Only my local cookie pusher(s) wearing brown get a polite response.

Pro tip here - No Soliciting signs are a magnet, not a repellant, to real sales pros. To them those signs mean you can't say no to a salesman, so you try to head them off at the pass with a sign.

I run in-home appointments for final expense life insurance. I do not cold call at all. I run appointments by calling leads these folks mail in, asking for contact. However, I do go to the wrong address once in a while, or the person moved and forgot to tell me on the phone about the new address, or I can't read the number on the lead, etc. My biggest customer, just a cash cow to me, was a door knock of a wrong address from a lead where I couldn't read the phone number. Plenty of signs like "I have a backhoe and firearms" and "Don't even think of ringing this doorbell, just don't." I knock on the door, they invite me in, ask me what took me so long to contact them, offer me food, then buy insurance, then refer their friends to me, then send me Xmas cards.

Sorry, those signs are at best invisible, and, at worst, an invitation to the pros. I only have an ADT sign in front of the house and just do not ever answer the door for unexpected strangers.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
No solicitors.

No barristers, either.

Hey, now!?

Wait. Aggressive, door-to-door salesman types ignore "No Soliciting" signs?

Say it ain't so.

But if you know it is a salesman, ignore him. If you don't just shut the door as soon as you know. After all, you can't shoot them, and yelling doesn't even phase them.

But this never happens to me. Salesmen never come to my house. Where is this a big problem?

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
There is a super nasty fart spray can now being used as practical jokes by people. People just almost throw up smelling it. It's horrible.

I wonder if a remote control version could be made, and discretely hidden, to sort of blossom on the front porch when needed. HMMMM

Hmmm... I think I saw someone hack an automatic Glade air freshener with an ESP8266 (a low-cost Wi-Fi microchip). The wheels are turning

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
After all, you can't shoot them,

Just another example of where our elected folks have failed us.

Q- "I see you! You know I can see you, right"?
A- "Great! Can you see this cool shotgun I have"?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Only my local cookie pusher(s) wearing brown get a polite response.

They are the few who respect the sign. I saw one coming to the door just the other week and once she got in sight of the door she turned and walked away. I had to run out after her and tell her she was good to go. I need to put below the sign “Girl Scout Cookie Sales are Exempt.”

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Pro tip here - No Soliciting signs are a magnet, not a repellant, to real sales pros. To them those signs mean you can't say no to a salesman, so you try to head them off at the pass with a sign.

Might be true for most but not me. I am trying to save myself from being an ass with them. On one hand I feel bad as they have a job to do and going door to door ain’t easy. On the other hand, the only people I want coming are people I know or invited. I put the sign as a deterrent and I am not answering no matter how long they knock. This individual in particular pissed me off for the fact of yelling that he could see me. I guess he thought I was “hiding” from him since he didn’t see a phone to my ear. Dunno, don’t care. To me he is scum for doing what he did. Kind of makes me wish I had a Ring doorbell so I could send a video of his actions to his employer, but possibly they might be proud of him.

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
There is a super nasty fart spray can now being used as practical jokes by people. People just almost throw up smelling it. It's horrible.

I wonder if a remote control version could be made, and discretely hidden, to sort of blossom on the front porch when needed. HMMMM

Hmmm... I think I saw someone hack an automatic Glade air freshener with an ESP8266 (a low-cost Wi-Fi microchip). The wheels are turning

We are onto something here guys!!! We can make a fortune!

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Q- "I see you! You know I can see you, right"?
A- "Great! Can you see this cool shotgun I have"?

That is exactly how I wanted it to go if I wasn’t doing a recorded interview that will be used in court.

The wife won't let me put up a "No Soliciting" sign on our door, but if I had one up and they ignored it, I'd have a lot of fun with that.

I used to have a NO SOLICITING sign at my business. Someone stole it. Noticed no difference without it. I made it a policy not to purchase anything even from kids as it quickly gets out of hand. Leave your card and depart.
Every few years a real jackass shows up who will not take NO for an answer. You know the kind that pours dirt on your carpet and attempts to show you how great their cleaning product is.

I have good college buddy who decided to open up an Edward Jones branch in a well-to-do ski resort. Back then those guys had to build their book by door knocking their whole territory. He did it and is making bank now, takes referrals only, that kind of thing. I couldn't believe that's how they did it, but it really weeds out the folks who aren't cut out for that kind of work. Sure enough, years ago, before I totally stopped answering my door for strangers, I got a knock one day, opened it up and a total knockout of a woman was standing there, asking me if I had talked to anyone from Edward Jones about the card they had mailed me. I was very nice to her, told her I was already with EJ through a close friend and knew what she was going through, praised her efforts and wished her well.

Oh, yesterday I had an hour to kill between appointments, so I door knocked a few leads where I couldn't read the (handwritten) phone numbers. These were in a gated trailer park with lots of "no this or that" signs at the gate, but I have the gate code, as I have several customers there. First place looked abandoned, no car in the port, pretty rough looking porch and trailer. The man came to the door, invited me right in and was very interested, apologized for his sloppy handwriting on the lead card. It was a no sale (he was terminal with cancer), but he looked at my business card and said he knew someone else with my surname, which is one of the most uncommon in the US (it's not Lee). He handed me a piece of mail addressed to his landlord and the guy is a distant cousin from Rochester, NY where my dad's family is from. I have never come across anyone else with this outside of my dad, his brother and his son. You never know what you're gonna find when you door knock. Lots of folks bring out the gun collection once we've established some rapport.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Oh, yesterday I had an hour to kill between appointments, so I door knocked a few leads where I couldn't read the (handwritten) phone numbers. These were in a gated trailer park with lots of "no this or that" signs at the gate, but I have the gate code, as I have several customers there. First place looked abandoned, no car in the port, pretty rough looking porch and trailer. The man came to the door, invited me right in and was very interested, apologized for his sloppy handwriting on the lead card. It was a no sale (he was terminal with cancer), but he looked at my business card and said he knew someone else with my surname, which is one of the most uncommon in the US (it's not Lee). He handed me a piece of mail addressed to his landlord and the guy is a distant cousin from Rochester, NY where my dad's family is from. I have never come across anyone else with this outside of my dad, his brother and his son. You never know what you're gonna find when you door knock. Lots of folks bring out the gun collection once we've established some rapport.

If you are a person that has to door knock, then yeah I can only imagine the types of people you would encounter going door to door.

Me, I am not a people person and could never do the job, but I will be nice in my work with people to get what I need. I am not knocking people at all that make their living going door to door for their job. People have to make a living.

What chaps my hide is people who ignore a No Soliciting sign or are an ass like the guy I described.

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
There is a super nasty fart spray can now being used as practical jokes by people. People just almost throw up smelling it. It's horrible.

I wonder if a remote control version could be made, and discretely hidden, to sort of blossom on the front porch when needed. HMMMM

Hmmm... I think I saw someone hack an automatic Glade air freshener with an ESP8266 (a low-cost Wi-Fi microchip). The wheels are turning

Automated industrial aerosol air freshener dispenser, wifi enabled arduino, and a can of spray. Shouldn't take more than an afternoon to prototype it.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:

If you are a person that has to door knock, then yeah I can only imagine the types of people you would encounter going door to door.

Me, I am not a people person and could never do the job, but I will be nice in my work with people to get what I need. I am not knocking people at all that make their living going door to door for their job. People have to make a living.

What chaps my hide is people who ignore a No Soliciting sign or are an ass like the guy I described.

I never knock on a door without someone's handwritten postcard in my hand to show them why I'm there. That usually calms them down if they answer the door. This job is not for everyone, but I make a pretty good living, working about 30 hrs a week and never having a boring day in a cube farm with idiot co-workers and I answer to no one.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:

If you are a person that has to door knock, then yeah I can only imagine the types of people you would encounter going door to door.

Me, I am not a people person and could never do the job, but I will be nice in my work with people to get what I need. I am not knocking people at all that make their living going door to door for their job. People have to make a living.

What chaps my hide is people who ignore a No Soliciting sign or are an ass like the guy I described.

I never knock on a door without someone's handwritten postcard in my hand to show them why I'm there. That usually calms them down if they answer the door. This job is not for everyone, but I make a pretty good living, working about 30 hrs a week and never having a boring day in a cube farm with idiot co-workers and I answer to no one.

Sounds like you are doing it right my friend. With that I hope you have continued success!

The opposite problem: I do property tax assessing in a rural area, and visit every place every year - the permitting is inadequate, so it's the only way to discover changes. If I see a change that has to be measured, I legally have to knock on the door and try to make contact before doing any work.

Did I mention that the area is rural?

I may be the only person the homeowner sees in person that day. If it's a dead-end road or a long driveway, I may be the only person they see in person that week.

Either way, if they're home, they're not letting a visitor go to waste, and I'm going to have to pay toll in the form of 15 minutes of chat before I get on with my work.