Flip the Script and Watch Your Success Skyrocket

There is an old story in the insurance business.  The story goes that a young man was trying to sell insurance, but was having a hard time, so he approached the wealthy uncle of a friend of his for help.  To his surprise, the rich man gave him a list of 10 people to call.  He told him that these people would welcome his call and that he would be successful selling them his product.  The young man came back after a short time and was full of gratitude and appreciation for the rich man.  He told him that he had sold NINE of the 10 people on the list life insurance!  It was the most success he had ever had and it was all due to the help he had received.

The rich man smiled and told him that all of the success he had attained was because he had done an excellent job of demonstrating the benefits of the insurance to the people he had called, but the young man insisted that without the other’s help he would never have accomplished such an incredible feat.  He then asked if he could have the names of 10 more people to call.  Ten more names were provided and the young man thanked him and went off.

When the young man returned the second time, he was beaming again.  He had again sold nine insurance policies out of the ten people on the list.  He told the rich man that there was no way he could ever repay his kindness and thanked him profusely.  He then hesitated and stated that if he could just get to the same calibre of prospect that the wealthy man knew, he would be very successful his entire life. 

The wealthy uncle smiled and stated that the young man had full access to the list himself.  He told the young man that he had copied the names from the city phonebook!  When asked for a second list, he repeated the same process. 

The young man was stunned.  He could not understand what had happened.  The rich man explained that it was not the quality of the names on the list, it was the quality of the offer that the young man brought to them.  “When you thought those people on the list were associates of mine and were expecting your call, your whole demeanor changed from someone who was calling to sell a product to someone that was calling to help my friends with something they needed.  You expected them to buy the product because you were passionate and confident that they needed it and demonstrated it in the way you spoke to them.  The confidence that I had in you translated into confidence you had in yourself and THAT was what allowed you to sell so many policies.”

Flip the Script

The young man’s entire attitude changed from being a salesman with a product to someone who had a solution to their difficulties that they needed.  He did not realise it at the time but being given the list by such a successful man merely brought out an attitude that had always been there.  The young man had the ability to sell insurance to people because he knew they needed it and he was able to demonstrate that to them with so much passion that they almost all bought.  He was not hard selling them anything at that point; they genuinely needed his products and he was simply obliging them by providing it.

The rich man got the younger man to “Flip the Script” from being in a position of asking for a sale to a position of showing that the prospects needed him and that he was their solution.  He expected them to buy and they did.

If we flip the script on ourselves and expect a positive outcome based on the fact that whatever we have is the solution that people genuinely need, whether it is a product, service or idea our entire attitude changes and we can become much more successful in life.