I found that the institution of life insurance was one of the sustaining pillars of our
American economy, and it was worthy of the attention of any prospect. After getting
thor­oughly saturated with all the knowledge pertaining to life insurance, I began to
study the prospect. Where does he fit in? Where is his place in this great network
of economic, social, and financial relations? I found that the whole system of life
insurance was set up for one purpose only, and that was to serve the needs of
the prospect. A life insurance policy was a declaration of financial independence,
embodying  guarantees that would solve the prospect’s family problems, help him
to solve his estate problems, help him to solve his retirement problems, and help
him to realize his hopes, am­bitions, and needs. The prospect was not aware
of all the wonderful things that life insurance could do for him. I must tell him.

In creating this Sales Plan for life insurance, I felt I had  a lot in common with
the prospect. I knew he had a family, a home, a job, and, in all probability, a lot
of unfulfilled de­sires. I appreciated one great fact about the prospect: he was a
rational human being with problems and needs and would listen to an appeal on
how to meet them, based on common sense and reason.

Therefore, with a good understanding of life insurance, and with the prospect
as the center of interest, I fitted a life insurance policy about his shoulders. I made
it talk. I made  it reveal its benefits and what they meant to him and his family.
This is the Sales Plan I created. In this Sales Plan I refer to the prospect as “Mr. Doe”
and the insurance com­pany as “Every Man’s Life Insurance Company’

Selling is a good deal like farming. In farming, the farmer
must plant the seed. He knows that he must sow before he
can reap. The farmer and the salesman are alike. The farmer
plants seeds. The salesman plants ideas. Your ideas, like
seeds, will never grow a crop unless they are planted. The
salesman reaps as he sows. The more ideas he sows, the more
sales he will reap.
Therefore, I realized that in order to reap a harvest of life
insurance sales I must sow a crop of life insurance ideas. I
also realized that these ideas must convey to the prospect
the real value of life insurance and the advantages that it meant
to him and his family. They must satisfy the prospect’s sense of
caution, security, and safety. Therefore, it was nec­essary to
create a Sales Plan around the needs of the pros­pect, conveying
the idea that life insurance would satisfy those needs.

In building and creating this Sales Plan, I studied life in­surance
from every angle. Not a phase was overlooked. I sought every
available source for knowledge and informa­tion. I read every
book that I could find on the subject. I compared all major companies.
I analyzed all important types of policies, including term insurance,
ordinary insur­ance, 20-payment life insurance, all kinds of endowment
life insurance, all forms of annuities, and all forms of retire­ment income
plans. I reckoned with mortality tables, com­pound interest tables, life
expectancy tables, cash reserves, disability clauses, and tables and
clauses for optional settle­ments. I studied the protection that life insurance
affords to partnerships, executives of corporations, and the interests of
individual proprietors. I searched tax laws relating to estates, wills, and trusts.
I familiarized myself with inherit­ance tax laws, both state and Federal.
The social, economic, and financial aspects of life insurance were carefully
weighed, analyzed, and considered.

In my experience I have sold many different things. I have
sold advertising, paint, cement roofing, oil, varnish, direc-
tories, patent churns, electrical appliances, washing ma-
chines, books, entertainment, billboard advertising, tooth
paste, shoes, tailor-made suits, and all kinds of insurance,
including life insurance.

Strange as it may seem, it has always been necessary for
me to create a market, or a demand, for everything that I
sold. It entailed the power of creative selling. It was either
create a sale or starve.

In selling, it was never a question of prospects—I always
had more prospects than I possibly could see. My problem
was to cover the available prospects effectively and effi-
ciently. To do this, it was necessary to have a good sale
approach. Therefore, I spent many hours in preparing and
creating a good, concrete Sales Plan, around the product or
service that I was endeavoring to sell. This Sales Plan needed
the qualities and attributes to attract the attention of the
prospect, to arouse his interest, and to stimulate his desire.
It also had to have the dynamic power to convince, and to
motivate and impel the prospect to act. This Sales Plan had
to center the prospect’s thought on my proposition to the
exclusion of all others.

Image by Tonyç via Flickr

First, I analyzed the principle of life insurance thoroughly
to determine its value and to appreciate its worth. I con-
cluded that it was a very excellent idea. I liked the idea of
the protection it could provide. I liked the idea of the estate
it could create. I liked the idea of the savings account it
could establish. I liked the idea of the income it could guar-
antee for old age. In fact, I liked the idea of all the benefits
that life insurance could provide for the individual and his
family.

This analysis of life insurance gave me a comprehensive
interpretation of its function and a clear picture of the bene-
fits that it could provide for the prospect. I was thoroughly
convinced that it was a good idea; a sound and practical
proposition. I firmly believed that I could sell it. I had faith
in it.

Faith is believing in something, and so it remains until
you demonstrate your ability to fashion faith into reality.
Now arose the question of how I could convert my faith
into results by selling life insurance. How could I get the
idea of life insurance and its many benefits over to the pros-
pect? How could I convince the prospect that it was a safe
place for him to invest his capital? How could I make the
prospect feel as I felt about life insurance?

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As I pondered over this dream in 1920, the thought came
to me that I did not need to inherit one hundred thousand
dollars. All I needed was to stub my toe, wake up, shake
off the state of lethargy, get out of the rut, and come to a
conscious, vital realization of the power of creative selling
that was hidden within me. I firmly believed that the devel-
opment of this positive and creative power of thinking, ap-
plied to selling, would enable me to make many hundred
thousands of dollars. However, in order to claim my herit-
age, to realize the full impetus of my latent power and
ability, and to derive the full benefit from that creative sell-
ing, it was necessary for me to develop a definite and con-
crete plan of action.

At that time I was attempting to sell life insurance. In
those days there was no scientific plan of action for selling
life insurance. It was a hit-or-miss proposition—mostly miss.
Creative selling was only a dream, like my inheritance. The
general agent of a life insurance company was usually a
pompous gentleman. He would put his hands on your shoul-
ders, rear back with an air of great authority, and hand you
a rate book and some application blanks with the remark,
“Now, go out into the world and sell!” That was the extent
of your training as a life insurance salesman.

It was sink or swim, so out into the world I went—and I
floundered. I walked the streets, stood on the street corners,
and watched the people go by. Prospects! prospects every-
where! But I had no definite plan of action to contact any
of them. Now and then someone would grant me an inter-
view for the sake of courtesy, but the inevitable answer was
“not interested.” Thus, with sore feet, a tired back, a sour
disposition, a weary body, and with both hands empty, I
would slowly trudge back to the office.
This procedure lagged on for many days. I began to ques-
tion—what’s the trouble? Is it me or the life insurance busi-
ness? I decided to do something about it.

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