A
AboutCICE
Guest
About CICE and response to original poster
To wolfetone: You asked about sales earnings as a new salesman at Combined Insurance. CICE has a very high and rapid turnover of sales people, with new people hired constantly to compensate for the high attrition rate of recent recruits who do poorly at the difficult job, or who walk away in despair.
It is not for everybody and it is hard to make good money at it, but they won't tell you that when they hire you because they need to find the few people who can push the policies successfully, by seeing them in action. They use sales techniques to sell the job to applicants during the interview, just as new hires are expected to learn and use similar techniques of persuasion on the public.
To pela222: I also worked for the Combined Insurance Company of Europe (formerly Combined Insurance Company of Ireland) in Merrion House and I remember the tricks taught to sales people to persuade uninformed people to buy the products. I know the fast-talking patter, the careful use of a pen as a pointer (a taught technique) to draw a person's eye to items marked in bold ink on the front of the insurance policy document while pouring out a bewildering flow of detailed and promising speech, and not analyzing the hazardous fine print overleaf. The manipulation focusses the person's mind and holds their flooded attention in a way that suppresses independent doubts. It's like an illusionist ("magician") using misdirection to create the appearance of magic, but it's just basic psychology, a few crude but effective techniques.
I have heard the in-house training classes in the conference room where young sales recruits under instruction had to call out, together, "I feel happy! I feel healthy! I feel terrific!" while jangling loud Swiss cowbells like cult members (I am not making this up). This was designed to sell the feeling of sales success to hopeful recruits (jubilation!) and to foment enthusiasm, focus and drive to pressure the resistant public to cough up ready cash. Discouragement happened soon enough to the raw recruits so the motivational techniques attempted to inoculate them against despair when faced by likely failure. The saner ones rolled their eyes when you mentioned the cowbells. I did not work in sales, fortunately.
The office itself was decorated with various "motivational" posters with giddy sayings like "Do it now!" This and the cowbells are derived from the PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) "philosophies" of Chicagoan, Clem Stone, the company founder who gave $10,000,000 to "tricky" Dick Nixon's two election campaigns, back when $10,000,000 was terribly serious money, forty years ago. Such easy largesse came ultimately from the pockets of ordinary policy buyers. You can look up Mr. Stone and his colossal gift very easily on the Internet. It would be interesting to know what Mr. Stone got out of it.
I remember a colleague in the claims department showing me an angry letter from a wretched farmer in County Cavan (where a lot of pork is raised) who was so frustrated by his dealings with the department that he threatened in writing to "make the name of Combined Insurance stink worse than the pig sh*t in these Cavan hills." [My asterisk.]
To dryanshaw: You said Combined Insurance accident policies cover parachute jumping. Be serious. How many people actually need that? Dragging parachuting into it is just a buzz-creating sales technique. Furthermore, the number of deaths and injuries from skydiving in Ireland is negligible. The sport is very safe: you carry two parachutes, a main canopy and a reserve (the second one is your real insurance policy). Skydivers are scrupulously careful, attentive to detail, and more responsible than most sports people because the stakes are so high: small errors are potentially deadly, and everyone knows it. Combined Insurance payments to skydivers punch no serious holes in the bottom line because accidents are very rare. That is why the company is willing to provide coverage, so those premiums are easy profit.
To cindilu: As for the anger expressed by the original poster, cindilu, who was badgered by the sales people, Combined Insurance takes its money from you in three ways: New business, renewals, and conversions. A new policy earns the sales people a commission. A policy renewal keeps the money flowing in. A policy conversion is an "upsell" where they convince you to give them more of your money for extra "protection", and more commission for them. As an existing customer, you have proven yourself open to their sales efforts. They come back for more money because you are not an intimidating "cold call"; you are on their files as "easy", so they want you to convert your policy to a more expensive one.
It is simple to get rid of them by asking for their business cards, then telling them not to call again, and that you will call their office to cancel further visits — then do call the office (269 6522). You can also allow your existing policy to lapse without renewal and refuse to waste your time by explaining why. You owe them nothing. I hope this helps.
To wolfetone: You asked about sales earnings as a new salesman at Combined Insurance. CICE has a very high and rapid turnover of sales people, with new people hired constantly to compensate for the high attrition rate of recent recruits who do poorly at the difficult job, or who walk away in despair.
It is not for everybody and it is hard to make good money at it, but they won't tell you that when they hire you because they need to find the few people who can push the policies successfully, by seeing them in action. They use sales techniques to sell the job to applicants during the interview, just as new hires are expected to learn and use similar techniques of persuasion on the public.
To pela222: I also worked for the Combined Insurance Company of Europe (formerly Combined Insurance Company of Ireland) in Merrion House and I remember the tricks taught to sales people to persuade uninformed people to buy the products. I know the fast-talking patter, the careful use of a pen as a pointer (a taught technique) to draw a person's eye to items marked in bold ink on the front of the insurance policy document while pouring out a bewildering flow of detailed and promising speech, and not analyzing the hazardous fine print overleaf. The manipulation focusses the person's mind and holds their flooded attention in a way that suppresses independent doubts. It's like an illusionist ("magician") using misdirection to create the appearance of magic, but it's just basic psychology, a few crude but effective techniques.
I have heard the in-house training classes in the conference room where young sales recruits under instruction had to call out, together, "I feel happy! I feel healthy! I feel terrific!" while jangling loud Swiss cowbells like cult members (I am not making this up). This was designed to sell the feeling of sales success to hopeful recruits (jubilation!) and to foment enthusiasm, focus and drive to pressure the resistant public to cough up ready cash. Discouragement happened soon enough to the raw recruits so the motivational techniques attempted to inoculate them against despair when faced by likely failure. The saner ones rolled their eyes when you mentioned the cowbells. I did not work in sales, fortunately.
The office itself was decorated with various "motivational" posters with giddy sayings like "Do it now!" This and the cowbells are derived from the PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) "philosophies" of Chicagoan, Clem Stone, the company founder who gave $10,000,000 to "tricky" Dick Nixon's two election campaigns, back when $10,000,000 was terribly serious money, forty years ago. Such easy largesse came ultimately from the pockets of ordinary policy buyers. You can look up Mr. Stone and his colossal gift very easily on the Internet. It would be interesting to know what Mr. Stone got out of it.
I remember a colleague in the claims department showing me an angry letter from a wretched farmer in County Cavan (where a lot of pork is raised) who was so frustrated by his dealings with the department that he threatened in writing to "make the name of Combined Insurance stink worse than the pig sh*t in these Cavan hills." [My asterisk.]
To dryanshaw: You said Combined Insurance accident policies cover parachute jumping. Be serious. How many people actually need that? Dragging parachuting into it is just a buzz-creating sales technique. Furthermore, the number of deaths and injuries from skydiving in Ireland is negligible. The sport is very safe: you carry two parachutes, a main canopy and a reserve (the second one is your real insurance policy). Skydivers are scrupulously careful, attentive to detail, and more responsible than most sports people because the stakes are so high: small errors are potentially deadly, and everyone knows it. Combined Insurance payments to skydivers punch no serious holes in the bottom line because accidents are very rare. That is why the company is willing to provide coverage, so those premiums are easy profit.
To cindilu: As for the anger expressed by the original poster, cindilu, who was badgered by the sales people, Combined Insurance takes its money from you in three ways: New business, renewals, and conversions. A new policy earns the sales people a commission. A policy renewal keeps the money flowing in. A policy conversion is an "upsell" where they convince you to give them more of your money for extra "protection", and more commission for them. As an existing customer, you have proven yourself open to their sales efforts. They come back for more money because you are not an intimidating "cold call"; you are on their files as "easy", so they want you to convert your policy to a more expensive one.
It is simple to get rid of them by asking for their business cards, then telling them not to call again, and that you will call their office to cancel further visits — then do call the office (269 6522). You can also allow your existing policy to lapse without renewal and refuse to waste your time by explaining why. You owe them nothing. I hope this helps.
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