Has this ever happened to you? You receive a call from a very enthused but obviously amateur solicitor who presents you with the great news, "I am very happy to inform you that you have been chosen to receive one of three gifts from our company!" This seemingly generous offering comes from a company who I shall just refer to as SV. The friendly female caller goes on to tell you that they are quite legit and they are trying to promote their company, new to our town, by calling at random several residents and giving away prizes that include: A 52" liquid crystal TV, a Chevrolet Expedition SUV, or, an all expense paid vacation for two to a great vacation place.
Although I would not usually bite on something like this, I figured that the least and most likely prize will be the vacation package and since I am getting married soon, what a great chance to get a honeymoon trip. I said, "I'm interested in finding out more." The caller proceeded to not surprise me by saying all I had to do is attend a "90 minute presentation" with my significant-other to listen to what SV had to offer. I told them that my schedule usually prohibited me from this amount of time spent doing almost anything, let alone listening to a sales pitch. I was assured that there would not be any high-pressure tactics, just an "informative presentation" that I could take or leave. Regardless of our interest in their services, we would still win one of the three prizes.
I asked the caller to send the contact information via email, and I would talk with my significant other. If I could come up with a date (they required a specific time in the evening for our presentation), I would contact them. She agreed.
We made an appointment to go to what turned out to be a nice office and on arrival checked in with our special "prize-winning number". Just as we were told, we listened to a semi-professional presentation about SV and the amount of money they could save us on travel. There were four other couples around our age group and everyone had a lot of travel experience. This told me that the company did a good job of narrowing down the demographics for the type of prospects they wanted to attract. After the presentation, each couple was assigned a single sales person to "talk about the presentation and answer any questions we might have".
My fiancee and I sat in front of a pretty lady in her 30's who turned out to be someone they brought in from their Denver office. These people are known in the sales industry as "closers". People who specialize in getting the sale and the check. My fiancee and I discussed this possibility before we arrived at the presentation and promised each other that neither of us would give-in to any sales offers, no matter what they offered us. We were there to collect our prize! The Closer when through a synopsis of what we had just heard, then proceed to try an close us. The great travel savings program would cost $7,000.00. Yikes! However, after nearly an hour of high pressure tactics, she gradually came down on her price until we were offered a discount package that would cost us only $1,000.00. We stared at her in silence.
So, the "90 minute presentation" finally concluded after nearly 3 hours. My fiancee and I stuck to our guns and left the Closer visibly frustrated and practically escorting us toward the door. Not so fast! We want our prize. Neither my fiancee nor I were surprised to see that our scratch and win prize card revealed - "A Las Vegas Vacation!"
To be continued...
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