tft: door-to-door salespeople
April 30, 2008 by anne
Today’s deep thoughts for Thurs involve those annoying people who come around to your door trying to sell you something crappy (or get you to donate to a cause). And my question for you is: Are you a sucker who always buys/donates/agrees to something from a door-to-door salesperson? Are you half and half, sometimes you buy, sometimes you don’t? Or do you make it a point to never purchase anything from your front door?
This deep thought was spurred by a few instances that have happened recently. First, a friend of mine was telling me how some man came to her door in the evening, when she was home alone. He was selling magazine subscriptions, made her really uncomfortable, and got upset when she kept refusing to buy anything from him. Second, we had a door-to-door visitor this past SUNDAY, right in the middle of Ryan’s birthday party. Now I don’t know about you, but to me Sundays are sacred and no one should be bothered by an annoying intrusion of a door-to-door marketer. Thankfully (or not thankfully, as you’ll read coming up), I was not the person to answer the door during Ryan’s party. Because if I had been, I would have surely glared at the dude and curtly interrupted his spiel by saying I was in the middle of celebrating my son’s first birthday, and NO I do NOT want to buy anything from you. However, FatJ was the lucky winner to answer the door. And because he apparently comes from a long line of people who can’t say no, he was a SUCKER and bought this dude’s $25 coupon book for nearby restaurants and business establishments. When he first told me he bought the hawked coupon book, I thought he was joking and laughed it off. But then FatJ went on to say what ‘great’ deals there were in the coupon book, such as “buy one meal get one free” at restaurants we NEVER go to. Five dollars off a take and bake pizza at some ‘corner store’ that we’ve never been to in 3.5 years of living here. Not to mention- do we buy take and bake pizzas, EVER? Um, no. “We’re supporting local businesses” FatJ tells me. Hm, not really. Because we’ll NEVER USE THESE BLEEPIN’ coupons, GUARANTEED. And why do I use the word guaranteed, you ask? It’s because FatJ has been suckered by the door-to-door coupon sellers in the past, and has failed to use said purchased “deal” in any way, shape, or form. If I remember correctly, a few years back another door-to-door hawker came by, selling $50 coupon cards to a newly opened gas station in our area. For $50, you get yourself 10 free oil changes, 10 free car washes, 5 cents off gas, discounted auto repair, etc etc. Have we ever used this card??? NO. Well, maybe once. Do we even know where this card is? NO.
Whoooooosh….what’s that I hear? Is it a 50 dollar bill being flushed down the toilet? Followed by a twenty and a five? Whoooooosh…
Don’t get me wrong, I have succumbed to a few door-to-door purchases in my lifetime, but not many. I’ve bought Christmas wreaths from the boy scouts when they’ve come a knocking. (Although when I was pregnant I saw them marching down our sidewalk and just could not DEAL with the boy scouts and their wreaths at that moment, so I threw myself onto the kitchen floor and waited for them to leave.)
And then there are the inner-city ghetto children, accompanied by their ghetto parent, hauling around the Sam’s Club box of microwave popcorn, and trying to get you to buy some to go towards their upcoming summer ‘football camp.’ Uh huh, football camp my booty.
Anyways, to sum this up…you may call me a black soul if you like, but I rarely give in to door-to-door sales pitches and make a purchase. Usually I just say “no thanks, I’m not interested at this time” and shut the door. Or I just don’t answer the door in the first place.
How about you? Are you a yes-man? A sucker? A hide-in-the-closet-when-the-doorbell-rings type? Are you polite and personable, or flat-out mean? Do you say no all the time, or yes all the time? Or a little of both? Do you feel guilty if you say no, so instead you say yes, even if the thing you buy is something you don’t need and will never use?
Tell me what you think. And while you’re at it, I’ve got some ocean-front property in Arizona, if you’re interested.
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I think I might know that person you were referring to at the beginning of your post… eh emm…
Until this year, I have never lived in a house and therefore never had to deal with door-to-door hounders. I would love to say that I am a “No” all the time kinda gal, but that would be a flat out lie. In all honesty, I would prefer to hit the deck when someone comes to the door and just not deal. BUT I never do… by the time I peek down our stairs to see who it is, they’ve seen me and I can’t just not answer. As guilty as I feel saying “no,” I do say it most of the time. This is because last summer a teenie bopper came to my door selling magazines who totally laid on the charm and was a really good salesperson, let’s just say that. She talked me into buying SELF magazine for THREE flippin’ years… I was thinking in my head this would cost maybe $30 or something. Nope. $76!! I back pedaled a little and said “wow, that’s a lot… how come it’s that much??…” She said, “that’s because they’re a big company and I’m just a kid trying to raise money for X, Y & Z…” UGH. That time I realized I would feel more guilty for saying YES and spending too much money on a not-so-great cause than saying NO to someone’s face. Lesson learned, but I still get suckered every once in a while.
One other thing though… why do they always seem to “stop by” and ring your bell when baby is napping?! OH, and the new thing in our neighborhood is for the actual neighbors to represent their charity of choice and hit everyone at the same time. I literally received visits to my door, letters in the mailbox AND phone calls about 3 different foundations all last week.
…Sorry this was such a novel…
growing up, my mom always made us hide from the schwann’s man when she didn’t feel like buying anything.
i would say i buy stuff part of the time, especially if it’s a kid. pretty much only stuff i would use though. now that we’ve moved i’m guessing i won’t have to deal with this much anymore.
i used to be a sucker. i bought cleaning crap, magazine subscriptions, you name it. for hundreds of dollars. i practically say here, take my money. how much should i write the check for? my husband came along and changed all that. he gives people such a hard time that they almost want to run away. a true salesman test is to try to sell something to my husband! he demands stuff for free, he demands discounts… he comments on hairdos. you name it. it is hilarious. so, sufficent to say… i seldom do any more of the open checkbook, sign check. i’ve even picked up some of his tactics. fun post!
We dont get any door to door salespeople but my usual approach on the phone (if I have time) is to string people along for awhile, make them think they have a bite, and then deny them. If you are going to bother me, then I am going to bother you too.
i rarely buy things on my doorstep. we don’t get a lot of people stopping by - thank god! the last thing i purchased was boy scout popcorn from my neighbor and come to think of it - i never got it! so, looks like i won’t be buying that anymore either. one time we were at my BIL’s girlfriends house and they had let a vaccum salesman in their house to do a PRESENTATION. i wanted to go jump into oncoming traffic listening to this guy and wasting precious time in my life that i will never get back. i have no time for stupid stuff like that. my husband is a sucker for any little kid selling anything though.
Luckily they aren’t common in my neighborhood, but when I first moved in I made the mistake of letting the ADT security rep talk me into a system. I asked a million times if I could cancel at anytime and he said yes. I found a month later that I had a 36 month contract and was forced to pay it all out, even though I never used the system once!!! After that huge, expensive mistake I haven’t answered my door!! LOL
I am on longer allowed to answer the door because of my inability to say no. A year of being harrassed by organizations has made my husband ban me from all communication with door to door salesmen. It began with the Clean Water Act and Police Officers Association. I also once agreed to meet with a contractor about possible additions without ever really intending on doing it because I felt guilty saying no. The man stalked our house, called 12 times a day, and even left a few really rude messages. We finally got rid of him by disconnecting our land line. The only people that I can talk to is the poor freshmen at St. Ben’s who get the job of trying to collect donations from alumni. And yep, you guessed it, I always get suckered in to donating them money as well. At least I know that one is going to a good cause.
JUST like I stated: A long line of people who don’t know how to say “no.”
I don’t answer the door, I am a sucker. I tried selling door to door in college and always feel bad, I know what they are going through. I bought from this kid once, but had 10 days to cancel and knew that so I said yes and canceled.
I sell contracts for pest control door to door in florida. I’m doing it for my third summer. People are extremely nice, considering how annoying it must be to have someone ring your doorbell at 7:30 PM and try to get you to sign a 490$ contract within about 15 minutes.
What i wonder is whether people are less or more annoyed by the fact that i am selling an expensive pest control contract rather than like a cheap mug or magazine. on the one hand, pest control is somewhat of a utility in florida- many people use companies rather than doing it themselves.
I knock in neighborhoods that are gated with large no soliciting signs and no trespassing signs. I’ve been doing it for 3 summers and i remember being yelled at once. I think i’ve actually been yelled at about 3 times. But i think i diffuse people a bit because i genuinely do try not to annoy them and get off their porch asap if they are uninterested.
I will make 30-40 thousand dollars between May 1st and the end of august this year.
thought i’d share from the other perspective. But i also share the perspective of being a sucker for a door to door salesman- if one knocks on my door at the very least he or she is getting a soda or a 20$ bill, if not the whole shebang.
one other thing- i never ever knock on a door with a no soliciting sign on it. I figure the sign on the neighborhood was there before the homeowners were, but a no soliciting sign on a door means someone really doesn’t want me to knock, and i think its an issue of respect.