Today, words are exploding in every language across billions of channels, both public and private, and are growing in number every day. Words reach us at light speed, at any time and everywhere. Words have become so cheap and easy to produce and distribute that they now gorge every moment of our lives. Trillions of words engaged in a relentless, ferocious and endless media cycle competing for our attention and fashioned in a way to attack our sensibilities in every conceivable way, including viscous violence and abhorrent vulgarity.
The Story of Arle McGregor
“It was a dark and windy night.” . . . Not really. But, it was a very cold and rainy morning when my phone rang interrupting an otherwise very forgettable moment.
Bob McCracken was an old friend who had done quite well with a national life insurance company, and he wanted me to join him at a company luncheon scheduled that day in San Francisco. This meant leaving a warm office and driving more than an hour through a whirling and downpour over a busy Bay Bridge into a city where the residents and cab drivers believe that traffic signals and street signs are meant only for others. I asked Bob why I should even consider doing that.
Bob wasted no time explaining that the “keynote” speaker was 65 year old life underwriter for the company. His pitch was anchored in the man’s rather uninformative resume, and he was quickly losing my attention when he said, “This guy lives in a large rural area of Ohio with a resident population of about 6,000 people and has led the company in life insurance sales for ten years.” I asked him if that included the big city “suits”. “Everyone! There is no close second,”, he said. I had to see this man.
Arle MaGregor looked every bit the rural mid-western stereotype wearing a dark suit, white shirt and black tie as he approached the stage. His presentation was relatively brief, and as unassuming as his appearance. But his words were very unforgettable.
The image of an average looking late middle aged man continues to linger in my mind. He spoke in a quiet measured tone without the usual sense of urgency that was typically associated with this kind of sales presentation. His message was one of patients and clarity.
He said the secret of his success was in his ability to create lasting relationships by emotionally aligning himself with peoples needs, and to secure their trust. He spoke with a tranquil sense of purpose about people living ordinary lives. “And while you may not think so”, he said, “they are no different than those of you in this room and people living everywhere. They respond to simple words and simple ideas expressed in simple ways.” He concluded by saying, “Simple words have extraordinary power, but we seem to have misplaced our sense of gracious conversation.”
Arle MacGregor truly understood the power of words. Not clever words, intelligent words or words of extraordinary wisdom, words with which we are all empowered. He refused to acknowledge the popular high pressure communication techniques used then, and that remain in common use to this day. But instead he chose to use simple words in order to demonstrate how his product made a difference in the lives of people in a personal way.
“What matters to them”, he said, “is they want to be heard as human beings. They want to be reassured that their words really matter to me.”
There were no computers in those days. No Web sites, cell phones, email, blogs or high tech lead generating gadgets. His friends and clients were often located at widely separated points, and he spent most of his time on the road. Building successful relationships under these conditions would seem an impossible task based on today’s text message mentality.