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JohnFenHNSource author
Business & incomeExperience excerpt · English

Funny story, only once did that fail to get them to go away

… Funny story, only once did that fail to get them to go away. In that case, it was a couple of Mormons and they took me up on the offer (leaving me wishing I actually had some sort of satanic sales pitch). They were very nice and pleasant company, and we ended up spending a couple of hours talking about the music of Frank Zappa. But I didn't become a Mormon.

Original discussionThe real "Wolf of Wall Street" sales script271 source comments · at import
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scrapcodeHN

I'm interested in more lit on the subject, but I never understood how anyone sells anything via cold-calling. I understand why SPAM works - because it has a very small barrier to entry and it works on the idea of converting a small fraction of messages sent. But cold-calling takes man-hours and I can only imagine it's sole purpose is to catch individuals that simply would rather pay you to end the call rather than say "no." Even worse is door-to-door sales. My neighborhood has big "no soliciting" signs at the entrances, but at certain times of the year we get huge swaths of salesmen and it's typically for the exact same services at different times of year. Once I was working on my boat late at night in my garage with the door halfway open. I had a pesticide service salesman zip up my driveway on a segway and come inside my garage and start pitching. I couldn't help but to lose my stuff o…

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allenuHN

That was smart of them to take you up on your offer! It reminds me of something I read that said if you are trying to sell something to someone and they're budging, ask them what it would take to change their mind. It's kind of a trick question, because often, whatever they request can be provided (or at least an equivalent), and once the salesperson provides it to them, it's very hard for them to say no. Most people want to appear consistent in their behaviors.

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wyclifHN

Pro tip about Mormon missionaries (I've never been a Mormon but have been visited by them): the easiest way to get them to go away permanently is to get on their blacklist; they have them believe it or not. It is basically a "do not visit this house" list. And the easiest way to do that is to try to convert them to a different religion from Mormonism. If you're really good at it, they'll consider you a threat to their missionary work and blacklist you. Now, you might be thinking "Nah, that sounds too much like work" but consider the benefit: you won't be blacklisted only by Mormon missionary trainer 1 and trainee 2, but no Mormon will ever visit your home ever again, because you are in their LDS ward.

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