V.

MOTIVATIONAL THOUGHTS
BEN FELDMAN

THE VALUE OF A LIFE

“Have you ever thought how funny it is that a man will insure everything he owns for what it’s
worth-except his life? He has a car he has insured. For how much? For pretty much what it’s worth.
He has a home he has insured. For how much? For pretty much what it’s worth. The one thing he
doesn’t insure for what it’s worth is his life. Apparently, it isn’t worth much.

“He’ll insure his life for only five or ten percent of what it’s worth. The most precious thing in
the world, insured for only five or ten percent of its value! Isn’t that a little crazy? The home is
replaceable, the car is replaceable-- but a man’s life? In enough time, he can buy a new all the time
in the world, how can he get a new life?

“The value of a man’s life—why should you stop thinking big when you think of a man’s life?
What’s bigger? Tell me something: How much is your life worth? Want to know how much? How
much did you insure it for? Well, that’s what it’s worth—no more, no less.

“Is your life worth as little as the value you put on it? Can you ever put too much value on
your life? There are people who are insured for $50,000; there are people who are insured for
$500,000. There are people who are insured for millions of dollars. But there is no one insured for
more than his life is worth.

“There’s no one who will be willing to trade all his tomorrow’s for his life insurance; there’s
not a man in the world who’d be willing to do that. Don’t be afraid to put a big price tag on a
man’s life.
“I Never Take ‘No’ For An Answer”

“A friend of mine was working for an insurance company, and there just happened to be an
opening. I knew he was earning $35 a week which to me was a fabulous amount of money. I went
down and applied for the job. The roof fell in. I didn’t seem to measure up in any way, shape, or
form. I was shy, I was backward, I talked with a lisp. I hadn’t even finished high school. They
tossed me out.

“But a positive mental attitude, that more than anything else, determines your success. If you
decide you are going to feel wonderful, strong, excited—then you have the power to move mountains. I
had this attitude. I never take ‘no’ for an answer. If they throw me out one door, I’ll come in another.
So I came back, an I came back. And I finally got the job.”

When Ben wanted to change from his debit job, here’s what happened:

“I still wasn’t sure I wanted to change jobs. Then the debit company said to me, ‘you’ll never
make good. You’ll fall on your face. You shouldn’t go at all. It’s not for you.’

“There’s no limit on what you can do.”

“And that did it. I decided I would make the change.”

“If You Buy More, You Sell More”

“Years ago, when I started, I wrote $500 policies, and the reason they weren’t smaller was—there
wasn’t anything smaller! And you know what was wrong? I didn’t have much insurance myself.

“I think I had $2,000 worth. And most everyone I spoke to had that –or more. I was afraid of
my prospects. Why? Because they were bigger than I was; I was looking up at them. It’s much harder
to make a sale when you’re looking up. It’s very hard, very hard to make a sale when the man looks
like a giant. He’s got $10,000 worth of insurance and I’ve buy more. You know who should buy
more? I should buy more.

“So I began buying insurance for myself. I was starting out in life; I didn’t have the money. At
that time, I was buying insurance for which it seemed I couldn’t pay. It’s a funny thing: I had no
money, but I found the money. And you know, you start out like that and then—a wonderful thing
happens! If you buy more, you sell more. It’s your clients who pay the premiums for your policies. Do
it—you’ll find it will work for you.

“So I built up my program. And then I finally built myself up to where I had $50,000 of
insurance –what happened? I found myself talking to a man with $100,000 of insurance. I had just
$50,000. I was ashamed to have so little. In those days, if I were talking to a man who had $100,000
and I had $50,000, I would look up to him. He was bigger than I was, and I was scared.

“So what did I do? I pulled myself up. But when I had $200,000, know what happened? There I
was talking to somebody with $300,000. I was still afraid. So I continued increasing my personal
program.

“And you know, when you do, you feel big. When you have $500,000 and the man you’re
talking to has only $300,000—oh, boy! You enjoy talking to that man!

“So, build up your own insurance program. The best way to sell something is to first own it
yourself. I’m not frightened to put up a proposal for a million dollar policy on any man. As a rule,
you will sell each year 10 times the amount of insurance you own. Build your program up to $100,000,
and you’ll be writing one million dollars a year.

“Men grow, and if you stay with them, you’ll grow with them. Continue to study. Continue to
build your own program.”
“Starting Off With A Goal”

“If you want big volume, you have to look for men with big price tags on their problems. How
would you like to write $6,000,000 in the next six months? Of course you would. But you can’t do it
without big packages.

“What you’re saying is: six million dollars! You have to run too fast in six months—it doesn’t
look like it’s possible. It’s too big. You think you can’t do it. But listen and I’ll tell you how to do
it.

“Take six million dollars and break it apart into months; divide by six, and what have you got?
One million dollars a month. Still too big? All right, break it down some more. How many weeks are
there in a month? Four. Divide one million by four. Now what have you got? Two hundred fifty
thousand dollars a week. Now continue to break it down: break down that $250,000 into three cases a
week. Now you have less than $100,000 a case. All you need is to write two nor three cases totaling
$250,000 each week. If you miss today, know what? You’ll make it tomorrow.

“Now its do-able. You can do it. You can achieve your goal. But you’ve got to start off with a
goal—a big goal.

“The key to the goal is the deadline. You must have a goals and deadlines. One isn’t good
without the other. But together, they can be tremendous.

“I started off years ago with a goal of three cases a week. When my cases got bigger, my
volume got bigger.”

“Invest In Yourself”

“Get adequate office help and good equipment. Learn to delegate. Learn time control. Establish
priorities. Make use of procedures. Make up tomorrow’s appointments today.
 “I feel that you should invest money in yourself. You’re in business. Do you know of a
businessman who can operate a business without capital—without investing in himself? After a while,
you become a little more knowledgeable and when you do—delegate. Don’t do what a secretary can do.
When you find that you need a secretary, get one. Don’t spend your time doing what someone can do
for $3.50 an hour. Spend money. It will make you money. There’s nothing quite for nothing.

“Delegate to people and machines what they can do so you can do what you do best.

“I found out a long, long time ago that you’ve got to do first things first. You’ve got to have a
system of priorities. If you don’t, you’ll get buried in detail.”

First Step: Expansion!

“When I hired my first secretary, I sure wasn’t too happy about it. To me, that meant spending
more money. And I was a little concerned. Would I have enough work to keep her busy? But my
manager convinced me even if I had to borrow the money, it was the right thing to do. That’s how
you grow. So I hired a girl.

“And my manager was right. She gave me time to keep doing what I was best qualified to do,
instead of spending my time on something that, frankly, she was better qualified to do. In the year
after I hired her, my sales production doubled. And we’ve been growing ever since.

“I don’t like details. I just like to go out and talk with someone who has a very real problem
when I think I’ve got the answer. Do it or don’t do it. What’s the price? If you don’t do it, you’ll be
doing the work at $3.50 an hour girl can do, and so your time will be worth only $3.50 an hour. But
if you hire someone, you’ll be free to do those things you do best—with no limit on your earnings.”

Forty -One Guidelines For Success

You become the most important person in the world when, at the end of a year, you’ve sold a million
dollars worth of insurance. Why? Because as sure as you’re sitting there, one million dollars walks in
because of what you did. And that one million dollars walks in when a widow needs it most, when a
company needs it most, when a company needs it most, when a family needs it most.

No one has a corner on ideas.

You’re successful because you have
listened to other successful people.
Get inspiration from others.

“Learn time control. Establish priorities. Make up tomorrow’s appointments today.”

When I began, my packages were small because I was thinking small. An education package. A
retirement package. They excited me. Then. But ideas tend to get old. Then they don’t excite me any
longer, and I can’t run. I have the track to run on, but the motivation I need—the excitement—is gone.
You’ve got to be enthused and excited. New ideas, bigger ideas like new goals and bigger goals make
me run.
Life insurance is the closest thing to getting something for nothing I’ve ever found.

There’s no substitute for life insurance. There never was and there never will be. There’s no investment
a man could make that’s anything like it. Why? What’s the best investment? The one that pays the
most when it’s needed most. And, tell me, isn’t that life insurance?

You can learn from your own experiences. In sales work, the biggest mistake is not to make mistakes.

Don’t be afraid to dream big dreams. They have a way of coming true. Strange as it seems, your
biggest problem is to sell yourself. Most men exchange their lifetime for much too little. Don’t be
afraid to think big. Anything your mind can conceive, that you can achieve. Think small and your cases
will be small. Think big and your cases will be big.
 I always felt I could do anything the next man can.

A prospect’s problem has a price tag. The price tag has to be paid. Either his family pays it with
dollars, or he pays it with pennies. Which is better? Aren’t you helping him? The bigger the price tag,
the more you’re helping him. He needs that policy. Never underestimate his needs. When you
underestimate his needs, you’re not helping him. When you think small, you’re actually hurting the
person you should be helping. Tell him what he needs, no matter how big it looks. Then you’re truly
helping him.
A man has to let go of lower things and reach for the higher.

If you think small, your cases will be small. Anyone who is perfectly satisfied with the way he is
living or the way he is doing his job is in a rut. If he has no driving urge to be a better person or
to do a better job, then he is standing still. And as any businessman will tell you, standing still is the
same as going backwards. One of the greatest virtues a man can have is a total inability to be
completely satisfied with his own work.

My first track to run on: Three cases a week and keep it simple.

You know, if I said to you, you’ve got to do $3,000,000 this year –you must do it this year, no ifs,
ands, or buts—you’d be frightened, wouldn’t you? That frightens you. You can’t do it. Too big. So
let’s break that apart into little pieces. Let’s break that $3,000,000 down by timing. First into months.
That’s $250,000. Still too big? Let’s break it down. Into weeks. Let’s take that $250,000 and divide it
by four. Now you don’t have to write $250,000. You have to write only $60,000.

Still too big? Yes? How many people want $60,000? How many people are even willing to listen to
you? Where are you going to write $60,000 this afternoon? It still frightens you. So let’s continue to
break it down. It’s still too big, so you’re going to break it down by three. Three cases a week. Now
divide three into $60,000. Now you’re down to something you’re not afraid of. You’ve done that lots
of times! Three cases a week. You’ve got a track to run on. Now it can be done. Make your goal big
enough to be exciting. Then break it down into little pieces so it’s do-able.

Old goals don’t excite. You have to set a goal and regardless of what it is—once it’s attained-replace
it. With a new goal, a bigger goal! Don’t be afraid if it gets bigger and bigger. You know what the
difference between $100,000 and $1,000,000 is? Only one zero! If you’re not afraid to think bigger, it’s
amazing how much bigger you can become. Dream! Don’t be afraid to dream. Three hundred thousand
dollars looked big 35 years ago. Now $70,000,000 doesn’t frighten me. Set a big goal. Nothing builds a
bigger fire under me than a bigger goal. Then a bigger one.

There’s always some new goal up ahead. There’s always something I can look up to. There’s always
something bigger.

Read. There are so many services and bulletins coming in from my own company-- publications, a lot
of stuff. Read. Keep reading. And you learn after a while to read more quickly, so you don’t have to
spend so much time reading. You can get it just by glancing. But read. Study never stops because the
publications never stop coming in. It’s read and study. Think about what you’re studying. Take it apart
and put it together. Ask why. And know the answers. As the years go by, you become more confident,
because knowledge gives you power. You’re so sure of yourself, you can build a fire under a prospect.
Know your business well enough so you’re right at home no matter what the prospect brings up.

Your value depends on what you make of yourself. Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is
of you.
To be successful, you must have a plan. And a plan means a goal. It means a track to run on. And it
means a schedule to save time.

When you’re ready, the world stands still for you. When you’re not, you’re the unhappiest guy in the
world. You’re ready when you’ve followed a specific procedure to prepare you to make the sale. You
see, the sale of life insurance is a procedure and not a problem. It only becomes a problem when it
ceases to be a procedure.

I really believe in what I am doing—that it is good for you—and that makes it good for me.
The stock market is where money makes money. But life insurance creates cash where none had existed
before. The basic purpose of life insurance is to create. A piece of paper, a drop of ink, and pennies
on the dollar . . . and we can create more than most people can accumulate.

Enthusiasm in nothing more than the excitement in your voice.

One of man’s greatest traits is the inability to be completely satisfied with his own handiwork. The
feeling of having done a job well is rewarding; the feeling of having done it perfectly is fatal.

“Nothing builds a bigger fire under me than a bigger goal.”

My week has seven days.

Be sure, be absolutely sure, of what you’re doing.

Your biggest asset is a positive mental attitude. If you decide you are going to feel wonderful, strong,
excited—then you have the power to move mountains. You begin to get this feeling when you know
that through your knowledge of life insurance you can help another human being. I get wrapped up in
these cases, and I’m not just trying to make another dollar. Things are very, very real to me. So real. I
see the problem through the prospect’s eyes and make it my own. The most important person to disturb
and get steamed up in the interview is me.

Lack of appreciation of life insurance generally stems from lack of understanding.

Knowledge makes you strong. When you really know you know, you can build a fire under a prospect.

To be successful, you must have a plan. A plan means goals, a track to run on, and a system of
priorities—doing first things first. You must have goals and deadlines to make you run. One isn’t much
good without the other, but together they can be tremendous.

You have to buy it first, then you can sell it. Be sold yourself.

Speak slowly, clearly, softly, definitely, and be sure.

Strange as it seems, our biggest problems is to sell ourselves. Most men exchange their lifetime for
much too little. Don’t be afraid to think big.

The size of the case will be governed by your thinking. Think small and the case will be small.

I just don’t waste time on the non-believers and the reformers. When a prospect’s personality and mine
don’t mesh, I know we’ll never agree. The day is too short to throw it away on the impossible cases.
You also have to know when not to sell.

Begin by building up your own insurance program. That will raise your sights. Then you can raise your
prospect’s sights.

The price of success: doing what you’re doing—the best you know how—setting a goal a little bit
bigger than you are—breaking it into little pieces and then doing one piece at a time until you get the
job done.

Think big. Believe in yourself. Believe in others. Think big. Don’t underestimate your prospect’s needs.
Organize your ideas into a simple sales presentation.

If you set yourself a goal, there’ll be some problems. There had better be some problems with a goal,
or it isn’t worth doing. If you set yourself a goal, you’ll come very close to reaching it. A big goal,
you will bump your nose and stub your toes, that’s what makes it worthwhile. And even if you don’t
quite get it done, and you’ll grow a little bit. Things don’t always go smoothly. Don’t expect them to
go smooth it. You make progress by planning it.

Spend more time in preparation than in presentation. Never call on a prospect unless you’re prepared.
 One Of Ben’s Cases
“A motor freight company was built around the efforts of one man. He started with $500 and,
through hard work, pyramided it into a $5,000,000 company. He recognized the need for life insurance,
but never had any money—at least he never had any extra money.

“At our first meeting, he said, ‘O. K., write me a $10,000 policy every 30 days.’ I told him this
wouldn’t work because it would require constant re-examination. The net result was that he agreed to
consider $50,000. He was examined, and I asked my company to issue the $50,000 policy, together
with an additional policy for $1,000,000. The man’s needs were for much more than $50,000. He ran
a one-man company and it needed a cushion if it should lose him—something to put a floor beneath a
credit line.

“Two policies were issued. But they were highly rated for medical reasons. When I tried to place
them, my client almost tossed me out. It wasn’t that there was such a tremendous difference in
premiums, but he simply wouldn’t accept the fact that his health was below par! Nevertheless, he felt
an obligation to me since I had put time in working on his problem. He finally accepted the $50,000.
But what a difference--$50,000 and $1,000,000!

“I didn’t give up too easily on placing the $1,000,000 policy. Months later, he did agree to
reconsider. Of course, now this meant re-examination. He was a busy man. It was difficult to schedule
him in for another medical. I finally did so, but the fates are strange. The doctor died before he could
complete the examination. A few weeks later, the another city where he had gone on business. A
doctor died—a man died—and a year later the company died.”

“To be successful you must have a plan.”

“I was afraid of a man I had to look up to. I sold small policies because I was afraid to think
big. But you know, it’s a strange thing. Maybe it’s hard to understand but the biggest problem in the
world for me and I suspect for you, too, is to sell ourselves. Most men are afraid to think big. So they
exchange a lifetime for every little. You exchange your lifetime for much too little.

“Did you ever think back: If only I had it to do over again. What went wrong? We’re afraid.
Afraid to think big. Afraid somebody will laugh at us, make fun of us, or maybe we’re just frightened.
We surround ourselves with reasons, and after a while we start to believe them. We’re afraid. We’re
afraid to think big.

“How do you think big? How? Builds up your own life insurance program. How big is big?
Builds it up and up. And this will raise your sights. Then you can raise the other man’s sights.

“One thing I did every year for many years was to buy a little more life insurance for myself.
So that if I had $200,000 and he had $100,000, I wasn’t afraid of him. You see, I could look right at
him, and not up to him. If I knew he should have more, I didn’t care if he could or couldn’t afford
more. I knew he should have more.

“It’s a funny thing. If you’re insured for $100,000 or insured $200,000, you think a little bigger.
When you move it up to $300,000, you hold your head a little bit higher. You move it on up, you
think a little bigger. It works. It’s odd, but it works.

“When you show your prospect that you own the product, this will increase his confidence in
insurance—and also in you.”

Building Self -Confidence

“Accept yourself; the ability to improve is dependent first of all upon accepting ourselves as we
are now with our strong points and our weaknesses. Then always be engaged in some type of self-
improvement.
 “Remember, progress is mental in origin. We know that thinking habits develop a self-hypnotic
influence. The subconscious operates on the basis of images, not words. That’s why we first must
supply the mental equivalent of what we wish to achieve. Today and every day, act in accordance with
the mental picture you have of yourself—your self-image.

“Your confidence in yourself is determined by your personal estimate of your ability to handle
the situation. Self-confidence is based upon past success. Think back to identical or similar situations
that you handled successfully.

“And, look successful—at times.”

The Magic Formula For Success

“My formula for success?

“I don’t know, other than I really believe, and I try to be realistic: nothing for nothing. Most
people buy, not because they believe, but because the salesman believes.

“And something else that’s very important. You know, I’m very happy to answer questions, but
once in a while, there is somebody who wants a magic answer. ‘What’s my magic formula for
success?’

“My magic formula has always been hard work.”

Ben’s Typical Day
“My office is just a stone’s throw from my home. I get in about 8:00 A. M. About an hour
later, one of the girls brings in all the mail. Someone else has gone through the mail, and I get only
what I should be looking at.

“I’ll ask Barb to come in. She’s the girl who does the correspondence. I’ll get an idea and I’ll
say, ‘Put this down, put this down, put this down.’ She’ll make up rough memos. I’ll write a number
of letters. I don’t have to dictate. I’ll just say, ‘Write a letter to so and so, and tell him this.’ She
knows my thinking well enough. You see, I’m delegating. I’m saving the time that I would have used
if I had to dictate the letter myself. She and I will spend maybe half an hour together.

“Then Marian comes in. She brings in a long list of cases. She asks me which of these I must
have. I’ll say, ‘I’ve got to have this one. I’ve got to have that one.’ I’ll tell her, ‘Make me up a split
dollar on so and so,’ or ‘Make me up a tax illustration,’ or ‘Make me up this or that, or something
else.’ She has another girl who helps her. I’ll spend about 30 minutes with Marian.

“I have a well-trained CLU office administrator who does my service work. He can do most of it
himself, but there are problem cases of all kinds. He’ll run these by me.

“It’s the service man’s job to make sure a man gets examined. He’ll call the man on the phone
after I’ve left and he’ll say, ‘Mr. Feldman asked me to call you. I have an appointment set for
Tuesday at 3:00 or one for Friday at 4:00.’ The man will say, ‘What for? I haven’t bought any
insurance!’ My service man will sy, ‘I don’t know, he just asked me to call you.’ It may sound crazy,
but it works. Try it! It will work.

“It’s my administrator’s job to follow through and get all the medical requirements fulfilled. The
company may want a statement from Dr. Brown and Dr. Smith, or they may ask for an EKG or a
Double Master’s Test, etc. That’s his job. I don’t want to nag my prospect. I don’t want to go near the
man until I have something to sell. When the policies finally come in, I decide what it is I want to
present and in what manner. It’s up to me and I go back to see him. Maybe he’ll feel he’s a busy
man and I’m a busy man. Just a word on a piece of paper could mean so much. ‘Let’s pin it down
and then we’ll have 30-60 days to work with your lawyer.’ I’ll say that three to four times he’ll go
along—that’s my ratio. I’ll place three out of four cases.

“I try to get out of the office before noon. I don’t always, through, because there are what seem
to be a million phone calls coming in. A lot of calls came in the day before. There’s a little
blackboard in back of my desk with the messages. At 8:00 in the morning, I have a lot of phone calls
rolling out, but most of the people aren’t in and I leave word for them to call back. They do, and that
means another pair of hands!

‘It’s a relief for me to get out of the office. I have a radio set-up built into my car for my
office and my home. It isn’t telephone, it’s radio. If something does take place, if someone calls me, if
something happens that makes it necessary to reach me, they can reach me. They can reach me. They
just call me. Doesn’t matter where I am, they can reach me at once.

“I go along making calls on a list I’ve made up the night before. I carry a little card in my
pocket with maybe eight or 10 names on it-- to place policies, to try to complete an exam, or to get
an interview. I’ll walk in, make notes. The recording machine in my car is an indispensable tool.

“It goes on like this for the rest of the day. Much of my work is in a radius of about 40 miles
from my home. About 7:00 or 7:30 P. M., I’ll call my home and ask if anything took place that I
should know about; if anyone called in, or if there are any messages from the office. If there’s
anything I can do about these messages, I do it.

“I bring a briefcase of work home with me. By now I’m so hungry—because I never take time
for lunch and never take time for dinner until I get home-- that when I walk into the kitchen I have
what I call a ‘take-back’ sandwich. I make myself a great big sandwich, and ‘take it back’ into my
bedroom. While I undress, I eat my sandwich. I get out of my clothes and put on old clothes. After I
eat dinner, I work for an hour or two getting ready for tomorrow—earmarking, getting up the proposals
I want Marian to type up the next day, maybe running over the dictation and picking out the things
that are most important –things that really are the keys to the cases.

‘My days run from 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night, with a couple more hours thrown in
to get ready for tomorrow. You see, there’s no half way. You either do it or you don’t.

A SUMMARY AND A PLAN FOR ACTION

A. SUMMARY
1. As you read through this section, note Ben’s belief in the product of life insurance.
2. Note, too, the art that he has already demonstrated in sales presentations, the art of shaping words
to be effective motivators.

3. Ben never takes no for an answer. When told he can’t do something, this is all the more of a
reason for
him to do so.

4. How is your life insurance program? Are you, possibly subconsciously, fearing certain prospects
because
they have more life insurance than you do?

5. See how Ben takes a goal as awesome as $6,000,000 of sales in six months and reduces it to a
“do-able” figure of three cases a week. If you wanted to do $6,000,000 in a year, it would be only
three cases a week for an average face amount of $40,000. Do-able, isn’t it?

6. Ben doesn’t waste time on details or on things that can be done by others. He has several
secretaries as well as his own office manager.

7. From time to time, you might wish to read through the short motivational thoughts provided by
Ben. They’re inspiring—and so logical.

8. Ben’s typical day runs many hours, mirroring his secret for success: hard work.

B. A PLAN FOR ACTION

1. Ben never takes no for an answer. If you wish to emulate Ben, now is a good time to practice his
positive thinking.

2. How much additional insurance are you going to buy after reading this section? Remember what
Ben says: a wonderful thing happens! If you buy more, you sell more, That’s how you’ll pay the
premiums.

3. Why not put your next year’s goal on paper right now? Then break it down the way Ben does.
How many applications a week will you need to write to accomplish the goal? Is the goal worthy
of your efforts?

4. When do you plan to hire a secretary—or another one? Are you doing things that others can do
just as easily and which rob you of selling time?

5. If your day is not similar to Ben’s, ask yourself if you’re willing to pay the price Ben has paid. T
The closer you come to Ben’s schedule, the more closely you’ll approach his sales results.