Selling Protection Against Death

 Selling Protection Against Death 

    IN DENVER , Colorado, T. J. Devers startled his friends when he earned a thousand dollars in five months by selling memberships in a mutual benefit association. When he started, Devers was broke. He had answered an advertisement and received instructions on how and where to get new members. Devers thought little of the “canned sales talk,” as he styled it, which the company sent him. However, he did need cash badly, and since the proposition offered a way to get it, he decided to give it a chance. “Don’t let anyone tell you it was easy,” he said, talking about his first sale. “It was anything but easy to find a man who was willing to pay five dollars to join this benefit association. That membership fee, collected at the time the application is made out, was my commission. At first I made the mistake of overselling my prospects. I was talking with an old man and promising him everything I could think of, when he said sharply: ‘Young fellow, you’re a liar. You might sell me if you’d stop lying and tell the truth.’ I said, ‘All right. I’m starting out with this proposition. I don’t believe you’re in good health. If you are, and you want to join this association, sign the application and give me five dollars.’ He didn’t sign. He said no doctor in the county would say he could live more than a week, but if I saw his son, I might get an order. Although I had no assurance the boy would buy, I located him, explained that his father sent me, and this time, told the truth about my company. The boy took one of my policies, and paid me the initial membership fee. That was my first sale. I had learned one important thing. That was the importance of telling the truth about the mutual benefit policies. Later on, I learned another and that was to learn all there is to know about the policies and the protection they provided. I spent almost seven weeks learning everything I needed to know about them. Meanwhile, I wasn’t selling many memberships. “As time passed, though, I became convinced that I could sell them. The thing that was holding me back was not knowing where to find prospects who needed protection. Usually, the man who is able to carry old line insurance is not a prospect for mutual benefit policies. But those who have been forced by circumstances to drop their old line policies are in need of some protection. The mutual benefit plan is a godsend to them, inasmuch as the cost of this protection is relatively small, compared with the cost of regular life insurance. These benefit policies require no medical examination, and pay benefits up to a thousand dollars. The monthly cost is only one dollar, which most people can afford to pay. “I struck up an acquaintance with an old line insurance solicitor one afternoon, and we talked about business. He told me that many of his customers were forced to give up their big policies, and were carrying only small industrial policies. That made me curious to see these people. I asked him if he would tell me the names of a few new lapsed policies on his debit, and he did this readily. I called on them. Being careful not to say anything that would be looked upon as knocking the old line company, I explained that this mutual policy was actually replacing the larger old line insurance in many instances, where the family could not afford to keep up their premiums. I then pointed to the low cost, and the safety features of the benefit policy I was selling. I sold each one of them and in a day or so called back offering two dollars commission for each policy I sold to friends they recommended. They took advantage of my offer and gave me the names of friends and relatives. Within a week I had signed up fifty-four memberships from those recommended. These in turn recommended a number of others and within a short while I had all the prospects I needed.” 

    Unique Cigarette Dispensing Humidor “ 

    I MADE my first thousand dollars placing cigarette humidors in apartment hotels and homes,” Charles Dagmar told a Dartnell staff writer in search of money-making ideas to include in this book. “Since both women and men smoke cigarettes these days, I figure making an average sale of two packs of cigarettes daily from each humidor. At an average profit of four cents this pays a good return on my investment. Getting locations for these home humidors is no more difficult than getting locations for any coin machine. There is this difference, however, you don’t pay any commission to the owner of the location. “When the home humidor first came to my attention, I thought it was a good idea. Carrying some photographs of the humidor with me, I called upon the owner of three big apartment hotels, and ‘sold’ him on the idea of letting me place a humidor in each apartment. ‘It’s a self-merchandising machine,’ I argued, ‘saves the tenant’s time, and offers him the convenience of fresh cigarettes day and night. If he runs out of cigarettes he doesn’t have to go out to the store to get them.’ That argument, and the beauty and utility of the humidor, appealed to the apartment hotel owner. He said that he would have to place a piece of furniture in each apartment similar to the humidor anyway, and as long as he didn’t have to pay anything for the use of the machines I could install them. In his hotels there are a hundred and four apartments and I placed a humidor in each. As my average profit is four cents on each package of cigarettes sold, my earnings run close to $375 monthly for these three hotels. “These humidors are excellent pieces of furniture. They come in various styles such as end tables, occasional tables, telephone stands, magazine and newspaper racks and card tables. The humidor is so constructed that it keeps cigarettes fresh for an indefinite period. It can be loaded with fifteen packages of cigarettes, which are enough for the ordinary household at one time. If more than two in the family smoke I make two trips weekly and refill the humidor. Service is the keynote of success with this product. I take my money from the cash box on each trip. “The convenience of the humidor is quickly apparent to the average man or woman who uses cigarettes. The favorite brand of the user may be placed in the humidor so that there is no objection to the cigarette itself. Almost everyone has had the experience of smoking his last cigarette late at night, during a party in the home, or while listening in on a distant radio program. I remind hotel men of this experience if any additional argument is needed to place the humidors.” Dagmar paid one-third cash and agreed to make a monthly payment of a small amount of his earnings for the humidors which, when bought in quantities, cost $13.50 each. He has placed these humidors in several apartment hotels and in many homes. There seems to be an unlimited field for this machine, especially in large cities where there is a tendency for families to live in small furnished apartments. There is also an opportunity to make money with this coin machine in the small community. Collections are made weekly, and a steady income is assured from each humidor, once placed.