Hard sell doesn't work on me

Sales is a funny thing. Sales tactics which work on one person will completely backfire on another. In my particular case, the hard sell just doesn't work. I guess its just a part of my psychological makeup where I am perfectly willing to act in a contrary manner, which might not even be in my best interest, if I get annoyed (and nothing annoys me quicker than the hard sell!).


This reared its head recently as I joined a gym.


I'll give you a second to let that sink in.

Yes, I joined a gym. This is part of my plan to get a little exercise now that I'm not playing badminton anymore. Hopefully, I can go 2-3 times a week during weekday nights. Hopefully.

Anyway, the first day I join, the gym gives you a free health assessment. Obviously, the idea behind this is to try and sell you on a personal trainer. And that's fine - I knew what I was getting into and to be honest, I was also seriously considering it. Granted, it would have been very expensive but it would probably also have been very effective. If I'm being honest with myself, I probably won't be able to lose much weight on my own and the idea of throwing money at the problem in order to really properly target reducing my waistline and building my muscle tone was enticing.

At the end of the presentation though, the guy asked for my ID card and credit card. This was before he had even given me a quote (this is an obvious sales tactic based on psychology which I immediately recognised from browsing the web). Naturally, I didn't fall for it and asked him how much it would be.

"Oh, we need your ID card and credit card to get a quote" (seriously, this was his answer).

Yeah right. I mean, seriously, do I have "sucker" printed on my forehead or something? Is there a giant schlong on my head telling people that I'm an easy mark?