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Expert
My Experiences in Selling
The Greatest Insurance Salesman of His Day (and Almost Any Day)
By H. B. Rosen.
In 1918 H.B. Rosen was billed as the greatest insurance salesman in the world. His reputation was built on a foundation of sales that may still hold some world records. In 1917 his personal sales amounted to more than $12,000,000. (Remember what a dollar was worth way back during World War I?) In 1918, though ill and laid up from work for a month, Rosen engaged in drives for Liberty Bonds, war relief and charitable associations, and still found the energy and time to sell $4,000,000 worth of insurance in the months of January, February and March alone. The average at that time was $100,000 in a full year.
The following article by Mr. Rosen shares his secrets of success - secrets that are as relevant today as they were when he first shared them in 1918.
Several years ago, after a strenuous winter campaign, the doctors looked me over and declared that unless I went to Europe for an indefinite period of rest, they could not guarantee me any extended lease of life.
"And don't you dare talk insurance!" they said. "Go away and forget it."
Their orders were so urgent that I went to the manager of a well-known transportation line to discuss with him the route I should follow to Carlsbad, Austria. We made the arrangements, had a pleasant chat, and then without either of us quite realizing how it had come about, I walked out of his office with his signed application for $25,000 worth of life insurance.
On the steamer, the same thing happened. The captain, head steward and chief engineer were talking politics with me one night, but before I went to bed the captain had taken out $10,000 worth of insurance, and the head steward and chief engineer had each applied for $5,000 worth. At Carlsbad, where I was to forget the tabooed subject, my attendant surprised me one day by asking me to insure him before I left for home. He said he had heard me talking insurance to some wealthy men and that he had become convinced that insurance was a good thing.
Another time I was riding to a funeral with a man who was known to be hostile to any form of insurance. Knowing this, I avoided the subject and turned the conversation to the untimely death of our mutual friend. He had met with reverses just before he died, leaving his family penniless. We both knew this fact, and we sighed together over the uncertainties of life. My companion was evidently perturbed and seemed to be debating something with himself. At last, after the burial was over, he began to talk to me; and, there being a convenient tombstone close by, he signed up for a large insurance policy before we left the cemetery.
I cite these two cases, not because they are exhibitions of wonderful salesmanship, but because they help to explain whatever success I have had. It has been gained by keeping my eyes and ears open and always thinking about my work. When the doctors told me not to talk insurance on my way to Carlsbad, I did not argue with them, but I knew that they were asking an impossibility. A chance to sell insurance was sure to arise, and I knew that instinctively I would seize it.
Salesmanship has never been a matter of hour or of conditions to me. I have always felt that one could "sell" a man anywhere and at any time. I do not mean that one should force one's self upon a person when paying a social call or upon just being introduced. What I mean is that, a favorable opportunity arising, one should not hang back just because it is outside of business hours or because a man is not standing in his own store or office.
At first I was reluctant to go into insurance. I was doing well in my own line. Why change? I have to smile when I think that, though my personal sales last year were over $12,000,000, or more than a million a month, when I filed my application I thought I was putting it pretty strong when I ventured to state that I hoped to write $5,000 worth of business a month. If I hadn't done that much I should have been fined! But I didn't know it then.
A few weeks ago I insured a man I had been after for years. I had never before been able to discover his hobby. But when I was told that it was educational institutions I knew I had him. I showed him how, by insuring for a million dollars, he could leave that sum to found a university or school, and that the money would be payable on demand instead of his executors being obliged to disturb his investments in order to pay the bequest. All these points appealed to him and he signed up at once.
Time is one of the greatest assets a salesman has. To waste half a day trying to convince a man who shows absolutely no interest is foolish. Either there is something the matter with the salesman or with the prospect. That is why when I have talked insurance with a man twice and he still refuses, I pass him up for some future date. I might be able to persuade him at the end of 10 interviews, but, on the other hand, I might be able to do business with five more in the same period of time. I do not mean that one should drop all hard customers. But a salesman must be able to decide when he has spent enough time on a man.
It pays to cultivate a sympathetic nature. I do not mean that one should be insincere. I really have a genuine interest in almost everyone I meet and I find no greater enjoyment than in talking to people. If a man tells me his child is ill, I am honestly sorry, and tell him so. This interest will pay, not only in dollars and cents, but in what one gets out of life.
I believe in confidence and energy, but it is a good thing to have a halter in the back of your mind with which to check yourself. Sell yourself to a man to the best of your ability, but be smart enough to know when he is sold...and then stop. A manufacturer once told me that he had stopped doing business with a certain man who seemed to be more interested in "himself" than his goods.
I cannot stress the importance of memory too greatly. A man loves to have his name and his face remembered. He feels flattered because he at once thinks that he must have impressed himself upon you. I can trace many a policy to the fact that the present holders were attracted originally by the simple fact of my remembering their names.
I have often thought that salesmen fail more through ignorance of their strength than through knowledge of their weaknesses.
To succeed as a salesman, one has got to love the game. Salesmanship to me has always been the most fascinating thing in the world. I like especially to sell a thing as universally needed as insurance. There is genuine satisfaction in knowing that you are instrumental in protecting women and children from possible want. And I am better pleased when I have converted a man who does not believe in insurance than when I add another 100,000 to a man already a believer in it.
To me, selling it is something like preaching from the pulpit; it is a work I believe in with all my heart. And because I love it, I have achieved some measure of success. Without love for his job, I do not see how a man can succeed.
The Greatest Insurance Salesman of His Day (and Almost Any Day)
By H. B. Rosen.
In 1918 H.B. Rosen was billed as the greatest insurance salesman in the world. His reputation was built on a foundation of sales that may still hold some world records. In 1917 his personal sales amounted to more than $12,000,000. (Remember what a dollar was worth way back during World War I?) In 1918, though ill and laid up from work for a month, Rosen engaged in drives for Liberty Bonds, war relief and charitable associations, and still found the energy and time to sell $4,000,000 worth of insurance in the months of January, February and March alone. The average at that time was $100,000 in a full year.
The following article by Mr. Rosen shares his secrets of success - secrets that are as relevant today as they were when he first shared them in 1918.
Several years ago, after a strenuous winter campaign, the doctors looked me over and declared that unless I went to Europe for an indefinite period of rest, they could not guarantee me any extended lease of life.
"And don't you dare talk insurance!" they said. "Go away and forget it."
Their orders were so urgent that I went to the manager of a well-known transportation line to discuss with him the route I should follow to Carlsbad, Austria. We made the arrangements, had a pleasant chat, and then without either of us quite realizing how it had come about, I walked out of his office with his signed application for $25,000 worth of life insurance.
On the steamer, the same thing happened. The captain, head steward and chief engineer were talking politics with me one night, but before I went to bed the captain had taken out $10,000 worth of insurance, and the head steward and chief engineer had each applied for $5,000 worth. At Carlsbad, where I was to forget the tabooed subject, my attendant surprised me one day by asking me to insure him before I left for home. He said he had heard me talking insurance to some wealthy men and that he had become convinced that insurance was a good thing.
Another time I was riding to a funeral with a man who was known to be hostile to any form of insurance. Knowing this, I avoided the subject and turned the conversation to the untimely death of our mutual friend. He had met with reverses just before he died, leaving his family penniless. We both knew this fact, and we sighed together over the uncertainties of life. My companion was evidently perturbed and seemed to be debating something with himself. At last, after the burial was over, he began to talk to me; and, there being a convenient tombstone close by, he signed up for a large insurance policy before we left the cemetery.
I cite these two cases, not because they are exhibitions of wonderful salesmanship, but because they help to explain whatever success I have had. It has been gained by keeping my eyes and ears open and always thinking about my work. When the doctors told me not to talk insurance on my way to Carlsbad, I did not argue with them, but I knew that they were asking an impossibility. A chance to sell insurance was sure to arise, and I knew that instinctively I would seize it.
Salesmanship has never been a matter of hour or of conditions to me. I have always felt that one could "sell" a man anywhere and at any time. I do not mean that one should force one's self upon a person when paying a social call or upon just being introduced. What I mean is that, a favorable opportunity arising, one should not hang back just because it is outside of business hours or because a man is not standing in his own store or office.
At first I was reluctant to go into insurance. I was doing well in my own line. Why change? I have to smile when I think that, though my personal sales last year were over $12,000,000, or more than a million a month, when I filed my application I thought I was putting it pretty strong when I ventured to state that I hoped to write $5,000 worth of business a month. If I hadn't done that much I should have been fined! But I didn't know it then.
A few weeks ago I insured a man I had been after for years. I had never before been able to discover his hobby. But when I was told that it was educational institutions I knew I had him. I showed him how, by insuring for a million dollars, he could leave that sum to found a university or school, and that the money would be payable on demand instead of his executors being obliged to disturb his investments in order to pay the bequest. All these points appealed to him and he signed up at once.
Time is one of the greatest assets a salesman has. To waste half a day trying to convince a man who shows absolutely no interest is foolish. Either there is something the matter with the salesman or with the prospect. That is why when I have talked insurance with a man twice and he still refuses, I pass him up for some future date. I might be able to persuade him at the end of 10 interviews, but, on the other hand, I might be able to do business with five more in the same period of time. I do not mean that one should drop all hard customers. But a salesman must be able to decide when he has spent enough time on a man.
It pays to cultivate a sympathetic nature. I do not mean that one should be insincere. I really have a genuine interest in almost everyone I meet and I find no greater enjoyment than in talking to people. If a man tells me his child is ill, I am honestly sorry, and tell him so. This interest will pay, not only in dollars and cents, but in what one gets out of life.
I believe in confidence and energy, but it is a good thing to have a halter in the back of your mind with which to check yourself. Sell yourself to a man to the best of your ability, but be smart enough to know when he is sold...and then stop. A manufacturer once told me that he had stopped doing business with a certain man who seemed to be more interested in "himself" than his goods.
I cannot stress the importance of memory too greatly. A man loves to have his name and his face remembered. He feels flattered because he at once thinks that he must have impressed himself upon you. I can trace many a policy to the fact that the present holders were attracted originally by the simple fact of my remembering their names.
I have often thought that salesmen fail more through ignorance of their strength than through knowledge of their weaknesses.
To succeed as a salesman, one has got to love the game. Salesmanship to me has always been the most fascinating thing in the world. I like especially to sell a thing as universally needed as insurance. There is genuine satisfaction in knowing that you are instrumental in protecting women and children from possible want. And I am better pleased when I have converted a man who does not believe in insurance than when I add another 100,000 to a man already a believer in it.
To me, selling it is something like preaching from the pulpit; it is a work I believe in with all my heart. And because I love it, I have achieved some measure of success. Without love for his job, I do not see how a man can succeed.
And I hope you guys don't mind my posting!! 
