It was 2015, and Lisa was deep into what she thought was a normal sales cycle with an insurance executive she’d been prospecting for nearly a year. He asked more questions than any buyer she’d ever met. The kind of questions that should’ve been a red flag, but instead felt like cautious enthusiasm.

She was preparing to celebrate what she believed was the slowest victory of her career… until he casually revealed the truth:

He wasn’t evaluating advertising options. He was evaluating her.

Apparently, the industry was facing a shortage of young producers, and his firm had launched a secret “find new talent” beta program. Every meeting Lisa thought was a sales touchpoint had actually culminated in the world’s longest interview.

Then the roles flipped. He became the salesperson, and she became the prospect.

He asked the question that would change her life:

“So… what do you think about insurance?”

Sitting across from an executive at a billion-dollar brokerage, she gave the only honest answer she had:

“I don’t.”