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Consummate Sales Person
Most salespeople, if given a choice, would not want
to sell life insurance. The usual jokes, the reputation
of the industry, and the fact that it’s been around so
long, would not encourage salespeople to think they
could really make it big in that business. Plus it's an awful lot of hard work riddled with
daily rejection. You couldn’t tell that to Ben Feldman though. Ben
was eighty-one when he died November 7, 1993. He
started selling life insurance just before World
War II. The rest as they say is history. He almost
single-handedly changed the insurance industry. And he was just a sales person - but what an incredible
and extraordinary sales person he was. It's been said that he didn't look like a salesman,
didn’t sound like a salesman, and didn’t act like a
salesman. Ben was different in every imaginable way. You should
be too! If you want to succeed in sales you have to be different,
keep reading. Here’s some background on Ben Feldman. He was born to
Russian, Jewish immigrants that settled in eastern Ohio.
At his father’s insistence he dropped out of school to
sell eggs for $10 a week. He met Fritzie Zaremburg, a
teacher, who later became his wife. After selling insurance to all his friends and relatives,
he then targeted businesses in eastern Ohio and western
Pennsylvania. Without going beyond a sixty mile radius,
he often sold more insurance in a day than most agents
would sell in a year. In the 1970’s it was reported that he personally sold
more insurance than 1,500 of the largest 1,800 life
insurance companies. Imagine that he single-handedly outsold 1,500 entire
companies. During his lifetime, he sold insurance policies with a
face value over $1.5 billion. One-third of it was sold
after he turned sixty-five. According to many, Ben wasn’t ordinary - he was
exceptional. Harry Hohn, Chairman of New York Life at
the time said, "Ben really felt everyone in the world
was underinsured." He believed passionately in his product and how it
could help and benefit his customers. You see, he was genuinely excited about his products
which in turn got his sales prospects and customers
fired-up about his products too. Ben knew how to really WOW his customers. His words
were his craft. According to Rick Hampson, an AP
writer, "He’d sit up late, crafting the pithy sayings
that he called power phrases and rehearse them with a
tape recorder." He knew perfection came from practice, not improvisation.
And boy did he ever practice. He achieved one goal after another. In 1975 he was
the first salesperson to sell $2 million in a single
week. He was extremely focused on his goals. "He sold life insurance by talking about life, not
death. People didn’t die, they walked out, as in,
when you walk out, the money walks in - the insurance
money," according to Rick Hampson. Taped inside the
front cover of his presentation binder were a $1,000
bill and several pennies. He would tell his customers,
"For these," pointing to the pennies, "you can get
this" - the bill. He was creative, very creative! In 1992, New York Life created an insurance selling
contest they called "Feldman’s February." The program
was to commemorate his fifty years of selling life
insurance. The national contest was of course in
honor of Ben’s history with the company. Obviously no one told that to Ben. He viewed it as a
challenge and won the contest himself. He was eighty
years old and in a hospital recovering from a cerebral
hemorrhage during the month of February.
That February, he sold $15,150,000 worth of insurance
from his hospital bed. Ben had an incredible selling attitude. He never gave up. He never, never, never, never gave up. Listen to some of Ben’s phrases and how his words worked
magic. Imagine hearing them as you consider making a
decision to buy insurance. "No one ever died with too much money." "Do you know anyone who has a lease on life? It isn’t
a question of if; it’s a question of when." "Put me on your payroll. The day you walk out, I’ll
walk in and pay your bills." "The key to a sale is an interview, and the key to an
interview is a disturbing question." "Most people buy not because they believe, but because
the sales person believes." A little side-bar here: Unfortunately most of today's
salespeople have this twisted belief that the customer
gets excited first. Well - that's not how it works.
Never has and never will. For Ben, success wasn't fleeting, it was consistent.
He loved his product. He loved his customers. He loved
his company. He loved his work. Here’s something for you to think about. If Ben Feldman
sold for your company, how would he do it? How well would he do it? Ben’s gone now. His legacy, however, should serve as
an inspiration to all that call sales a profession. Ben Feldman gave new meaning to an old profession. Ben was the consummate sales person because he blended
hard work with a passion for his work and his products. Nothing hard about that - right?
Insights A couple of years ago I wrote a special report titled
"The 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do!" I also recorded it and it's also available as a CD. A couple of weeks later I'm on a flight to Chicago.
Got lucky and was upgraded to First Class. I thought for a minute about "The 12 Dumbest Things"
report and CD and turned the concept upside down. Why not write about all the little things salespeople
are doing to grow their business. Well along story made short, I had a one-day layover
in Chicago between speaking engagements so I started
writing. When I thought I was finished, I just kept on writing. When I emptied my alphabet pipeline and was completely
drained of words, I ended up with - "75 Little Things
You Can Do To Grow Your Business." You can use these 75 little nuggets to grow your
business and maybe even neutralize some of your
competitors - because you know they're just doing
the same old things over and over. You can order the CD here - it's only $29.95. You'll
also get a link to download my Special Report titled,
"25 Ways To Get Motivated For A Sensational Year: Here's your link: http://tinyurl.com/CD-75-Little-Things
Favorite Quotes Creativity involves taking what you have, where you are,
and getting the most out of it.
Carl Mays Be like a postage stamp. Stick to something until you
get it.
Josh Billings Attitudes are caught, not taught.
Elwood Chapman
Follow my Twitters here: Keep up with Jim's Twitters, rants and raves
plus a whole lot more . . . http://twitter.com/jimmeisenheimer | 
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