CAN YOU READ?

My perspective on door-to-door salespeople is different.

A major part of my career has been in all aspects of sales and marketing.

I haven’t done door-to-door sales since I was about 10 years old.

I don’t have a NO SOLICITING sign on my house, and if I did I still would treat the person the same way.

I have video cameras outside and inside my home. As soon as a camera is triggered by movement, I get an alert on my cell phone. I have RING doorbell… love that little thing!

I usually do not open my door to someone I do not recognize.
On occasion I might open the door to a person looking like a “salesman”.

We get a lot of solar sales and water filtration systems.

My home office looks right out a big window at my entire front door and front yard.

If it is in the middle of the day, and I see a person that “looks official”,
I might open the door to find out what they’re selling. I don’t want to waste their time on me because I’m not going to buy whatever they are selling.

But.. I ask what they are selling. They usually say “Oh.. I’m not selling anything.” My immediate snarky response is “Oh…are you here to hand me a $100 bill?” That usually throws their canned pitch way off. If they mention solar, I say right away, “Oh.. I’m a scientist and solar panels will be future fossils, and solar energy is an environmentally destructive scam. I’m a nuclear guy, and in your lifetime you will see lots of micro nuclear power plants all over. That really throws them off. Then, before they get started again, I say “I admire you for trying to make a living, but you might want to re-think solar energy.” If that doesn’t get them to turn around, then “I’m sorry my pizza is ready to take out of the oven, good luck out there”.

Being mean to people generates bad Karma. I always look for ways to make a deposit in my Karma Bank.
 
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We used to have the same problem. Easy fix. I just answer the door like this...and say, "Oh good! You're here! I'm sacrificing a goat out in the backyard and I need someone to hold the legs!"

Works every time!...and you'd be surprised how fast the word spreads!:D

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I have a no soliciting sign. If I hear the doorbell, I point to the sign and wave bye-bye.

One day I answered the door and a let's say a 'rough' looking female(?) started her pitch. I let her finish, I pointed at the sign, she read it and says, out loud, "Soliciting!?" Looks at me, then, without skipping a beat says, "Oh, I'm not selling my body!" I LOLed and closed the door.
 
Depends on who they are and what they are selling. This year an elementary school kid was selling Christmas wreaths for a school project. I figured the wreaths were overpriced. And I pay taxes, so why should I pay money out of my pocket to support anything to do with the school?
But it is the same as when the Girl Scouts sell cookies. Yes, I know it is a scam, they are overpriced, the money doesn't really go to the kids, and the Girl Scouts are anti-gun, etc. When some young kid is willing to get out and go door to door knowing they will come face to face with grumpy old farts that need to gripe about everything, try to be professional while they're making their pitch, and work at being polite all the while, I'll cough up a few bucks.
I like seeing kids at least trying to be productive, so if I can be a little bit positive I'll stand blocking my "Get off my lawn!" sign and be polite.
 
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I have a small No Solicitors sign on my door, and a little hole I can look out to see who might be ringing my doorbell. I also have a camera too if I'm not near the door.

If I don't know who it is, I don't answer it.

Problem solved.
 
As I often remind the whiners here in S. Fl who complain about the solar salespersons, there is no legal standing for a "No Soliciting" sign. If it that important to you, post a "No Trespassing" sign and the have violators arrested. All the legal requirements of trespassing warning have been met.
 
I'll open the door and before they start their spiel, I politely ask them if they can read. All have said 'yes' -- (okay, we're off to the races). Since my subdivision only has one road in/out, this is my next statement: "Good -- you can read. Obviously, you didn't read the sign just inside the subdivision that plainly says, 'no soliciting in this neighborhood' and they (99%) say they didn't see it. I suggest to them to read it on their way out.
 
If I do answer first thing I ask if they are registered with Village, as its required. If not I tell them Im calling police if they dont leave the block. I have called and boy were they surprised when police showed.
 
Door to door sales stopped being a good idea about the same time as picking up hitchhikers or leaving your doors unlocked stopped being a good idea. Almost no one likes to open the door to a stranger any more for safety and other reasons. We live on a half acre so nobody visits our door but if we did, I'd build a fence on the front porch with a locked gate.
 
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