Page 65 - James Caan - The Real Deal

7 · The Job That Changed My Life

tell them it was one of the biggest financial institutions in the
world, and how we had hundreds of millions under management
with them. The big number made us sound very credible, very
professional.
‘One of the things we strongly believe in here is independent
financial planning, we think that people should have security for
the future . . .’ I started to talk about how important it is to save,
and of course most people won’t disagree with you when you say
something so sensible. The amazing thing I had learned from Tom
was that if you start a conversation with a series of statements that
you both agree on, it sets the tone for the rest of the conversation:
I was building up a rapport that meant the candidate was more
likely to agree with the things I would go on to say. I moved on
to tell them how contributions were invested, and how their
money grew faster through careful fund management and gave
them the figures for past growth. By the time I’d given them a
twenty-minute introduction to the concept of saving, they were
thinking what a great idea it was to put something away for the
future. This was absolutely key to enabling them to believe that
they wouldn’t have any problems selling investment plans: who
wouldn’t want to invest?
‘So, Brian, if we went along and got someone to invest £20 a
month for the next ten years, what do you think that would be
worth in terms of commission to the guy who sells the policy?’
Remarkably enough, most people had the same answer. They
weren’t going to say £20 because, logically, if you sign somebody
up for £20 and you get £20 in commission for it, it sounds like
you don’t make a margin. So pretty much everyone I asked said:
‘About ten quid?’
Throughout the conversation, I continued talking about the idea
of somebody building security for his family, for his children,
putting something aside, an amount he wouldn’t miss but that
would be there if he got married or needed it for any reason at

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