Fraternity-Testvériség, 1965 (43. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1965-12-01 / 12. szám
2 FRATERNITY What kind of performers do you need on this unusual team? 1. A president who is ... a man of vision . . . undaunted by the failures of his predecessors. He must be a man who doesn’t have the words “It can’t be done” in his vocabulary. Furthermore, this man needs to have the faith in his staff and the courage to back his convictions and depart from conventional and accepted practices when the occasion warrants it . . . 2. A secretary who can take in stride the new problems that arise daily in a fast-growing institution — one who will accept the challenge of change as something inherent in the life insurance business and not as irritating by-products of overly ambitious and greedy salesmen. 3. A sales-minded actuary who appreciates the problems of salesmen in competition with each other and their incessant quest for a lower “net cost” position . . . who can calculate rates that will provide adequate compensation for the salesman and a profit for his society. 4. A board of directors . . . dedicated to growth and ready and willing to back up this desire to grow with reasonable sums of money. 5. A sales department that is dedicated to supplying the society with an increasing volume of profitable business with a persistency of better than 90%. Mr. Betker outlined a number of things which his own Society has done to stimulate growth, including: Set up a strong and effective general agency system. Brought in new blood from commercial companies, a move which “gave great inspiration to the old dyed-in-the-wool fraternal agents who were totally blind to the great advantages that lay in their hands.” Limited representative’s financing plan to one year “because our philosophy is that a longer plan breeds problems in that the salesmen get into a rut of producing only bare minimums to get a paycheck.” All agents and general agents must validate monthly in order to draw a paycheck. Expect a new man to get off to a fast start and a successful full-time representative to produce “$500,000 and not $200,000 or $300,000. Building a bigger objective and a large concept of what a successful full-time agent must do to have contributed much to the success of our new men.” Require general agents to conduct pre-contract training program because “much can be learned about the new man’s attitude, his willingness to cooperate and his enthusiasm for the business before he leaves his other job.” Look upon problems caused by growth, not as problems, but as growing pains. A PRAYER FOR TODAY That which I have said with my lips, O God, in professing faith in Thee, grant that I may believe in my heart and practice in my living, so that what I say and what I do may not contradict each other, and make me nothing but a blank, in Christ's sake . . . Amen.
