With 50 pence for a taxi, which he borrowed from his mother, Peter Rosengard sold his first life insurance policy to Ray, the driver of the taxi that took him home after his first day at Abbey Life.
That was in 1969. So began a career path paved with enormous highs and lows that would eventually earn Rosengard the title as the "world's greatest insurance salesman."
Sharing at Discovery's annual Financial Planning Summit in May his endless adventures of making and losing a fortune and finding fortune again, Rosengard told delegates that after 46 years as an insurance salesman, "I love life, I love selling and I love selling life."
In May, the former DJ and dishwasher in Stockholm, beat his own Guinness World Record for the world's largest life insurance policy (a $100 million policy sold in 1990), selling a roughly $160 million dollar life policy to "one of the most famous businessmen in the world."
Way back in the DJ-years Rosengard did not have a choice of 1001 jobs, but if he had, "life insurance would be number 1001."
His career took off when his grandfather, lured him back from Stockholm to the UK with a photograph in London's Evening Standard depicting good looking insurance salesmen from Abbey Life surrounded by luxury cars, with "Beatles hair and Cuban heels." The letter with the photograph was one of many Rosengard received from his grandpa, always enticing the medical school drop-out to become an accountant.
"I was schooled to become a dentist. When I was a baby someone whispered next to my pram "be a dentist", so I struggled through school and finally made it to medical school. Mentally I quitted on day onewhen a fellow student asked me "what do you like about teeth?"
Back in the UK, in the interview room at Abbey Life overlooking Oxford Circus Rosengard heard that by seeing five people a day, he could earn £1 000 per week – "it is still double the average income in the UK"
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In his first week at Abbey Life he sold 11 policies, including the one to Ray, who would be one of Rosengard's clients for the next 25 years.
Caught up in the glitzy life, Rosengard could soon afford an E-type, a Rolls-Royce, and countless other extravagances. With a taste for clubs, casinos and fast cars, it wasn't long before his spending habits caught up with him. "By 1971 I was in as deep a hole as it's possible to be in. I owed thousands of pounds…" And the Rolls was repossessed. He gave up on gambling and "my life began again."
Rosengard became the first person to sell 100 life policies in a month, and mostly from the same table at London's Claridge's Hotel, at which he has held all his breakfast meetings for the last 35 years. And he is planning to do so for the next 31 years: "I've booked my table at Claridge's until December 12 2046. I will be 100-and-one-day old."
He is convinced that he will still love his job, and will continue to add 100 policies to his book every year by talking to everyone from "dustmen to billionaires".
For 12 years running, Rosengard was the top life insurance salesman at Zurich and says he is the most enthusiastic, persistent and single-minded salesman you will ever find – and determined to uphold the services and the traditions of the industry.
What can salespeople learn from Rosengard?
Don't be frightened to follow up on that "red hot referral". By creating his own referral from a newspaper article about a huge takeover deal between two companies, Rosengard sold his record-breaking policy in 1990.
Don't be afraid to speak to people: "People will always tell you that their biggest asset is their house or their car. That is not so. I always tell them, no, it is you. Four times your salary is worth millions, and on behalf of your children, Iwill sit down and talk with you about death."
Get rid of your fears, he advises. Call the president of a company if you can sell himsomething that he needs. "I called the president of the company doing the takeover to congratulate him on the deal, and asked if he ever thought whatwill happen if he dies. Four weeks later I sold a policy of $100 million."