One day, I was in my office working on an article when my assistant announced over the intercom I had a call from Satan.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Ast”, the Prince of Darkness greeted me. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks. What can I do for you?”

“I want you to write a story on me. I want the world to know the truth about my company.”

Doubts seized me. The idea of a tête-à-tête with the devil gave me the chills. But could I say no?

We agreed to have lunch at Al Muntaha restaurant, on the 27th floor of seven-star-hotel Burj al-Arab, on an artificial island off the emirate of Dubai. Unfortunately, I had already spent most of my travel budget. To save a few dollars, I got an absurd flight combination. Fifty hours after leaving New York, the airplane landed at the magnificent Dubai International Airport. In the corridors, oil sheikhs and multinational executives hurried to their private jets. My budget was just enough for me to stay in a youth hostel, where I shared a room with a Saudi student and a young American who had moved to Dubai to hunt business opportunities. After a quick shower, I put on my best suit and went to the Burj Al-Arab. The maître greeted me at Al Muntaha’s door and took me to a table by the window, with a splendid view of the Persian Gulf.

“This is our best table, monsieur”, the maître assured me. “Would you like something to drink? A Bloody Mary, perhaps?”

“I think the last time I had a Bloody Mary was in college. But why not? I’m about to meet the Prince of Darkness himself. I’ll need some extra courage.”

“Mr. Satan? Oh, not at all! He’s very nice! You’ll see! Excuse me, monsieur…”

On the walls, framed photographs of celebrities who had visited the restaurant: Claudia Schiffer, Roman Abramovich, Cruella de Vil, Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal, among others. There was a picture of Satan with Italian tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi. “To Silvio”, read the inscription, “With the greatest admiration for your love for life. Your friend, the Prince of Darkness”.

A couple of minutes later, Satan, CEO of Inferno Inc., walked into the restaurant. He greeted some lofty business people having lunch at nearby tables and sat in front of me.

“I’m sorry I was delayed by these people”, the devil said, shaking my hand. “They’re important clients of mine.”

“Do you come here often? Everyone seems to know you.”

“This is a great place to do business. Hotel facilities are awesome. Which floor are you staying in?”

“Actually, I’m staying at a youth hostel”, I replied, despondently. “The cheapest room at Burj Al-Arab costs $1,000. That’s just prohibitive.”

“Are you joking? I’ll have you transferred here at once!”

“I’m fine, thanks anyway.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t cost you a dime.”

“I appreciate, but our code of ethics strictly forbids accepting gifts over $500.”

“Don’t be such a jerk! Everybody does it! If I made this offer to your boss, do you think he’d say no?”

“He would probably say yes”, I admitted. “But that’s not the point. I just can’t do it.”

“Well, Mr. Ast”, said Satan. “As you wish. Let’s get to it”.

“Mr. Satan, I’ll go straight to the point”, I said as I took out my recorder and put it on the table. “What’s your secret to being the greatest salesman in the world?”

“I appreciate, but I’m not a good salesman. I define myself as a passionate entrepreneur, a good motivator and an IT obsessive.”

“Come on! Don’t be so modest! How do you make customers pay with the most valuable thing they have?”

“Inferno’s strategic position would be very fragile indeed, were it based solely on my persuasion skills. In fact, 99% of my work is done long before getting in contact with the customer. Our competitive advantage lies on our business intelligence tools.”

“And how does that work?”

“It all starts with the collection and cross-linking of data from various sources in order to build potential customers profiles”, Satan explained. “We store data of all the transactions you made in your life, your favorite websites, email contacts, Facebook and so on. After gathering the information, we use statistical tools to detect purchasing patterns. That’s how we predict which goods and services each man and woman might be willing to pay with its soul.”

“You must be exaggerating”, I interrupted. “No one can have all that information!”

“You may want to check this”, said Satan, with a savvy smile, as he took an iPad from his suitcase. In a spreadsheet, chronologically ordered in rows, all my transactions in the last year, including data on the product, the place of purchase and payment method.

“You surely increased your Viagra use!”, he chuckled.

“Hey! I don’t take Viagra!”

“Just kidding! Don’t be mad!”

“How did you gather information on my cash transactions?”

“I’m sorry, that’s confidential”, the devil replied. “But rest assured. We are very strict with our privacy policy. Imagine the value of this database for any company, not to mention the IRS.”

“So you use this information to visit every potential customer and offer exactly what he wants in exchange for his soul, right?”

“Are you crazy?”, he exclaimed, opening his eyes wide. “That would be extremely expensive! Every human being has unspeakable desires. But only a few are willing to pay them with their soul. Can you imagine the inefficiency of going door to door? We use Data Mining techniques to identify those more likely to become our customers. My business development team only visits those with more than 80% chance of closing the deal. During the visit, they fill out a standardized form. Then, based on their answers, we apply more statistical tools to predict the final probability of doing the deal.”

“And when do you show up?”

“I only visit those with at least a 99% chance of closing the deal”, the devil said, after sipping his wine. “My job is almost ceremonial. Strictly speaking, the sale has already been done through previous analysis. When I see the customer, the only thing left is to sign the contract.”

“And the price is, of course, his soul. Is Inferno an ethical company?”

“I was expecting that question. Why would you say we’re not ethical?”

“Because your business model is built upon people weaknesses!”

“That what you call ‘weakness’, I call ‘desire’”, he said, smacking his lips. “What company doesn’t intend to satisfy the desires of the customer?”

“But…”

“Do we force customers to buy our products?”, he interrupted. “We only trace their deepest desires and offer satisfaction. Of course, as in any business, there’s a price. But the contract clearly states the rights and obligations of each side. We don’t deceive anyone. There’s no scam. We only offer a mutually beneficial deal. Then, it’s up to the customer to take it or leave it. Isn’t that worthy of a socially responsible company?”