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Weirdest door knocking experience

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Jul 13, 2008 9:01 pm

What was your weirdest door knocking experience?

Jul 14, 2008 2:43 am
ezmoney:

What was your weirdest door knocking experience?

  When I was doing my door knocking activity the very first door I knock on guy opens it, puts down what he's smoking, and says: "You with the police?" I said "No sir" and went with the script. He replies "You look like the sheriff." I said "Sir I'm not the sheriff, but do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" "What kind of questions?" "Just a few basic questions about the area." "I think you're with the police." Then he shut the door on me.   Truth is I think it was Saul4Paul the entire time.
Jul 14, 2008 1:49 pm

Mine was being greated at the door by a young housewife in a shear neglige that wanted to discuss investments in the comfort of her living room. It was very difficult to keep my $%^# together and present that good quality bond. She never bought anything but the memories are special.

Jul 14, 2008 2:48 pm

I have two…second day…snow and sleet…Knock on a smallish house…a girl comes to the door…just got her up…(she said she bartended until 2am.)…I gave her a card…as she was closing the door…her robe came loose and well…lets just say the headlights were and they were nice and round…#2…middle of the summer…someone from home office wanted to spend a couple of days with me in the field doorknocking.  By this time I usually skipped so so houses…but with a gp with me I decided to hit every house on the street again.  Well, we walked up to a house and the door was open.  Through the screen door a nice gentleman said…“Get the hell off my porch before I shoot you!”…it was very quiet between me and the GP for a few houses…

Jul 14, 2008 4:41 pm

I’ve never had any of the experiences like spears, but I did have a dog miss my achilles tendon by about 1 inch.  I was walking up the driveway and noticed the garage door was up partway.  About that same time I noticed two big eyes glowing and locked on to me.  That’s when I heard the dog.  I turned around, headed back down the driveway, and with my last step into the street the dog nipped at my heels, missed my ankle, but got my pants.  I should have sent a thank you note to the owner of the house with a bill for a new pair of pants. 

Jul 14, 2008 7:48 pm

I agree.  Which is why I never sent the note.  I'm not going to fault a dog for doing it's job. 

Anytime you throw yourself in the middle of someone's life, you run the risk of things turning ugly, quickly. Jones FAs and pizza delivery guys have some of the best stories.
Jul 14, 2008 7:53 pm

Summer.  Walk up to a house. Kind of messy yard with some power tools, chain saw laying on the front porch…but hey…that’s normal for here.  A HUGE sweaty guy in a pair of bib overalls, no shirt, no shoes and holding a can of beer opens the door and is standing behind the screen door.   Has a couple of dogs in the house barking at me.  Some sort of angry hunting dog breed.

  Um...ok...I can almost hear the banjos now.   I go through my Hi...I'm introducing myself to people in the neighborhood schtick..yada yada yada...   "Sure he says, come on in and have a beer, I'll take a look at your brochures"   Riiight.   Me: "Um....  Gee thanks, but I have a lot of other houses to visit today and a lunch date with MY HUSBAND, so I'll just leave my card and brochure right here on top of your wood pile.....(backing slowly away from the door).   Bye it was nice to meet you."   Ruuuuunnnnnn!   Actually the beer sounded pretty good because it was so hot, but all things considered,  I thought, I'll skip it.
Jul 16, 2008 2:39 pm

I’ll bet he had a pit in his basement too.

Jul 16, 2008 4:04 pm

Another dog story.  When I was still in the home office teaching the New IR classes, we would often go doorknocking with a new IR in the area, for the experience.  I went with a guy who spends a lot of time doorknocking in rural area.  We stopped at this trailer (first clue that something bad was about to happen), parked the car and walked the 50 feet up to the front door.  Nothing bad so far.  We stand there at the front, or side actually, door of the "home" debating the business realities of doorknocking a trailer for about 30 seconds.  Nobody home.  We turn around and about 25 feet away, between the two of us and his car stands one of the biggest meanest dogs I've ever seen.  In retrospect, he was the vampire's guard dog standing watch over them while they slept the day away.  I believe he had a tag around his neck that said his name was Cerberus.

Dog had it's teeth bared, hackles up, low growl going and the new FA looks back at me and says...after you.  I said, nope.  It's  your town, your trailer.  I'm just a trainer.  This is why you make the big bucks.  No risk, no reward.  So, we get down to the bottom of the steps he takes off running one way toward the car, I start running the other, dog hesitates long enough for us to get there, jump in and close the doors right as the dog hits the side of the car.  It's a good thing I was wearing dark pants that day.    So, the moral of the story, when doorknocking, it might be a good idea to skip the houses with the big ugly dogs in the front yard.    
Jul 16, 2008 4:18 pm

Spiffy,

I read that with great enthusiasm until the end ..were the dog didn't take a chunk out of your green ass. I assume the dog didn't like door to door salesman. 
Jul 16, 2008 8:11 pm

Yeah, I’ll bet you were hoping for a different ending. 

Jul 16, 2008 8:36 pm

I was door knocking with a colleague and RR forum member one hot summer day in a very nice neighborhood.  We were specifically going to this one house, but no one was home.  We saw a trailer off to the side on the same property and thought this person would know where the guy was since he lived on the property.  He could’ve been a housekeeper or whatever, we didn’t know.

  So we knock on the trailer door and smell booze all over the place, and it's like 10:00am.  The guy opens the door and smells like shit, looks like shit, and is obviously drunk.  We immediately see a shotgun standing right next to the door.  It was at this time we decided to leave.   We didn't need any hassle from a drunk guy with a shotty.
Jul 19, 2008 2:13 am

[quote=snaggletooth]We didn’t need any hassle from a drunk guy with a shotty.
[/quote]

You met my RL?!

Jul 21, 2008 6:10 pm

I was cussed out by a “nice old lady” for asking open-ended financial questions to her husband. He was giving me all the information and then out of nowhere comes this 4’8" woman screaming bloody murder. She told me I was b*llsh#t and my firm was too. Also, we have quite a presence in STL but she didn’t care.

Jul 21, 2008 11:30 pm

I’m pretty new so I don’t have a lot of door knocking experience, but when I was doing my surveys applying at EDJ an older woman answered the door and we actually talked for about 10 minutes.  Then all of the sudden I noticed that the ground was getting we around her feet and she excused her self.  I could tell she was embarassed so I actually felt really bad for her.  It was a weird experience, that’s for sure. 

Jul 21, 2008 11:47 pm

Is door knocking done in places like New York City by the reps in this area?

Jul 22, 2008 1:10 am
newrepd:

Is door knocking done in places like New York City by the reps in this area?

  I think in places like that it's probably tough.  I live in a fairly rural area where people are more friendly and inviting.  I think in a place like NYC it'd be hard to get past doormen or places where you need keys just to get in the building.  There would be lots of good businesses all over the place for cold walking.
Jul 22, 2008 6:12 pm

[quote=babbling looney]Summer.  Walk up to a house. Kind of messy yard with some power tools, chain saw laying on the front porch…but hey…that’s normal for here.  A HUGE sweaty guy in a pair of bib overalls, no shirt, no shoes and holding a can of beer opens the door and is standing behind the screen door.   Has a couple of dogs in the house barking at me.  Some sort of angry hunting dog breed.

  Um...ok...I can almost hear the banjos now.   I go through my Hi...I'm introducing myself to people in the neighborhood schtick..yada yada yada...   "Sure he says, come on in and have a beer, I'll take a look at your brochures"   Riiight.   Me: "Um....  Gee thanks, but I have a lot of other houses to visit today and a lunch date with MY HUSBAND, so I'll just leave my card and brochure right here on top of your wood pile.....(backing slowly away from the door).   Bye it was nice to meet you."   Ruuuuunnnnnn!   Actually the beer sounded pretty good because it was so hot, but all things considered,  I thought, I'll skip it.[/quote]   Well, hello Clarise . . .
Jul 22, 2008 7:08 pm

10 years ago I went  doorknocking with a new rep in his  first week. I think I was at the firm about a year at that point. Anyhow, it was end of the day, we had our contact numbers but there was fun to be had…

  So I decided to create a little game. One guy would ring the bell and then step aside and the other one gave the canned Jones schpeel. It was my turn to ring the door bell, and just as I did, gaseous fumes erupted from my back side with a harrowing sound loud enough to scare any one within a half a block. Even I was suprised. It must have been the black beans...   Well the poor FA steps in my place, with his eyes bulging in laughter (you know where you cry because your laughing so hard) and up steps a retired banker with an attitude. Maybe he was downwind...Needless to say we made an early exit from that conversation...and thank god we had our portable EDJ approved gas masks!!   I'll take a dog over a banker anytime...    Not one of my proudest moments, but to this day when we talk we laugh about it.
Jul 22, 2008 7:12 pm

Foot - that really is funny!!! Must have been worth a couple of beers after a long day?