Come and Knock on My Door
10 August 2006I knocked doors for a magazine crew from 1992 - 1994.
I got into the business as a 20-year old who needed a way out of her slow sleepy town. I wasn’t ready for college (surely I would have flunked out if I had tried at the time) and I just didn’t know what to do with my life. An ad in the paper spoke of travel to places I’d only dreamed of…
The whole experience was a bit cultish, to say the least. I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, but the motivational songs and chants in the morning to get you revved up are but one of many aspects that are designed to make a more cohesive selling group and suck you into the culture.
I spent 2 1/2 years on the road - knocking doors, leading sales meetings morning and night, becoming a car handler (the person that drives the sales people around and drops them on their respective corners), and traveling. I went everywhere from Hawaii to Seattle to New York to Florida (and almost every state in between).
We vacationed in the summer on a lake in the Ozark Mountains. We spent a Christmas in Vegas. I laid in the shadow of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and watched the Blue Angels do tricks. We went to the Mall of America in Minnesota right after it opened - there was a freaking roller coaster in the mall - which was the biggest mall in the US at the time. We snuck onto Fort Jackson in South Carolina and watched a scene from Renaissance Man being filmed over and over again. We actually saw Penny Marshall at work with Mark Wahlberg, Danny DeVito and Gregory Hines. We went to the Taste of Chicago and watched people scramble to keep the tents up in spite of the wind. We visited Pikes Place market in Seattle. We walked the streets of New York and rode the rides at Disney World in Florida. It could be such an adventure at times.
I was very easily influenced and believed in what I was doing - it was a job, and I was meeting my goals and making money. It felt good. There actually are contests which includes trips and prizes. I’ve been to the ceremonies and placed 8th and 9th out of 300 people in my first year and a half on crew. I won some money, while the 1st and 2nd place winners went to the Virgin Islands one year and Europe the next.
I had a lot of experiences on that crew - some better then others. Standing on a street corner in the dark rain waiting for a car handler who is 45 minutes late was one of the bad ones. Getting screamed at (with no response which was appropriate) for not meeting quota was another bad one. These things happened. No one was physically abused or left on the side of the road. Do these things happen in other companies? Absolutely. Keep in mind I’m only speaking of my own experiences from over 10 years ago. There were certainly head games at times (characterized as motivation), but there was none of the more horrible abuse that is seen with other companies.
Towards the end of my door knocking “career” I was incredibly burnt out and going home was long overdue. Once I stopped wanting to sell magazines I became unable to sell them. A salesperson has to be convincing and I wasn’t convinced that what I was doing was right anymore. My sales went into the toilet and with it went my confidence. There were times where my friends would knock doors with me and give me the sale so I’d have something to report. I had nightmares on and off for over a year after I left crew about having to knock on doors. It went from something that I was good at and proud of to something terrifying.
I do find a great deal of value in my experiences. If nothing else, I came away with confidence in myself as a person and my abilities. As my old manager used to say “you’re selling a magazine to someone that doesn’t want it and you’re making them feel good about it”. I realized that my lot in life is not to be a salesperson but the skills I learned are invaluable. I learned how to effectively communicate with a diverse group of people which includes not only the salespeople I traveled with but also the people whose doors I knocked on all over the country. I met some tremendously nice people both on crew and out in the field, and I met some people I could care less if I ever see again. But all of that, as a whole, follows with me through my life and makes me a better person.
All that said, I think door-to-door sales can be a dangerous business both for the salespeople and for the homeowners. You never know who is knocking on your door or who is going to answer. I certainly met my share of perverts and weirdoes. Thankfully nothing bad ever came of it.
There are a lot of dishonest salespeople even in a legitimate company. There were people in my day that would use the ‘college spiel’ or some other lie to help increase their sales. There were people who would pocket the money rather then submit the orders. These kids are in a pressure cooker to meet their quotas and will, at times, go to any means necessary to meet them. There were times that I bought magazines out of my own pocket and sent them to friends and relatives just to have a sale.
There are stories upon stories I could tell, but the end result is that I came away from it a better person. I moved home in 1994, went to college at night for 6 years and got my BS in Psychology in 2000. I’ve been with a well known software company for 6 years now, and am happily married. I met one of my best friends on that job and we keep in touch regularly to this day. It’s been a journey and it is part of who I am.
on December 7th, 2006 at 12:57 am
Came across your blog randomly and just wanted to say that I am so glad to find someone else who actually brought something positive back with them from crew. I wasn’t on my soap crew very long, but it was fun and I found life long friends not to mention my husband of almost seven years.