Case Study 2-1: Is This Man Really Dying to Make a Sale? He made his sales pitch over the phone, and he was good: There existed a little-known but tantalizing investment opportunity, and if I got into it early I could make an awesome profit Then I said, "Sounds good to me. I will buy several million shares." There was a gasp from the other end of the line. "How many?" he said. "Several million," I said, in my coolest manner. By now he was panting. And I felt guilty. He was just trying to make a living. On the other hand, he was trying to gouge me out of my net worth. So I offered him a deal. "I will go for it if you will sign a paper." "What kind of paper?" he asked. "I would like you to sign a piece of paper saying that if this investment fails, you will kill yourself. Or, if you can't fulfill your end of it, I can terminate you." He sounded stunned. "You expect me to kill myself?" "It seems reasonable to me," I said. "You are asking me to risk the food on my family's table, the roof over their heads. So it seems to me that if this is a foolproof investment, the least you can do is put your life on the line." The man actually stuttered. You don't hear many stutterers these days. He said, "You have to be kidding." I told him, in a most grave tone: "No, I am not kidding. It seems reasonable to me that if this is a good deal and if I can't lose money on it, and if you are so kind as to offer this opportunity to a total stranger rather than to your friends and loved ones, the least you can do is stake your life on it." There was a long pause on the other end. Then he said, "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Now my feelings were hurt. Here was a man trying to persuade me to put my blood, meaning the rewards of my labours, into an investment, and he was quibbling over a petty deal. "You won't agree to kill yourself?" I asked. "That is ridiculous," he said. "So is your pitch," I said. He hung up. I knew he wasn't sincere. Odds are that he didn't ask his grandmother to put her dough into that stock. So my advice to any potential investors is this: Ask them if they will leap off a bridge if you lose money. If they refuse, it isn't a good deal