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INSURANCE SALESMEN

A profitable job is as near as your telephone! BOB MITCHELL, a respo of California, is not only earning money by making initial telephone contacts for an insurance agency, but is also selling a book that tells you how to develop telephone salesmanship. ("How To Get More Business By Telephone," by Jack Schwartz)

Bob works for the Harold K. Barlow and Associates, insurance brokers. He is learning and conducting this business by the use of a specially built telephone, made for him by the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Go. The system includes a head set with a transmitter which is placed over his head or on the pillow and a small button-type hand switch fitting under his left thumb. When the button is activated it connects with an operator who, in turn, dials the number that he wishes to call. On incoming calls, it works in much the same manner; when the bell rings, Bob presses the button which then puts him in contact.

Bob carries on most of his business in the evening from 7 to 9, when the men are usually home. After making his telephone contact, Bob turns on his tape recorder by pressing a switch plate with his right toe and dictates information on his call. Later he turns over the information to the insurance broker.

When he is not working, he is busy reading and studying books on the insurance business. Bob lives with his parents at 6881 Grand Avenue, Buena Park, California.

I firmly believe that insurance is the best occupation for most of our paralyzed male victims!", says DICK ASHLEY, paralytic polio of Baltimore, Maryland. Dick's faith in this belief was so strong that soon after his discharge from Children's Hospital, Baltimore, in 1954, he founded The Richard L. Ashley Insurance Service.

He uses his arms fairly well with the help of braces and gets along with the use of a battery-powered wheel chair. Dick says, "I almost felt like a cripple until I got the powered wheel chair four years ago." The chair is collapsible and can be put in the rear of his car, driven by an assistant, enabling him to do more business outside his home.

Dick modestly admits to teaching another polio, Ronald Gentry, all about insurance. Ronald is now running his own agency.

In 1958, Dick was joined in the insurance business by LOUIS (BUD) DABNEY, a respo, also of Baltimore. The nucleus for this association had its beginning when the two men were "cell-mates" at Children's Hospital in 1953. Dick, who had worked in insurance as a side line prior to polio, gave Bud a book on insurance and interested him in the subject. Bud was doubtful about it all because he could not use his hands and was dependent upon positive pressure. After treatment at Toomey Pavilion, Rehabilitation Center, Cleveland, Ohio, Bud finally decided to join Dick and now says, "Before I went to Toomey, I did not do very much of anything, but sit in my chair or lay in bed with a chest piece on. Now, some days the time goes by so fast I wonder where all the time has gone!"

Bud, a respo with some use of his legs, conducts all of his business from a specially built desk. It has a switch board with switches for positive pressure typing stick and electric typewriter. The telephone is one with an operator's head piece. The phone is mounted on a board 10" x 13" with a large handle so he can lift it with his foot and move it around to where he wants it. Once the head piece is adjusted, Bud can talk to his customers for any length of time, turning the connection on and off with his foot. He contacts the operator by push button and she gets his number for him. Bud, like Bob Mitchell, makes most of his calls in the evening.

This Ashley-Dabney combo (by wheel chair and telephone) has brought their agency in first in their division throughout the nation for four years in a row! The business address for their company is Richard L. Ashley Insurance Service, 2001 North Broadway, Baltimore, 13, Maryland.

Dick, 39, former Naval officer, lives with his wife, Grace, and six year old son, Rickey, in North Baltimore. Bud, 34 years old, Navy veteran with four battle stars, lives with his wife, Nadine, and eight year old daughter, Debby, in Loch Raven Heights, Baltimore.

Another successful young man who feels that "insurance is a very good thing for a disabled person to get into" and who has proved it, is ROSS EAGAR of Utah. Ross, 28 years old and a respo since 1952 has been an agent for Farmers Insurance Group for the past two years. Even though he feels it will take five years to get his business established and really growing, Ross is more than encouraged with the success he has already had and cannot say enough in favor of this type of work.

When asked for suggestions and opinions for this article, he wrote, "First end foremost, the telephone is my most important tool!" He conducts his business mostly by phone. However, much personal contact is made with clients at his home. He and his wife work as a team. She helps him with the filing and figuring of rates and he types most of the contracts with arm slings and one finger on his right hand.

His company sells life, automobile, fire and almost any type of insurance the customer should need. Ross felt this is an advantage over being with a company that handles just one type of insurance. He finds life insurance is the best as it pays larger commissions and less work to service; the automobile is easier to sell but requires much servicing of policies.

His advice to anyone who is interested in entering this field is to remember that it takes years to get established and that it involves a lot of hard work, but if you stick to it your business gradually grows end he encourages other respos to consider selling insurance for independent income.

Ross lives with his wife, Zelda, and young daughter at 215 North 400 West, Cedar City, Utah.

These four men are just a few of many who have used their own initiative and determination to get ahead. They each have volunteered to give any advice or suggestions they can to others who would like to try the insurance field. Write directly to them or contact your own local insurance agencies for more information on how to get started. If one agency discourages you, try another.

More Successful Respo Businessmen . . .

ACCOUNTANT

JERRY STEIN, Alhambra, Calif. Age 22. Polio 1950. graduating from high school in 1956, he then completed a correspondence course in accounting. He hopes to make a career of business bookkeeping and income tax consultation. He feels he is on the road to self support in his chosen field. While his customer list slowly increases he is selling greeting cards, special printing and the new Kendell Riding Support (see "Market Place"). He spends his day in a wheel chair conducting his businesses with the aid of an electric typewriter, adding machine and telephone. "This will be a good home business because the customers expect to come to you."

MAGAZINE SALESMAN

ED ROSENWASSER, Corpus Christi, Texas. Polio 1950. An attendant lives in and gets him to and from his downtown office, where he employs a secretary. He builds his magazine subscription business by newspaper ads, personal contacts, and the expired lists which he receives from the publishers. On the latter, he makes an average of 60 calls a day, following up immediately with promotional mailings. He sells himself to the public, keeping his picture and his name on his customers' minds with his stationery, enclosure return paid envelopes, etc. He keeps the records for his customers and notifies them of forthcoming expirations. He also conducts a trading stamp exchange, charging 30cts per book. He has two main tools that he uses -- a special mouthstick-operated telephone and a highly trained memory. His memory is used for several calls in a row before recording. He also teaches memory courses once a week. "Memory is a method, a learned ability," says Ed. After a full day's work he returns home to his young wife, babydaughter and his hobbies -- mathematics, symbolic logic and general semantics.

BARGAIN PHONE SERVICE

FRED J. GILMAN, age 49, contracted polio in 1952. Hospitalized at L.A. General and Rancho Los Amigos. Returning home in 1954, he and his family built a prosperous telephone sales route and door to door delivery of frozen foods. Then, in 1956 his wife died and he returned to Monrovia and has recently launched a unique Bargain Phone Service. Sponsored by local businessmen, merchants and manufacturers displaying Bargain Phone signs, he offers free telephone bargain information. All information, whether it is a request to buy, sell, swap, giveaway or a question on home maintenance, professional services, etc., is handled by special operators who match request with counter request through a cross index file. All unfulfilled requests are placed in the file and brought to the public's attention by call out operators. A special "Tag-a-Long" listing service for businesses who wish to use the listings and services for direct contact advertising is offered at low cost. thus the "Tag-a-Long" advertising finance for the free listing service and their ads reach the receptive potential customer.

ENGINEER C0NSULTANT

Also in Monrovia, California, and at the same address is FRIEND F. BAKER JR. Age 41, married, he has two children. Veteran of World War II. Pre-polio he was a mechanical engineer in research department of the United Geo-Physical Corporation. Polio in 1950, an alumnus of Rancho. He works as consulting business engineer for various companies; he writes summaries, surveys and technical reports on scientific and engineering subjects; writes service and training manuals for technical products, instruments and mechanical apparatus; and supplies engineering data. He makes all his living expenses and pays for his secretary. His formula for success: pick one thing you like to do and stick with it until you are sure it won't work, then try again. . .branch out slowly. . .personal representation is all important.

SYSTEMS ENGINEER

DON McINTOSH had polio at age 14 in 1944 and is paralyzed from the waist up. Married in 1954, he has two children. He received a M.S. degree from the University of Southern California in 1957. He works for the Hughes Aircraft Co. doing systems engineering; that is, he takes the individual pieces that somebody else designs and puts them all together in an harmonious way. With his hands in his lap, he drives his car with his feet using special gear. He assists in the Physical Aids Development Society -- a group of engineers and doctors who are working on the physical problems of the handicapped. Don is active in church work and is a ham radio operator.

TEXTILE RESEARCH

CHARLES FROELICHER, Lucerne, Switzerland. He is the father of four children, the most recent born in July. He is a U.S. citizen and an army veteran. Charles spent the first part of his rehabilitation in Switzerland. He came to Goldwater Hospital in New York for a year. Then, he returned to Switzerland and his former job -- doing technical research in textiles for Viscose Suisse. He works from 9-12 at the plant studying technical literature and dictating excerpts into a foot-operated dictaphone. At home in the afternoons he uses the Thompson abdominal respirator and a rocking bed at night. He is the Swiss agent for the Thompson respirators. He and his wife, Liesse, an Italian girl, give English lessons. He is now starting an employment agency for importing domestics (see The Mail Box).

ENGINEER-INVENTOR

HERBERT MERRILL, Falmouth, Maine. Age 33, polio 1953. Electronic design engineer. Herb has his own company, the Down East Electronics Mfg. Co. He commercially produces the Switch-o-Matic, a push button control to operate lights, telephone, TV, tape-recorder, rocking bed, radio, etc. He has done quite a bit of consulting work but finds travel poses a problem in securing new business. But he advises other engineers to go ahead if they have contacts. Herb says, "It is nearly impossible to get rich on a clever idea. The self-made inventor can succeed only if he can peddle his idea to a large company. The small manufacturing business should produce for the local market or subcontract to a larger firm." Herb, from his rocking bed, directs an assistant in assembling his projects. With some movement in left leg and a number of push buttons on the foot board, he can control 60 odd functions. He is a ham radio operator. In addition to the Switch-o-Matic, he has designed the Safety Smoke and a remote controlled tape recorder. "Believe me, I an busy pushing buttons."

REAL ESTATE BROKER

BUD KENNY, vice-president and treasurer of the Kenny Reel Estate Co., Cleveland, O., got polio instead of a degree in college. This was over 20 years ago, and today, the Kenny Co. has two offices and a full time staff of 24.

With the aid of two students who drive and assist him, Bud makes daily visits to new listings. His paralysis is almost complete. He uses a headset and a telephone which he can dial. He can use his fingers for printing, but not for script.

With so many years of experience as a polio, Bud has some definite ideas about adjusting to immobility. "First, have a goal that is attainable, so that you won't give up. Have a real knowledge of your product and an enthusiasm for it. In the real estate business, the competition is rugged. You will need persistence and ingenuity. A pitfall in any business is trying to go too fast. Decide what you are going to do, even if you work a year without seeming to get anywhere. Don't change. Keep plugging."

Bud feels that a homebound handicapped person could be useful to an established real estate office by checking lists, studying the market, contacting owners, following up customers. He could become familiar with legal phases of the various states; understudy a broker; do research; check statistics; talk with banks on appraisals and make appointments. Bud thinks that it takes at least six months to become familiar enough with an agency to be really useful. The State Board of Real Estate Examiners will arrange for home study and also administer tests at home.

Bud's latest venture is as treasurer of a new home construction company. The most exciting news in the Kenny household centers around the baby that Bud and his wife are expecting.

DON KOLLAR, 6' 6 1/2"tall, carrot-topped, with a voice of persuation -sic-, sells securities for Suburban Securities Co., of Cleveland, O. As a substitute for experience, he took the Investment and Banking Course from the University of Chicago by correspondence. Now, he has his state license and is registered with the National Association of Securities Dealers.

Don got his first boost from Anton Potokar, head of Suburban Securities, who became interested in him because one of his children had had polio. Potokar says, "Don's record tops all other registered representatives in our organization and he has been averaging one new client every two days."

Don has become a voracious reader with a homemade reading board, using a mouth stylus with a hard rubber bit to turn the pages. He uses an electric typewriter, but finds it not too successful for making notes. He prefers to tape record his orders and notes. (See his foot-operated recorder on page 14).

He has built his clientele by steady, hard work. Actually, his homeboundness (he uses full-time aid) is a great advantage because he is more available to his clients than other securities salesmen. He does much of his work at nights and over the weekends, when he meets with his clients to discuss financial objectives and offers investment advice.

"My big job," says Don, "is showing people, not acquainted with stocks, how they can afford to invest small amounts and how to take advantage of fluctuations in prices. Lack of confidence is the big problem, that is, lack of confidence on the buyer's part -- when stocks go down."

Vital statistics: Pre-polio, two years at Case Institute of Technology. Age 27. Polio '53. Office: his home at 336 Halle Drive, Euclid, 32, Ohio.

SALESMAN -- SPECIALITY ADVERTISING

TED COON, Roswell, New Mexico. "I can recommend the selling of speciality advertising to anyone. There will be some respiratory persons who can be very successful with it and some will not be able to sell any at all. The most important thing in being successful is hard work. I have made as much as $130 a day. My weekly income is about $200. "I make calls on all my accounts but it might be possible to make sales on the phone. To begin as a salesman will not require any investment of any kind."

Ted's employer wrote, "We have better than one year's experience with Mr. Cook selling our items. He has been very successful. He gives his helper a commission on his sales to drive his car and push his wheel chair. Our speciality items are imprinted items such as pens, pencils, lighters, etc. These are sold to business firms who give them as goodwill gifts."

Ted is 26 years old, married, the father of two girls and one boy. Polio in 1954. High school education.

If you are interested in becoming a salesman, write to Speciality Advertising Co., Mr. H. B. Binns Jr., Wyoming and McGaffey, Roswell, New Mexico.

SALESMAN

BOB DAVIS, Walnut Creek, Calif. Age 23. Polio 1956. Bob's business is selling bowling shirts, balls, shoes and bags. He sells from his home by using a specially rigged telephone. Most of his customers come to his home. He has a mailing list of prospective team sponsors plus repeat business. For the 1959 fall bowling season, he netted $400 and works on a 30% profit. Through Diablo Jr. College, he takes two college courses per term. He has a direct intercom system to the classroom.

TUTOR

MARY LOU SPIESS (Mrs. H. H.), Sebastopol, Calif. Mother of one son. Pre-polio -- an elementary school teacher. Polio 1955. She sleeps in a lung at night and uses the pneumobelt during the day. At present, she does a thriving business of tutoring both elementary and high school students in languages, algebra, and remedial reading. Her average monthly income is $130. To start this service, she first contacted school principals. It has grown through friends and satisfied parents, so that she now has a waiting list. She had tried advertising in the local paper, but this netted nothing. She is promoting classes of two to four students as well as individual tutoring.

warning: Always investigate: (1) Any company that offers you work as a salesman. There are unscrupulous ones that prey on the handicapped. Call or write to your Better Business Bureau. (2) All home course study courses. For a list of the accredited home study schools, write to: National Home Study Council, 1420 New York Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.

"Guide to Correspondence Study" -- For an exciting and stimulating list, send 25cts to the National University Extension Association Building TSCM, Room 112, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 14, Minnesota