SALES METHODS

me that he is carrying all the life insurance he can afford I manipulate the conversation around to the point where it becomes necessary for him to say flatly whether he is any better off than he was when I sold him the last time. Most men dislike to admit that they are not progressing. They will not say out-right that they are no better off than they were. Certainly no man will claim that his circumstances are exactly the same. There has been some change. Perhaps he has new obligations. Maybe there has been an addition to his family. He may be buying a home on the partial payment plan. He may even have borrowed money, and in that way incurred an additional obligation. If he has done any of these things he needs more life insurance to cover.

If an agent believes in himself, the organization he is representing, and the contracts he is selling, he cannot help feeling that he has a much better chance with old policyholders. They know him and are familiar with what he does for them in the way of personal service. Old policyholders never have to hesitate about the character of the salesman who comes around to sell them again. They know their man. Of course, a salesman should be getting new accounts on his books all of the time and enlarging his circle, but there is a very large amount of business to be written among old members. When you come right down to it the man who is actually overinsured is a rare bird indeed.

Working with Bankers. By E. W. Nothstine.

The average banker does not have time to sell insurance, and you should be the trained salesman to look after his prospects and arrange to make regular trips to close up the prospects he finds for you. Three-fourths of the average salesman's time is put in finding the proper people to talk to ; that is, men who can pass, pay, and are in need of more protection. Mr. Banker knows his people and their needs; he has knowledge that you lack and there is every reason for a combination of knowledge and ability in order to accomplish the best results with the least possible lost motion. He should be shown how, by giving you his hearty co-operation, it will pay him dividends on time and information, that would otherwise be non-productive of from two to five thousand dollars per year.

40