Service Sells: The remaking an industry
and a city, one person at a time."
with Milt Moses of Community Insurance

Chicago, Illinois

• It takes more than selling skills to build a business.
• You will complete the pictures you have in your head.
• Success builds confidence while failure teaches.
• Firing can be as important as hiring.
• Small gestures have big meaning.
• The new workforce breaks with tradition.
• Technology provides insight.

Key Idea #1: It takes more than selling skills to build a business.

You don't become a large insurance agency with sales skills alone. Even though Milton was a success on his very first sales call, he decided early on that he would be more than a salesman – he would be a business builder.

You think back: What did Milt have to learn when he started in the insurance business?

Answer: Everything. His college training was for a career in television. He started by working for someone else and while there he learned to sell and observed how the office was managed. To realize his big goal, he had to learn how to teach others to sell and next he learned how to hire, teach and cultivate employees who handle the customer service processes.

Key Idea #2 : You will complete the pictures you have in your head.

Milt envisioned owning a business that has an attractive and strong physical presence in his community. From the beginning he wanted more for himself than simply a sales job.

What do you think? What role does visualization play in the development of a business?

Possible answers: It is the most important component in our achievement of any goal. We can only achieve what we imagine. Milt could have become a highly paid sales person. He could have built a personal fortune and moved away from the neighborhood he started in, but, he had other dreams.

The more Milt learned about insurance, the more he became convinced that people need it as a financial planning tool. He took on the task of educating people which takes a long-term commitment.

I remember interviewing the venture capitalist, Vince Occhipinti, in the program we did about The Enterprise Network. He told us his firm only invests in companies who have a demand driven product. In other words, he won't spend his time educating the market. He wants big returns and he doesn't want to wait.

If Milt would have gone to Vince nearly forty years ago to try to raise capital to buy the land and build the building we see today, Vince would have turned Milt down cold. Because, what Milt has done is very difficult but not impossible. Years ago Milt saw in his mind's eye the building we all see today. He saw happy employees working in a lovely environment.

To buy the land and build the building himself took careful cash flow management and a conservative lifestyle. Now Milt is living his dream. Originally he thought his building would house his business on one side and he would lease out the other side to another business. As so often happens, we transcend our visions. His business is so big today, he uses the entire facility.

What do you think? Why was moving out of his basement office into his own building so important to Milt?

Possible answers: He wants to be part of the plan to bring stability to his own neighborhood. He is a quality landowner and he is creating work for the neighborhood. This brings great personal satisfaction to Milt. He doesn't want to just be wealthy himself, he wants to help others achieve as well. We have seen many others like Milt. Albert Black of On Target Supply, Lorraine Miller of Cactus and Tropicals, Carol Schroeder of Orange Tree, Bill Sugars of Mickey Finn's. All of these and more of the business owners we have studied here at SMALL BUSINESS SCHOOL have the big vision to improve their communities.

Key Idea #3: Success builds confidence while failure teaches.

When Milt decided to give selling insurance a try, he made a sale on his very first attempt.

What do you think? Would Milt be in the insurance business today if the first sales call he made turned into a rejection?

Answer: We don't know. What I do know is our goals need to be broken down in tiny steps to insure that we get the feeling of accomplishment. Success gives us the confidence to go forward. Success breeds success. Like attracts like. This is a critical principal to grasp as you are building your business and your life.

What do you think? Milt has been selling insurance since 1961. Do you think he was an overnight success? Do you think any business owner experiences overnight success?

Answer: Dolly Parton started singing professionally at the age of 13. When she was 38 she had songs on the top 40, holdout concerts, television and film appearances and she said, "It only took me 25 years to become an overnight success."

Even though he made a sale on his first attempt, time has taught Milt that he will only sell 5% of the people he gives a quote to. He has conditioned himself to accept a "No" as part of his daily activity.

Some businesses succeed faster than others. Some businesses never make the owner wealthy, but, the work of the business is satisfying, so, I would say that business owner is a success.

Key Idea #4: Firing can be as important as hiring .

Years ago when Milt had 14 employees, he was so fed up with the poor service, he fired 10 people on one day.

You think back: Was this a good idea?

Answer: Milt told me this story when I asked him to tell me about some of the mistakes he has made. However, it turned out not to be a mistake. The bad part is the people who did not get fired had to work like crazy to keep the customers happy. The good part was he completely changed his corporate culture with one action.

He says this is a people business and the people he fired had bad attitudes.

What do you think? Can a person with a bad attitude deliver good service?

Answer: No. Because, service requires emotional energy and emotional energy is either positive or negative. This energy springs from a person's attitude. If you're happy and feel good you will be patient, you will be a good listener, you will be thinking what you can do to solve the customer's problem. If you are sad you are self-absorbed and don't have the where with all to take care of others.

If everything is going smoothly, a person with a bad attitude can get through the day and may even survive for many years in a certain type of job. However, day-to-day contact with the public and solving their problems cannot be endured by a person who has a bad attitude.

Leonor Ferrer told me that she hires attitude not skill. She says it is easier to teach a person how to operate a computer than to teach them how to have a good attitude.

What do you think? Why are employee attitudes so critical to small companies?

Answer: At Milt's office everyone is basically in the same room. There's no place to hide. A bad attitude from one person infects the entire company and will drive away customers.

Key Idea #5: Small gestures have big meaning.

Every morning Milt walks through the office and says hello to every employee and says their name when he does it. In this show you see him doing this daily routine.

What do you think? What impact could this very small gesture have on the employees?

Possible Answers: Sonia is the office manager and is responsible for the day-to-day supervision of the entire team. However, Milt is the owner. He is the "wise one." He is the person who actually signs the paychecks. He is the one who built this business from nothing. He is the one who is wealthy enough to quit, sell out, move to some resort and sit in a rocking chair all day.

When every person there knows he knows their name and everyone else's name it says, we work in a place where people are valued. We're all important and we know that because Mr. Moses knows each of us.

What do you think? Is it a coincidence that Milt says he treats others the way he wants to be treated and Shirley, the receptions said, she tries to put herself in the shoes of the person calling?

Possible answers: Probably not. Milt either hires people like himself or teaches people his values. His philosophy, which comes from the words of Jesus, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," is powerful and positive. And, the only way behavior can be taught is through example. People can pretend to listen to our words but it is our actions that count.

What do you think? Do you think Milt and everyone at Community Insurance dressed up for our cameras?

Possible answers: The answer is no. We tell people it is important that we catch them on a typical day. We don't want people cleaning off their desks or changing anything for us. The truth is, Milt wears a coat and tie everyday which is the dress code for men and women are required to wear dresses or skirts, no pants.

Milt said it might seem old fashioned but to him it is important for the office to have a professional look. Customers come in for service and he wants to demonstrate to them that this company is respectable and dependable. He also thinks that what we wear influences the way we perform our work. Just as a person playing on a professional sports team is required to wear the uniform, the team members at Community Insurance wear "the uniform."

Key Idea #6: The new workforce breaks with tradition.

Urban Chicago, Milt's neighborhood, is ethnically diverse and Milt has no age bias.

What do you think? Why does Community Insurance look like the workforce of the future?

Answer: The country is more colorful than any other time in our history and there simply are more jobs than there are people who want to work. Also, many older folks want to keep working, To grow a business, you should have a workforce that looks and thinks like your customers. Milt is age and color blind.

For example, Hank Schwab was born in 1914 so that means when we taped this story he was well over 80 years old. He is up at 5 am, then goes to his gym to swim laps then on to a breakfast meeting or straight to the office. Hank is an insurance professional, but more than that, he is a community activist. He attends many events representing Community Insurance. In addition, he handles customers.

Just across a narrow aisle from Hank I found women as young as 20. She is one of an eight-member team that is responsible for a contract Community Insurance has with Blue Cross Blue Shield. You might remember seeing her on the video. She was the one wearing a headset and her fingers were flying across her computer keyboard.

As the office manager pointed out to us, some of the data entry team find listening to music helps them isolate themselves from the office distractions. The work is very detailed and requires total concentration.

What do you think? What is the most important quality needed by a
leader of "the new workforce?"

Answer: Flexibility. Find ways to appeal to people individually rather than lumping everyone together. General rules are for everyone, but, work design, goals, and rewards should be tailored to the individual.

Key Idea#7 Technology provides insight.

Milt invested in technology early because he knew it would help him make
sound financial decisions and serve his customers more effectively.

What do you think? What should you do as a business owner if you don't love technology?

Possible Answer: Hire someone who does. You have no choice but to educate yourself or have someone either on your payroll or on a consulting contact who keeps your company ahead of the technology curve.

Milt has the contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield because he understands the power of database management. He installed the equipment, hired and trained the people. This division of his company is very profitable.

In addition, the information Milt gathers and maintains can be analyzed and thereby it can serve as a managment tool. With technology no one has to wonder where the profits are coming from. You can know.