Greenberg is optimistic salesman

By Oh Young-jin

Selling insurance is a difficult proposition.

To be a good insurance salesperson, one first has to overcome fears of being rejected by potential customers.

Then, it is pivotal to making the customers feel reassured enough to pay for and buy a policy. For anybody who has bought a policy, it is well known that the biggest challenge is a psychological threshold that keeps the buyer from paying for an eventuality that may never come.

That threshold is brought to a low a point when you talk with Brian Greenberg, president of ACE Life.

To be fair, when he had the interview with The Korea Times, it was over dinner and there was no selling and buying of any policies but it was only at the end of two hours of dining when we understood that he was a very good insurance salesperson.

Anxious to confirm whether he is a falling-out-of-the-sky CEO or one who has climbed the corporate ladder rung by rung, one of our two-reporter team blurted that question out. “I have sold insurance since 1967,” he answered, pointing out in good humor that the younger reporter was not born then. Then came the soft thrust from the older reporter, “I was three then.”

The fact that the interview ended on a happy boisterous note signified the tenor of our conversation ― his answers to a variety of questions ranging from global economic affairs to Koreans’ characteristic resilience.

One may feel the subjects are quite mundane, although a bit far from what was supposed to be an interview with a chief of a foreign insurance firm.

Greenberg has two strong points in the way he carries conversations.

One is his knack of mixing gravitas with an occasional hint of light-heartedness.

It was evident when our line of questioning turned to the outlook of the global and Korean economy.

He sincerely talked about his view that Korea can still enjoy relative prosperity, even when the global economy fares poorly.

If you feel it doesn’t make sense, be certain to talk to him.

You may disagree with his view but you may feel tempted to agree with him, yielding to his one-two combination of folksy remarks and hard observations.

At least from my experience with westerners, which I say is far greater than an average Korean, Greenberg was the first foreigner to whom I talked about my family in detail ― not just about the composition but also my relationship with the members. He also talked about his wife and his good 17-year-old relationship. That is the most I can mention for publication from our conversation.

Greenberg sounded more optimistic than confident. I used confident as a state of mind often more associated with youth, which lacks maturity that is needed to deftly handle a given difficult situation. In my dictionary, being optimistic is something that is contagious and helps others share positive feelings. (I for once dropped my apprehensions about using the word in violation of definitions in Merriam Webster.)

At the end of the day, Greenberg’s contagious optimism has kept him alive in the insurance business where cutthroat competition is the order of the day. He is taking a bold step in what many see as Korea’s overcrowded market. Instead he sees it as a land of opportunity.