The story of how I signed up for fire insurance.
I had forgotten to renew my fire insurance.
Since I live in a rental apartment, my fire insurance is on a two-year renewal cycle. Two years had long since passed since I moved in, and I had received a postcard asking me to renew. But I completely ignored it. I kept putting it off.
So, for a while, I wasn't covered by fire insurance. I'm a disgrace to the insurance industry. I had been vaguely thinking, "Ah, I should probably sign up soon." My wife had also told me, "You should get fire insurance. It makes me a little anxious thinking about what might happen if something goes wrong while you're at home." I just replied with something like, "Yeah, I guess so."
Six months ago, I helped a young man change jobs.
He was in his early 20s, had no sales experience, but said he wanted to work in sales. He had a partner he was thinking of marrying, and he wanted to change jobs so they could start living together. When I see someone in trouble right in front of me, I want to help them as much as I can, and thinking my skills might be useful, I taught him everything from how to change jobs to how to handle interviews. I think the support I provided would have put a professional career agent to shame. It was like the relationship between Doraemon and Nobita.
"Why are you being so kind to me?"he asked, but I think I replied,"There's no reason."I'm pretty sure I answered that quite sharply. He had natural aptitude, and his job change was a success. He was able to get a job in non-life insurance sales. It seems he was also able to start living with his partner. He was very grateful, which made me happy, but I also had the feeling,
"Is this really for his own good?"Even though I thought that, he was happy right in front of me, so I decided it was fine.
Now, back to the beginning of the story.
I had forgotten to renew my fire insurance.
Or rather, I had been putting it off.
The man I helped change jobs had just started his sales activities and hadn't landed any contracts yet. I had the chance to have lunch with him the other day. At a curry shop in Sapporo.
"How's work? Isn't sales pretty tough?"
I asked, and
"Well, it's tough because there's a lot to learn in training, and I have to do sales activities at the same time."
It really does sound tough. He's inexperienced and in his early 20s, I thought, as we talked while eating curry. We avoided the peak lunch hour, so there were only about four people in the shop, including us.
"What kind of products can you handle again?"
"Things like car insurance andfire insurance. I can also handle some medical insurance."
"Is that so... fire insurance, huh... wait a minute?"
My spoon stopped as I was eating the curry.
That's it! Fire insurance! I haven't signed up for it!!!
This is perfect!
"Hey, [Name]! I haven't signed up for fire insurance! I want to sign up, so teach me about it next time!"
"Oh! Are you sure!"
"Sure? There's no question about it! Because I haven't signed up for fire insurance! I might be your first contract!"
And so, we decided to talk about the details of fire insurance at a later date. I had already checked my rental agreement and confirmed that I was allowed to sign up for optional fire insurance.
So, I signed up immediately.
On the day of the contract, it seems he hadn't expected to reach a contract so quickly. He had prepared a lot, thinking about what he should talk about, and had even prepared materials. It was knowledge he had just studied. I say this with humility, but his sales skills themselves were still clumsy. But he taught me a lot.
"I practiced what I was going to say yesterday."
I'm weak when someone says that to me. I could imagine how he had practiced. He was just trying so hard. The fact that he would say, "I practiced yesterday," is a bit amateurish. But I found it endearing. So I said,
"I find that really endearing."
He has only just begun. From here on, he will learn many things. Sales skills, communication skills, the power to see things through, compassion, and so on. I really hope he does his best.