t fall below
100% in _absolute assurance_, you will read in these chapters the
assertion that your success can be made _certain_. This statement is not
an exaggeration. It is necessary that you accept it literally throughout
your reading of this set of books. Do not take it "with a grain of
salt." The taste of the declaration that the selling process makes
success sure will become familiar after these many repetitions. Realize
when you come upon the repeated idea as you proceed with your study that
your continued reading should frequently be reenforced by a steadily
growing conviction that you _are_ mastering the sure way to succeed. You
believe in yourself more than you did when you began to read this book.
This increasing faith should develop to complete confidence when you
have dug _into_ the text of both "Certain Success" and "The Selling
Process," and have dug _out_ every idea in the twenty-four chapters.

[Sidenote: Salesmanship Not a Science But an Art]

At the outset of your present study comprehend that salesmanship is not
a _science_. Rather, it is an _art_. Like every other art, however, it
has a _related_ science. Selling is a _process. Knowledge about the
principles and methods_ that make the process most effective is the
related _science_. But such knowledge supplies only the best foundation
for building success by the _actual practice_ of most effective
salesmanship. The master salesman practices the scientific principles
and methods he has learned until the _skillful use_ of his knowledge in
every-day selling becomes _second nature_ to him. Thus, and thus only,
is his _art_ perfected.

You will gain _knowledge_ from these books about _how_ to sell with
assurance the true idea of your best capabilities--about _how_ to sell
any "goods of sale" unfailingly. But you can develop the _skill_
necessary to the _actual achievement_ of certain success only if you
_continually use_ what you learn about the selling process. You must
perfect your selling _art_ by the intelligen