The Secret of a Successful Business Interview

Former Harvard President Charles W. Elliot says exclusive attention to the person who is speaking to you is very important. Henry James, one of America's first great novelists, recalled Dr. Elliot's listening as not mere silence but a form of activity. Clerks who interrupt customers contradict them, irritate them, and all but drive them from the store. A department store in Chicago almost lost a regular customer who spent several thousand dollars each year because a sales clerk wouldn't listen.