The year is 1979; I have a shiny silver Mohair suit and black suede winkle picker shoes. I just managed to get accepted on a sales training course for a company called “Alico” (American Life Insurance Company) (that must have taken some brain power to come up with that name!)
I had 4 days to learn all I could about how to con, I mean persuade, someone they “really needed accident protection cover”
The head office was in Crawley if memory serves me correctly, one of those big glass and steel monstrosities that probably don’t exist now (hopefully) there were 5 or six of us doing the course only one was a woman. I won’t forget her because she looked a little like Jodie Foster and she drove a new Fiesta XR2; it was the era of the Hot Hatch. “I” was without wheels which I didn’t give much thought to at the time even though it would be helpful in getting from town to town in order to harass, er I mean persuade people they really DID need cover.
Every morning we would all pile into a room and the sales trainer Paul would start by getting one of us to sing “Zippadee doo dah” not kidding! One would start and the rest would follow. It was a means of psyching up for the day and developing a happy mood! When it was my turn to start I was mortified, I was so shy and couldn’t perform in any way in front of strangers; but I did start, I started with my head facing slightly down and mumbling: zipadeedoodah zipadee ay, my oh my what a wonderful day……………and then everyone else chimed in and before you knew it we were all doing impressions of the great man himself! Then when it was over “everyone was laughing and talking as if they were at a party”! This system was loosely called “PMA” positive mental attitude.
Having started the day this way we were all quite prepared for the training sessions and they were quite fun. We would create situations and take turns as sales and conned er customer. A few days in and we were “tested” there was a prize to be had and yep, it was me wot won it, I was the bees knees in training, the dogs cojones, and what did I win? I won a book called “The success system that never fails” written by W C Stone. I was hoping for a car or something practical but no, I got a book!
A few times in my life I have come across people who have made it financially well and there have been those who applied the techniques of PMA. I even met a man when Barbara and I had the yacht who told me to “write down what I wanted and I would get it” if it was really what I wanted. What they are all getting at really is “focus” drive, direction, heading off with blinkers in order to achieve one goal “Wealth” the fact is, it works, of course it works! If you really have that drive and you exclude all else, you likely WILL achieve the goal. I often wonder why this approach hasn’t worked for other goals like world peace animal rights etc, it seems to have most positive effect when applied to Money. I wonder if it is because the desire for wealth has become the biggest driver of human effort now? I don’t know.
Back at Crawley the course finished and Paul took me to one side and said he had great expectations for or of me! He was mighty impressed with my training and would do everything in his power to see that I succeeded! We went to an “Alico” conference where awards were being given out to existing salespeople for their achievements and then at the end we were welcomed into the fold and given a gift, it was a little round side plate that had been created with a slogan on it, it said; “you have always said you will do (whatever) when you get around to it, well this is your “round tuit” so now you have no excuse”! They had called a “Plate” a “Round Tuit” I was still hoping it was going to be a fucking car! But no, a “Plate”
Well, out on the street was a different matter. We had been told to be in Maldon (Essex) in the morning where we would start selling insurance.
Alico was clever, being a part of the largest insurance company in the world it could be. Alico took NO prisoners! We were told we started at the top of the high street and visited “Every” shop business on it. From cobbler to Bank. It was “cold calling extreme”
I was on one side and the “divorcee XR2 blonde” was on the other. My side had the Cobbler and hers the Bank!
I walked into the Cobbler and said “Hi, my name is Tony and if you have a minute I would like to talk to you about ……………..he responded “Insurance”!! Insurance!! I have had bloody insurance up to here!!! Now we had been taught “rebuttals” or “AH Buts’” but I can tell you, “I wasn’t going to try and go any further with this fella” he wasn’t happy.
Now bear in mind I was 19 ish and I was dressed in shiny silver mohair suit with those beautiful black suede winkle pickers. I was 6’2” and weighed around 9 stone! I must have looked like a silver toothpick! Meanwhile miss bloody wonderful was dressed in boob enhancing top and looked gorgeous! I ended the day with 2 sales to her 10, and that is how it went for the week. It wasn’t going to happen and I was ruining my shoes AND my feet!
Paul told me I had to persevere and he was really motivating but frankly, at that age and in those clothes and without a car I found “Motivation” very difficult. So I quit. What I discovered about the experience was that “everyone” “THOUGHT” I would make a great salesman, what they really didn’t realise was that if the product was shit I couldn’t sell it. I was too nice to people and didn’t like selling them something they didn’t want or need.
This situation has repeated itself several times in my life from English fine bone china to Motorcycles, if “I” don’t like it, “I” can’t sell it! If that isn’t some kind of “Honesty” I don’t know what is.
