Greeks Beware of High-Pressure Sales Tactics

In my last post, I wrote about the ‘common enemy’ in Greece and elsewhere; it appears that the markets are unexpectedly taking the first step to defeating it, with the aid of the Germans. It looks as though the EU will not have time to orchestrate a bailout sufficient to keep Greece solvent and the Germans have been busy unwittingly insuring that a bailout does not happen with inflammatory posts and with their typical overanalysis.

I want to take a step back for a second. This all started as a real ‘issue’ just a few months ago, and in such a short time has escalated into a crisis of near-epic proportions. As a veteran in sales, I’ve witnessed many shady negotiating tactics - the most disgusting of which is a salesman putting a pen in someone’s hand, and creating panic with phrases like: “If you don’t do this immediately it will be gone and will cost you a pile of money,” or “This is the best deal you will ever get, and if you don’t sign now you’ll end up much worse off.” Buyers should always be wary of being pressured into the first deal on the table or to yielding to these tactics.

I asked for unity and solidarity last week, and today I ask this: people of Greece, please do not listen to the rhetoric and make the naïve mistake of taking the first deal offered under manufactured duress. These are national books and not, for example, someone’s personal finances who did not have the time to anticipate the effects of a global credit crunch. Greece’s debt to GDP ratio has been in the realm of dangerous (over 70%) for years. Why were the European powers not at least negotiating in earnest all that is on the table now, to have a stage set to take care of what we now know was known to be a virtual certainty? Are they that stupid?

Of course not. And if they are, they certainly have people around them who aren’t – so they are trying to take YOU for the fools. “We finally got this deal which is so much better than the bond markets, and more money than they originally offered! We are on the brink of collapse, we have no choice but to sign now!” is what you will hear. Don’t get sucked in. How can only 2% of Europe’s GDP cause such ripples through the market? I will explain that in a future post when I have a bit more time, but here’s a hint: ‘the Domino Effect.’ And it’s bigger than you think or that the paper’s are just coming out with now. What was Papandreou doing in the United States with Obama? If he was looking for money wouldn’t that have been arranged prior to a visit? He didn’t even get a crumb but they sure spent a lot of time talking and smiling…

I had many responses to my last post in various conversations, chat forums, and emails. I saw that there was still a desire to argue about the woeful state of the long-standing Greek economic system and play ‘the blame game’. Clearly, a number of people had missed the point of ‘unity’, so I translated it into an analogy that seemed to resonate with everyone.

Consider the following scenario:

Seeing an opportunity, I approached a rather intelligent, but naïve, panhandler on my street corner and offered him an unconditional $100,000 in exchange for a portion of his daily take. Until then, he had little in the way of possessions save one solid gold ring (a family heirloom), but what he had was all his. He would sit on his corner for a few hours a day, and otherwise have a good time drinking and partying without a care in the world.

He was a little wary of my offer, so to clinch the deal, I hired another, more senior panhandler he respected to convince him of how much better his life would be. He was sold when I added that: “That ring of yours is also worth a fortune, so you can always borrow more against that if you need to.”

Unsurprisingly, he spent his wealth like water, being inexperienced with finances and having no understanding of how much (or little) money $100K was. He intended to get some new suits, a stable address and get back into the workforce, but the right time always seemed like tomorrow, and he eroded his money within a few years with fine meals and buying rounds at the bar. But by then, he didn’t have much time for merriment anyway - to make the payments on the loan, he found himself having to panhandle almost constantly. Occasionally he borrowed a little from me against his gold ring to stay afloat, but these new payments compounded his problem.

One day, he came to me and told me that no matter how hard he panhandled there was no way he could continue to make his payments. I knew that the money had been pissed away and not spent on trying to better his life, but it was loaned unconditionally, so he had been free to use it as he pleased. Do I consider whether I may have made an error in judgement by lending the money to him in the first place?

No – instead, I start a neighbourhood campaign against him, telling everyone I see that he is a deadbeat who does nothing but party, and not to give him a cent. Now left with nothing, he is panicking. After I week of this torment, I offer him a new deal. I tell him that I’ve reconsidered and am willing to bail him out again after all – but this time, with conditions - I will give him $10K that must be put towards new suits and finding a job, and he must immediately cease drinking and partying. I will take full ownership of his gold ring, receive his entire salary once he is gainfully employed, his children’s salaries, should he have any, and he must agree to be on-call 24 hours a day as my personal assistant.

He turns to the so-called 'older and wiser' panhandler who first advised him, who tells him he has no choice to take this new deal. Left without his old way of life, he is now surrounded by people calling him a deadbeat, and fearing that even the small improvements he has made in his life will be stripped away, leaving him far worse off than before he accepted this “deal of a lifetime”. What should he do?

a) Take the deal – what choice does he have
b) Find a new corner in a new city, and try to return to his old way of living
c) Tell me to shove it, clean up his act on his own, keep all he earns at his new job…and get to party in moderation

I hope the Greeks remember the old wisdom of our forefathers – ‘Pan Metron Ariston’ –
and choose c). I know that they have the strength to pick c), and have the wisdom to see that a) can not even be considered an option.

And for a little added kick, in case the panhandler reference is not enough - Dropis. After the dust settles - and not before - please get your house in order…all of you. The whole world now knows what you have all known for years. The house is a mess and ‘that’s just the way it is in Greece’ will no longer cut it. I would like to go back to holding my head high wherever I go in the world, as a descendant of Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Homer and Alexander, and not have to answer questions about the backwardness of my ancestral home coming from people whose ancestors were swinging from trees when we were building the Parthenon.

Read part 1 here:

The Time for Greek Unity is Now!

And my latest follow-up:

The Speech Papandreou Should Be Giving