Door to Door Sales People!! How Should We Think About the Profession? Con Artist Or Offering A Valuable Service? What's their Best Technique? Should Schools Be Promoting the Profession to Students?

The Best Paragraph I've Read: "The past two decades, however, have witnessed a resurgence in door-to-door. Tom Karren, the founder of Vantage Marketing, which has more than a thousand reps selling pest control, said, “Twenty-two years ago, I was told after my first summer on the doors—by my family, my professors, my mentors—that door-to-door was a dying industry. Now it’s at least fifty times bigger.” Industry leaders estimate that between fifty and a hundred thousand knockers go out every summer. The boom was fuelled in part by the advent of the national “Do Not Call” list, in 2003, which dampened phone solicitation, and in part by the very information glut that helped cripple door-to-door in the first place. To deter customers from doing research—to reconstruct the gloriously profitable world of information asymmetry—companies need to catch them unawares. Who among us, when we answer the door, has any inkling of the actual cost of a treatment for ants, roaches, and mice in a three-thousand-square-foot house? Shopping online is about finding the best price; shopping on your doorstep is about being bowled over by someone with all the answers." This paragraph comes from the New Yorker in an article titled: "Sam Taggart's Hard Sell."  The article is written by Tad Friend.  You can read the full article here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/08/sam-taggarts-hard-sell Zac and Don discuss door to door salesman.  They reflect upon their experience with sales people.  They also discuss their surprise at a career that can be quite lucrative.  They also wonder if the profession of sales should be offered in schools.