For the most part, people prefer to do business with people they like and trust. That’s why personal relationships are far more effective when it comes to getting people to say ‘yes’ than the mastering of any sales technique. Let me give you an example: Eighty to ninety percent of the people who go into the business of selling life insurance leave the field within a year. Now let’s take a look at a typical beginning insurance salesperson: Jill, a college graduate who has just completed an insurance company’s three-week training program at corporate headquarters. During this training program, Jill is thoroughly coached on the latest selling techniques.
After Jill has completed her training program, the first person to whom she tries to sell a policy is her father—someone with whom she has an already-established relationship. Now he probably needs another insurance policy like he needs a hole in his head, but he wants Jill to get off to a good start. After the transaction has been completed and Jill has a check from her father, he says, “I’ll bet your brother could use some insurance.” Of course her brother, in the interest of maintaining peace in the family, will eventually say yes. And finally, everybody like Jill has a few friends like me who would rather write her a check than risk losing her as a friend.Eventually, however, Jill runs out of friends and relatives—people with whom she has already-existing relationships. When this happens, she tries the same techniques on total strangers that seemed to work so well on her father, her brother and her friends and what happens? Doors slam in her face. Regardless of how strong a person’s self-image is, there are a finite number of door slams that a person can endure. When this occurs, Jill decides that maybe she isn’t cut out to sell insurance and changes careers.
It’s interesting to contrast the Jills of this world with those people who go into the business of selling insurance, make a career out of it, get rich at it, and eventually turn the business over to their children. These people don’t even bother with selling techniques. Instead, they invest, up front, in personal relationships that eventually lead to trust and then spend the necessary time and effort to maintain these relationships. After a certain amount of time, they no longer have to sell insurance. The reason: Their satisfied customers are out there selling it for them!
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