to do pretty well at selling a prospect, until the moment came for closing a sale. Then
the customer would say: 'Well, I'll think it over, Mr. Bettger. Come and see me again.' It
was the time I wasted on these follow-up calls that was causing my depression.
"2. I asked myself: 'What are the possible solutions?' But to get the answer to that one, I
had to study the facts. I got out my record book for the last twelve months and studied
the figures.
"I made an astounding discovery! Right there in black and white, I discovered that
seventy per cent of my sales had been closed on the very first interview! Twenty-three
per cent of my sales had been closed on the second interview! And only seven per cent
of my sales had been closed on those third, fourth, fifth, etc., interviews, which were
running me ragged and taking up my time. In other words, I was wasting fully one half of
my working day on a part of my business which was responsible for only seven per cent
of my sales!
"3. 'What is the answer?' The answer was obvious. I immediately cut out all visits
beyond the second interview, and spent the extra time building up new prospects. The
results were unbelievable. In a very short time, I had almost doubled the cash value of
every visit I made from a call!"
As I said, Frank Bettger is now one of the best-known life-insurance salesmen in
America. He is with Fidelity Mutual of Philadelphia, and writes a million dollars' worth of
policies a year. But he was on the point of giving up. He was on the point of admitting
failure-until analysing the problem gave him a boost on the road to success.
Can you apply these questions to your business problems? To repeat my challenge-
they can reduce your worries by fifty per cent. Here they are again:
- What is the problem?
- What is the CAUSE of the problem?
- What are all possible solutions to the problem?
- What solution do you suggest?
Part Two In A Nutshell
RULE 1: Get the facts. Remember that Dean Hawkes of Columbia University said that "
half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they
have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision."
RULE 2: After carefully weighing all the facts, come to a decision.
RULE 3: Once a decision is carefully reached, act! Get busy carrying out your decision-
and dismiss all anxiety about the outcome.
RULE 4: When you, or any of your associates are tempted to worry about a problem,
write out and answer the following questions:
a. What is the problem?
b. What is the cause of the problem?
c. What are all possible solutions?
d. What is the best solution?