Summary

The author, a novice insurance agent, devised a strategy to target an unrepresented teacher's federation group for insurance sales but was preempted by colleagues who took credit for the idea.

Abstract

In the early 1990s, the author, with no prior experience in insurance sales, faced the challenge of competing with seasoned professionals during a mini-depression in Queensland. Observing that successful agents had secured large groups for multiple insurance sales, the author conceived a plan to approach an unlisted religious teacher's federation group, identified through the company's training book. However, before the author could act, colleagues from a different unit learned of the idea, offered to collaborate, and then proceeded without the author, securing the group for themselves and earning accolades from the company. The incident led to the author's distrust and departure from the insurance industry.

Opinions

The author views their idea to target the teacher's federation as a potentially lucrative and innovative approach within the insurance industry.
There is a sense of betrayal and injustice as the author's colleagues took credit for the idea and excluded them from the successful outcome.
The author implies that the colleagues' actions were unethical, referring to the idea theft as "appropriation."
The author harbors resentment towards the colleagues, hoping that they did not profit from the idea they appropriated.
The experience left the author with trust issues, particularly in professional settings.

A “Gold“ Business Idea

But My Brilliant Idea Was Gazumped!

In the early part of 1990, I was employed somewhat disastrously as an insurance agent by a large insurance company in Brisbane. I had moved interstate and as there was a mini depression happening in Queensland, it meant that I was unable to find work in my chosen professional field, and had to work in an area where I had absolutely no expertise or training.

As my previous experience in this type of work was basically nil; I was competing for that all-important dollar with many experienced saleswomen — a naïf in a field of experts. So to cut a long and tortuous story short I got to thinking about how to take the shortcut to all those promised riches — never a very good idea really.

Well, my observations in the office led me to the fact that those who enjoyed the largesse that a really great income brings, were those insurance agents who had brought in large groups; and who had then worked and burrowed right into those groups to make many sales of the different types of insurance (life, car, mortgage, key man, savings, bonds, etc) to a tied group of people on whom you had first “dibs” so to speak!

Some serious thinking about the how’s and whys and benefits of having access to a Group of one’s own then led me to inspect the “Book”.

“What book I hear you would-be wealthy insurance agents ask?”

Well, the book to which I refer was then the equivalent of the bible in the insurance industry terms; the guide to behaving ethically, the standards to which everyone must adhere, the various types of insurance sold by your company, and of course also listed at the very back of this book were the Groups already brought into the company by enterprising agents. Now as I am talking about a period of about 25 years ago, I do not know whether this training book is still in use or even exists.

So, I remember that as I looked at my copy of the Book it dawned on me that what I personally needed to do, was to get my own *Group*; thus ensuring that the riches of the earth would then be endowed upon me. So in order to do this, I engaged in a little lateral thinking. I went to the back of my book and set about checking the Groups already listed, and what I saw was that there were great lists of Groups that I knew also had affiliated Trade/Professional Union Groups associated with them. I then deduced that if these affiliated Trade/Professional Union Groups were not actually listed then they had not in fact, been approached by my employer; the Insurance Company I was working for.

The one Group I fixated on was a Teacher’s Federation and I soon realised that beneath this umbrella there was an affiliated religious Teacher’s Federation, a potential Group, that was not listed or indeed represented in the Group list at the back of the Book!

Bingo. My reaction was that I could fix this anomaly. I would bring in this Group!

Now as I was really new (by then only with the industry a couple of months)I had joined up with a woman from my unit and another two women from the same company but who worked in a different unit which was located quite some distance away in a shopping centre. The idea was that jointly we could come up with some ideas that we would share between us to make some sort of income from our joint endeavours. Enjoy the benefits of that old maxim of “one for all and all for one”.

After I most excitedly blabbed my “light globe” idea for bringing in this Group that I had identified to our little group, the two women from the other unit said to me,

Image by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash “ A Light Bulb Moment!”

“Well, as you are so new to the business maybe you would like us to go and talk to them, and naturally we will share any positive outcomes with you”.

“Yes, good idea,” I said, “But I will come with you!”

So of course what happened was that they set out full steam ahead, almost the very next day. They were indeed moving very quickly on My Big Idea. The appointment was made but unbeknownst to me, they decided that it would indeed be best if they went to the appointment without me.

Big Result for the rival office; these two heroes brought in MY Group. Basically, they had steamrollered me. I was gutted.

The outcome was that they were hailed as being the best thing since sliced bread for bringing in this huge, untapped group. It seems that this Group was indeed the biggest to be brought into any insurance company in Queensland in ten years!.

They were definitely the company heroes of the hour and, since they had operated out of a rival office there was absolutely no intimation that indeed the idea had been mine and the fact that they had taken it and gone ahead without me was not taken into account by the higher echelon of the company. Talk about…..

To this day I do not know whether they made money from this little caper as I left the insurance industry shortly after this event. Basically, I hope they did not as no good should come from the appropriation, theft if you will, of another person’s brilliant idea!

I certainly had trust issues after this.

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