SALES METHODS

as though he were doing a favor to his friends. If he says he will speak to some of his friends and let you know, tell him that you would rather he would not do that. That you cannot sell his goods and he cannot sell yours, and that the art of approaching a man on the purchase of life insurance is such that it cannot be handled as most other commodities are handled.

If he says he will think it over and send you a list, tell him you appreciate his thoughtfulness, but not to put himself to that bother, but to just give you one name now and let that suffice.

How Shall We Create Prospects? By Theodore A. Waltrip. There are four or five answers to this question.

1. We create and may find prospects by reading. Reading the daily papers, the trade journals, the house organs, the advertisements that appear in these, the record of vital statistics, marriages, births, deaths, the mortgage releases, the announcement of new firms, the hotel registers, the society columns, and in fact every page of the daily and Sunday paper bristles with prospects.

2. One can secure prospects by observation. The live sales-man will keep his eyes open. He will note the changes in business, the new stores, new banks, new buildings of every description. He will see the contractor, the builder, the painter as well as the proprietor of the new plant or building. The keen observer will keep his eyes on the ambulance, the hearse, the fire wagons, the construction train, the baby carriage, for wherever these wheels stop there is a chance to write insurance on the first interview.

3. By friendliness and sociability. The friendly salesman will be friendly with his friends. He will make each one he writes the beginning of an endless chain method. There is no reason why business should not be based on friendship and friendship based on business. If our friends are not our prospects they should put us in touch with people who are or will be.

4. Perhaps the surest way to secure prospects is to go out on a straight canvass and search for them. To meet as many people as one can and cultivate all he sees who are probably prospects is a splendid rule. It is no more improper to ask a man who sits next to one in a street car his name and address than it is the man who has given you a ride in his automobile.

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