Tricks of the Trade: Motivating Sales Agents to Con Older Adults.
OBJECTIVE
Financial fraud is estimated to cost consumers approximately $50 billion annually. To examine how new hires are trained to engage in fraud, this study analyzed a sales training transcript from Alliance for Mature Americans (Alliance). In 1996, Alliance was charged with using deception and misrepresentation to sell more than $200 million worth of living trusts and annuities to 10,000 older adults in California.


METHODS
Transcribed recordings from a 2-day Alliance sales training seminar were analyzed using NVivo10, coded inductively, and examined to identify emergent themes.


RESULTS
Predominant themes were as follows: (a) indoctrination using incentives and neutralization techniques and (b) training on persuasion tactics targeted at older adults. Findings suggest that sales training focuses on establishing the company's legitimacy, normalizing unethical sales practices, and refining trainees' knowledge about how to influence older consumers.


CONCLUSIONS
Predatory and fraudulent businesses peddling ill-suited products threaten the economic security of older Americans. Improved insights into sales manipulation strategies can guide the development of protective policies including educational approaches to help older adults detect scams and resist purchasing fraudulent products.
Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. riparett@usc.edu.
Marguerite
M
DeLiema
Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Yongjie
Y
Yon
Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Kathleen H
KH
Wilber
D000368:Aged; D002140:California; D003132:Commerce / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation
Consumer fraud; Indoctrination; Neutralization techniques; Persuasion knowledge; Persuasion tactics; Sales tactics