Elmer Leterman's "secret" to selling millions...

[Dien Rice]

I found this great article about Elmer Leterman, a great salesman of his day, from a 1948 Maryland newspaper.

You'll love his "secret" - which you can still apply to make more sales today!

Here's the article...

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Elmer Leterman, one of the nation's top life insurance salesmen, has earned a fortune on the one principle -- the more you do for others the more you help yourself.

They don't have to ask "Where's Elmer?" In the life insurance game he's at the top.

"I may not be the biggest life insurance salesman in the country," he says, "but I'm the best known." This would be hard to dispute.

Elmer, at 56, is acquainted with more celebrities than most men. He's as familiar along the Great White Way as Father Duffey's statue. And thousands of people who reach out to shake hands with him draw back their paw with a life insurance policy in it.

In 25 years Elmer has sold $35,000,000 worth of individual policies and $300,000,000 worth of group policies. This has netted him $1,500,000 or more for himself. How does he do it?

Well, he has never smoked, drank, bet on horse races or played golf or even played cards until a few years ago. "You don't have to do these things to be successful," he claims. The short, plumpish, balding man does it by casting his bread upon the waters of friendship.

"Keep on doing little things that keep people talking about you," he said. And his idea of the best way to keep yourself in the other fellow's mind is to do him a personal favor.

Leterman sends carloads of toys a year to the children of Hawaii, his adopted home. He gives away tens of thousands of match books, hundreds of fountain pens and lipsticks, dozens of radios, scores of fine leather wallets.

"I hardly ever talk business," he said. He has a real passion for meeting and helping people. Somehow the business follows, too, and often in a way Leterman cannot explain.

"I got $1,000,000 in business from one man for doing him a favor I don't even remember," he said.

Some years ago Leterman was one of Manhattan's favorite party throwers. He spent as much as $1,000 a night for the fun of watching the celebrities he admires enjoy themselves. Now he prefers a quieter life and gets his pleasure in giving presents. He likes cops and has given 51.000 paid-up insurance policies to 100 policemen.

Elmer has sold policies to big-name people like Jack Dempsey, Mary Pickford, Ronald Colman, Paul Whiteman, Jane Withers, John Barrymore and Rudolph Valentino. Barrymore took out a $2,000,000 policy.

Leterman also insured Harpo Marx's hands for $500,000 and Jimmy Durante'a nose for $100,000. In similar publicity stunts he insured Adolph Menjou's mustache and Charlie Chaplin's walk. But the backbone of his business is smaller policies.

"I figure the small man of today is the big man of tomorrow," said Elmer. "There's nothing too small for us to insure -- even bicycles and roller skates."

The smiling fades off Elmer's face when young college graduates who come to him for help admit they don't know what they want to do. 'Come back when you do know what you want," he says. "Then I can help you."

Elmer has always known what he wanted. He left home at 14. At 19 he was making $25,000 a year selling woolen goods.

"My hobby is meeting people," he said. "And I like to make money for the satisfaction of spending it."

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(July 19, 1948 - The Daily Mail from Hagerstown, Maryland · Page 8)