Frank Bettger

Franklin Lyle Bettger (1888-1981) was a St Louis Cardinals Major League baseball player who sustained an arm injury while playing. He went into insurance sales and failed miserably and was asked to quit because of his poor sales performance with the company. He was packing his personal desk, getting ready to leave when he overheard his company president speaking to a group of sales people.

This is what he heard:

“Gentlemen, after all, this business of selling narrows down to one thing – just one thing . . . seeing the people! Show me any man of ordinary ability who will go out and earnestly tell his story to four or five people every day, and I will show you a man who just can’t help making good!“

- Walter LeMar Talbot, President of the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company.

He decided “Yes, I can do that!” By simply applying the Power of Enthusiasm in his sales techniques just as he had done in baseball, he was able to increase his sales by 700% in ten days.

Frank Bettger’s life changing decision to undergo a complete personal transformation by putting enthusiasm into everything he did helped him achieve legendary status in the insurance industry. His book “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success” written in the late 1940s is still a best-seller today. Frank was so successful; he could have retired by the age of 42.