Salesman shows plenty of pluck.

• Position: Jack Wardlaw, Wardlaw for Life insurance company

Salesman shows plenty of pluck

If you've ever talked to Jack Wardlaw, then he probably knows your birthday.

Wardlaw, 84, keeps a file of about 45,000 birth dates and, with the help of a part-time assistant, sends out about 20 postcard greetings a day. Each card bears his smiling face and a plug for Wardlaw for Life insurance agency in Raleigh, which he runs with his son, John.

Jack Wardlaw doesn't miss many chances to promote himself. He's a tenor banjo picker and heads a band made up of insurance agents (including his son) and retired business folk.

They play oldies, such as Bill Bailey and Waiting for the Robert E. Lee, for any group that will listen. Some that have include divisions of IBM and Burlington Industries and Raleigh's annual Artsplosure festival.

And the band's got a standing gig at a yearly convention for members of the Million Dollar Round Table. That's not surprising since Wardlaw was a member for 44 consecutive years. (He's written two books and recorded several tapes about his selling techniques.)

Wardlaw was raised in Plainsville, N.J., where his father ran a school for boys. "Pop owned the school," he recalls, "so I didn't study too well." But he did learn to play a mean banjo. He put together his first band, the Intercollegiate Whirlwinds, to...