Some years ago, the US Army decided to launch its own life insurance policies for the troops. It employed sales people to go from platoon to platoon extolling the virtues of the product. Typical success rates for the sales people were a few percent. All except for one sales person. This one was consistently achieving sign-up rates averaging over 90%.
The US Army had to investigate to find out why.
It was all in the value proposition. Most folks explained about the death-in-service benefits, the good service and the care taken with loved ones after your untimely demise.
“Mr 90% plus” had a different spin. He asked the platoon to consider the economics. Suppose Uncle Sam had a practically suicidal mission for a platoon and it discovered that one platoon was heavily insured through the Army scheme (where the costs of casualties would be carried by the military), whereas another platoon were insured privately or uninsured. Which platoon would Uncle Sam send on the mission?
The sales person transformed the Value Proposition from selling insurance to selling life.
Heritage: I heard the story from Richard Pawson of CSC Index Research and Advisory Services but haven’t been able to trace its source. It may be apocryphal but still a great story.