UC-NRLF F^s^s EFFICIENCY GIFT OF a m EFFICIENCY PRACTICAL LESSONS IN Life Insurance Salesmanship • • • J • . BY FORBES LINDSAY Assistant Manager of the Home Office General Agency, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of California v^ ^'X &^ ^ ' * . • t c r . • • r ^' PREFACE The chapters composing this text-book are greatly curtailed summaries of lectures delivered by the author to the city agents of the Home Office General Agency of The Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of Cali- fornia. It is believed that they will be found useful to managers and superintendents of agencies as the basis for similar oral instruction. The writer has gained several valuable suggestions from a clever series of pamphlets, entitled "The Knack of Selling", issued by the publishers of "System". F. L. Los Angeles, Jan. 1, 1914. Digitized by tine internet Arclnive in 2007 witli funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.archive.org/details/efficiencypractiOOforbrich EFFICIENCY is the Alpha and Omega of Success. Efficiency is fitness: it entails the ability to do things and to do them rightly. There is a Hindi proverb which runs: "The road is paved with leather for the man whose feet are shod". In other words, Adaptation is the key to Facility. The man who has quali- fied himself for his work will find conditions favorable to success. The untrained life insurance salesman is constantly encountering difficulties due to his inefficiency. His energy is more or less mis- directed. His processes are largely haphazard and hampered by the friction of accident. In a word, he is Unfit and, consequently, Ineffect- ive. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE ESSENTIAL ATTITUDE. Self Assurance — Honest Dealing — Earnest Attitude — Preparation — Scientific Salesmanship. CHAPTER II. ELEMENTS OF LIFE INSURANCE. Participating and Non-partici'pating Insurance — Forms of Life In- surance — The Premium and its Constituent Parts — Methods of Using Dividends. CHAPTER IIL SECURING AND APPROACHING PROSPECTS. Preparation for the Approach — Meeting the Prospect — Overcoming Obstacles to Interviews. CHAPTER IV. PRESENTING THE POLICY. Divi'sions of the Policy Statement — Logical Sequence in Presenta- tion — Discriminating in Selection of Forms — Motives that Move Men to Insure. CHAPTER V. PREPARING THE CANVASS. Scientific Method of Preparation — Mode of Setting Forth Data — Specimen Illustration of Monthly Income Proposi'tion — Memo- randa of Arguments — Verbatim Specimen Canvass — Explanation of the Design and Purposes of the Method. CHAPTER VL CLOSING. Essentials to Success in Closing — Keeping Control of the Inter- view — Closing at the Earliest Opportunity — The Consecutive Stages of the Qosing Effort — Methods of Influencing the Pros- pect. CHAPTER VII. STANDARD FORMS OF INSURANCE. Term Insurance — Life Policies — The Monthly Income Policy — The Endowment Policy — Explanations of Various Forms and Illus- trations of Peculiar Advantages. CHAPTER VIII. COMMERCIAL LIFE INSURANCE. Purpose of Business Insurance — Business Insurance for the Corp- oration — Business Insurance for the Firm — Joint Insurance for Commercial Purposes — Specializing in Commercial Life Insur- ance. CHAPTER IX. MATERIAL AID TO EFFICIENCY. The Use and Abuse of Illustrations and Printed Matter in General — The Advantage of Making Statements in Percentages — Prospect Cards and other Memoranda — A Valuable Time-keeper and Check on Results — Systematic Record Card — A Method for Detecting Weakness and Strong Points — The Detective Card. CHAPTER X. GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. Systematic Work — Securing Cash with Application — Tlie Psycho- logical Moment — Extra Issues — Making it Easy for the Prospect — Cultivating Policyholders — Warning Against Underestimating the Prospect. EFFICIENCY CHAPTER I. THE ESSENTIAL ATTITUDE. Although the writer is not without hope that this little volume may be of some service to experienced Life Insurance agents, it is intended primarily for the use of beginners. To the latter this prefatory advice is especially addressed. The spirit that actuates you in an undertaking is of vital importance. Your success or failure may depend entirely upon it. What is your attitude toward the Life Insurance business? Are you treating it as a convenience or a make-shift? If so, your chances of success are slim indeed. Have you taken up the work as an experiment, or on trial? In that case you are handicapping your- self heavily. The doubt in your mind is acting as a brake on your progress. If you would give yourself a fair chance to "make good", you must set out with determination never to turn back. You must bring wholehearted devotion to your work. You must be moved by a singleness of purpose — by the idea of directing all your energy and faculties upon your business. When you have honestly attained this phase of mental attitude you are already a considerable distance along the road to Success. PRIDE IN YOUR PROFESSION. In these days. Life Insurance is such a highly spec- ialized business that it justly ranks with the profes- sions. Yale, Harvard, and half a dozen other universi- ties maintain courses in Life Insurance. 9 Not a* tew of the mont brtlliant and able men in this coui)try are engaged in the same calling as yourself. Yo?i may Weir be proud to claim it as your vocation. But, do not disgrace it and yourself by poor workman- ship. Closely akin to Pride in your Profession is Faith in your Company. "The best company'* is a relative term in Life Insurance. Your company must be the best for you. If there is any better you should be working for it. Satisfaction with your calling and belief in your company will promote your Efficiency and, at the same time, excite the Respect of your acquaintances. SELF-ASSURANCE. Believe in yourself. Count on Success. Every vic- tory is won in the imagination before the battle begins. The man who doubts is defeated ere he faces the issuer You don't know what you can do until you try. The outcome of a determined effort will surprise you. Aim at big things. What if you fail at the first attempt? Go to it again. The man who can come back smiling is the most formidable force in the world. HONESTY IN YOUR DEALINGS. Be square. Start out with a firm resolution to make Honesty control your thoughts and acts. Never fool yourself. Be a severe critic in Self-Exam- iiiation. Be an exacting task master in Self-Discipline. Remember your obligation to your company and your duty to your manager. From these sources you are receiving assistance, without which you could not carry on your business. An investment has been made in you, indicating Faith in your Integrity and Ability. Don't betray the Trust. The adage "Honesty is the best policy," is strikingly applicable to the business of Life Insurance. If you are permanently engaged in it, the best asset that you can create is a Reputation for Honest Dealing. It will act as a sinking fund, steadily earning interest, and 10 affording you a perpetual source to draw upon for new business. In considering a contract for a prospect, banish all calculation of commission. Base your recommendation on sincere judgment of his best interests. Every policy properly placed will put a permanent support under your structure of Success. THE EARNEST ATTITUDE. I have made no mention of Enthusiasm. It is apt to be fleeting and ill-balanced. Earnestness is a more serviceable quality. Enthusiasm is the smoke and report of a musketry discharge. Earnestness is the bullet. Both emanate from the same source, but one represents emotion: the other force. Enthusiasm is less substantial, less dura- ble than Earnestness. The former may excite a pros- pect's interest, the latter will secure his signature. In order to produce good results, you must have an Earnest Interest in your work. In order to have and to hold Interest, you must understand your business and be conscious of a certain degree of expertness in it. And nothing can keep your Interest alive to the same extent as constantly increasing Knowledge and Efficiency, accompanied, as they must necessarily be, by steadily growing Success. RECEPTIVENESS TO TEACHING. Successful men in every walk of life realize their limitations and need of improvement. The "know-it- alls" are always found in the ranks of failures. Com- mencing as poor workmen, they gain, from sheer ex- perience, a moderate measure of ability, remain sta- tionary for a few years, and then retrograde. With- out ever having run through a respectable edition, they become back numbers. To increase your Efficiency, you must be conscious of shortcoming and anxious to learn. Maintain a good opinion of your ability, cherish self-respect, cultivate confidence — but don't entertain the fatuous idea that you are beyond the range of instruction. 11 PREPARATION. There is nothing more important in life than Prep- aration. The successful man is he who turns oppor- tunities to account, and this can only be done by being prepared for them. Preparation as applied to Life Insurance salesman- ship is general and specific. The scope of it is practic- ally unlimited. Physical culture, mental training, ac- quisition of knowledge — all these are in line with it. As long as you remain in the business you will be en- gaged in Preparation — general preparation for greater accomplishment, and special preparation for particular efforts. This phase of Efficiency is in itself an extensive sub- ject which, if we should pursue it, would lead us into the fields of logic, psychology, and other abstract studies. In the following pages we shall be restricted to consideration of the acquisition of technical knowl- edge and practical methods of selling Life Insurance. SCIENTIFIC SALESMANSHIP. Have you a definite idea of an efficient canvass? Probably not. It is one for which preparation has been made by securing all available information about the prospect, by a careful analysis of the concrete proposi- tion to be presented, and by a thorough rehearsal of the main argument to be advanced. It is one in which the prospect's case is treated as a particular problem to be solved in a definite manner. It is one in which instead of a stereotyped description of the policy, just such features of it as may be calculated to appeal to the individual in the case are explained and dwelt upon — and no more. It is one which is brought to a suc- cessful conclusion by alert, discriminating brain work, by discovering and playing on the motive through which the prospect may most readily be led to desire the policy and resolve to take it. Any man may qualify himself to make his canvasses habitually in this manner — no one but may become, if he will, a good closer; that is master of his business. 12 You have been told, perhaps, that good closers are born such. Some of them are, but many others, and among them the best, are self-made and with pretty poor ma- terial to start on, at that. You can, with reasonable application and diligence, convert yourself from a mere hack to a scientific sales- man. It is surely worth the time and trouble. 13 CHAPTER IL THE ELEMENTS OF LIFE INSURANCE. Some time ago an automobile salesman endeavored to sell me a machine. In the course of a short talk he interested me greatly. I did not see him again for several weeks. When he next appeared, I learned that the interim had been passed at his company's works. He talked for an hour on the processes of manufacture and when he left I hoped never to see him again. You see, I was thinking of buying a car, — not of setting up a factory. So in Life Insurance, three months in the factory, — the actuary's department, — would ruin the best sales- man. Your prospect doesn't want to learn how we manufacture our policies. He is interested in hearing about the working parts and the service he may derive from them. It is sufficient for you to know the elementary princi- ples of Life Insurance in their practical bearing on your work. You can write applications efficiently with no more technical knowledge than that of the composition of a premium and the operation of the mortality tables. You must not misunderstand me, however. The danger I am warning you against is not the acquisition of knowledge, but the misuse of it. This is almost sure to result from too great attention to the technicali- ties of the business. A well-balanced daily ration would consist of one part theory and nine parts practice, and the former should have a close relation to the latter. For example, let us suppose that in the course of a day's work, you come into competition with another company, and take occasion to familiarize yourself with one or more of its policies. You have gained useful knowledge in a much more nractical and desirable manner than if you should sit down to study the contracts of half a dozen 14 companies, with an indefinite view to possible future contingencies. PARTICIPATING AND NON-PARTICIPATING INSURANCE. Legal Reserve life insurance is issued on two gen- eral plans. Under one of these the premium is subject to reduction by dividends. Under the other, the prem- ium remains constant at a guaranteed figure. Participating and Non-participating insurance have advantages peculiar to each system. As a practical issue the choice between the plans should be influenced by consideration of the particular requirements of the individual insurer. FORMS OF LIFE INSURANCE. There are but two basic forms of Life Insurance — Term Insurance and Pure Endowment. The principle of the former is the payment of a certain amount at the death of the insured, of the latter the payment at the end of a specified period provided the insured is living. The combination of these two forms in vary- ing degrees produces the many standard forms of life insurance. The Whole Life contract is simply term insurance for the entire life expectancy and the insured is required to pay premiums as long as he lives. The Limited Payment Life policy is identical with the Whole Life, except that the insured commutes the payments that he would be called upon to make under a Whole Life policy, undertaking instead to complete the pur- chase of the policy with a definite number of payments. An Endowment policy is a direct combination of Term insurance and Pure Endowment, and as a result provides for a certain amount either at the death of the insured or at the end of a specified period if the insured is then living. The Monthly Income policies differ only from the standard contracts in the manner of paying the claim. Such policies may be written on the life, limited payment life or endowment plans. THE PREMIUM— How It Is Constructed. • We will now analyze a Whole Life Participating premium at age 33, using this as a medium for demon- 15 strating why certain amounts are charged for Life Insurance and what becomes of the money. Our fig- ures will be approximations and may vary a little from technical precision for the sake of readier understand- ing. At the outset, let me ask you to bear constantly in mind that interest and the law of averages are the bases of all life insurance calculations and the effective factors in all life insurance results. All practical working premiums are composed of three elements: Mortality, or cost arising from death losses during the year. Reserve, the portion set aside for future losses; and Loading or Expense fund. For the premium under consideration, as paid for the first year, the segregation of these various elements is as follows: WHOLE LIFE ANNUAL DIVIDEND. Age 33 Premium $26.35 IVIortality - - $ 9.00 Reserve - - - 11.00 Loading - - - 6.00 THE MORTALITY CHARGE. Life Insurance companies calculate their "expected" or mathematical mortality on certain statistics repre- senting extensive experience. These tables may be relied upon to indicate the number of deaths at various ages which a well-managed company will need to pro- vide for yearly. The actual experience may vary from the tabular figures in certain years or even constantly, but there will be an average correspondence in any short period, say eight years and throughout the com- pany's operation. Let us assume a group of 1000 men, aged 33, as being insured for $1000 each. The American Experience Table of Mcrtality calls for 9 deaths per thousand per annum at that age, so that $9000 would be required to meet the claims, and a contribution of $9.00 from each man would furnish the necessary sum. If the insurance were terminable at the end of the 16 year, there would be no need to collect a greater amount. The mortality, however, is steadily increas- ing. Whilst $9000 would meet the death losses in the assumed group for the first year, it would require $15 per 1000 to do so in the twentieth year, and when the members had reached the age of 65, they would die at the rate of 40 per thousand. This increase in mortality might be, and, indeed, sometimes has been, provided for by a gradually rising premium. The objections to such an arrangement are obvious. The method in general practice is the Uniform An- nual Premium system. Under this a certain premium is fixed for the age at entry, and the same amount is charged every year throughout the life of the insured. For instance, excluding the margin for expense, at age 33, the constant annual payment of $20.00 is equivalent to graduated payments beginning with $9.00 and in- creasing yearly during the life of the policy. THE RESERVE. This $20 at 3 per cent interest will amount to $20.60, — let us say, for the sake of convenience, $21, — at the end of the first year. Death losses will call for $9, leaving $12. Now, this $12 is the nucleus of a sinking fund which will provide for the continuously increas- ing cost of insurance. Each year the difference be- tween the net premium of $20 and the amount of the tabular Mortality is set aside and constantly improved at interest. The fund thus created is called the Reserve. The aggregate of policy Reserves represents the re- source on which the Company depends to meet its contractual obligations. The maintenance of the Re- serve with accrued interest constitutes a distinct lia- bility, — is, in fact, a legal requirement. Its impairment would entail technical insolvency. The Mortality and Loading elements of the premium being used annually in the discharge of current lia- bilities, the Reserve represents all the money standing to the credit of a policy, — with the possible exception of dividends, which we shall consider later. The Re- 17 serve provides the Loan and Surrender Values, pays the Endowment, purchases the Paid-up Policy, and aids in the discharge of Death Claims. THE LOADING. We have seen that $20 paid annually by a man en- tering at age 33, and corresponding sums by men of other ages, will suffice to meet all death losses as they occur. But this does not leave any money for Ex- penses, or for losses other than by death, in accord- ance with the tabular expectation. It is necessary to add to the net premium a loading to provide for ex- pense of management, taxes, possible impairment of investments, etc. The net premium is the result of mathematical calcu- lation on exact data. The Loading is an arbitrary amount, but much the same with all companies. The principle illustrated here in connection with the Whole Life policy, is applied to all forms of insurance. Knowing the Level Premium necessary to be paid for life at a certain age, it is a simple calculation to arrive at the present worth of the future payments, and so fix the Single Premium. It is equally easy to equate these future payments into ten, fifteen or twenty prem- iums. As a matter of fact, the Actuary first finds his Single Premium and makes it the basis for calculating other premiums. The same principle applies to Endowment insurance. At age 33, the premium on a 20-year Endowment is $50.80. The Reserve is approximately $35. This Re- serve, together with the amounts accumulated from the succeeding premiums, with 3 per cent compound inter- est will amount to $1000 at the end of the endowment period. THE PREMIUM— What Becomes of It. Each policy account is kept separately and in detail. In the case which we are considering the first year's statement would reveal something like the following results: 18 Premium $26.35 Expenses at 15% 3.95 Effective Premium $22.40 Interest for one year, assuming rate of 5% 1.12 Accumulating Fund at end of year $23.52 Reserve at end of year $11.85 Mortality Cost, $8.62, assuming a saving of 15% 7.32 Total amount demanded $19.17 Balance $ 4.35 It should be explained that the Expense element of the premium is abstracted from it at the beginning of the year. The amount in question is used to meet cur- rent expenditures, and interest is not calculated upon it. This item is necessarily much larger in the earlier years than later, owing to the expense of placing the business on the books. For the sake of convenience an average rate of 15% has been assumed and applied to both exhibits. The elements of the Net Premium are separated and applied to their respective accounts at the end of the year, and after a full year's interest has been .earned on them. Usually it is found that the actual Mortality experience does not call for the appropriation of the full amount charged for the purpose, and a balance is carried to the Surplus fund. The next year's account would be similar except for the addition of the previous year's Reserve, making in all $11.85 and $22.40 or $34.25 at the beginning of the year to be placed at interest. The amount at risk decreases in proportion to the growth of the Reserve, although the Mortality increases at the same time. Let us take the 20th year. The death rate will be 15 per thousand, consequently the tabular Mortality cost will be $15 for one thousand of insurance. But each reserve fund has accumulated $306, so that the amount at risk is not $1000, but the difference be- tween these amounts or $694. The individual contribu- 19 tion necessary to meet the death losses is not $15 but $10.40, for if 15 die, involving a loss of $15,000, and each has a reserve of $306, aggregating $4590, the net loss is only $10,410. In the 20th year the policy ac- count would be somewhat as follows: Premium $26.35 Expense at 15% 3.95 Effective Premium $22.40 Reserve from previous year $287.90 Interest on $310.30 at 5% 15.52 $325.82 Mortality Cost 10.68 Reserve carried forward 306.33 $317.01 Balance $ 8.81 THE SURPLUS. Our two policy statements show that the insured paid $4.35 more than was necessary the first year and $8.81 in the 20th year, and of course, there was a vary- ing excess through intermediate years. If the Company had realized exactly 3% on its in- vested assets; if the death losses had exactly corre- sponded with the mortality tables, and if the entire loading had been used yearly, the amount on hand at the end of each year would have been the aggregate Reserves with the accrued Interest. We have seen, how- ever, that Interest earnings in excess of the calculated rate, gains from careful selection of risks and economy in management will create savings. The sum total of these savings is called the Surplus. As the experience of the Company in the matters of Mortality, Expense and Interest are apt to vary, a portion of the earned Surplus is retained to provide for contingencies. The balance is divided among the policyholders in the form of dividends. In the case under consideration the Surplus the first year is $4.35 and at the end of the 20th year $8.81. The company would pay dividends of about 16% and 34% respectively. There are several ways of disposing of dividends. They may be 20 (1) Applied in cash to reduce the succeeding premium. (2) Left with the company to accumulate at 3J^ per cent Compound Interest. (3) Used as a Single Premium to purchase Reversion- ary Additions. (4) Employed to accelerate the Reserve accumulation, with a view to curtailing the premium paying period. (5) Retained by the company for a certain period, to be paid at the end of the stipulated time only in the event of the policy being in force. The first named option, although the least profitable to the policy-holder, is the most frequently exercised; the second is the same in eflfect as the fourth; the last, — called the "deferred dividend system of distribution" - — is virtually abolished. To the man whose chief consideration is protection, the privilege of converting his dividends into Paid-up Insurance additions to fiis policy, should be the most attractive. To illustrate the working of this method: Let us assume that our hypothetical policy-holder uses his first yearns Dividend — 16% of the premium, $4.35, in this manner. At age 34, this amount will buy about $10 of Paid-up Insurance. In the event of his death in the following year, $1,010 would be paid by the Company. In the 20th year, when he is 54 years old, his Dividend of $8.81 will purchase an addition of about $15.00 which, together with his former additions, will have grown to about $240. The Insured may at any time surrender these paid-up additions for their reserve value which is available to him in Cash in the same manner as is the Reserve Cash Value of his original policy. Another way of looking at the advantage of allow- ing dividends to purchase paid-up additions to the policy is as follows: Under a 20 Payment Life policy issued at age thirty- three the policy would have a paid-up life insurance value in the seventeenth year of about $843.00. If the dividend apportioned under this policy had been al- lowed to purchase paid-up additions the sum of such 21 additions would unquestionably by the end of the sev- enteenth year be sufficient when added to the paid-up value of the policy as stated to produce a total paid-up amount of $1000. In this way it may be considered that the premium paying period is shortened three years, giving the insured a paid-up policy for the original face amount after the payment of seventeen premiums in- stead of twenty. 22 CHAPTER III. SECURING AND APPROACHING PROSPECTS. Securing prospects, although a primary necessity in the work of a Life Insurance agent, is the least diffi- cult phase of it. Any man of ordinary intelligence and mental activity may keep his supply of canvassing ma- terial constantly at high water mark with little effort. When we consider that Life Insurance is almost a uni- versal need, it does not appear that there can be any lack of persons favorable to an approach on the subject. The fact remains, nevertheless, that many agents overlook the most obvious and ready sources of pros- pects. A single Sunday issue of any city paper will afford enough suggestions in this connection to keep the most active man busy for two months, or more. The agent who has one policyholder possesses the nu- cleus of unlimited prospects. The registers of many highly successful solicitors show that each policy re- corded was traceable to one previously placed. This kind of business represents the greatest returns for the energy expended. The smaller the circle in which you work, the greater the economy of effort. If anyone doubts the plentifulness of prospects, let him make a straight canvass for seven hours of six days in succession. He will obtain enough material to supply him with sixty days* closing work. This is one of the most effective means of securing prospects. The degree of success attained will depend upon the temp- erament and qualifications of the agent. The man who is an adept at Approach cannot adopt any better method of seeking prospects than the straight canvass. Don't depend upon the lazy agent's prospect. He is everlastingly looking for the rare man who wants insur- ance. He is not a salesman. He is merely an order clerk. The manager can send one of the bookkeepers out to write a case of that sort. All you should look for in a prospect is a man who may reasonably be in- 23 terested in insurance. You are not half way efficient un- less you have confidence in your ability to do the rest. THE APPROACH. Having marked a man as a likely prospect, the first step is to approach him. Before doing so, it is w^ell to learn as much about him as you can. Any item of in- formation, no matter how seemingly irrelevant — may aid you in the after canvass. The time spent in this preliminary effort must be regulated by the prospect- ive profit in the case. This preparatory inquiry is of the utmost importance. It should enable you to decide on the amount and kind of policy, as well as the Motive to be played on. Not infrequently you will be in a position, from the knowl- edge secured beforehand, to prepare a clear cut can- vass and to present a definite proposition, distinctly adapted to the conditions of the case. This, in itself, will constitute a sufficient and business like reason for your approach. It will flatter your prospect and ex- cite his respect for you as a salesman. He will appre- ciate the fact that you have taken the trouble to gain the information necessary to the formation of a logical proposition. And he will readily concede a distinction between you and the haphazard agent, whose only ex- cuse for calling upon him is that "he would like to sell him some insurance". Now, as we prepare to confront our prospect some of us are beginning to feel anxious, nervous — and even fearful. If that is your state, I say: "Don't let it discourage you." Self-confidence is a very valuable qualification for the salesman, but he may make a big success without it. One of the largest writers of Life Insurance in this country is painfully diffident after eight years of success. He finds difficulty in summon- ing courage to enter the office of a man with whom he has an appointment. His Approach is miserably weak and he needs to employ another to prepare prospects for him. But, once he enters upon his canvass, he is a veritable whirlwind. The man who pitied him for his bashfulness at the opening of the interview, presently finds himself as a wisp of straw in his hands. 24 Intense interest in your proposition will banish self consciousness and fear. Cultivate intensity and con- centration. This will make your canvass forceful, no matter how halting may have been your Approach. Of the two, it were ten times more preferable to be a good closer than to be a good opener. You will prob- ably gain self-confidence with increased efficiency, but never forget that you may become a star salesman and remain as diffident as a debutante. Many a promising man has abandoned the career of Life Insurance be- cause he was persuaded that he could not succeed with- out Self Assurance. I have no thought of discounting the value of a pleasing personality, but it sinks into insignificance under a powerful presentation of a policy. Some of the most successful salesmen are positively repulsive in appearance. Not a few suffer from physical defects that are fearful handicaps. A man who was for years in the million-dollar class of Life Insurance producers, exuded a disgusting odor from his person as a result of diabetes. He was keenly conscious of this disagreeable fact, but five minutes after he and a prospect were seated together both completely for- got everything but the proposition under consideration. I have dwelt upon this point for the encouragement of any among you that may belong to the numerous class who are constitutionally diffident in approaching strangers. If you cannot overcome this difficulty, you may minimize its effect by strengthening yourself in the more important stages of the Canvass. If you lack skill in inserting the wedge, acquire force to drive it home. Thus, though your closing interviews may be comparatively few, your percentage of applications, secured will be exceptionally high. Any one of the many text books on Life Insurance Salesmanship will give you a number of more or less trite suggestions bearing on the Approach. I will re- strict myself to an explanation of the principles under- lying this phase of the Canvass. Getting in to see a prospect is largely a matter of knack. It is not sufficient to depend upon sheer nerve. 25 That often leads to "butting in" and overlooks the fact that the main purpose is not to see the man but to sell him. You might enter a busy man's office by the win- dow, but it is very doubtful whether you could place a policy with him after doing so. Let us first consider the case of the man who comes out to see you. His very doing so betrays an intention to be rid of you there and then. If you are going to permit him to carry out his object, you had better not have wasted time on the call. This is the moment to measure your strength of purpose with his, and the re- sult of this preliminary contest of will may exert a great influence in the ultimate outcome of your nego- tiations with him. If he has his way now, your entire purpose is hazarded, if not destroyed. If he yields to you, you have advanced a step in the path which you must pursue to secure his application. I will not talk business to a man with a rail, or counter, much less a grating between us. Not to mention the principle which we have just discussed, the psycho- logical effect of the physical barrier is too much of a disadvantage to me. Nor will I open a canvass on my feet. The position is too suggestive of quitting. If a man meets me under any of these conditions, I say, in decisive tones: "I wish to speak to you on a matter of business Mr. Smith. We will step back to your desk for a few minutes, if you please." At the same I move in the desired direction, quietly going through the gate, if there is one, and offering my hand as I reach his side. The physical contact at that crit- ical moment has a potent effect. Nine times out of ten my man will permit me to lead him to his office. If he persists in knowing my business I say that "I prefer to state it in private". This will seldom change his decis- ion. When he repeats the question, I reply as pleas- antly as possible: "You will pardon me, Mr. Smith, if I decline to deviate from my rule not to discuss my business under unfavorable conditions. It is too im- portant, and experience has taught me that unless I may present my proposition to a man when he can give it his undivided attention, I am wasting his time and 26 my own/* With this I put on my hat and hand him my card. Now, it has frequently happened that just at this point the right kind of impression has been created, with the result that the man has said, "Come right in." I cannot too strongly condemn the practice of trick- ery, equivocation, or deception in the effort to secure an interview. It is the poorest sort of introduction to a man whose confidence you must gain in order to do business with him. You cannot open your canvass under a worse condition than that of having a subject moved by anger, surprise or disappointment, occasioned by your devious method of gaining entrance to his office. PASSING THE BARRIERS. Let us liken the Canvass to a tapering wedge with the application at the butt end of it. We must provide this instrument with a thin sharp edge, capable of be- ing slipped into the narrowest crevice. This edge is the Approach. In many cases the prospect has interposed a barrier between him and you, though not you any more than other unappointed visitors. This he has been obliged to do in self protection, if he is a busy and successful man. It is just such men that you most desire to see, and you must devise means of in- serting the '.hin end of your wedge under the barrier. This barrier may be a rail, an office boy, secretary, or telephone operator. Whichever it be you must confront the obstacle with self possession and the air of having important business with the man you seek. The very fact of its being important is suffi^cient rea- son for declining to disclose it to an employee. Tell him that pleasantly and enlist his aid in getting in. You can do this in a manner to flatter and gratify him. "I am very anxious to see Mr. Blank for a few min- utes. I am in somewhat of a hurry, but if you'll be kind enough to let me know as soon as he is disen- gaged ril wait awhile. I shall be ever so much obliged to you." Deliver this with the most compelling smile at your command. Now you have the young man interested in your ef- 27 fort. He has tacitly consented to do you a favor. Under such circumstances I have seen him jealously watching another man to see that he didn't get in be- fore his visitor. When the coast is clear, he will either show you to your prospect's door, or inform the lat- ter. "Mr. Doe has been waiting to see you, Sir". In either case you will probably go right in. If, however, the clerk returns with an inquiry as to your business, you are up against a hard case. To send in a card would be useless. You must resort to a note. What is the difference? A great deal — though I can't tell you exactly wherein it lies. The novelty and the personal touch count for something, but the main effect is unquestionably derived from the contents of the note. Thought will suggest innumerable forms. Essential qualities must be brevity and truth. You must be able to stand for every word in your note when you meet your prospect. A highly successful salesman is quoted by "System" as using the following note or a variation of it, with the desired result in ninety per cent of cases. "Mr. Blank, a business card costs about one half cent. My time is wroth fifteen cents a minute. But my proposition is so important, both to you and to me, that I can better afford to devote several minutes of my time to this note — and you will agree with me when you hear what I have to say." The following is the substance of a note which I have used effectively in Wall Street on some of the busiest men in New York: "Mr. Blank, my business is with you personally. I sincerely believe that it will interest you. At any rate, that is a point which you can decide in five minutes, — and I seriously doubt whether you can afford to forego that degree of investigation." In such cases my cutting edge had to be unusually long, so that it would keep on driving in and enable me to create immediate interest. I had to make good on the "five minutes" proposition in my note. These prospects were never approached without care- ful preparation. I was always well-informed as to my 28 man's business and domestic aflFairs, and ready to make in three minutes some statement logically calcu- lated to interest him in one or the other connection and convince him that I had devoted mature thought to the matter. The telephone operator is the most difficult barrier to pass. The man at the other end of the wire is sure to ask your business and 3'^ou cannot employ the note. I resort to a scheme which converts this difficulty into something of an advantage. When the girl turns with "Mr. Blank would like to know your business, please," I lean over the switch- board and say, so that my prospect may hear me, "Very well, kindly let me have that receiver one moment." Then I talk to my man and can generally gain his con- sent to see me. (This method was not practicable when the telephone girls wore a sort of electrocuting con- trivance over their heads.) Underlying all these suggestions are principles of psychology. We cannot examine these closely but it may be stated that your appeal for an interview must be based on one of four different grounds. They are: Personal Interest, Business Duty, Sense of Fairness or Sympathy, or Natural Instinct for choosing the easier of Two Courses. I have given an illustration of the first in the case of the clerk whose interest you arouse. You may excite the Sense of Business Duty in the president of a corp- oration, to whom you wish to present a proposition for commercial insurance, by a note stating that you desire to see him on a matter concerning the stockholders of his company. The third ground may be taken with a busy prospect by conveying to him the impression that you too are busy and chary of wasting time. By puz- zling your prospect and exciting his curiosity you may induce him to decide that the easiest course is to see you. My Wall Street note was designed to appeal in some measure to each of these motives for acquiescence in mj^ request for an interview. 29 CHAPTER IV. PRESENTING THE POLICY. Your knowledge of the policies you have to sell must be thorough and the presentations flexible. You must be able to describe them, not only in the ordin- ary course, but from the middle, in either direction, and from the end backwards, if necessary. When you can do this, interruptions will not embarrass you. You will be able to break off in your Canvass to answer an inquiry, or discuss an objection, and readily return to the point of divergence and resume your explanation. Your statement of a policy contract should be di- vided into definite sections, logically connected, but separable, so that you may present them in varying sequence and expatiate on one, whilst you pass lightly over another, as the conditions of the case in hand demand. The policy should be as a lump of plastic clay in your hands, so that, without changing its essential composition, you can make it assume whatever form you desire, — protection for dependents, provision for old age, security for the business man, saving for the salaried employee, and so forth. You must be able to present the same policy in half a dozen different as- pects to as many prospects. It will be the same policy and the same canvass, but the presentation and the plan will differ with the prospect. When you have acquired this facility, your Canvass will be neither haphazard nor stereotyped. Your talk will not be a dull monotonous recital, calculated to hypnotize yourself and put your prospect to sleep. Instead of drowsing through your proposition you will present it in a lively fashion and with wits alert. Your story, although the same in substance, will sound dif- ferent from that which your prospect has heard from a dozen other agents. Did you ever mark the contrast between an ex- 30 temporary prayer and one which was part of a regular church service? In the latter case, preacher and con- gregation go through almost automatic processes, the one in speaking and the others in following him. The former case demands mental activity on the part of the speaker and the hearers. The prescribed prayer is the smoother in delivery, but the extemporaneous pray- er is the more forceful. Such is the difference between the routine canvass and the flexible canvass. A simple division of the policy statement is into four sections: 1. Principle Benefit. 2. Secondary Bene- fits. 3. Contingent Benefits. 4. Kind, Cost and Re- turns. (I may disclaim, in passing, any attempt at pre- cision in phraseology. The main object is to secure distinctive terms.) In the study and analysis of a policy contract, adopt this subdivision. Assemble the different features under the appropriate headings. Do this on paper until, in a mental survey of the policy, each element falls into its proper place, without effort on your part. Then you will be capable of a flexible canvass. You will be able to transpose the sections in any manner, without the least confusion or impairment of the clear-cut qual- ity of your statement. In the above enumeration the sections are given in the logical sequence. This may conflict with your present idea, but a little thought will induce you to agree with me. Probably you commence your Canvass with a statement of the premium, and then go on to an explanation of the surrender values. You do this because the policy statement is so arranged in your rate book and you have learned it by rote. Now, the effect of your method is to produce in your prospect's mind an adverse attitude at the outset. You open up by confronting him with the one difficulty which stands in the way of his accepting your offer and you do this before you have put forward your proposition. Then you go on to suggest the possibility of failure to complete the contract. You talk about surrendering a thing of which your man has not -yet begun to seriously consider the possession. 31 If you were trying to dissuade your prospect, this would be the best way to go about it. These are pre- cisely the features of the policy, — cost and surrender — that a man's wife or friend dilates upon, when endeav- oring to deter him from taking it. Your object is to Create Desire. Therefore present the benefits first of all. For my part, I seldom mention the surrender con- ditions, nor allow any word synonymous with "lapse" to enter into my Canvass. I do, however, draw atten- tion to the loan privilege. Leave the matter of the cost to the last and then rivet it to the settlement. Never let the former appear in your prospect's mind, except with the other as an accompaniment. It is not difficult to accomplish this. When you state the prem- ium, write down beside it, in good bold figures, the ulti- mate returns. Make the point more impressive by re- peating it again on paper in the form of a percentage. Now let us return to the sections of our policy pre- sentation, and examine their component parts. PRINCIPAL BENEFIT. This represents the chief purpose of the insured. It is covered by the main pro- vision of the contract. It is either indemnity or endow- ment. Under any of the various forms of life policies, the principal benefit is Death Indemnity payable in a specific sum, or as an income, to a designated bene- ficiary. Under the different endowment policies, the principal benefit is the payment of a certain amount, or income to the insured. SECONDARY BENEFITS. This section embraces any extraneous features that may be attached to the policy, such as Total Disability, Accident and Health Insurance. These are distinctly benefits to the insured. CONTINGENT BENEFITS. These are the Loan and Surrender Values. They may be likened to the life-boats on board a ship. One enjoys a comfortable knowledge of their presence against emergency, but docs not care to indulge in lengthy contemplation of their purpose. KIND, COST AND RETURNS. Here we group the technical description of the Policy, the Premium, Dividends and Options of Settlement. 32 To illustrate: Twenty-Payment Life, Participating, $10,000. Premium $378. Twentieth year $10,000 Paid- up Policy, or $6,660 in cash. Dividends from 10 to 45 per cent, averaging 25 per cent. You amplify this bald statement by showing your prospect that, at age 55, he may secure paid-up insur- ance to the amount of $1.80 for every dollar he has deposited with the company. Or, he may take a cash settlement, in which case, after having enjoyed twenty years* protection, he will receive considerably more than the aggregate of his net payments to the company. Now let me draw your attention to the variations in importance of the several sections. When you are sell- ing an Income Policy, Section Number Four is of the least consequence; when you are selling a Life Policy it is a secondary consideration; when you are selling an Endowment it is the matter of chief concern. If you are talking to a man whose salary is dependent on his continuous service, or to a professional man, whose income is contingent on his activity, you should expatiate upon the valuable safeguards provided by Number Two. If your prospect is considering a Monthly Income Policy, dwell upon Number One, — the primary purpose and the perfect provision made for its attainment. In a case of Business Insurance, Number Three, in so far as it relates to the value of the policy as collateral se- curity and the creation of a sinking fund, will loom large in your canvass. I must leave you to think out for yourselves other applications of the principle which I have been trying to explain to you. I will suggest that you take for your subjects in this practice, pros- pects whom you already have in hand. In time, — and before long, you will approach each prospect with a definite idea of the particular kind of Canvass which you are going to bring to bear upon him. Your final decision in this matter will be controlled by the Motive to which you purpose appealing. Allow me to pause for a few moments to interject a caution. Don't become mentally muscle-bound. These instructions are worth less than nothing unless they can be reduced to the most effective practice. I am 33 going to state the principal motives which influence men to take insurance. I am going to urge you to look for the dominant motive in your Prospect. But don't forget that all this is merely the means to secur- ing applications. Don't let science blind you to sense. If you can close a man who has no apparent motive or reason for taking insurance, let the system go. Close him, and satisfy your curiosity after you have delivered the policy. I remember a remarkably glib book salesman hap- pening along with a publication which I had determined to buy on the first opportunity. He had hardly started his Canvass when I agreed to purchase the work. This evidently disappointed him. Instead of producing the order blank he resumed his talk. I insisted on clos- ing the transaction. He complied, of course, but he was clearly aggrieved. We were not acting according to Hoyle. I ought to have allowed him to show me the various features of the work and to make his verbal presentation of its merits. As a matter of fact, he only escaped spoiling the sale, because I was strongly desirous of possessing the book. Let me impress upon you, then, that you are learn- ing and will practice the science of salesmanship for the sole purpose of securing business. It is valuable to you in so far as it may be made to serve that pur- pose and no more. As an abstract study it is not worth the price of a bag of peanuts to you. It will make your work more interesting, but see to it that your interest is not centered in the theory but in the appli- cation of it. You will find that the principal motives that prompt men to take insurance may be grouped under the fol- lowing heads. 1. Love of Kin. 2. Desire for Gain. 3. Prudence. 4. Desire for Utility. 5. Satisfaction of Pride. Seldom is a man moved by one of these influences solely, but in the majority of instances, one of them predominates over all other considerations for his action. Now, the usual set Canvass, with its uniform policy presentation, is an appeal to all these motives 34 in general, and none in particular. It is spreading the jam too thinly to create a taste. In most cases pre- liminary inquiry, or tactful questioning of the Pros- pect, will direct you to the Motive, which is most likely to actuate him. You must concentrate on this, advanc- ing such arguments and presenting such features of the policy as are calculated to stimulate the motive in ques- tion. Let us review our classification. You are working on a man who cherishes his family above all things. You oflFer a Monthly Income Policy and dwell upon the completeness and security of its protection. You are appealing to his Love of Kin, but you should not make the same canvass in the case of a man whose chief characteristic is selfishness, or Desire for Gain. You would present some endowment form to him, ex- patiating on the prospective benefits to himself, and hardly mentioning Death Indemnity. Your prospect is a provident man and habitually foresighted. You would appeal to his Prudence by emphasizing the ad- vantage of a policy as a medium of saving. The De- sire for Utility is a frequent Motive in Commercial Insurance. It leads a man to take insurance for the security of creditors and the benefit of executors. It induces a speculator and frequent borrower to carry policies for their collateral value. When Desire for Utility is the Motive, Section Number Three of your policy presentation comes into play. You enlarge up- on the Loan value; you draw attention to the effect of insurance in the enhancement of credit; you point out the maximum rate of interest on loans and com- pare it with the rates usually current in periods of monetary stringency. It is astonishing how often Satisfaction of Pride is the prevailing Motive. Many large applications are se- cured by an appeal to it. We all know the influence of a list of prominent policy-holders, or the effect upon his neighbor of a man taking out a policy. 35 CHAPTER V. PREPARING THE CANVASS. Only the haphazard salesman jumps the track, or gets stalled. The man who has a definite plan and a prearranged canvass may be opposed, contradicted, in- terrupted and otherwise interfered with, but he will stick to the line and keep moving toward the terminus. In his progress it is necessary to take the Prospect with him. This can be done only by inducing the Pros- pect to think certain thoughts which shall carry him through the stages of Desire, Willingness and Resolve. If the attempt to create this course of reflection is based upon general arguments and stereotyped state- ments, some of the agent's suggestions are apt to be weak, if not positive misfits. A Canvass based on a pre-acquired knowledge of the Prospect's condition, and designed to stimulate a cer- tain Motive will bring forth a Policy Presentation and arguments logically applicable to the particular case. Such a Canvass has the double effect of Impressing the prospect and Inspiring the agent with Confidence. This is scientific salesmanship — the application of commonsense principles to the task in hand. The agent who employs such methods will sell more Life Insurance than another of greater natural ability, who makes his Canvass in a haphazard manner. Let us assume that you have a prospect upon whom you purpose calling, or with whom you have already an appointment. You are in possession of as much in- formation about him as you can secure. (Don't treat anything relative to your Prospect as unimportant. The fact that he plays the flute may be turned to ac- count in your canvass.) You set about preparing a definite Canvass for this particular Prospect, beginning by jotting down your data, somewhat in the following form: Prospect, John Doe. 36 Superintendent Cole Auto Co., Salary $4,500. Born Dec. 16, 1871. Age 42. Change June 16. Widower. Two children. Son 20 years, self-sup- porting. Daughter 18 years, at private academy. Carries $12,000 Life and $10,000 Accident Insurance. Lives carefully; said to be saving about $1,500 a year. Dotes on daughter and proud of son. Member of Jonathan and Country Clubs. Hobbies botany and local history. Close friend of Richard Roe, who car- ried $25,000 with our Company. Your next step is to consider that data carefully and to decide on the form of policy best adapted to a man in these circumstances. Our illustration involves an obvious case. Our man has enough insurance to settle his affairs at death and to leave a few thousand dollars to each of his children. His son will be able to take care of himself — but there is not adequate provision for the daughter. The Monthly Income Policy is clearly indicated. As to form and amount, a man who is saving $1,500 a year can well afford six units — that is to say, $60 a month — on the Twenty Payment Life Plan. Your next move is the preparation of your Policv Presentation which you will map out in the following manner: Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Principal Secondary Contingent Kind, Cost, Benefit. Benefits. Benefits. Etc. Life Total Loan Values 20-Pay Mo. Income to Permanent 3rd yr...$ 522 Inc. Daughter Disability 5th " .. 1092 $14,400 $60 a 10th " .. 2688 $60 Monthly Month. 15th " .. 4547 Premium 20th " .. 6804 $463.80. From 40% to about 75%. Note. We are using a Non-participating Premium in this case. Now you proceed to jot down the heads of your arguments, having decided that you are going to make 37 your Canvass mainly, if not entirely, on the perfect protection and the low cost as compared with the bene- fit. Your memoranda will assume something of the following form. Protection perfect. Daughter absolutely assured of income for life. Contract creates trust in hands of one of the strongest financial institutions in the country. Income cannot be sold, hypothecated, nor misappropri- ated in any way. To secure same protection otherwise, would be neces- sary to bequeath sum of $18,000 assuming 4% might be earned on it continuously. Executors may die, fail in judgment, or prove derelict. In any case they must make charge for their services. Beneficiary's present expectation of life 44 years. After Prospect has exhausted his expectation she will still have 25 years, but annuitants are notably more than ordinarily long-lived. In consideration of Prospect paying $463 a year for maximum period of 20 years — he may make but one payment, — Company undertakes to pay his beneficiary $720 a year for minimum period of 20 years and as much longer as she lives, which may be 60 years or more. To repeat. Prospect pays trifle more than 3% of $14,000 for 20 years at utmost. Company pays 5% of same amount for 20 years at least. Now write out your canvass, adding any special argu- ments that may occur to you. Memorize it, but do not attempt to learn it by rote. Put it aside for future use. Make memoranda on the back of a card of the princi- pal figures, if necessary. It is better to talk entirely from memory and this you will be able to do with a little practice. Each of the first Canvasses prepared in this manner may occupy two or three hours' time. When you have been through the process a dozen times you will be in possession of the skeleton frameworks for all the usual policy forms and will have acquired facility in modifying them to fit individual cases. You should not begrudge the time and trouble spent in this direction. With such a Canvass, you may rea- 38 sonably expect to close one in every three men upon whom you make the attempt. Your present average is probably one in every fifteen or twenty. It is much less laborious and much more effective to do your work thoroughly and properly than it is to do it super- ficially and in slovenly fashion. The assembled memoranda consist of data relating to your Prospect, the salient points of the Policy you decide to be best adapted to his requirements, and a brief summary of arguments to support your proposi- tion. The preparatory Canvass constructed from this ma- terial should be as brief and clear as you can make it, consistent with comprehensive statement. Bear in mind that verbosity is not the object, but clarity and logic. In composing this Canvass, have in mind the three stages of mental evolution, which you must induce in your prospect, — Desire, Willingness and Resolve. This consideration will lead to dividing your Canvass into three sections. These will be (1) the Presentation of the Benefits; (2) a Statement of the Comparatively Low Cost; and (3) a Strong Closing Argument. The Motive to be stimulated in this case is evidently Love of Kin. You will play upon it throughout your Canvass avoiding any suggestion that might divert your Prospect's thought from that Motive, and, there- fore, ignoring Sections 2 and 3 of the policy subdi- visions. When you have completed it, after three or four drafts, if necessary, your Canvass should be somewhat like the following. "Mr. Doe, I am taking it for granted that your son will fulfill his early promise of success in business, and that he will be able to take care of himself in the future. The proposition I have prepared for you re- lates exclusively to your daughter. I am going to show you a safe and economical method of providing her with an income of sixty dollars a month from the time of your death to the time of her death. "The kind of policy I have in mind affords the MOST 39 PERFECT PROTECTION POSSIBLE and for that reason a greater number of business men are now-a- days insuring under this form than under all the other forms of insurance combined. A Monthly Income Policy renders assurance doubly sure by guaranteeing that the provision which you make for your daughter will be effective, NOT ONLY IMMEDIATELY AF- TER YOUR DEATH, BUT AS LONG AS SHE LIVES. "You may, like many another man, have felt some uneasiness as to the ultimate disposition of the money which you intend to Teave. We all know that women are commonly careless in money matters. They must depend upon the advice of others in making invest- ments. Their inexperience renders them peculiarly lia- ble to mistakes, with consequent loss. It is quite likely that some such considerations have caused you concern for the welfare of your daughter, after she shall have lost the benefit of your care and advice. "The form of insurance of which I am speaking re- moves all such anxiety. The death claim is paid as an income throughout the life of the beneficiary. TFIE CONTRACT CREATES AN ABSOLUTE TRUST in the hands of one of the strongest and most conserva- tive institutions in the country. The income cannot be lost, sold, encumbered, or disposed of in any but the manner agreed upon between you and the Company. The money you design for the support of your daugh- ter cannot possibly be diverted from its purpose. The necessity of investment and the risk of loss are entirely obviated. In short, you are enabled, through the med- ium of a policy of this kind, to carry the care which you exercise for your daughter during your lifetime, beyond your death and to extend it through her life- time. "It is safe to say that you could not accomplish the same object in any other way, except at considerably greater expense. Suppose that you should provide an income of $60 a month or $720 a year, by a four per cent yield from $18,000. This is a sum nearly twice as great as my company requires, even though you live to 40 completely pay up your policy. Besides are you sure that the $18,000 investment is going to remain intact and without depreciation? Executors may die, fail in judgment, or prove derelict. Even a husband is not always the best curator of his wife's property. Then, what institution will guarantee four per cent for an indefinite term of years? Your daughter's present ex- pectation of life is forty-four years, and even after you have exhausted your expectation, the tables give her twenty-five years. "As a matter of fact Mr. Doe, YOU CAN'T DO IT. If you attempt to provide for your daughter with a safe and fixed life income, independently of a life insurance company, it will cost you considerably more than twice as much as by the means I am urging upon you. *'Now let us see what my Company has to offer you. We will give you a policy of $14,400 on the Monthly Income plan at a cost of $463.80 annually for twenty years, when it will be paid up. The contract guarantees the payment to your daughter of $60 at your death and a like amount every month thereafter AS LONG AS SHE LIVES. Should she die before receiving 240 in- stalments, the balance, or their lump sum equivalent, will be paid to her heirs. In any event the face amount of the policy will be disbursed." "Let me put the proposition in another way. In con- sideration of your paying to the Company $463, for a MAXIMUM PERIOD OF TWENTY YEARS, (you may, of course, pay no more than one premium), the Company agrees to pay to your beneficiary $720 a year for a MINIMUM PERIOD OF TWENTY YEARS and as much longer as she may live." "Or, suppose that we look at it in another light. You pay to the company a trifle more than three per cent of $14,400 for TWENTY YEARS AT THE MOST, and the Company pays to your beneficiary five per cent of the same sum for NOT LESS THAN TWENTY YEARS and possibly for fifty. (Here you start to close.) "It is a splendid investment any way you look at it,, but that is of less account than the ABSOLUTE CER- 41 TAINTY OF THE PROVISION for your little girl, whose welfare is of more concern to you than anything in life. "Mr. Doe, if our strongest trust company should say to you: 'What will you pay us to assure your daughter of a comfortable income during her lifetime, — of a suffi- cient sum, paid regularly and certainly, to guard her against any possibility of need or discomfort?' You would reply, 'Almost anything. The price could hardly be too great.' "But that is precisely what our Company, which is stronger than our strongest trust company, does offer to do for you, and it undertakes to guarantee this great benefit at a cost of not more than $463 a year. When you have made the first payment you will be assured that should you be cut off the day after, or the next week, your child's material welfare will be placed beyond the range of doubt or misfortune. You can enjoy the com- fortable assurance that as long as she may live she will receive a monthly reminder of her father's forethought and care for her. "There is only one other proviso, — that you shall pass a satisfactory medical examination. I don't doubt that 3^ou can do so. At any rate we may settle that question within the hour. With your permission I will telephone to our examiner as soon as we have filled out your application." You will notice that several features of the policy have not been mentioned, but enough has been said to sell it in the majority of cases. Let the prospect raise other points if he desires. I have taken many applica- tions for this kind of insurance without reference to the minimum payments guaranteed, until the delivery of the policy, and then pleased the purchaser by show- ing him that he had bought more than he realized. The arrangement of this Canvass is designed to pro- mote particular purposes which will be pointed out in the discussion of closing. We must assume that you will formulate well de- fined Policy Presentations for at least the standard forms of contract. You will rehearse these until the 42 various features automatically group themselves in their appropriate sections. You will study these sec- tions z^nd their composite parts, so that you can readily decide which of them will bear with greatest force on certain persons, and which are best calculated to stimulate certain Motives. Now, as you acquire the degree of facility in ques- tion with regard to three or four policy forms, you come into possession of the skeletons, or frameworks of as many Canvasses. You will build about these foundations general and specific arguments, For in- stance, your presentation of Section No. 1 must be supported by a strong statement of the duty of pro- viding for dependents, or the value of provision for the future. You should gather from an accident sales- man some of his strongest points for use in connection with your Section No. 2, and so on. In order to keep your Canvass fresh and lively you must make constant alterations in the clothing of your skeleton. The garments will always be the same in their essential character, coat, vest, breeches, and the rest, but you should possess plenty of material to change the aspect more or less. Vary the color of the cravat, the pattern of the shirt, the cut of the coat and so forth. Store up a stock of arguments. Make a practice of thinking out new ones. You will form the habit of carefully preparing a special Canvass for each prear- ranged closing interview. When you do so, you must consider fresh arguments particularly adapted to the case in hand. These should be strengthened by illus- trations drawn from the business of your Prospect. You will find it a most effective practice to use the terms in which the man is accustomed to speak and think in his everyday work. 43 CHAPTER VI. CLOSING. Closing is the most critical part of the Canvass, but let me impress upon you that every phase of your project, from the preparatory stage onwards, is highly important and has its influence upon your final effort. Whether you Close or fail to Close, will depend on your Efficiency, or lack of it, in the consecutive steps leading up to the application form. Now, let us assume that you are about to open a Canvass. An interview has been afforded you for the specific purpose of talking insurance. This interview is yours. You have a right to control its course, and unless you do so, a successful result is improbable. You start with a definite goal in sight and with a definite path leading to it. You and your prospect must travel this road together. It is absolutely necessary that you keep him to it. I do not mean to say that you should not give him ample opportunity to talk to the point. What I mean is that you must not allow him to make excursions into the field of subjects for- eign to the business in hand. If he attempts to do so, it is the clearest evidence that your proposition is not the most interesting matter before his mind at the moment and it must be that if you are to secure his application. Nothing will help more in keeping control of an interview than having a clear-cut idea of the Motive to which you are appealing, and consequently of the thoughts that ought to be running through the Pros- pect's mind whilst you are speaking. He must be in- duced to mingle his interest with yours. You and your Prospect must forget each other and become thoroughly absorbed in the proposition under consid- eration. Your thought and his must run along the same line and in the same direction. 44 Under such conditions it will not be difficult to prompt your Prospect by suggestion, to voice some of the arguments which you desire to advance. The most masterly Canvass is one in which the Prospect is made to "write himself", as the saying is, and led to believe that he has made his decision by the independent ex- ercise of his judgment. You must be prepared to put teeth into your talk on occasion. You will not, of course, be rude or tact- less, but do not hesitate to express yourself strongly when there are just grounds for doing so. A great deal of failure is due to an over desire to please, and a corresponding fear of saying anything that may in the least jar on the Prospect's sensibilities. Bear in mind that you and your Prospect are two business men meeting on equal terms to discuss a matter of import- ance to both of you. You have a perfect right to ex- press yourself freely and strongly. Your Prospect will undoubtedly respect you for doing so. Too many agents have an idea that three or four interviews should be devoted to a case. They work on the principle of securing a gradually cumulative effect, which is the most difficult method of writing insurance. When you have said all that is necessary about your Proposition and have given your Prospect ample opportunity to say all that he may desire, there is nothing more to be done but to write the applica- tion. If this essential talk on both sides is accomp- lished at one interview, then the case should be closed without another. Whenever you open a Canvass, do so with the thought in mind of getting the application at that sitting. We have likened the Canvass to a wedge with the Approach at the thin end and the Application at the butt. Your constant purpose throughout the interview is to drive this wedge completely home. In order to do so you must create in your Prospect's mind a favorable attitude toward your proposition, — but this is by no means enough. You may excite Desire and still be far from the ac- 45 complishment of your object. You may develop Desire into Willingness and even then you will not have reach- ed the goal. Willingness must be capped by Resolve. Desire, Willingness and Resolve. These are the stages of mental evolution in a successful Canvass. You will readily perceive the distinction between these conditions. A man may desire to possess a thing which he is quite unwilling to purchase. Or, he may be willing to buy and lack the resolution to do so. It requires no special ability to bring a Prospect to the stage of Willingness. Carrying him forward to the condition of Resolve is the most difficult phase of the Life Insurance agent's work. It is Closing. This is the critical point of the Canvass. It is the point at which Efficiency or its absence, is most con- spicuous. The good Closer converts Willingness into Resolve, when the poor closer is satisfied with a prom- ise which is seldom fulfilled. The prevailing Motive creates the Willingness, and the same medium must be employed in clinching the Resolve. Expert salesmen reserve one or more of their strongest arguments for this purpose, to be used in drawing the Prospect across the narrow gap that lies between Willingness and Resolve. Closing being the climax of the Canvass, it stands to reason that the eflfect of the effort to close will de- pend largely upon the degree of efficiency which has been exercised in the preceding stages of the Canvass. It is much less difficult to map out a definite course and method to be employed in the earlier stages than it is to give precise directions for the Closing. With- 46 out doubt, Closing may be justly described as an art, but there is a great deal of knack in it, and the charac- ter of the latter will varj^ with the individual. An adept closer can tell you the principles on which he proceeds, but he can never exactly describe the little knacks which he uses as lubricants to facilitate the in- sertion of the thick end of the wedge. These are ap- plications of psychological laws which he employs un- consciously, or, at least, without clear definition of them in his mind. They are the outcome of experience and observation, to which sources the novice must re- sort for the acquisition of them. Fear of Failure is the most prolific cause of Failure. On the other hand, the agent who enters upon a Clos- ing effort confident of Success has more than half suc- ceeded. Nothing will breed Confidence more surely than Preparation. Consciousness of Efficiency and a thoroughly prepared Canvass must inspire you with a strong sense of superiority in the contest with your Prospect. Only a small proportion of men are of the positive type. The great majority allow others to influence most of their decisions. Few are independent in thought. Seven in ten are deficient in backbone. In the ultimate analysis, most closes represent the sub- mission of the weaker. In the specimen Canvass which has been given to you, Section One, the main purpose, was used to excite De- sire. Section Four, the comparatively low cost, we employed to induce Willingness. Then, in attempting to close by arousing Resolve, we swung round to the main purpose again. And this will be the course of most successful Canvasses. You noticed that we merged from one stage into the next without a break, or abrupt change of direction. This is an important matter. There will be divergen- cies in every Canvass. In making them avoid sharp angles and adopt curves. The Prospect's mind con- forms to the latter without conscious effort, but the former give him a mental jolt and often disturb the effect which you have previously made. 47 When you enter upon the closing stage of your Can- vass, choose your words carefully. Be cautious, terse, and deliberate in your utterances. Avoid saying too much. The Canvass which is completed in the fewest words will almost invariably leave the strongest im- pression on the Prospect. Reiteration and amplifica- tion are apt to weaken effect. A point is best made in a statement expressed in a few well selected words, and followed by a pause to allow it to sink in. Your constant object is to stimulate your Prospect's thought. Then give him time to think. The frequent pauses in a strong Canvass are the most eloquent portions of it. Through the earlier course of the Canvass you have led your prospect along until he reaches the boundary of Willingness. Then he is confronted by the gap that divides him from Resolve, — ^just a three foot ditch; no more than one good stride. Now you get behind him and push, — not suddenly, but firmly and steadily. At this point he must not be allowed to step back one inch. Did you ever handle a horse that was inclined to re- fuse? You didn't force him at the jump, but just held his head to it. So it is with your Prospect. If you keep him, head on, at the edge of the ditch which divides Willingness and Resolve, without relaxing your pres- sure, he is bound to go over. But, if your horse balks when he ought to rise and turns sharp round, you don't pull him back to the jump immediately. You let him have his way for the mo- ment and canter across the field for a few hundred yards, circling so as to bring him up to his fence again when he has had time to get over his nervousness. This is the manner in which you must treat your Prospect if he breaks out of hand when you are making a strong effort to Close. Abate your earnestness, slacken your pressure, begin to gather your papers to- gether, give him the impression that you are about to abandon the effort. Then, when he is once more at ease, gradually draw in the bridle, regain control over him, and try it again. There is a current fallacy that only one favorable opportunity to Close will occur in an interview. This 48 is responsible for much premature quitting. If you have actually got your prospect to the state of Willing- ness, he should be closed before you leave him. It may take two or three efforts to do this, but each ef- fort, if well directed, will bring you nearer to the object. You should be sure that you have your Prospect in the right condition of mind before you seriously at- tempt to close him. You may test the matter by a kind of feint, or tryout, but this requires uncommon dexterity to avoid a bad effect. You must be pre- pared, in case your advance proves premature, to slip back into your Canvass with the promptness and smoothness of a snail into its shell. Once, however, having entered upon a serious closing effort, stick to it, with the determination of settling the matter at that interview. It is safe to say that a more favorable opportunity will never arise. 49 CHAPTER VIL STANDARD FORMS OF INSURANCE. Most life insurance policies combine the two ele- ments of protection and investment. It is for each applicant to decide which of these is of greater value to him. It is possible for the insured to secure either of these features without the other. He may take a Pure Endowment, which has no insurance element; or he may obtain a contract affording protection solely. An insurance company will undertake to pay a certain sum in the event of his death during a period of five, ten, fifteen or twenty years, but to return nothing to him should he outlive the period. This is pure pro- tection and is called Term Insurance. It is similar to fire insurance, — a specific payment to cover a specific risk, without any contingent benefit. Ordinarily the Term Policy provides for renewal, or extension over another period on the same conditions, except for an increased premium to correspond with the advanced age. The contract also usually includes the privilege of convertinfg the Term PqJicy, at any time, to some permanent form of insurance. The ex- ercise of either of these options must involve a loss on account of the higher cost of insurance at the later age of the insured, unless a change is made to a policy of the same date as the original Term contract, and this generally necessitates the outlay of a considerable amount of money to cover the deficiency in back premiums. Term insurance affords the greatest amount of pro- tection temporarily, for a given premium outlay. This is the sole advantage to be urged in its favor. It is the lowest in cost and also in serviceable qualities. Be- yond a few years, say seven, it is the most expensive form of insurance, for the reason that the gross pay- ments under it represent net cost, whereas, under a 50 life or endowment policy the surrender value deducted from the aggregate premiums will" reduce the net out- lay to less than under the Term policy. Term insurance is much in the nature of a makeshift. The cases are rare indeed in which it is to the best ad- vantage of the insured to take it. Occasionally you will come in contact with a man who cannot pay for an adequate amount of protection under a high pre- mium. You should give him Term insurance, but keep closely in touch with him for the purpose of convert- ing his policy as soon as possible. In the majority of instances your prospect for Term insurance will be a business man who desires to cover some liability or protect himself against some conting- ency, for a short period of time. Provided that he is sure that he will have no need for the insurance be- yond seven years, let us say, the Term policy may be the most economical. However, experience proves that, in the majority of cases, the end of the calculated period finds the holder of the Term policy still in need of insurance and regretful that he did not take it on a permanent form. Furthermore, the possessor of a Term contract often wishes that he had paid a higher premium and thereby created a collateral value in his poiicy. LIFE POLICIES. The essential advantage of the Ordinary Life Policy is that it affords to the insured the greatest amount of permanent protection for his outlay. At age 30, a man may secure to his beneficiary practically any sum by paying about 2 per cent of it throughout his lifetime. If he should attempt to accomplish the same object by saving a similar sum annually, it would require the compound operation of ordinary bank interest during longer than thirty years with little more than an even chance of his living long enough. The chief objection advanced against Whole Life insurance is the apparent necessity of continuing the payments during lifetime. This may be obviated by allowing the dividends to accumulate with the com- 51 pany. Under this condition an Ordinary Life Policy, issued at agre 30, should be paid up at about age 65, and in the event of premium payments being continued thereafter, should mature as an endowment between the ages 80 and 85. The Ordinary Life Policy is attractive to the poor man and the rich man; to the former, because it en- ables him to carry an amount of protection which he could not afford at a higher cost; to the latter, because he can turn his surplus money to better account than by investing it with an insurance company. In the middle class, between these extremes, the Twenty Payment Life is the most popular policy. It is free from the objection of continuous premium payments and involves a moderate degree of investment. THE MONTHLY INCOME POLICY. Since its introduction, about twenty years ago, the income policy in its various forms, has steadily grown in popularity. It is the most perfect form of protection conceivable, and, on this ground, appeals to all classes of men having dependents. Men of means will fre- quently take large policies on this form when they would not increase their insurance upon any other. The man of moderate income will take a much larger policy of this kind than he will one payable in a lump sum. Thousands of salaried men go through life with- out ever possessing $5,000 at one time. It appears to them to be a handsome amount to leave to their fam- ilies. To the same men, who have been accustomed to a monthly salary of $100 or $150, an income policy of $20 a month will seem pitifully small, but that is a liberal equivalent of $5,000. In such cases the income policy may be sold in twice the amount of ordinary insurance that could be placed. The arguments in favor of the Monthly Income policy have been set forth in preceding chapters. THE ENDOWMENT POLICY. When presenting Endowment insurance you are ap- pealing to the Motive of Gain, or Selfishness. Your 52 Canvass will consist of a showing of the benefits that will accrue to the Prospect, who is the contemplated beneficiary, the payment of a death claim under the contract being a secondary consideration. Every application for insurance would be upon the Endowment plan, but for the comparatively high cost of this form. The sole obstruction to your proposition, — the necessity of paying the premium, — is greater in this case than in that for a Life Policy. It is there- fore more than ever to be urged that when you are trying to sell an Endowment, you keep the cost out of your statement until you have created the Desire. This is not at all difficult. In fact, a perfectly logical and lucid presentation of your proposition can be made without actually mentioning the premium until the close of it. You expatiate upon the value of an Endowment policy as a medium for saving — the great advantage to a man in receiving say, $10,000 when experience and training have qualified him to make good use of the money. You will explain the Paid-up Insurance option, using your Single Premium Table for the purpose, although the figures thus obtained will be somewhat too low. You will impress upon him that, through the exercise of this option, he may acquire an absolute estate of, say $25,000, which will cost nothing to main- tain, and which cannot be impaired, unless he chooses to borrow upon it. Not one man in 100,000 is worth $25,000 clear at any time of his life. You will draw attention to the Life Income option which may be the most attractive to him twenty years hence. Your Annuity Table will give you the income that the Company will pay on a matured Endowment. You will go on to show your Prospect that he will not tie his money up beyond control. After paying three premiums he can borrow 70% of his net payments; in the tenth year about 90%; in the fifteenth over 100%; and at the end of the term the Company will return him 130% of all the money he has paid in premiums, in addition to having given him insurance for twenty years. 53 Now notice that you have not yet stated the cost. You may do so at this stage, when the Cost will appear less formidable by reason of the alluring picture of the Returns. A man will sometimes hesitate to take Endowment Insurance for fear that he may not be able to keep it up. This consideration should not weigh so heavily in the case of Endowment as in that of some less costly form of policy. The former is the easier to maintain in the event of monetary stringency, because of its greater Loan and Surrender Values. For ex- ample, in the tenth year of a Twenty Year Endowment, the holder may cease paying premiums, have his in- surance extended for another ten years, and at the end of that time receive more money than he has paid to the Company. The Endowment is distinctly an investment, and a very good investment, at that. It is a fair assumption that the insurance element is worth to the insured all that he pays for it. If we deduct the Term premium for the corresponding period from the Endowment premium, the balance will show a high rate of com- pound interest in the returns. This is a perfectly logical manner of presenting the matter. The opportunities for selling Monthly Income En- dowment are greatly neglected. This is a form of in- vestment insurance, which, when properly represented, is peculiarly attractive to professional men, teachers and certain classes of salaried employees. There are in every large city, thousands of persons to whom this form of insurance can be sold more readily than any other. Sufficient attention is not paid to long term Endow- ments. I strongly recommend you to study the fea- tures of these carefully, comparing them with shorter term Limited Payment Life policies. The former ex- hibit the magic efifects of Compound Interest, enabling the company to convert a small additional annual pay- ment into a substantially larger return at the end of the period. To illustrate the advantageous use you may make of 54 the long term Endowment: As a rule it will be found easier to sell a Forty Year Endowment at a premium of $300 to a man aged 35, than a Whole Life at a pre- mium of $279. In the former case you are offering a policy with materially greater current values and a definite termination. To the Love of Kin Motive, you are adding the appeal to Love of Gain. Again; you have a Prospect aged 25, to whom you are suggesting a Twenty Payment Life at a cost of $312. It is highly probable that you could sell him a Thirty Year Endowment more readily and with greater satisfaction to himself. For the latter he will pay no more than $326. On comparison you will see that there is no ad- vantageous feature of the Twenty Payment Life which you will fail to find in the Endowment. The only ob- jection that your Prospect can raise is against the longer term, but that may be easily disposed of. If he should desire to terminate his Endowment in twenty years, he may do so on terms more favorable than those of the alternative proposition. You will find it profitable to make comparative analyses of these and other policies. The practice will promote a better knowledge of the forms examined and furnish you with many practical canvassing points. For example: In the course of such a study you will discover that a man aged 55 may secure a Twenty Year Endowment at a premium only slightly higher than that of a Whole Life Policy. You will generally find that the former is the more attractive proposition to him. 55 CHAPTER VIIL COMMERCIAL LIFE INSURANCE. The latter-day tendency of commercial practice is to throw every available safeguard around business enter- prises. Speculative elements are eliminated or reduced to a minimum. Conservatism is the prevailing policy. Deferred liabilities are anticipated by timely reserves, and provision is made for adverse contingencies. It has been found by experience that all these but- tresses of the business world may be most certainly and economically erected on the foundation of insur- ance in various forms. Thus the conservative concern of today protects itself with fire, burglar, employer's liability, credit, indemnity and, perhaps, other kinds of policies. The primary purpose of any sort of insurance is to furnish compensation for the loss of a valuable asset. Strangely enough, business houses insured against the less serious and more reparable class of casualties for long before they awoke to the efficiency of life insur- ance as a protection against what is frequently the greatest mishap that may befall a corporation or firm. In recent years, however, the value of this new factor in business conservation has met with such wide ap- preciation as to justify the prediction that the day is approaching when commercial life insurance will be as widely carried as commercial fire insurance now is. PURPOSES OF BUSINESS INSURANCE. Commercial insurance is both a conserving and a de- veloping agency. It conserves by introducing an ele- ment of safety and reserve. It develops by affording capital and credit. Indirectly, but quite effectively, it embraces domestic insurance. The preservation of the business entails the welfare of the employer's home, and probably of the homes of those who work for him. 56 Business insurance is applicable with equal efficiency to the affairs of corporations, firms and individuals. In either case it affords the most economical and prac- tical means of providing against unfavorable develop- ments. It is a certain way of forestalling uncertain events. The purposes which life insurance may be made to serve in the conduct of business organizations are so numerous and varied that only a few of the most ob- vious may be mentioned. Newly organized and young companies are naturally those most in need of pro- tection against mishaps, but many of the largest and most firmly established concerns in this country carry heavy lines of commercial life insurance. It is now common practice among corporations to insure the life of an officer upon whom, by reason of his business talent, or technical knowledge, the pros- perity of the company largely depends. Or an officer, upon whom, on account of his execu- tive ability or financial standing, the banking credit of the company rests; Or an employee, whose position in the event of his death, it would be unusually difficult to fill. It is not infrequently the case that one man is so vital a factor in the successful conduct of a corporation that his premature death would derange organiza- tion, impair credit, decrease efficiency of operation, mar the company's prospects, and injure its standing with the public. The payment of a substantial cash in- demnity would minimize these conditions and put the corporation in a position to repair the effects of the loss. Endowment insurance is taken by corporations for the purpose of creating sinking funds for the retire- ment of bonds, to meet the depreciation of plant, to strengthen the company under changed conditions re- sulting from termination of patents, franchises, leases and various long time contracts. Business insurance serves to protect minority stock- holders, against the premature death of a man holding a preponderating interest in the corporation. In close 57 corporations it is frequently employed to provide for the purchase of the stock of a deceased associate, and so prevent its falling into undesirable hands. BUSINESS INSURANCE—THE SILENT PARTNER. Life insurance is even more essential as a safeguard to partnerships than to corporations. Associations of the former character frequently fail, or retire from business upon the death of one member. This be- cause his knowledge or ability was the mainstay of the concern; or because his financial worth was the basis of its credit; or because his estate demanded a cash settlement which crippled its resources. In the first case the proceeds of an insurance policy would greatly lessen the difficulty of securing a satis- factory successor; in the second, it would counteract the efifect of the loss by enlarging the financial re- sources; in the third, it would enable the liability to be discharged without impairment to the working capital. Business insurance is much more necessary to the small firm than to the larger one. Many such concerns are run on the narrowest margin of capital. The slight- est shrinkage of this generally entails disaster. The records of commercial agencies show that nearly thirty per cent of failures among co-partnerships are due to death for which no provision has been made. The credit of a small firm is generally precarious and often restricted; its capacity for expansion is lim- ited; its future prosperity frequently depends upon a continuance of uniformly favorable corcumstances. Under any or all of these conditions, life insurance will act in mitigation or prevention of loss. BUSINESS INSURANCE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL. There are many ways in which life insurance will serve the business needs of the individual more effect- ively than any other agency. A few of these only may be mentioned: To furnish his executors with ready cash for the 58 settlement of and administration of his estate, and so preclude the necessity of sacrificing property in a forced market. To provide the money requisite to meet the inherit- ance tax. A fund for this purpose, invested in stable and easily convertible securities, would cost more and return less. To cover mortgages and other indebtedness; to pro- tect creditors, endorsers of paper, and to protect finan- cial backers or parties to a contract. As an anchor to windward during a speculative investment, or doubt- ful operation. Many moneyless men of unquestionable integrity and acknowledged ability have found that life insurance — the safeguard against loss by untimely death — 'has en- abled them to secure ample means and credit for their undertakings. POLICIES FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES. There is no essential difference between a policy of business insurance and one of the ordinary kind. The former is usually written with a firm or corporation as the beneficiary. Its premium is a charge against the concern and its cash value an asset of it. The policy generally contains one or two clauses designed to meet special business requirements. Joint policies are commonly employed in commercial insurance, and, where the object sought is mainly or solely indemnity for loss by death, they fully serve the purpose at considerably lower cost than would be in- volved in separate contracts. The premium for a Joint Policy is a compound of that for the elder life on the regular form and the term rate on the younger for a corresponding period. As the reserve on term insurance is exceedingly small and runs out with the policy, a slight increase over the values of the regular form for the elder of the com- bined lives will approximate the precise values of the Joint Policy. In order to limit the element of term insurance in the contract many companies restrict joint policies to 59 two lives. This need cause no difficulty when three of more risks are involved. Let us suppose that a trio of partners desire to be insured for $10,000 each under joint contracts. Their ages are 50, 47 and 39 respect- ively. You pair them in the following combinations: 50-47; 50-39; 47-39; and have three policies of $5,000 issued. It will occasionally happen that a larger amount is required on one individual than upon the others of a group. For example: a corporation wishes to insure its president for $20,000 and four other officers for $10,000 each. You meet the requirements with three joint policies of $10,000 each on two lives combined as follows: 56-29; 56-37; 50-42. SPECIALIZING IN COMMERCIAL LIFE INSURANCE. So many advantages accrue to the agent in working business insurance that several of the ablest writers devote their attention almost exclusively to it. A gen- eral knowledge of business methods and finance is nec- essary to success in the higher class of cases. In addi- tion to this the agent should learn what he can of the particular business of the concern which he intends to approach with a proposition for commercial life insur- ance. Small co-partnerships present a large and promising, but almost virgin field, for this kind of work. By far the majority of the firms operating on less than $10,- 000 capital have the most pronounced need of life in- surance. Policies of commercial life insurance will average much higher in amount than will those of domestic insurance. Settlements on the former are usually more readily secured. A logical suggestion for business in- surance will generally command attention and interest. Far from interfering with the writing of individual in- surance, business insurance will be found to lead to it, and facilitate it. 60 CHAPTER IX. MATERIAL AID TO EFFICIENCY. Just what and how much printed matter an agent can use with advantage may only be determined by his own experience. Among successful life insurance salesmen, some carry a satchel full of literature, whilst others re- strict themselves to a rate book and application forms. Personally I favor the employment of as little print- ed matter as need be. A verbal statement affords op- portunity for the strongest possible impression and I feel that resort to corroboration weakens my standing with my Prospect. I must secure his confidence in or- der to do business with him, and I prefer to assume that I have it sufficiently to induce his acceptance of any reasonable assertion that I may make. Furthermore, if you can make your entire Canvass without reference to any document or memorandum, you create the impression of being thoroughly posted in your business. For this reason I never use an illus- tration and but seldom a rate book. If a Canvass is to be made on acquired data all the details should be mem- orized beforehand. In other cases most of the neces- sary information should be carried in the head at ready command. Every bit of practical knowledge that is available to you should be absorbed and made part of your permanent equipment. Policy forms, pamphlets, useful articles in insurance, journals, and the rest should be digested and held ready for application. It is rarely necessary to state precise figures in a Canvass and much more effective to substitute per- centages. You should know approximately the pre- mium at any age for any standard form of insurance policy and also the loan values. You are offering, let us say, a Twenty Payment, Non-par contract to a man 35 years of age. It is quite sufficient to tell him that he will be charged slightly less than 3 per cent of the 61 face of the policy and will have loan values of about 45 per cent in the 3d year; 55 per cent in the fifth; 70 per cent in the tenth; 80 per cent in the 15th; and 90 per cent in the twentieth. The objections to the use of illustrations are many. They encourage careless preparation on the part of the agent. They generally repel a Prospect by their mas- sive presentation of bald figures. They afford good excuses for avoiding interviews. They give a great advantage to competitors into whose hands they may fall. Economy of time and labor are prompted by sim- plicity. The Agent should aim to simplify his process and his mechanical aids. A policy register, prospect cards, a card index and a supply of the "Record" and "Detective" are all that he can possibly need in his business. The Prospect Card should contain all the data refer- ing to the case and a brief record of each interview, with its data should be made on it. The best way of handling these cards is to keep them in an Index com- posed of divisions for every month, and each day of the month. Boxes, containing such card indexes, may be purchased from any stationer. When a card is not in immediate use it should be filed under the day when it is next intended to call on the Prospect, or under some future month. This system avoids the trouble and con- fusion of numerous memoranda. It may be stated here that the next day's Prospect Cards should always be looked over and sorted the evening before. Many agents have found the Record Card of great value to them. Perhaps I cannot do better than to re- produce the words in which it was introduced to the force of the Home Office Agency of the Pacific Mutual. HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME? How much time did you actually turn to account in your business last week? You can't tell. Yesterday? You don't know precisely? The fact is that you are in the habit of spending your time carelessly and without calculation. 62 Do you spend your money in the same manner? Hardly, and yet time is your working capital. Its value is inestimable. Let us suppose that you devote six hours daily to canvassing. This is certainly less than you should, and probably more than you do. It is a safe surmise that one hour of your short day is consumed uselessly. One hour wasted each day means a day wasted each week. One day a week will run into fifty-two days a year. Two months of twenty- six working days wasted in a year. Think of it — but stop. Perhaps we are exaggerating. Just turn your mind back over yesterday. Did the wasted time amount to one hour? Two? What about the day before? No better? Well, now ask yourself honestly whether in the course of the past month there was a single day in which you applied every minute of six hours directly and exclusively to the purpose of selling life insurance. The truth is that you fritter away at least one-sixth of your time, and virtually curtail your income in the same proportion. You never realized it, but it is a fact, nevertheless. When a business man discovers a leakage in his re- ceipts or a wastage in his material, he puts in a cash register, or establishes a system of cost keeping. It is just such a remedy that we propose to supply to you. We will make it a simple matter for you to ascertain exactly the amount of time you spend in your work and how you spend it. Below you will find a specimen record card. When filled out one of them will give you a pretty accurate account of your expenditure of working capital for a week. It will not only show outlay of time, but the manner in which it has been applied. It will enable you to check waste and detect misuse. On the back of the card is a conservative estimate of a year's work and results. The conclusion may look over large to some of you, but the successive steps leading to it are within the capacity of all. Everyone can secure one interview for each hour's work. If so, 63 he can aggregate 144 in a month. In the natural order of things, one half of the persons approached should afford an opportunity for opening the canvass. It is surely not too much to calculate on the agent's reduc- ing to prospects one in every two men who permit him to present his proposition. That leaves him no greater task than to close twenty-five per cent of genuinely in- terested cases. There is one difficulty about this program. It is ex- pressed in the first sentence: "Six working days per week, six interviews per day." Accomplish that, and the rest will follow inevitably. There is not a man in this agency but may write $216,000 a year, if every week of his year embraces six working days, composed of six purposeful hours. Try it. Try it for one month — one week. Note the result and try it for another. In a short while your trial effort will have developed into a habit, and what appears to be an enormous undertaking will prove to be an easy task. 64 RECORD CARD. Record of Work Done by Week ending 191 Fill Out DaUy! B m J S a o X a Q. 1 1 i 1 i, a 1 i 0Q Is II 1 J Monday (Thoi u'd.) Tuesday Wednes. Thursday Friday Saturday Totals $ Average per day $ Duplicate deposited with Manager Monday, 191 65 J:i S se c ^^ ?^ .Si G <" :^ o o p^ ^ p 2 w ^ o CO o '3 Si S^ o ati^ CO ^ A 3 -. ^ o I ^ I > 6 = 2^ <-> ^ o o u o • »— » *^ -§3 3 O to CO CO C CO 2P OT CO .5 >>_ *-> «^ a a^ «/} x DQ 's: 0) . 3 O Pi ^^ >. S 4; •>» o ■iJl 2 D^'^ cO a> 0) I so II n3 vo .5 II ^ ^- /-N «s o 2 ^^ *=5 .1. s^ rv I .a .Si 00 .^ — c o -£.2 5 ^ 2 o 72 >-< Jo ^ 00 a -a en •»-» ij Jj ^T! A^ rsl »'> ^ "ti t) DC ^^ w GO O u o CO ^ to p I) to O 3 *- ja o 5 S s CJ • = >-i o a; a o vo^T I^ll S o o o >< CO 3 m CO a ^ «r^ III --^ cO bo 3 O CO O IS a o o CO o o G o Q 66 DETECTING WEAKNESS. Some of the most prominent Life Insurance sales- men attribute their success mainly to one particular faculty — that of discovering the underlying lesson in every important experience and profiting by it. This I believe to be one of the most valuable habits that an agent can acquire. It needs no talent for its practice. Indeed, the man who is genuinely interested in his work cannot fail to exercise the perception and insight which will reveal to him the operations of cause and effect in his business dealings. It may be taken for granted that he will turn such revelations to account in the improvement of his methods and the increase of his Efficiency. The beginner should habituate himself from the out- set to review and analyze his experiences. After a de- cisive interview, go to some quiet place and ask your- self, "Why did I fail?" or "What was the chief cause of my success?" Carefully pass the entire interview in all its details through your mind. To find satisfactory answers to your questions will be of immense advantage to you. It may enable you to detect a weakness or eradicate a faulty method in its incipiency. It may af- ford you a realization of some forceful argument or effective process which you employed by chance, and might, otherwise never repeat. Many salesmen unconsciously continue the practice of faults for years, and many others occasionally use successful tactics without definite appreciation of them. These are the haphazard agents who accept their suc- cesses and their failures without troubling to inquire into the cause of them. The scientific salesman, on the other hand, is constantly learning from his experiences. His Canvass is in a state of continuous evolution. He adds here and cuts out there. He adopts a new argu- ment or modifies an old one. He varies his method and alters his statements. These changes are suggested by the effects and failures which he observes in his Can- vass. His Prospects are constantly giving him points. The mistake he makes with one, he avoids with the 67 next. The tactics which prove successful in one case he learns to apply in another. The chief difficulty with the beginner is lack of judg- ment. Want of experience may prevent his proper!}' gauging his weaknesses and estimating his strong points. Without his realizing it, his approach may be poor, his Canvass may be insufficiently pointed at the beginning, or too long drawn out; he may attempt the close too soon, or defer it too long. The intelligent and observant agent will discover these, and similar defects, but, at best, the process will be a slow and arduous one. Anything calculated to shorten this process and expedite Efficiency must be of practi- cal value. Now, I am going to offer you an aid for the detec- tion of the weak and the strong points of your Canvass. A few trials will convince you of its practical value and effectiveness in strengthening your Canvass. It is a card which, for lack of a better name, we will call the "Detective". It is distinct from the "Record Card" which is designed to enable you to keep account of your expenditure of time. "The Detective" is intended to tell you what you do, or fail to do, with each Prospect. The accompanying specimen illustrates the use of the "Detective". It is a day's record of a hard worker. He approached 19 prospects, most of them for the first time; where they were second or third interviews, the figures indicate the fact. He secured attention in 14 instances, excited interest in 10, attempted to close 3 times and succeeded once. What inferences do we draw from this Card? The agent's approach is excellent and the first part of his Canvass is strong. He closed once in three attempts 68 and is probably a good closer, but he has a difficulty in reaching that point. His Policy Presentation must be attractive. It is likely that he arouses Desire in a majority of cases where he gains attention, but there is some hitch in carrying the Prospect forward to willingness. The card also shows a marked unevenness in the day's work. Whereas, the agent "gained attention" nearly every time, and almost as often "created inter- est" in the forenoon, the latter half of the day included a number of failures in both respects. The details from the specimen are drawn from actual experience. The agent in question was a beginner. The difficulty indicated by the card was traced to a poorly arranged, but a strong Canvass. He brought all his forces into action at the first attack and, when he had created Desire, his fire died down. He had no reserves with which to carry the remaining positions. In the case which he closed on a second interview he was obliged to modify his Canvass. He refrained from repeating the Policy Presentation and, confirming him- self to his arguments, made a strong Closing Canvass without realizing it. The unevenness of his work was accounted for by too steady application, and easily remedied by a longer noon rest and a half hour break in the middle of the afternoon. There was a little more difficulty in repairing the de- fective Canvass. The removal of some of the effective material from the beginning of the Canvass and its reservation for later use, had the effect for a while of weakening the efforts to "gain attention" and "create interest", but these stages of the Canvass were gradu- ally strengthened. 69 In a few months this agent was making a highly efficient Canvass and closing in an unusually large per- centage of cases. But for the record that he kept, — which was somewhat similar to the "Detective" card, — he would, in all probability, have been much longer in discovering his weaknesses and arriving at success. 70 "THE DETECTIVE 99 1913 Agent 1 o - g 1 Si seuj si o X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 2 X X X X X 2 X X n X 3 X X 1 X 1 1 19 14 10 3 1 71 '•i2 O o ex X § •M OJ o o ■M O o . So o 6 Ifl-^F O V bo 4^ CO to ^ L rt .ti *tS X> p" O {« O to •3 a; a> S) *- ii v: ^ o l-i 3 V-i rt o 1^ « « -^"^ 6 g CO C y CO ■2-S en bo Ji 0, GO ;^ V c c« X O a; t3 M H< ^ a § o Is u o :=: bo ■g.s 2 ^ h »-. to tfl r-l ™ o ?l G 72 CHAPTER X. GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. The following suggestions if faithfully followed, may be depended upon to greatly increase Efficiency. Mere- ly reading them, however, cannot be expected to pro- duce results. They must be practiced and converted into fixed habits. SYSTEMATIC WORK. Your work should be regulated by a definite plan to which you have given exhaustive thought. You should dispose of your time with economy and precision. Have certain hours for actual canvassing and let nothing interfere with them. Dispose of office business during your noon break or after five o'clock. Set a certain mark for the year. Aim to secure some- what more than the proportionate amount each month. Work each day with a weekly average in mind. Under such a method of sustained and definite effort any man must write at least $120,000 in a year. Bear in mind that systematic and effective work will not be possible if your leisure hours are irregular and misspent. "A night with the boys", entails at least one lost day in business. The injurious physical and mental efforts that follow loose living are ruinous to suc- cess in any serious line of endeavor. A life insurance salesman should be a business man first, a social quantity next, and a gentleman all the time. CASH WITH APPLICATION. The large number of unplaced policies annually re- ported by every company, reflects the uncertainty that besets cases in which a settlement is not secured at the time of application. It is of the greatest advantage to the Agent to form a habit of using the binding re- ceipt. In by far the majority of instances there will 73 be no difficulty about the matter. I have found it effective to impress upon the application form, with a rubber stamp, in red ink, the following words: '*ln the interest of the applicant the first premium should be remitted to the company with the application." When the applicant asks, "What does this mean?" my reply is somewhat as follows: "If I received your premium now, Mr. Blank, your insurance will go into full force and effect from the moment your examination is satisfactorily passed. Be- tween that date and the issuance of the policy several days will elapse. Even after I receive it there may be considerable delay in its delivery, owing to your ab- sence from the city, perhaps, or to your being too busy to see me at once. Now, suppose that you die in the meanwhile. That is not very likely Fll admit, but it is less improbable that you may become ill. In any case, if the company has received your premium, the insurance is just as effective as though the policy lay in your safe. "On the other hand, if you defer payment your insur- ance cannot become operative until the delivery of the policy to you in good health. However, the premium is charged from the date of issue and it would seem to be good business to have the benefit of all you are pay- ing for. "That is what the Company means by stating that *In the interest of the applicant the first premium should be forwarded with the application*." PRODUCING THE APPLICATION. The best time to get the application before your Prospect is the very first opportunity that offers, or that you can tactfully create for doing so. I remember, when a kid, a wily dentist who used to allow me to play with his tools for five minutes be- fore proceeding to business. He would contrive to put me into the chair with the tweezers in my hand. Then gently transferring the instrument to his own, he did the trick before I had time to get scared. Why, I almost pulled my own tooth. 74 Try the dentist's practice on your next Prospect. Spread your application form out before him. Let him see it — touch it — and assure himself that it won't bite. When you ask for his signature later, you will have less difficulty in getting it than if you bring the blank out with the abruptness of a bad man drawing a gun. Let us take an illustration. At the opening of your Canvass the Prospect says: "I may change my occupa- tion shortly. How about that?" "Well, let us see," you reply, laying the application before him; "Just run over these warranties. Nothing in them that you couldn't sign to? That's all right then." You continue your Canvass with the great advantage of having your Canvass before the man, and he brought it there. There are one hundred and one other ways of ac- complishing this object naturally and logically. "What is the date of your birth, Mr. Blank? Thanks. I'll jot that down to save time." "You have a policy with the Company, Mr. Blank? What is the number of it? Thank you. I'll record that before it escapes my memory." You will find that getting your application before your Prospect early in the Canvass is a great aid to Closing. It will help you to make a trial close. In case you have been premature, it will enable you to retire without retreating. It will make it easier for you to come back to the close. EXTRA ISSUES. When you have been negotiating with a Prospect for a certain amount and he seems disposed to close at a lower figure, don't press your point too closely. Take his application for the smaller policy and get a settle- ment. When you turn your papers into the office request the issue of an extra policy to make up the amount originally considered. In a great majority of cases, you will place both contracts. At the time of receiving a policy — particularly if it has already been paid for^ — a 75 man is frequently most receptive to the idea of addi- tional insurance, and in such cases as we have in mind, you enjoy the advantage of his having seriously con- sidered it. MAKE IT EASY FOR THE PROSPECT. Most men have an ingrained dislike for figures and find arithmetical processes difficult. When you tell your Prospect that his policy will, in the third year, have a cash value of $719, you subject him to the disagreeable necessity of calculating the proportion of that amount to the premium paid, if he is to gain an intelligent conception of your statement. You will find that the employment of percentages aids your presentation of the proposition. To illustrate: Policy $10,000, premium $257— about 2^^ per cent of face value. Cash value, third year ($530) about 60 per cent of the premiums paid; 10th year ($2,010) about 75 per cent of the premiums paid; 15th year ($3,212) about 80 per cent of the premiums paid. Final cash settlement $5,260 — more than 100 per cent of the total payments. Expressed in this manner, it is quite easy to get ;» grasp of the cost and returns of the policy. THOSE BAFFLING PROSPECTS. Some men have exceptional facility for creating in- terest in life insurance and proportional difficulty in crystallizing it into business. Such agents are frequently snowed under with Prospects, whilst they don't know where to look for an immediate application. If you find yourself in such a predicament, go through your cards and winnow out ten or twelve of the most likely. Concentrate on those. Go after them with the determination to ''Kill or close" them. Don't let any- thing divert your attention from these ten or a dozen persons. Stick to them as a deerstalker follows game. CULTIVATE YOUR POLICYHOLDERS. An agent can hardly fail to find a more prolific source of new business than the persons he has already writ- 76 ten. Each of them shourd^bi'^ajletf upon al least once a month and their acqii«.in^anpe pi^tiyat^d ^y» alLpossi- ble means. In the migiJQrifY '^f ^^^^t'a,itc:Vs, yscur.'P'C)licy- holder will appreciate it. He will influence business to you and give you additions on his own life. Look over your policy register. How many names of men do you see upon whom you have never called since you delivered their policies? In how many cases have you neglected to canvass their relatives and busi- ness associates? The entries in the registers of some of the most suc- cessful life insurance solicitors form links in a continu- ous chain. There is hardly a policy but has some con- nection with another. This is the kind of business that pays. It represents the utmost production for the ef- fort expended. It entails a steady increase year by year from the same amount of labor, — and even less — because there is a constant increment of new business from that already done. You will be richly repaid for keeping in touch with your policy holders, — provided they have been prop- erly written and honestly dealt with. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR MAN. Most of us use defective yardsticks in our business. They measure short — and a whole lot short at times. Almost invariably the amount of insurance which we propose to a prospect is less than he is capable of carrying, and often considerably less than he might be induced to take. What is the result? Our inadequate policy produces the effect of a pre-prandial cocktail. It increases an appetite which is presently satisfied by some other agent, to his profit and our loss. Don't be afraid to aim too high. It will be much easier to abate your figure than to increase it. It is not in human nature that a ten thousand-dollar man should be offended by your estimating him at the twenty-thousand-dollar mark. You may have heard the story of the railroad con- ductor who, after going through his car in a fruitless n attempt to ^et a., twenty -Uollar note changed, finally appealed to an old darkey. *'C9.h .j?(Ai :split'-,this for me. Uncle?" he asked. "No, Boss," replied the colored gentleman, straight- ening his back, "I suhtinly cannot break dat yar bill, but I mos' assiihdly thanks yuh fo* de compliment." 78 WHAT PROMINENT INSURANCE MEN THINK OF "EFFICIENCY." "It strikes me as one of the most helpful works of the kind for the live agent that I have ever seen. It is an aid alike to the *man who knows' and the fellow who Moesn't know/ It is especially strong in its treatment of that all-important part of the business — salesman- ship." J. C. MATCHITT, Editor and Manager, "Northwest Insurance," Minneapolis, Minn. "It is a strong document, written along right lines and should be a great selling help in the hands of an agency force." MARSTON & SMALLEY, General Agents, New England Mutual Life Ins. Co., Philadelphia, Pa. "I am in receipt of your most valuable booklet, 'Effi- ciency,' and I am pleased to say I have re-read the book the second time. I am very much interested in any literature on insurance, and can truthfully say your 'Efficiency' has more useful information, both for the beginner and the 'Old Field Man,' than anything I have ever read." IRA E. QUIMBY, New York Life Insurance Co., Victoria, B. C. "I believe your booklet to be the best publication of its kind which has come under my observation." A. N. DES CHAMPS, Manager, Aetna Life Insurance Co., Bridgeport, Conn. "Your book, 'Efficiency,' is the first and only real practical treatise on Life Insurance Salesmanship that has ever been brought to my attention. Brevity is an essential element in efficiency. You have boiled down what others have required volumes to say." R. M. MALPAS, Agency Manager, American National Insurance Co., Galveston, Texas. "It is my opinion that this is one of the most profit- able and interesting treatises ever published in connec- tion with insurance work. I am certain that I shall be more efficient than I was in the past as a result of a careful study of your valuable book." M. MESSER, Manager Hoboken District, Colonial Life Ins. Co. of America, Hoboken, N. J. "The plans of soliciting which you have outlined should be of tremendous value to new agents in analyz- ing their work. Chapter I is a new pen picture of the ideal Life Insurance Salesman." W. F. McCAUGHEY, General Agent, Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co., Racine, Wis. "It is all good, and any agent, young or old, experi- enced or inexperienced, cannot fail to find many helpful hints, and if he will then proceed to use his 'self-starter' and do some real thinking he should be able to make money from your information." CHARLES M. IDE, Special Agent, New England Mutual Life Ins. Co., Boston, Mass. "I think your little book is of the greatest value, not only to beginners, but to men who have had experience on the 'firing line.* " WILLIAM H. RYAN, General Agent, The Penn Mutual Life Ins. Co., Brooklyn, N .Y. "I have read with a great deal of pleasure your book- let 'Efficiency' and have passed it around our office, where nothing but favorable comments have been made upon it. It is well gotten up, both from the standpoint of arrangement and material, and I congratulate you upon your success in getting out such a book." EDWARD A. WOODS, Manager, The Equitable Life Assurance Society, Pittsburg, Pa. "I found it very interesting and helpful; and, frankly, I found nothing to criticize therein. On the other hand, it is not only intelligently compiled, from the lay stand- point, but is practical from the particular standpoint of securing the application." C. J. EDWARDS, Manager, The Equitable Life Assurance Society, New York, N. Y. "I think it is one of the finest little books I have ever read on insurance." GEORGE M. SPIEGEL, General Agent, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co., Indianapolis, Ind. "The valuable little dynamo, 'Efficiency/ has been received. I have read your book with interest and much profit. "The book is an authority which drives a nail home so thoroughly it sticks. This treatise will make a man think, and then it tersely and cleverly unfolds sugges- tions on practical business methods that are invaluable to the fellow who believes in the survival of the fittest." W. C. HUTCHINS, General Agent, Bankers Life Company, Des Moines, la. "I have before me your favor of the 5th inst., and your Company indeed did me an honor when they sent me your booklet on 'Efficiency.* I consider it tiptop in every way, and I do not recall having mentally made any notes which would improve it. I think it excellent just as it is." R. O. MILES, General Agent, The Connecticut Mutual Life Ins. Co., San Francisco, Cal. "I believe that it is the best thing ever published for life insurance salesmanship, or any other kind of sales- stuff covering generalities, as the expression goes, it gets down to cases and gives something definite that the agent can say." C. D. RODMAN, General Agent, The Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co., Louisville, Ky. "I will say for this booklet that it is without question or doubt and without exception, the best work on life insurance salesmanship, or any other kind of sales- manship, that it has ever been my pleasure to read." ROBERT M. GRAY, Agent, First Nafl. Life and Ace. Ins. Co., Hankinson, N. D. "I have read this little book with great pleasure, and want to assure you that I have gained much valuable information from the same. I do not know that I could offer any suggestions at all for its improvement, as it seems to me that you have covered the ground thor- oughly." E. G. SIMMONS, Vice-President, Pan-American Life Insurance Co., New Orleans, La. "We have received the booklet entitled 'Efficiency* and wish to say that we have never seen anything which looked to us half as good." PARKER & HINKLEY, General Agents, New England Mutual Life Ins. Co., Buffalo, N. Y. "I have read the papers very carefully, and wish to congratulate you most sincerely upon the exhaustive handling you have given the subject. You write like an artist. What you say is effective and beautiful. All my criticism may be bunched in the one word, 'splendid.* ** CHARLES W. PICKELL, Manager, Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins. Co., Los Angeles, Cal. "I want to say that after reading the booklet care- fully I unhesitatingly pronounce it as a very valuable one, indeed. I am using some parts of it in the man- agement of my own office, and shall employ more of the ideas it contains in time to come." A. F. SOMMER, Superintendent, Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. "Your book seems to me to be the most direct trail to successful and constructive life insurance salesmanship. * * * I look upon chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 as the guid- ing stars to my future success in the selling of life insurance, and take this opportunity to tell you I am deeply grateful to you and your Company for sending the book to our office." JOHN J. O'NEILL, The Penn Mutual Life Ins. Co., Philadelphia, Pa. "Permit me to say that the little booklet entitled 'Efficiency* is the very best of its kind it has been my privilege to read, and is equally useful to experienced as well as inexperienced life insurance men, since it covers practically every phase of the business." J. J. TYNDALL, District Manager, The Union Central Life Ins. Co., El Paso, Texas. "I consider it the very best thing I have ever seen, and all my agents endorse this statement." J. W. DICKSON, General Agent, The Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co., Anderson, S. C. "I have on hand for acknowledgment your valuable booklet 'Efficiency/ and have no hesitation in express- ieng my enthusiastic approval of the very clever and in- telligent way you have handled your subject. Your work is an acquisition that should appeal strongly to all in- surance men, as it is brimful with the best insurance literature that I have seen anywhere for the practical purpose of training agents, therefore the good it will do is inconceivable." J. B. MORRISETTE, President, The Life Underwriters* Assn. of Canada, Quebec, Que. "I am delighted with the little book entitled 'Effi- ciency.' I have found it exceedingly suggestive, and every now and then in its pages I find some new view- point which is exceedingly helpful. I want to thank you most heartily for this work which you have done for the field men." H. EVERETT FARNHAM, General Agent, The Connecticut Mutual Life Ins. Co., Saint Joseph, Mo. "I want you to know how much I enjoyed 'Efficiency.' Between its covers can be found in concrete form so many things tersely put that are usually the subject of voluminous writing." WM. H. KINGSLEY, Second Vice-Pres., The Penn Mutual Life Ins. Co., Philadelphia, Pa. "It is a splendid work, and I think I have never read a book explaining in such clear, simple language the several subjects which it treats. * * * There are valuable suggestions all through the work for the ex- perienced solicitor as well as the beginner." E. M. FRANCE, General Agent, State Mutual Life Assurance Co., Cleveland, Ohio. N«W t«ABY Ike PSYCHOLOGY ^/A SALE By FORBES LINDSAY M II Tkis Book treat0 of tKe mental ^J| processes involved in a sale. TKe •^ subject is Kandlecl in a practical manner, -witt a strict avoidance cf fanciful tkeory. The principal divisions are: Tke Inv^ardness of a Sale; Association £/* Ideas: Atti" tude c/'tte Salesman; The Approach The Mental Attitude of the Pros- pect; The Canvass; The Close and Auto-Suggestion. This hook is designed to he a com- panion to ''EFFICIENCY" by the same author. PRICE Flexible Leather $1.00 Stiff Paper .75 THE SPECTATOR COMPANY Sole Selling Agents Chicago New York «^ii# rf^4 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THF. LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. NOV 8 1934 i SEP 7 %m 23Sep'57E8 1 ^^^C'D LD r^^^. w ., REC'D LD 1 ADD n ^Otz i^ ni« HrK 9 DO b Pm LD21-100w-7,'33 ^A 0(754 \ 308399 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY