This morning I got a call from the casting company that I signed up yesterday. I saw the advertisement on Instagram and thought it might be fun to spend my summer being a model or actress, something that has been my dream since childhood. Located in Hollywood where the hub of entertainment is, I guess everyone in this city has his own dream.
However, things might go wrong when too many people dream of being part of the Hollywood. This is what happened to me this morning.
When I picked up the phone, I was super excited and tried my best to express my enthusiasm for the position. However, the woman on the other side of the phone sound like an answering machine. She talked super fast, confirming some basic demographic information that I filled in online last night. And then she quickly proceeded to the next step before I could even have the chance to ask for what exactly the position was about. So I interrupted her politely and asked for more details. I was wondering who was hiring the people, what the project was, and of course the most important thing–is there a fee to sign up for this?!!!! How is it possible that someone would pay a Chinese girl who has no acting experience for $300-$500 per day to be part of the Vampire Diary?! Well, perhaps my two micro-films acting experience during undergraduate counts, but seriously, I don’t buy it.
So bingo! There is a transaction fee. Alright, I was hoping that she would tell me it was a $500 or something so that I could just hang up the phone, yet she said it only charged me for $1.98! I was so surprised that I let her go on “persuading” me to believe all these for a while. She talked without breath and when she was done, she asked for my credit card information. That was the time when I could finally talk to her.
I said, “well, thank you. But I guess I have to check with my parents first. I am not sure if I could do this.” Now, game on! She responded, still like a robot, but I could sense her little tiny uneasiness. She asked if she could talk to my parents. (Of course not, they are in China come on…) I lied to her saying my parents were working, so she began to persuade me with other strategies. Thank god I’ve taken the Influential Communication at the Marketplace course this semester, I am not that easy to be fooled okay! Below are some of the strategies that she used.
#1 Reframe the situation
The woman was very smart. She knew I didn’t want to give her my credit card information, but she reframed our conversation. “When I told you to pay $1.98, suddenly you are not interested. You know you could earn $300-$500 per day, and you are not willing to pay $1.98 to earn that?!” Look at how she reframed it here. She tried to make me feel I was mean, but actually I was not!
“No. I guess I have to think about it.” I said.
“Why would you have to think about it? You are not the only one who want the job. There are so many people who want to be part of it. The project is on tomorrow blah blah blah…” So here comes strategy number two.
#2 Create a sense of urgency.
She kept telling me I was not the only one who wanted to be a model and actress. I really wanted to laugh out loud when I heard this. It’s just so typical that I don’t even know whether it should still count as a strategy.
“No, thank you. But I don’t want to give you my credit card information.” I finally gave in and confess my real thought.
“So it’s not because you are not interested, am I right? It’s because you don’t want to give me your credit card information, correct?”
“Yes, madam.” I admitted it, feeling a little bit awkward and embarrassed. Then she began to use strategy number three!
#3 Use authority to build trust
She asked if I knew about BBB, which is Bureau of Business whatever organization that approves the business. She said they had a website and it was approved by this organization. But the design of the website is off and it doesn’t build any trust at all! What she was doing here was to tell me something I don’t know so that it’s easier for her to persuade me. (Similar situation happens when you go to the car body shop and they tell you a lot of dragons. You may end up paying more than you need.)
Anyway, I just think this is kind of interesting. I hope you would enjoy reading it 🙂
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