It might seem a bit odd that companies still employ the use of door to door salespeople in an age where people can research and purchase a wide range of goods and services online without actually having to speak to anyone. However, if you do need to speak to someone you can do that online as well with some services offering online chat as well.
Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of door to door salespeople. I know the salespeople are there to sell something to me by using their various methods and techniques with the hope of closing a deal in five or ten minutes – their entitled to do their job. However, I don’t like being pressured into making a binding decision in such a small amount of time and prefer to take time to research and compare the various offers out there. I’m a person who loves to be given all the facts plainly and simply without the spin.
I love to use online stuff wherever possible. I do my banking online as well as bill payments and some types of shopping. As a fall back I will use the telephone and, as a last resort, I’ll go into a store or branch (like when I need to deposit cheques or when I want to inspect something before purchase).
What pushes my buttons though is when door to door salespeople dress something up as “free” without disclosing the hook in the deal. Today, I had a visit from a chap from Australian Power and Gas who was door knocking the townhouses in the complex with the offer of “free rebates” in light of the electricity price hikes that came into effect in the last few months. Then peppered me with a bunch of other questions such as:
- the current provider of my electricity service,
- whether or not I had a bill inside for the chap to look at,
- whether or not I was receiving any rebates at present.
What made me most uncomfortable was the request to see my current bill for privacy reasons (irrespective of what sort of ID the guy might have hanging around his neck). I didn’t fancy the person seeing the name on the account as well as the account number in case a churn could have been executed.
The thing that really got me offside was how it was positioned as a “free rebate” with no mention of being locked into a contract for two or three years (which in my mind negates the “free” aspect of the deal). After having done my homework previously online at Switchwise to see if we could get a better deal on my electricity I had already found out that the more generous deals involved a lock in contract (and I’m not a big fan of contracts). When I told the salesperson that I wasn’t interested if the free rebate involved a contract the message was driven home quite clearly from my side.
Truth be told, I was tempted to not answer the door at all in the first place. I just don’t see the point in door to door sales given my belief that people can be more reliably informed with online resources these days and the offers online are the same, if not, better than what someone is going to offer you at the door.
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