Sales Pitch

One can do so much to bring an interested person to the point of making the sale happen! You just need a product and the will to do it. But I´m in Cyprus, and here, well, things get done differently...

I was called couple of days ago, by a insurance company (I won´t name it, it´s pointless, they are pretty much the same). Called, is one way of naming it, as his secretary called me from her mobile (I was thinking this must be a scam), told me what it's all about, and set up a meeting, in a coffee shop (not on the premises of the bank).

The day the meeting was to be held i thought i should better check this. And that I did! I called my contact person in the bank that owns the insurance company, and asked if that person really exists, and if that is a regular practice, to meet potential customers outside the office. The answer was... Yes, that person exists, and that practice seems to be ok. That was a bit shocking for me; so, i get called by the secretary from her personal phone, to arrange a meeting with a guy, on small financial matters, outside the perimeter of the bank.
I don't know much how people run an insurance business, but this had me thinking: How serious are these guys? I found out soon, as I met the guy, and boy, was it interesting!

From the moment we sat down, to the moment I broke off the meeting, the respected insurance agent managed not more than 50  words, organized in about 10 sentences, none of them relevant to the objective of the meeting. The most I could get from him was that he was offering insurance. When asked what type of insurance, he said he has all kinds, and than kept quiet. When asked how much I have to pay, he said it depends, and than kept quiet.

And it went on for 20 minutes!... 20 minutes of unilateral discussion, almost to the point of making it sound like an interrogation, and than i snapped, and just put it in his face that I will never buy anything from him, not when he looks like he's being forced to spend that time with me, not when his texting his girlfriend/wife/boyfriend/pet and make me lead a discussion that was supposed to ease my pocket of 70 euros, monthly! Do you see the irony?

I stopped it, it was insulting, and I don't even know why i went through the 20 minutes. My interest was there, I just needed the idea being channeled to my need, but i didn't get help. Maybe because I am an outsider (but in that case i cannot explain the fact that he had the meeting set up), or because he thought i didn't have the money (even so, the more potential customers you have, the bigger the chances to selling something), I will never know...