Financial Freedom SG

I read an article recently about a lady who took up every insurance policy that unscrupulous agents persuaded her to take up.

It ended up causing her to pay a quarter of her monthly salary to pay these premiums and fat cat insurance agents. She has kids and is now thinking that she needs to use those money taken up by insurance to put aside for savings and emergency funds.

I remember when I was a student, I encountered a great teacher named, Steve Litvin. He taught me oral and written communication and I still remember a particular lesson that is applicable for this instance. His lessons are always interesting :)

This applies to any scenario where you want to refuse any offer in a polite way. It’s called “Broken Record”, sort of like an old gramophone record or needle record which is damaged and keeps playing the same track over and over again.

So if any sales person asks you for a minute, you reply, “Sorry, I am in a hurry.” If he or she persist, you repeat the same words no matter what the person says or asks you. So if they ask, “Are you stupid or what” (unlikely, but even if they lose their cool, you shouldn’t), you reply… “Sorry, I am in a hurry”. If they ask you for the phone number, you repeat the magical words. If they ask you for your name, it is still “Sorry, I am in a hurry.”

Instead of “Sorry, I am in a hurry”, you can use “I am not interested, thank you” or something else to that effect. The important thing is to keep repeating the same words, smile and either walk on or wait for the sales person to get tired and move on.

Hope that helps you avoid some of those challenging situations for people who don’t respect your personal right to say ‘NO!’ in a way that isn’t tiring or impolite for you too.