I was coming home one night on the last bus out of town. At the first stop along the route three people got on board, a young couple (late twenties) and a young man who was smartly dressed and had clearly had a few drinks after work before taking the bus home – he later said that he had been playing snooker after finishing work, which is presumably where he had been enjoying a few pints of the amber nectar.
The couple sat on one side of the bus and he stood on the other side, facing them. They had clearly been chatting before they got on the bus, and what followed on board was a continuation of what had gone before.
The young woman asked him what he did, and he announced that he was “in sales”. She then made the mistake of asking him what he sold, at which he launched straight into his sales pitch, in a voice that could be heard all down the bus!
His line of business was financial services, in particular getting banks to admit that they had overcharged customers for unwanted “extras” such as travel insurance. The salesman would act on behalf of his clients to get them refunds that could amount to thousands of pounds.
After a further two stops along the route he had got the couple to admit that they had probably been sold bank products that they didn’t need, and by the next stop he had logged their details into his smartphone.
It was not long before hands were being shaken and promises made in terms of follow-up calls and home visits.
Of course, it never occurred to the “customers” to ask themselves why they couldn’t approach the bank in person and thus avoid having to pay this salesman his commission, but that is what a good salesman does – he doesn’t give you the chance to ask such obvious questions!
However, I couldn’t help thinking that that young man will go far – although he might want to carry on travelling by bus if that is where the best business deals can be done!
© John Welford
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