Chapter 31
The Cigar-Store Indian Never Made A Sale All the cigar-store Indian did was attract people to the store. A live clerk inside had to make the actual sale. Many a salesman is a wooden Indian and doesn’t know it. The Automat is the only place to date where you can drop coins into slots and get waited on. But even the Automat can’t “trade-up,” sell “extra items,” or make “multiple” sales.
AN INSURANCE salesman got into my office the other day and asked, “Who is your worst enemy?” This took me off my feet. I knew he was prospecting for “leads,” but insurance salesmen usually want names of friends, relatives or acquaintances. This man wanted my “worst enemies.” When I asked him why, he explained that he received too much resistance when he asked for names of friends. People do not want to have salesmen calling on their friends. He hit upon the “worst-enemy” angle, and he tells me it works! A favorite way, if you are a life insurance salesman, to get the prospect talking is to ask leading questions, such as “Are you married?” – “Have any children?” – “Are they boys or girls?” – “How old are they?” The prospect finds himself responding to these questions, warming himself up, and at the same time giving needed information to the salesman.
A Good Leading Question
Another insurance salesman finds this to be his favorite leading question, “What is the thing you‟d like most to give your children if something happened to you?”
Most men say, “A million dollars,” and this salesman shakes his head slowly, saying, “That would be the worst thing you could do – it would ruin them! What you would like to leave your children would be the FULL TIME of their mother, with no financial worries, so that she could help them become the fine people you would like them to be.” Whenever a sale is slipping, another insurance salesman uses this “Tested Selling Sentence” to get his prospect coming after the “bait.” He says, “How long is it since you have had your blood pressure taken?” And then, “Do you think you could pass this examination?” This reflection on his health will challenge many a man. It takes a “live wire,” not a wooden Indian, to know when and how to use these “power words” effectively and make people respond, especially when they ask the age-old
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