‘Power Phrases’ to Live By

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio — Ben Feldman was famous for his “power phrases,” a collection of slogans and sayings designed either to woo his clients or inspire himself.

He would work for weeks or months on a power phrase, crafting it, polishing it and repeating it into a tape recorder or over the telephone to colleagues.

To clients and prospects:

* “Doing something costs something. Doing nothing costs something. And quite often, doing nothing costs a lot more.”

* “Why insure everything you own for what it’s worth except your life, your most important asset? . . . Each man is a moneymaking machine and should be insured for what he is worth.”

* “No one ever died with too much money.”

* “Do you know anyone who has a lease on life? It isn’t a question of if; it’s a question of when.”

* “Put me on your payroll. The day you walk out, I’ll walk in and pay your bills.”

To colleagues:

* “The public looks on us as pests. But the life insurance agent is doing a tremendous amount of good. He becomes a pest because people keep rejecting him. If people understood what life insurance does, we wouldn’t need salesmen to sell it. People would come knocking on the door.”

* “The key to a sale is an interview, and the key to an interview is a disturbing question.”

* “Most people buy not because they believe, but because the salesman believes.”