Monday, April 10, 2006

Sales 101

Imagine ol’ Bean could offer you a product at very low cost that would instantly generate incremental (that’s over and above existing for the accounting challenged) revenue and profits for your business.

What if this very low-cost product would more than pay for itself in the first month you bought it? And that every month after the first month, the increased revenue is guaranteed to keep coming in? And unlike some products, you won’t have to add staff, rent more space, buy more phones, fax machines or copiers – none of that.

It’s the salesperson’s dream product – the prospect can’t say “no.”

How could you not buy this product? You’d be crazy not to; your board of directors and the stockholders would toss your dumbass out if you didn’t buy that product. If you found some mid-level manager in your company who decided not to buy this product, you’d have some serious “evaluating” to do with that manager’s department head – right after getting the product ordered.

No doubt about it. No senior decision-level executive is going to let an opportunity like this get by – especially the squaliformes.

The sleeping watchdogs over at the FTC are looking at yet another mortgage-related scam involving how PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) rates are being jacked up by insurers who happen to buy a product from the credit-reporting squaliformes – without telling the consumer, of course.

This handy-dandy product just happens to be information that may or may not be accurate, but it sure does give the insurer’s revenue and profits a nice boost, and since the consumer has no clue as to what was in the product, they are simply stuck with the inflated insurance premium.

Now we can rest assured the squaliformes will attempt to imply that negative credit information means their risk is raised so they should be able to raise premiums. But one only has to ask the question if anyone’s premiums were ever lowered because of looking for improved credit data?

Hmmmm. That’s just not one of the products available – probably because it’s never been asked for. After all, who would buy a product that reduces revenue and profits?