August 1950 Newsletter Competition !!! It Can Be “ The Spice of Life ”
In Wichita in May of 1950 The Coleman · Company , Inc . celebrated its 50th Anniversary , and Mr . W . C . Coleman , President , celebrated his 80th birthday . At a dinner honoring Mr . Coleman , Arch N . Booth , General Manager of the United States Chamber of Commerce said , among other things :
“ When a man has no opposition to overcome , no competition to meet , no hard problems to solve , no lessons to learn , he becomes dull and flabby . He ceases to grow . He ceases to grow from the shoulders up ; ceases to grow in competence and skill ; ceases to grow in character .”
We have plenty of opposition , plenty of competition , plenty of hard problems , plenty to learn so to realize that and prepare ourselves to meet and do hard battle with them , will strengthen us . Look at our problems ; competition - Mutuals , Farm Bureaus , Cooperatives , mortgage companies , motor car dealers , fly-by-night agents .
Other hard problems come from losses , claims , coverage for our clients . Our problems are not impossible to handle , with a mind that ’ s active and open , and not clouded with doubt and fear - - we can work out a solution .
There must be a way , and there is a way to combat co-ops , mortgage agents , car dealers . It means more and more contacts with our customers , more calls of a friendly nature in those who would like to take on the easy deal ( a mortgaged dwelling or a financed car ). Let ’ s prove to our clients that they need us and our services ; that it will pay them dividends and that the guy who rose us of our business robs them of the very thing they need when that insurance is called into action .
Urge them to make deals stand on their own feet - - buy a house from a Real Estate Agent , get a loan from a mortgage company , buy a car from a car dealer , borrow money where you will , and insure with a competent agent .
When you want a doctor , you go to a doctor . When you want a lawyer , you go to a lawyer ; when you want food , you go to a grocery store ; when you need insurance buy it from someone who knows his business . In each instance you get what you need and the final cost is cheaper than trading with those , who because they see a profit in the other fellow ’ s business cannot resist haphazardly getting into that business to make a few easy dollars - - - yet those very people howl to high heaven if someone twists them out of any business .
Yes , we have problems , but we can whip them if we work and struggle and we better be at it quickly .
-- Frank T . Priest
Frank T . Priest originally wrote Competition !! It Can Be “ The Spice of Life ” for an association newsletter in August 1950 . It was then reprinted in the January / February 1990 edition of Kansas Insurance magazine .
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