POWER

I'm sure we all have our own definitions of "power". Today I witnessed a classic view of the "power of salesmanship"....

I had attended a 2 hour "FREE" E-Bay class two days ago and received some very valuable information. I was also offered the chance to buy a web site that was so easy to build, a chimpanzee could do it (yes, they said that)
I need a web site (for something, I'm sure..I just have to think of it) ~ so I bought it for $99.00. To receive the software that I needed to launch the web site, I was "strongly encouraged" to attend an invaluable "training" session (I wonder how much classroom training the monkey needed?). So, I was invited back for a 4 hour class to receive even MORE "FREE" information to learn how this software would allow me to become an entrepeneur and work out of my home in my underwear (yes, they said that too) and make thousands of dollars a day.

WHO doesn't want that?

The three fellows who checked me in and gave me my name tag were sooooo very nice and gracious, I just wanted to take them all out to the movies and maybe some salsa dancing later. They laughed and kidded with all the attendees. Wow.."are they nice to come her and give free seminars...must cost them a bunch since they put full page ads in the newspaper and flew these 3 fellas in from all over the country...they must be independantly wealthy...aren't they nice??

I learned that anyone can sell anything on E-Bay so I too, could do the same.

Here are some examples:
$28,000 was made from selling a five year old grilled cheeses sandwhich with what was supposed to look like the Madonna's picture ingrained in the bread.
(maybe it was a prop for the DaVinci code?)

$1,000 for a "Mystery box"...turned out to be a pile of belongings that were once owned by a wayward husband ~ thus the seller (the wife) felt someone else might appreciate them more (and she might find some income that her husband couldn't provide for her.)

Money ~ and lots of it! The seller is getting $39.95 for "cow pie clocks".
Yes, some farmer takes the cow-pies and hollows out a hole for the clock and sells them...lots of them. I guess one can sell crap on E-Bay.

Here's a touching story - $180+ for a little girl who lost her first tooth...I mean REALLY lost her first tooth and she was upset that the "tooth fairy" wouldn't come so she was pleading her case on E-Bay to allow the highest bidder to play the role of "tooth fairy" for a day. Some sap paid over $180 for that "opportunity". (Wonder if this little girl accepts Mastercard)

E-Bay is purported to be the second largest "employer" in the world if you look at all the people who rely on them for their income. There are 100,000 NEW passwords distributed by E-Bay for new users every day. Each SECOND there are over $1,000 in transactions.

But less than 30% of products listed are bought. The unlucky seller still pays E-Bay a listing fee.

So, back to my "FREE" seminar. At the end of the 4 hours, the 26 people in the room were all asked to spend $2995 on three programs we HAD to invest in if we ever wanted to succeed in making any of our dreams come true. We should do this for ourselves and of course, for our family. We ALL deserved it. (I'm not sure about the guy with the odd odor sitting next to me)

They even held out on giving us our $99.00 software until the whole session was over and people stopped sobbing because they couldn't "afford" the $2995 to make all their dreams come true.

They held the power...they told us we needed to do something to get what we wanted..they told us if we didn't do something we would regret it. They had us just where they wanted us.

When I got up to finally get my software, two of the formerly over-friendly fellas approached me with hope in their eyes and a mercedes car payment in their minds.
BUT ~ when I told them I just wanted my software and not the other "overly generous "TODAY-ONLY offferings", you would have thought I was asking them to room with Richard Hatch in prison.
They turned on me like Simon Cowell to the latest American Idol contestant. I was discarded...trash....

But guess what?

I had the "power"