纸上看到了自己的一张不愿公开的照片时,他给报社编辑写了一封信。他说“别登我不喜欢的照片”了吗?没有。他希望触动对方的高尚动机,他运用的是我们每个人对母亲的尊重和爱戴。他写道:“恳请您不要再刊登那张照片了,我妈妈很不喜欢它。”

当小约翰·D.洛克菲勒希望报纸停止刊登他孩子的照片时,他也试图触动对方的高尚动机。他并没有说:“我不希望你们刊登这些照片。”他触动的是我们每个人内心深处的渴求——避免对孩子造成伤害。他说:“你也懂的,朋友们,你们中有些人也有孩子,你知道小孩子得到太多公开关注不是一件好事。”

当《周六晚报》和《妇女家庭杂志》的拥有者赛勒斯·H.K.科蒂斯刚刚开始创业时,他还是缅因州的一个穷苦男孩,他没有像其他报社、杂志社一样拥有足够的钱支付给投稿者,他雇不起一流的作者为赚取利益而写作。所以他要触动作者的高尚动机。比如说,他竟然说服了《小妇人》的作者路易莎·梅·阿尔科特在职业巅峰期为他写文章,他并没说要给她寄一百美金的支票,而是说会寄支票给阿尔科特喜欢的慈善组织。

或许读到这里,怀疑论者会说:“哦,这一套只对诺斯克利夫、洛克菲勒或是多愁善感的小说家管用。我希望你能展示给我看,这对于欠我债需要我去收的那些顽劣家伙也适用。”

或许你是对的。没什么是万能药,不可能在每个情形中,对每种人都奏效。如果你对自己的处事方式满意,那为什么要变?如果不满意,为何不试试呢?

不论如何,我觉得你会喜欢下面这个故事。这是我以前的一个学生,詹姆斯·L.托马斯讲的:

某个汽车公司的六名客户拒绝付维修费,他们并不是拒付全部费用,而都是说其中的某一项款额不能付。他们每一个人都在维修单上签了名,所以公司确定款额没有错,而他们也是这样说的。这是他们犯的第一个错误。

信用部门用了下述方式试图讨回到期未付的款额。你猜猜他们会不会成功?

他们打电话直接说对方欠款,而他们打电话的目的就是来收款的。

他们直接说,公司绝对没有出错,在任何情形下征收这些款项都是合理的。这也就是说顾客绝对是错的,在任何情况下拒付款项都是不合理的。

他们说,公司不管怎样都比顾客对汽车的了解要全面,所以没有争论的必要。

结果,他们开始争论起来。

这里有任何安抚客户情绪并清账的方式吗?答案很明显。

在这个阶段里,信用部经理都快要和客户开战了,他用法律条文一条条向客户开火,还好这时总经理注意到此事。经理调查了这几个人,发现他们并没有赖账的名声,所以一定是公司出了问题,公司的收款方式出了问题。于是他打电话给詹姆斯·L.托马斯,让他去收这些糊涂账。

托马斯先生是这样做的:

“我拜访了每一位客户,试图通过确认正确的账单收回糊涂账。但是关于这点我只字未提。我解释说我来的目的是为了找出公司到底哪里出了错。

“我说得很明白,我会不带偏见地聆听顾客的说法。我告诉他们公司从未认定自己是无懈可击的。

“我告诉客户我只是对他的车感兴趣,而他对自己的车的了解才是无人可比的,他才是这件事上的权威。

“我让对方说话,而我带着他所期待的兴趣和同情心听着一切。

“最后,当客户的情绪稳定下来后,我用对方认为公平的方式与他对话,我试着触动他高尚的动机。我说:‘首先,我希望您知道我也觉得在这件事上公司一直处理不当。我们的一位代表使您反感和动怒,给您带来了不便。这真不应该发生。我非常抱歉,我代表公司向你道歉。我在这儿听您讲述时就觉得您是个讲理又耐心的人,而因为您讲理又耐心,我请求您为我做一件事,您比任何人都适合做这件事。这里是您的账单,我知道我来调整它是保险的,如果您是我们公司的总裁也会有同样的决定。但是我想让您亲自来决定付多少钱。您说了算。’

“顾客调整了账单吗?当然,他们调整得可尽兴了。这些账单从一百五十到四百美金不等。有客户做出了最利己的决定吗?是的,有一个人一分钱都不肯付。而其余五人则付了大部分金额。而更妙的是,接下来的两年里,这六个人都又从我们这儿买了新车!

“经验告诉我,”托马斯先生说,“当我们无法足够了解客户的背景时,最牢靠的方法便是设定他们是诚恳、诚实、真诚的人,一旦被说服,他们便会主动支付账单。换一种更清楚的说法,那就是:人们是诚实的,愿意履行责任,这方面的特例很少。而且我确信,面对一个有欺骗倾向的人时,如果你让对方感受到你认为他诚实、正直、公正,那么他就会做出相应的行为。”

触动对方的高尚动机。

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