I.

PROSPECTING and PREAPPROACH

BEN FELDMAN

Ben prospects for people with problems.

Like you, Ben Feldman must prospect. But to Ben, prospecting is not simply securing a name or
list of names for follow-up. To him, prospecting is an encompassing approach in which the names is
merely a prelude to the sale.

Pressed for a definition of the “best” prospect, Ben will say simply, “Someone with a problem -
all kinds of assets but no money.” To him, prospecting mans recognizing that problem and making
sure the problem has a price tag. In a nutshell, Ben explains, “ Prospecting is simply people plus a
good idea.”

Ben’s techniques for prospecting are probably the ones you’re using right now. Do you ask for
referred leads? Ben does. He asks his clients, “ Would you give me the names of just two people,
successful like yourself, to whom I might present an idea designed (for example) to save taxes?”

What about personal observation - is that one of your methods? Listen to how Ben does it, and
observe the follow - through:

“I’m driving down the road, and I see a sign over the door of a building: The ABC
Manufacturing Company. It looks like a pretty sizeable operation.

“Now the next thing I do is to get a Dun & Bradstreet report. That’s a financial report on the.
That’s a financial report on the ABC Company, which comes to you from D&B. You can subscribe to
their service and secure a report from them on almost any company.

“I’ve got the D&B - what do I do with it? I study it. I go over it very carefully. Now I know
who owns the ABC Company. I found out it’s a closely - held corporation. The man who runs it is
the man who owns it.

“The next thing I do is look at: What does he own? What does he owe? Does he have a lot of
money or a lot of debts?

“And I find out there isn’t that much cash floating around. This is a half-million dollar business,
but that half million dollar locked up in brick and steel and land and machinery. All the money is in
the business, not in cash.

“What else do I know after reading this report?

“Tell me, wouldn’t it be logical to assume that the man owns a house, owns a car, that he’s
piled up certain investments, certain expensive possessions? So here’s a man with an estate of maybe
seven, eight hundred thousand dollars.

“And I know this: Uncle Sam wants two or three hundred thousand dollars from this man - that’s
the part of his estate that isn’t his. So this man has a problem - a problem with a big price tag.”

In his mind, Ben is preparing his approach to the prospect. “Mr. Jones, I have a package of
money that will pay your estate taxes. With discounted dollars. Let me show it to you …”

“Prospecting is simply people plus a good idea.”

Of course, Ben also gets leads from reading the papers. When he gets the name of a prospect, he
wants to know more about him or her.
“Sometimes I know people who know the prospect. Over the years, I’ve developed a list of
names - lawyers, auditors, people in real estate. So I ask questions, discreet questions. If I wanted to
find out something about you, I’d go to someone in the same field.

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 “If you stay with them you’ll grow with them.”

Do you prospect among your policy -owners? Here’s what Ben has to say about this rich source
of prospects:

“You could go back to every policyowner you have on the books. Once a year. When he’s
moving from one age bracket into the next. And just say, ‘let’s just review’ what he did. ‘The
children are a year older, you’re a year older, let’s take a look at the program and see if we should be
doing something.’ ”

As Ben notes, 400 or 500 policyowners on the books will keep an agent busy.

There probably is no better source of prospects for the established agent than clients. “Watch
them,” Ben advises.
“And see which ones grow. The ones that grow - they’re your prospects. You know, your people
will grow - some of them, maybe all of them. And if you stay with them, you’ll grow with them. My
first sale was to a young businessman. A $2,000 policy. But he grew and I stayed with him. Later on,
he became the first man to buy a million dollar policy from me.”

Is Ben sold on this rich source of prospects?

“A lot of us write policies, then run away,” Ben says. “Then somebody else comes along and
write another policy for the client we ran away from - and that new policy turns out to be a bigger one
than the policy we had placed. Your clients are prospects for another policy - for bigger coverage. Do
you know that the biggest sales I made to close corporations (and I’ve worked with some 150 of them)
were made to corporations where I had already made sales?

“So continue to prospect among your clients.”

Ben makes cold calls, too.

“I make lots of cold calls - like any other salesman,” Ben admits. “Switchboard girls and
secretaries have become very good. They’ve learned to take you apart. Who? Why? What for? What
company? You don’t always get by. I seldom call on the phone. I’d rather go.

“On calls, I just walk in - and my first barrier is usually the switchboard operator or the
receptionist. On the phone, a switchboard operator can stop me dead. But face to face, the odds are I’ll
get by. And when I do, I may leave a little something with her. You know what it is? It’s a pair of
little golden slippers. She doesn’t know what they are until I’ve left and she’s opened the box. Then I
usually get a thank - you note. From that time on, I can get in.”

Ben is big on fundamentals. “And one fundamental is: You have to make calls,” Ben says.
“Nothing happens until you make a call. It’s that fundamental.”

During the cold calls, Ben secures information, mostly through what he calls “conversation.”

“Conversation is a series of questions which I can retain long enough to get out to the car and
record. I’m recording all day long and listening each evening. Each morning, I have one secretary with
whom I make notes. And that’s the beginning of a file. And maybe we get a D&B to go with it.

“Nothing happens until you make a call.”

“I make lots of cold calls, but the second time I see a man , he’s no longer a stranger.”

With Ben, it’s hard to draw a line between what is normally called “prospecting” and what others
may refer to as “pre -approach” or “approach. “ As already noted, Ben believes that prospecting is
basically recognizing the problem and making sure that the problem has a price tag.

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 In his prospecting, he approaches a prospect, a man with a problem, with disturbing questions.
“Keep asking disturbing questions.” he says, “and sooner or later you’ll find the man’s specific problem.
When you talk to a man, you know what’s important? Listening. Learn to listen. This is how you’ll
find the problem. When you find a prospect by pinpointing a problem, nine times out of 10 that
prospect will become a policyowner.

Ben believes in pre-approach letters and uses them with a number of prospects.

Five of the letters Ben has used follow. You can use these letters the same way Ben does. As we
review each letter, we’ll comment on the sales strategy employed by Ben.

The first letter, which discusses the value of key people in a business, has been used very
effectively by Ben. He asked a company officer to sign and send it - at the rate of one letter a day - to
a list of 30 prospects Ben had prepared.

Note that the letter isn’t signed by Ben. Its effectiveness depends on “third -party influence” - on
having a Home Office official introduce Ben and the idea he will be discussing. (You can have a Home
Office official prepare and send the same letter for you, or you may prefer that it be sent by your
Regional Vice President or your Manager or General Agent.)

Note, too, that the letter asks the prospect to do nothing other than grant an interview. He does
not have to return a reply card - a that is asked of him is a few minutes of his time. The follow -up is
then made by Ben.

Note that the letters were sent out at the rate of one a day. This mailing schedule permitted Ben
to plan and prepare for one call a day. Thirty calls on business executives may seem like a great
challenge, but breaking it down to one call per day makes the job seem comparatively easy.

Finally, note that the letter contains one simple idea (which Ben will expand upon in his approach
and interview ). It is not a long discussion of the value of key people in a business, with a list of 10
reasons why they should be insured.

The thought is a simple and attractive one. If the keyman dies, a million dollars can be made
available to help replace him.

Ben’s records show that the follow -up from the mailing of 30 letters was $7,000,000 in new
sales!

Dear Mr. Prospect:

Key people can make or break a company. They are directly responsible for profits and losses.

Our company has a plan designed to do for you what your key people do -- make money. We could
guarantee that, if your key person is “called out of the picture” . . .

ONE MILLION TAX - FREE DOLLARS COULD BE CALLED IN:

The cost is surprisingly low to those who qualify. Won’t you give our very able sales representative,
_______________, the courtesy of an interview to explain how he has set up such a plan for many
(name of community) businesses?

Sincerely,

Vice president

The letter contains one simple idea.

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 The second letter is a more general one. It can be sent to Ben’s favorite type of prospect,
someone with a problem - all kinds of assets but no money.

Again, the letter is signed by a Home Office official, and a little more third -party influence is
used, the letter emphasizing that Ben is extremely well -qualified in this field.

It mentions million -dollar policies and introduces Ben’s concept of “discounting” estate taxes
(more on this in the following pages.) Again, the intriguing idea and the simplicity of style.

Dear Mr. Prospect:

Taxes tend to create problems -- income taxes for you while you live -- estate taxes for your heirs
when you are gone.

In recent years, (name of company) has issued million dollar policies designed for purposes of
“discounting” estate taxes. We have asked _________________ to visit you with a similar proposal for
your consideration. He has been with ________ for more than ________ years and is extremely well
-qualified in this field.

Actually, very few people can qualify for a policy of this amount. In the past _______ years we have
placed less than ______ such policies on the books. We would appreciate your extending
__________________________ the courtesy of an interview. No obligation, of course.

Sincerely,

Vice President

One month, Ben had this letter sent to 28 business owners. He got to see 21 of them and had
interviews with 12 of them. Of these, he closed seven and delivered $8,500,000 within a three - month
period.

This next letter, also signed by a Vice President, is a variation of the first one. It adds the
interesting and challenging thought that very few people can qualify for such a plan.

Dear Mr. Prospect:

Here’s an idea for the man with big problems! ONE MILLION DOLLARS -- TAX FREE -- to your
company!

The day your key person “walks out” . . . ONE MILLION DOLLARS WALKS IN!

(Name of company), nearly _____________ years old -- with many billions on the books -- still has
fewer than _______ “ Million Dollar Plans ” in force.

Very few people can qualify for such a plan!

Won’t you give our very able representative, _____________________, the courtesy of an interview to
explain how such a plan might serve you?

Sincerely,

Vice President

Prospecting

Here’s a letter Ben prepares and signs himself. This one contains his classic “put me on your
payroll” idea (more on this later), a masterpiece of simplicity combined with power. Note the brevity of
these letters, and how quickly they come to the point.

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Dear Mr. Prospect:

If you had died during the past year, who would have paid the inheritance tax -- your lawyer, your
auditor, or your family?

Could they have paid it for $10 a day? Could they even have borrowed the money and paid the
interest for $10 a day?

Put me on your payroll for $10 a day and I’ll pay what must be paid.

Respectfully,

Your Name

“Keep asking disturbing questions.”

The next letter is designed for age - change prospects. How many of these do you have in your
prospect and client file?

Ben adds an interesting twist to this letter by attaching a crisp one dollar bill to each one he
sends!

Simplicity, drama, and taking a dry concept like age - change and translating it into an easily
understandable idea: your insurance rate goes up $1.00 a day forever.

Ben calls this his “Look back Letter.”

Dear Mr. Prospect:

Will you trade one hour of your time for $1.00 each day for the rest of your life?

On July 14 your insurance rate goes up $1 per day forever.

Best wishes.

Sincerely,

Your Name

A SUMMARY AND A PLAN FOR ACTION

A. SUMMARY
“You must have a plan,’ Ben counsels.

Every sale starts with a prospect, and in order to sell like Ben, you should begin by prospecting
like him. Review the key points of this section:

1. Prospecting isn’t securing a name or list of names. Prospecting is people plus a good idea.
“You prospect with ideas,” Ben says.

2. Ben uses the same techniques you do: referred leads, personal observation, policyowners, age -
changes, and cold calls. He has no secret sources of prospects.

3. Ben wants to know as much as possible about a prospect before he calls on him. “If I want
to sell someone in the XYZ Corporation and I see it’s steel fabrication, I’ll go back to
someone who operates in the same field who may already be a policyholder. ‘What do you

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 know about XYZ? About Mr. Doakes?’ And I can find out a lot. How much he owes,
how much he owns. It won’t be all the information I’ll need, but I’ll get some idea of his
problem.”

4. Ben believes D&B reports are valuable. He wants to know all he can about the prospect
before he calls on him. The ideal? “You finally get to the point where you know as much
about the company as the prospect knows. When you make the call, you can hit home
quickly.”

5. Ben adds to his file of information on the prospect be finding out even more during the first
interview. He asks questions and records the answers when he returns to his car. The
recorded information eventually finds its way into a file. The prospect is no stranger when
Ben returns for the second call.

6. Ben knows that you have make calls to sell insurance. “Get out of the office and begin
making calls. People are courteous. Everybody’s selling something. That’s how this world goes
along. We trade, we exchange. Begin calling on people.”

7. Ben makes pre -approach direct mail part of his operation. It helps pave the way for him.
Ben’s letter stresses simplicity and an interest -arousing idea. The letter calls for no action on
the prospect’s part; it is simply to alert him that Ben will be calling with an interesting and
valuable idea. Occasionally, the letters will use third- party influence.

B. A PLAN FOR ACTION

1. Examine your concept of prospecting. Are you still thinking of prospects as names or lists
of names? Are you stressing quantity of names at the expense of qualitative information?

2. Set up a procedure modeled along Ben’s method of operation, for collecting information on
a prospect before you make a call. Develop sources of information among clients, centers
of influence, and policy-owners.

3. Investigate the D&B report system. If you haven’t used it before, secure one on a prospect
or client and see what a report looks like and what it can give you in terms of
background for a sales presentation.

4. Prepare a list of questions to be asked in an initial interview to help you secure even more
information about a prospect. Use the questions in interviews, perfecting the wording, and
weeding out those which do not help you to qualify the prospect.

5. Investigate the use of recording equipment for your car.

6. Set up a procedure with your secretary to prepare files on prospects as the information is
received at various stages. Remember Ben’s admonition: “You must have a plan.”

7. Set up several letters to be sent to prospects. Use Ben’s letters or prepare your own, using
the same principles found in Ben’s.