his deserts are small,
That puts it not unto the touch,
To win or lose it all.”
Mega-Selling
In this book, I outline the strategies I have developed during my career to take my business and sales to the top. I am an insurance broker, but the strategies are universal, applicable to all fields and all businesses.
Throughout this book, I sometimes refer to products, concepts, and laws that may or may not apply to your particular area.
All the cases I describe in this book are based on real events; however, in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of my clients, I have changed all their names and all the telling details of the stories. I have also changed the names of everyone else in this book, except for my own, and those of my wife, Teri, and my first manager in the business, the late Huss Breithaupt. I have also not referred to any particular insurance companies, except the company where I first learned to sell: The New York Life Insurance Company.
Part I
The $100,000,000 Case
1
The $100,000,000 Conversation
I passed the turnoff for the highway and slowed down, easing my car onto the shoulder, the tires crunching gravel. It was 6:45 AM and the traffic was light, but steady – brief intervals of silence punctuated by the occasional rush of a car roaring past. I hadn’t had much sleep, but my nerves kept me awake. Fifteen minutes to go, and as the seconds ticked away my heart rate accelerated. I needed to relax; everything would depend on my ability to stay focused, controlled. At 7:15 it would all be over. There were two possible results: I would either realize my dream, or it would vanish. Either way, my life would be forever changed.
I looked ahead through the windshield, my eyes following the lines of the highway to the vanishing point, where I fixed my gaze. Everything else – the panorama of cars, clouds, low-lying buildings – began to undulate like a large tapestry. The traffic sounds faded. I closed my eyes, and meditated. I felt myself relaxing, my mind clearing. When I opened my eyes, I glanced at the clock. It was 6:59. He would arrive any second now, and I was ready.
In the rear-view mirror, I caught a glimpse of a long, black limousine. It approached stealthily like a submarine, passed me, then pulled onto the shoulder. My heart jumped, and I slowly inhaled a deep breath to regain my calm. I reached for the slim leather briefcase on the passenger seat then got out of the car.
The morning air was crisp. I marched over to the right side of the limo, and stood there. I could see his imposing silhouette in the back seat. I had met him only twice before in person. He was a massive man, not overweight, just massive – over six feet tall with a broad face, and deep blue eyes beneath a prominent brow. The driver’s door clicked open and a small mustachioed man got out and padded around the car. He walked slowly, or so it seemed. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. I looked down at my watch and gazed as the second hand, paused then stuttered forward, paused then stuttered forward again. An eternity later, the driver opened the back passenger door for me and ushered me inside.
I slid along the cool leather, and settled into the seat beside him. “Good morning, Rolf,” I said, reaching for a handshake.
He snatched my hand, tugged at it quickly, “You have fifteen minutes.”
I opened the clasps on my briefcase and removed a set of six proposals, each one a variation on a $2-million insurance policy. As far as Rolf was concerned that was why I wanted to meet with him – to discuss the $2-million proposal. In truth, I had an ulterior motive, and I needed a couple of minutes at the end of the meeting to discuss the real reason I wanted to see him. I prayed he would make up his mind about the $2 million quickly.
“Rolf,” I said, “here are six proposals based on the zero-cost concept I discussed with you over the phone. The death benefit returns the original face amount, plus the premiums, plus what those premiums would have earned had you invested them elsewhere.”
Rolf took the proposals from me, and studied them, spending about twenty seconds on each. The fifth proposal would be my recommendation. The premium stream and the interest rate involved best suited his needs. If he selected the fifth proposal, I would have time left to discuss the real reason for my visit.
I prayed hard. While Rolf continued to look at the proposals, I placed my hands on my lap and concentrated on steadying them. I have a tendency to tap my fingers nervously, and now would be a rather untimely occasion to indulge in a distracting habit. I turned to look outside and watched as one bird chased another around in the air. Perhaps the pursuer was trying to sell the other insurance.
After two minutes, Rolf looked up. “Proposal number five,” he declared.
“That is my recommendation.”
“Fine, then, thank you, David.”
“Rolf,” I said, “I still have eleven more minutes of your time-”
Rolf looked at his watch.
“So you do,” he said. I knew Rolf was a man of his word.
“Rolf, I would like to meet with you and your lawyers and accountants. I want to develop a package of insurance for the new partnership – based on this zero-cost plan. Can we arrange an appointment to discuss this?” I asked.
Rolf was the de facto head partner of a packaging company that was undergoing a massive restructuring. I had done insurance for the original partnership years before when they bought out an international company. It was my biggest case – a total of $42 million of insurance. But since then, the company had grown tremendously. Now the insurance need would be around $100,000,000 – and I wanted a shot at the business. The fact that I had done the original insurance would help me – but not as much as I would like. Each of the 10 partners would be bringing in their own agents and the competition would be fierce. But I knew Rolf was the kingpin, whoever had his support would likely win the business. I needed him to agree to an appointment. His eyes turned and he looked me straight in the face, as though he were probing my mind for any weakness. If I flinched, he would say no. It was as simple as that.
I stared back unblinking. Rolf said yes.
Break through to selling megacases
As I drove back home, barely aware of the road and the increasing traffic, I wondered how in the world I had found myself in a position where I was asking a client for an appointment to discuss $100,000,000 worth of insurance. Thirty years earlier I had arrived in Toronto as an immigrant – virtually penniless. And somehow, since then, I had managed to rise to the top of the insurance business. As I thought about it, I realized that the answer was not really a mystery. In fact, the meeting with Rolf was an inevitable milestone on the path that I had chosen and created for myself. Since those first days in Canada, I had dreamed that I would meet people like Rolf, earn their confidence and do business with them. This book is about the strategies I developed to help me realize those dreams.
I have written this book in the hope that others might be able to use some of my strategies to realize their own dreams. The truth is, if I can do it, so can you. I have never felt I was a natural salesperson. When I was a young agent, I would marvel at the ease with which the other new salespeople seemed to sell. If they made it look easy, I made it look difficult. But, because I wasn’t a natural, I was forced to develop strategies to help me sell, first small insurance policies, then larger and larger ones, until I eventually broke through to selling megacases – cases where the insurance amount is $10 million or more. In this book, I will show you all of the strategies I used to take my business and sales to the top. And, yes, I will tell you how the case with Rolf turned out – but first, the lean years.
Part II
How