????信諾在中國的早期成功，使它可以借助正在重塑這個國家的各種力量所產生的合力，其中首當其沖的就是私人醫院和診所的興起，它們是中國政府謀求為13億國民提供醫療保健所付出努力的一個關鍵部分。這些VIP機構針對的是中國日益崛起的中產階級和富人階層，這個群體的財富將形成更多對于醫療保健和保險的需求——雖然這一點聽起來有些不合常理。他們的壽命將更長，對于老年人常見的疾病，他們將需要特別護理和治療；他們的飲食將發生變化（雖然不見得變得更加健康），他們會堅持要求服用以前因為成本太高而不會開的藥物。

????伯恩斯坦研究公司（Bernstein Research）分析師安娜?古普特稱，截止2015年，中國在醫療保健方面的開支將達到6,480億美元，比2008年的1,820億美元增加三倍以上。她推測，中國健康保險市場在2015年將達到150億美元，而信諾集團在中國的年收入將接近10億美元，幾乎相當于它目前國際業務總收入的三分之一。信諾集團CEO柯偉健在訪問上海時曾表示：“在我們的國際業務中，中國業務的增長是最快的。未來5至10年里，中國將成為集團業務中至關重要的部分，因為我們將為這個市場的個人和越來越多的雇主們帶來更多產品和服務。這是我們未來業務中令人激動的一部分。”

????招商信諾在中國的心臟位于深圳市一棟普通辦公樓的二層和三層，這是一個電話營銷中心。這里的300名銷售代表正仔細凝視著電腦屏幕上的銷售腳本。25歲的電話銷售員陶偉（音譯）對著耳機，用禮貌的語氣開始銷售：“您知道的，治療癌癥的費用每年都在增加。”

????技術是信諾的優勢：陶偉并不是隨機給潛在客戶打電話，他所聯系的都是經信諾確認具有很強預期的客戶，而且他會給客戶推薦針對他們的需求而量身定制的保險產品。一切都得益于信諾的自有軟件。這套軟件從300個數據點進行篩選，如信用卡使用和人口統計特征等，進而幫助公司營銷人員調整營銷策略，當然，它自稱這一切都會保護客戶信息的隱私。目前負責信諾預測性產品業務的戴維?J?福格迪認為：“這就像是FICO得分一樣。”他曾擔任通用電氣金融服務公司（GE Capital）高管，因此引用了信用評分模型FICO。信諾的軟件會顯示“這是出售給那位顧客最合適的產品。”

????例如，如果技術手段發現用戶使用信用卡支付過多次國外旅行，這套軟件就會將該持卡人與專門針對海外旅行的中國人設計的健康保險關聯起來。在深圳等地的電話銷售中心，接線員會使用預測外撥技術：電話營銷人員的電腦屏幕上會自動提示客戶的背景和適合推銷的產品，以及量身定做的營銷策略。

????僅深圳的電話營銷中心每個月便能賣出80,000份保險。另外兩個跨省電話營銷中心分別位于上海和武漢，在有需要的附屬公司附近還有一些規模較小的電話營銷中心。深圳電話營銷中心負責人之一科恩?楊認為，大多數中國人都會向銀行提供他們的手機號碼，好在他們并沒有形成美國人掛斷推銷電話的習慣。楊表示，公司的客戶實際上很愿意了解更多關于健康保險的信息。電話營銷中心的營銷人員形成了一種良性競爭，可以獲得冰箱和國外旅游的銷售獎勵。

????Cigna's early success in China sets the company up to capitalize on a confluence of forces reshaping the nation, starting with the rise of private hospitals and clinics as a key pillar in Beijing's evolving efforts to provide health care to 1.3 billion people. These VIP institutions target China's rising middle class and wealthy, a group whose affluence will -- and this may seem counterintuitive -- actually create more demand for health care and insurance. They will live longer, requiring special care and treatments for diseases common among the elderly; their diets will change (not necessarily for the better); and they'll insist on drugs and medicines that previously had not been prescribed because of costs.

????Ana Gupte, an analyst at Bernstein Research, says spending on health care in China is expected to more than triple, to $648 billion in 2015 from $182 billion in 2008. She reckons that the market for health insurance in China will reach $15 billion in 2015, and that Cigna's revenues there could approach $1 billion a year, nearly a third of what the company now earns from its international business. "China is the fastest growing asset in our international portfolio," says David Cordani, Cigna's CEO, during a visit to Shanghai. "Over a five- to 10-year horizon, China will become the critical part of our business portfolio because we will bring multiple products and services to the market, both for the individual and the emerging employer landscape here. It's an exciting part of our future."

????On the second and third floors of a nondescript office building in the southern city of Shenzhen lies the beating heart of the Cigna venture in China: a call center with 300 sales agents in cubicles, peering at sales scripts on computer screens. "You know, the costs of cancer treatment are increasing every year," Tao Wei, a 25-year-old telemarketer, intones politely into his headset, beginning a sales call.

????Technology is Cigna's edge: Tao isn't simply cold-calling potential customers, he's contacting consumers Cigna has identified as strong prospects -- and offering them insurance products tailored to their needs. Cigna does this through proprietary software that sifts through 300 data points such as credit card use and demographics to help its marketers fine-tune their pitch -- all while claiming to protect the privacy of the customers' information. "It's like a FICO score," says David J. Fogarty, who now runs Cigna's predictive products business. He's a former GE Capital executive, thus the reference to FICO, the credit scoring system. Cigna's software shows "this is the best product to sell that customer."

????When the technology sees a lot of foreign travel charged to credit cards, for example, it associates that cardholder with a health policy that is designed specifically for Chinese who travel overseas. In call centers like the one in Shenzhen, operators have what is called predictive dialing: The telemarketer has the customer's background and what products to sell automatically cued up on their computer screen, along with a tailored pitch.

????At this one site in Shenzhen alone, they are selling 80,000 policies a month. There are two other multiprovince call centers in Shanghai and Wuhan, along with smaller centers based near affiliates who want them. Cohen Yang, one of the managers who runs the Shenzhen call center, notes that most Chinese provide a cellphone number to their banks and haven't yet adopted the American habit of hanging up on telemarketing calls. The customers, Yang says, are actually keen to learn more about health insurance. The call center telemarketers are in a friendly competition for sales bonuses that include refrigerators and trips abroad.