[小] Experience with Telemarketer

So it was a Thursday when I received a call from bank while I’m having a break from work. He (telemarketer) said that there’s a great promotion for new bank customer so I decided to hear him out.

He was selling Personal Accident Insurance that provides up to $150/day hospitalization and $150,000 for death and TPD. Upon explaining to him that I have an existing PA policy, he is quick in rebuttal saying that its not about how many policies that I own but its about which policy is willing to payout (Applause to his pitch).

So I requested for the name of the policy and if there is any details online. He said there are no marketing material online but strangely he gave me the name of the policy – PA Cashback Plus. (a quick search online gave me this).

I think he felt that I am already asking too much so he tried to assume-close the deal. He said:

Sir, you don’t have to do anything, when we put down the call you will be covered already.

Luckily, I was salesperson trained in my previous job and became very critical towards assumptive-closing sentences. Assumptive Close is a sales technique in which the salesperson intentionally assume that the prospect has already agreed to buy. I’ve to admit that whoever came up with his statement is an genius.

In short, when we listen to sales pitch, look out for these red flags

• Restriction of Information
• Assumptive Close Statement

The role of a salesperson is the sell the product to us, and the responsibility is on us to know exactly what we are buying.

Cheers!
M.M.