PREPARATION OF THE SALESMAN

In order to become a star you must be able to make three sales: First, sell yourself to the prospect. By this I mean, every minute that you are in his presence, be a gcutleman, be earnest, talk to him so that he is bound to think to himself : "This one is different from any agent that ever called on me." Know your story so well that you can present a life insurance policy so that he will want it.

Second, sell your company. Make him believe that it is exactly what you know it to be, "The best company that writes life insurance." You can easily do this, if you will explain the company's safety, show him why its stability is beyond question. Show him that by their careful selection of risks why it is possible for them to write the wonderful policy that they do. Talk service to him. If you will do these three things, you can not only sell him, you can make him like you and your company so well that he will want every friend of his to have a policy like his, and when you can do this you will have an endless chain started that you will never have to wonder where to go.

Third, sell him insurance. If you have successfully made the first two sales, your most hardest work on the third will be making out the application.

Study. By L. G. Saunders.

If an agent sets aside 3 hours a week for intensive study on salesmanship from books of merit, in a year's time he has put in 156 hours of real study. In five years he has studied 780 hours. The average lecture hours per week in a college course are 15 hours. Fifteen hours divided into 780 is 52 weeks, equal to a year and a half of real study at college. And the 3 hours a week are hours used to help an agent rise to the top round of the insurance ladder. Some agents study 6 hours a week which in 5 years is equivalent to 3 years required for a law course. All agents should give this arithmetic test a tryout.

Organize Yourself. By Willard K. Bush.

I believe that every salesman should take a few minutes each morning to organize himself. In addition to making up his route for the day, it will pay him to get into the proper mental attitude so he will start the day right. If he starts the day right, it is more apt to end satisfactorily.

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