Don't Pitch The Bitch

Hello There My Lovelies,

God, I am such a Victoria's Secret mistress/slut/whore. I've been wearing their lotions and perfumes and lipglosses lately and me likey long time. I'm currently wearing their perfume Rapture. Notice I said "currently" because I don't stay faithful to one scent for long.

Anywho, on to other topics..................

Like older self-employed men that telemarket people like yours truly. Older male telemarketers are a real trip. They call ME and disturb me and pitch me with products, and when I ask questions or dare I challenge them with questions, they usually decide to tell me that they've been around longer than I have been alive. The only person who talks to me like that is my father, and he hasn't uttered that line since I was a teen.

Yesterday I get a call from this guy pitching insurance for a company called HealthMarkets. Type that in your search engine and see what you get. Littered with complaints and a lawyer blogging about the lawsuits filed against them. Just wow.

I found that out after I took his call and typed his phone number into Google.

Anyway, this guy said that he "somehow" got my number. It just came across his desk. And apparently I am in the market for health insurance. How original. He probably bought a list somewhere. When I telemarketed in Spain, we pulled out numbers from the Yellow Pages. Yeah, straight out of the phone book and then were instructed to tell people that we got their list off of the lists provided to us by their local chamber of commerce. Many people never questioned that. If people have to lie about how they got your number, then you know they are really up to no good.

Yes, I was looking for health insurance 2 years ago. People still call me once in a while. If a good deal comes along, I am interested, after a buttload of research of course.

I am very difficult to insure. Long story, so any joe off the street who tells me he can get me low cost health insurance up front is talking out his ass. He also peppered his speech with describing his company as "world class" and "high class". That's code for: If I keep telling you how great our company is, you will ask less questions.

I said the following which he did not like:

1.) If your company has been around for a while and is so great, then how come I've never heard of them ? He said a bunch of things which I didn't pay much attention to. He also pointed out that he's been around longer than I've been alive. What a douchey older man.

2.) I have friends in the insurance business, and they agree that I am difficult to insure. He told me that we all know different things, and that my friends don't know what he knows. So let's get together and exchange information. He's right I guess my friends don't know how to rip me off.

3.) I am driving to work, so can you please e-mail me the information so that I can have a look at it ? Of course he could not e-mail it to me. However we could meet at his office. Drag me in so he could pressure me in person.

4.) I don't do business over the phone. He said "Of course you don't. You can't legally do it over the phone. You have to have a license and I will give you that number." But honestly, just because you're licensed does not mean that you're any good. You can still legally rip people off as long as what you are doing is disclosed somewhere in the loads of fine print you heap on the client and briefly gloss over. Plus he could lie and tell me something different than what's in the fine print.

He did one thing right, he wouldn't let me off the phone until I strongly told him I was late for work. Which is probably why he's still around as old looking as he is. Doing business and marketing yourself is one thing. Telemarketing is another story. As a telemarketer you can't get anywhere being nice. It is a psychological wrestle. The most successful people in telemarketing assume a different persona and wrestle the other person to the ground until the person gives up.

The greatest thing I learned from telemarketing is this: Just hang up the phone and don't even listen. I was dumb enough to give him time because I haven't gotten pitched like this before due to the Do Not Call List. Usually I get e-mails which go to my spam box. I really thought he was he was reputable at first until I talked to him longer. I have to be a little more careful.

Unless you know the person, there is absolutely no reason for the person on the other line to be honest with you. I have seen a 20 year old dude who partied all the time assume the personality and voice of a 40 something year old married man with two children. He instantly became a respectable sounding man over the phone and got complete strangers in other countries who barely spoke English to wire him thousands of dollars. It's amazing how fast people simply trust others. I've seen it so many times. I know people who gave up their own children because someone told them their children were evil.

When I telemarketed many men would not pitch women. They said " I don't pitch the bitch". I think they are right and don't take offense to that. Women ask questions and it just wears the telemarketer out to explain everything and keep in contact with them. It is the men who are more easily persuaded to hand their money over due to their egos. The broker can easily play to the man's ego and make him feel like a big pussy for consulting his wife on investments. "Do you talk to your wife when you pay the bills ? No ? Then you should do this for her. She'll be so happy when you buy her new shoes. You'll probably get a blow job."

Boiler Room is definitely a good film to watch, as the business they pitched was shady.

Okay, time for me to go and see my mama cita Ashleigh. Time to hang out and eat junk food and talk about boys.