I have a no soliciting sign up, right on my front door at eye level, but salesmen knock on my door all the time. I find it strange because even if they don’t respect me or my property at all, they’re really wasting their time on someone who probably isn’t going to buy anything.
So I’m wondering: what’s the chance they just don’t know what the word means?
I had one guy where I ignored him then went to get my mail. He came over to talk to me and said he wasn’t trying to sell me anything, then proceeded to tell me about AT&T’s new service.
So I was like, “So you are trying to sell me something.”
And he was like, “No, if I were going to sell you something, I’d have to get your information and stuff. I’m just informing you of what’s out there.”
“So you don’t want to sell me anything: you’d just like to inform me of a service you’d like me to buy, which is sold by the company you work for and whose swag you are currently wearing?”
But then I’m thinking: Could he genuinely think there is a discrepancy?. Like it reminded me of that SpongeBob episode where Mr. Krabs teaches SpongeBob that stealing is wrong but that he instead just “borrows without asking.”. Like delusion-level reframing.
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I don’t know who could tell you the percentage, but that salesperson sounds not great. He could read, but chose to approach anyway.
Just throwing this out there as well, since you don’t seem to be one to open your door.
Not everyone is soliciting. Process servers are not soliciting anything, so your sign won’t stop them from knocking on your door.
They know what it means, they just think it doesn’t apply to them.
Your sign doesn’t hold any legal weight. They’re probably taught to ignore those signs in their sales training. There are people who have those signs up who will absolutely buy shit.
As someone who’s been one of those obnoxious door to door salesman out of desperation: we were told to knock on your door despite a no soliciting sign. Management didn’t care about your sign, if there was a 1 in 5 million chance we’d get a sale at a house with a no soliciting sign the company wanted it.
Sign or not. Do not come knocking at my house. Did I call you for a service or invite you over? If the answer is no I do not want to be bothered. Also, why do you ignore my Ring doorbell? Use it. Don’t physically knock on my door, piss my dog off and wake my toddler up.
most adult Americans have a general understanding of what “No Soliciting” means, while there is a seperate and different legal definition that most people probably don’t know.
They don’t care. What’s the worst that can happen? You say no? “Get your foot in the door” is a very real thing. People have a harder time saying no to peoples’ face. They got a conversation with you, you know their company now, that’s more than they would have gotten if they ignored your sign.
Pushy people don’t care about a sign. People ignore/don’t care about my wedding ring. They know it means I’m married, but they feel entitled to “shoot their shot”. Sales guy is doing the same. It’s obnoxious.
I used to have a gate and a sign and they ignored both.
Isn’t the point of being a salesman to ignore everything that can reduce the number of sales one can make? They continue to talk to you because they know that customers eventually give in.
Salespeople LOVE no soliciting signs sometimes and some training programs encourage them to knock anyway precisely because people who have a hard time saying no are the ones who buy and use those signs most often.
A sign that said ‘private property, no trespassing, no soliciting’ makes it pretty clear sales people are not welcome or authorized.
If they’re informed before entering the property it’s private and trespassing then yes, it would be technically unlawful for them to knock.
I HAAAAAATE soliciting. There should be neighborhoods where it’s straight up not allowed, enforced by either gates or security guards. Like dude I already have to drown in ads everywhere I look. I don’t need some guy coming to my HOME and bothering me there too. I am at HOME. Let me lounge in peace. Save the pestering for the mall
Based on the fact that I also have a sign up and have seen it work exactly zero times, I’m going with zero.
Technically, soliciting includes marketing, not just selling. So he (or his boss) thinks he’s being clever with that “informing” line, but he’s not. Also, like other commenter’s have said, door-to-door salespeople DGAF these days.
There was a Vivint salesman in my neighborhood who convinced some customers to take selfies with him and post on our neighborhood FB group about his great services. I’m sure they were offered some sort of installation discount in exchange. But I saw 3 posts in one day and just kept rolling my eyes.
FWIW: Per American Legal Publishing, door to door solicitation is defined as: in-person, uninvited efforts, conducted by vendors on private property, to market and sell non-exempt merchandise or services or to procure non-exempt donations.
I’d say most. But not gonna lie people ignore it
Not just America. I’m in Canada and I also have a no soliciting sign that only works half the time.
As a former door to door salesman, they will get in trouble and yelled at if they refuse to knock, regardless of the no soliciting signs. If they continued to skip those houses anyways, they would be fired. It’s not that the salesman are disrespectful people, they wish they didn’t have to knock, but what’s worse. Having to knock on a door awkwardly, or not being able to feed your kids?
It’s such a rough situation to be in, completely fucked actually.
As someone who was, unfortunately, a door-to-door salesman for a couple of years, we were told to ingnore them. You knocked or rang anyway. The trick was that if there were in a HOA neighborhood that listed as no solicitation, then you have to have a peddlers license or someone could call the cops on you and you’d get escorted put of the neighborhood.
It doesn’t work with companies like Spectrum that are trying to sell you cable or dish because they have the licenses for that. But you can still call the cops and say you’re being harassed and they’ll run them off, and they will probably mark your address as a “Do Not Visit” in the future.
I have a big dog and a Ring Doorbell, so I just usually tell them to go away via microphone. Sometimes, they try to still sell you, but then I tell them I’m calling the cops and they dip-out pretty quick after that.
Borrowing without asking is known legally as Conversion.
A no soliciting sign says “I can’t open my door and have a conversation with someone and just say no if I don’t want to buy” or perhaps in other words “ I am susceptible to sales pressure so let me make sure it’s clear no one asks me to buy anything “ or to the eyes of a door to door salesman – “I buy things so I’d rather not be presented the opportunity” which is why they ring your bell extra. Good luck!
I have a no soliciting sign. It helps, but I still get at least one a week.
When I answer the door and as soon as I can tell it’s a sales pitch, I always interrupt them and tell them, “I’m sorry about your condition.” When they looked confused and ask, “What condition?” I tell them I can’t imagine how hard it is going through life being illiterate while pointing at my sign. This confounds many of them and some even apologize and leave. But some press on with their pitch, and I ask them why would I buy a product from them when they have clearly demonstrated they do not care about their customer’s requests as they have already ignored the first thing I have asked them to do.
I’m sure they think I’m an asshole, but at least I can get some enjoyment out of the interaction.
Had a financial advisor come to my door soliciting for his business. I laughed and told him I only hire advisors that know how to read as I pointed to me no soliciting sign. He quickly claimed he was not soliciting, only letting me know he had opened a business I might be interested in.
So, no, he apparently did not fully understand what soliciting is, or felt it only applied to everyone else.
My dad used to be a door-to-door milk salesman. He said he ignored those “no soliciting” signs 100% of the time because usually the people who have those signs have poor impulse control, and were actually more likely to buy than people without those (or at least not notably less likely to buy)
The only signs he saw and actively avoided knocking on people’s doors for were the ones who had “Sleeping baby”
who does door to door sales anymore? even girl scouts sit outside of a store to sell their cookies
This doesn’t seem to be an issue of not understanding the word ‘soliciting,’ where he’s drawing a distinction is a bullshit definition of ‘selling’ and ‘informing.’
I have a wooden printed sign that says baby sleeping, do not knock or ring doorbell. I plan on keeping it until it falls apart. I do have a baby and I haven’t had anyone disobey the sign. Highly recommend, less than $10 on etsy.
When I worked “security” for target, I told a dude soliciting that we don’t allow solicitors. He got offended and told me he isn’t a solicitor. I asked him if he knew what a solicitor was and he told me no.
I don’t think the percentage is high
People with no soliciting signs are the people who have such weak control they need to pre-decide to say no. I have heard they are excellent sales targets. Its mostly the lack of respect for your or your property.
I did sales for a few years. If you let a sign or a “not interested” or “just looking” stop you, you won’t make shit. No one wants to be sold, but you have to make it happen anyway if you want to eat. He knew exactly what that sign said.
A lot of houses out there will have a no soliciting sign. I worked as a salesperson for a company that had door-to-door sales people. They were always instructed to ignore those signs and had additional training on how to “catch the homeowner’s attention” and rope them into a scheduled appointment with me. I did not stay there long..
Sales people are specifically instructed to ignore such signs by management. Oh they know what it means, they just don’t care.
I’m waiting for someone to knock on my door after passing 3 no soliciting signs so I can ask them if they know what it means.
I just always reply “Are you stupid, or do you think I am?”
if i put up a sign that said “if you pass this sign you owe me $100 due immediately” do you think anyone would take it seriously?
They probably think it means hookers x.x
They know they are unwanted whether there is a sign or not, just like telemarketers. Most of them hate doing it.
But for one reason or another, that’s their job.
They sometimes have ways of convincing themselves that the signs don’t apply to them. They aren’t “soliciting” anything they are “informing” or “marketing” or whatever they are selling is so great that you won’t mind.
They sometimes just don’t care, because the chances of success aren’t really that much higher when there is no sign than if there is one.
It’s very rare that any adult selling things door to door doesn’t know what solicitation means. Even if they don’t know when they start the job, they will learn that quickly.
The only real exceptions to this are children who are selling things, like girl scout cookies or pledge drives or fund raisers.
On the flipside, I’ve disagreed with folks who have those signs when I’m going political doorbelling. Soliciting is selling, but if you’re not selling (or representing a sold product or service) you’re not soliciting.
I learned that ” no soliciting l” signs are useless. It’s not legal or enforceable. Through might be in your area. You have to have no trespassing signs that comply with your local laws. For me its one at every corner of the property with the address written on it.
I would say fairly low. We have a “No Soliciting” sign on our front porch and when solicitors come by ill point to the sign and ask did they see the sign? Majority of them say no.