Whole Life and the Rules of Seduction

Let me get you a coffee. He looked up warmly as he reached for his wallet and guided me to the line behind a chatty group of teenagers. He was a friend of a friend’s father and had heard that I was looking for some extra insurance. Actually, I had already lined up a long-term care policy that I liked, but didn’t feel comfortable spending the money until I shopped around a little. You know, due diligence. The conversation was fluid and continuous. I blushed at his offer to pay. It’s always uncomfortable when a salesman offers you something, and you know that the likelihood of giving back in return is minimal. Only later did I realize that that was exactly the point. I was quickly becoming a victim of whole life and the rules of seduction.

Rule 1: Create a sense of indebtedness. Give something small in order to make the client feel like he owes you.

The Bait and Switch

I was on the market for long-term care insurance (the need for such a policy can be debated elsewhere) and had no interest in anything else. I had a perfectly functional term life policy and had already sworn off insurance as a vehicle for investing.

Yet, ten minutes into the pitch, I realized that he was trying to sell me a whole life policy. Sure there was a long-term care rider, but ultimately the bulk of the agreement was an investment vehicle that provided a life benefit.

Suddenly, the tenor of this friendly visit changed. I had come to the table expecting a second opinion. Now, I hunkered down for all out war.

Whole life and the rules of seduction.

Rule 2: Pull out the old bait and switch. Turn a not so profitable insurance policy into a highly lucrative commission deal.

Keeping up with Dr. Jones

Dr. J. bought this type of policy from me last year. You know Dr. J? Have you ever been on his speedboat?

Desperate to win a losing battle, the art of subtlety quickly flew out the window. He grabbed greedily for the jugular. There is no better target than vanity. Doctors, an infamously vain group, are highly susceptible to falling into the same mistakes as their peers. So he figured my fear of being the last on the block would coax me into dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars over decades and lead to fat commissions.

We did the dance. Whole life and the rules of seduction.

Rule 3: Pray on the fear of missing out. No one, especially a doctor, wants to feel like he missed a chance his peers took advantage of.

It’s Personal

I bought a copy of your book. Old guys like me can really benefit from it. Maybe I can help you market it.

The final reach. He found something of importance to me. He figured he could leverage a little of his time in exchange for ultimately selling me a policy. It’s like the toaster the banks give you when you sign up for a new account. Long term, the bank will extract far more than the value of the toaster. But how many people fall for the allure of something free?

Whole life and the rules of seduction, rule 4: Use personal leverage. Offer something little and important to the mark in exchange for something big.

No Sale

No amount of wrangling was going to sell me a whole life insurance policy that day. I had already read too much about the subject. But I was lucky, I happened to know a little in advance. If I had been clueless like so many of my colleagues, I would have walked away with a brand spanking new policy in hand and years of bad investing locked in.

A few hundred emails later and the agent finally left me alone

He realized, to his dismay, that I wasn’t going to be seduced.