Nov 7
My friend Srirup invited me to a “free lunch” (the cynic in me knows nothing is free). Ultimately the cost of this lunch was my time for 20 minutes to listen to a sales pitch, and me taking (or not) a follow up call. Im not going to do business with Ameriprise because of the lunch.
This reminded me of an article Ramit at iwillteachyoutoberich.com wrote a few months ago. He does a better job of tearing apart their business model, so if you are interested in that - take a look.
In my old job, we used to take potential clients out to lunch. Buying lunch was an excuse to get their undivided attention for an hour. In that time we could establish what their needs were and if we could move forward with a potential relationship. We didn’t win them all. However, it did enable us to know most people in our small industry.
This Ameriprise thing is structured in such a way that it’s more of a fishing expedition. Throw some bait in the water and see if anyone bites.
It is a waste of time and money for them. Sure. I feel like Joe is a nice guy and I’m happy he bought me lunch. Im not going to go any further than that!
What is your reaction to this kind of marketing?
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