The door-to-door salesman 



Al Pacino portrays a super salesman in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey are land development salesmen. Of course the lad they sell is called an "investment" for the buyer. They make their calls from "leads" which are supplied to them by their development company. A man person interested in investing fills our a card from a magazine and mails it in. The card is given to the salesman and he makes a call to set up an appointment.

For a very short time I worked for such a company in Kansas City. We went out on calls to potential investors and would pitch the land package being promoted at the time. That just wasn't my cup of tea, as they say. It takes a specific personality to do that kind of work and make a living.

Pacino and Lemmon share a scene in the movie where they talk about the "old days" when they did what is called cold call selling. That occurs when you just pick up the phone and call someone and start making your pitch. It can also be done by simply going door-to-door and offering the product to the individual who answers the door. To do that kind of sales requires an intense belief in yourself. The cold call salesman knows he is going to have many more rejections than sales. He cannot look at the number of failed sales, he must always focus on the number of successes.

Following World War II there were many people in door-to-door sales. My parents' house in those years was literally in the shadow of the largest church in the community. Interestingly we had very few door-to-door salesman come to our house. My parents decided that the sales people thought our house was a church parsonage and they didn't bother to come there. If that was the case I know that they thought it was truly a "blessing" as they didn't like being bothered by unsolicited sales people.

One of the things which Diana and I are happy about is the Missouri "NO CALL LIST" which is now nearing nearly one million Missouri citizens. Of the more than 2.4 million Missourians, our phone line is one of 945,000 listed with Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's office. What a difference our Missouri legislators have made in our lives. As politicians they have protected the privacy of Missourians.

It would be disturbing if we had to have someone knocking on our door frequently attempting to sell us a product or a service for which we had not expressed an interest. Wouldn't it be great if our community had a "NO SOLICITING LIST" upon which we could register our name? We would simply go to city hall and sign a list and register our address requesting that no door-to-door sales man come to our home. When canvassers registered for their special merchants license they would additionally purchase with their license a copy of the "NO SOLICITING LIST." (Telemarketers are required by law to purchase a copy of the NO CALL list.) We who wish to preserve our privacy would be protected by our city government as we are by our state government and those who wish to canvass would be able to do so at other residences.

"I would not have believed the results of this law had I not experienced it for myself. Quality kids are nurtured during quality family time and I'm glad Missouri is concerned with my family."
--Steven J., Kansas City, member of the NO CALL Team to decrease telemarketing calls


(written May, 2002) 

Posted: Sun - January 15, 2006 at 09:24 AM        

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