Selling Fear

Fueling fear is a powerful sales tactic. Once you are aware of it, you can resist the manipulation. And then you can see what other areas of your life are tainted by it, and heal them.

Example. I was living in a house in a very quiet, low crime neighborhood. Almost never saw a police squad car cruising in that neighborhood. No late night sirens except for occasional ambulances. No reports of violent crimes. Statistics from the police department confirmed this.

Yet, one day, here come salesmen pitching alarm systems. So I told them we were not interested because we know that we live in very well kept, low crime neighborhood. But they tried to push on with the idea that we might not always be safe, and so we should prepare for the idea that we will not be. I told them that I would not live in fear. I told them to go away and not come back and closed the door on them. I noticed that no one else bought their systems and put their signs in the yard or on their doors and windows. And the neighborhood remains to this day, peaceful and free of violent crimes.

How many times have sales people used fear to try and sell you various kinds of insurance? Frequently they do this even when they know that standard auto insurance policies or home owners policies for instance, contain certain kinds of coverage, thus selling you something you really don't need.

How many beauty products are sold with the fear that you will never get a date again if you don't use their brand of goo?

How many investment seminars and sales pitches that started with asking if the audience if wanted to spend your old age as a homeless person, and ended with people putting their money into something that they regretted?

How many of you have heard ads that say that you are at risk for identity theft every time you turn on your computer?

How many people took drugs to prevent anthrax? Bird flu? Swine flu?

How many other products or services are they trying to sell us by pushing the fear button?

Don't believe the hype.

None of it. Any time you buy into a fear sales pitch, all that is happening is that you are going to be giving your money to the sales person or corporation and you are not getting safety or security in return.

Your real security is in using your common sense, knowing what is included in the contracts you already have, and acting out of love.

There are far more good people in the world than there are psychopaths and sociopaths. And in my opinion, using fear to sell people things they don't need is also a sociopathic behavior. Most people don't recognize it as such, but think about it.