Bill Porter Award -
- Thread starter rousemark
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Oh, if only I had his determination.. He was a very special man.Stone cold closer if there ever was one.
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He's very inspiring! I can remember Stanley and Fuller guys coming to our house in the '60's, but the only guys I see going door to door anymore in my neighborhood are for home improvement or pest control, etc. I occasionally see the Schwan's truck, but not nearly as often as I used to, whether in my own neighborhood or my debit neighborhoods.
Of course, I'm still selling door to door on a regular route that I built myself by using leads. But I still occasionally get out and straight canvass in lower income neighborhoods. For debit insurance, I have a little competition out there from the two main home service carriers in my area (Reliable and American National), but I see both of those companies making changes similar to other companies before they eliminated debit collections. So soon there may be no competition!
I often feel like I may be among the last of the breed. Yet I still see plenty of opportunity out there to reach and serve clients that don't fit well into other sales paradigms.
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I had an appointment with a guy way out in the boonies about a mile down a dirt road. As I approached the house there were signs warning that not only was the owner armed, but there were hidden booby traps connected to firearms. One sign said, "If you proceed any farther, YOU WILL BE SHOT!!!" I stopped and called the guy. He said he'd run to the store, but would be back in 10 minutes. I asked if I would be shot, which made him chuckle. He said, "That's for trespassers. You're not a trespasser!"
I still worried that I might have a tin-foil-hat crazy on my hands. But when he got there, he was super nice, and made some coffee for both of us, then showed me around his place. It had been his mother's house. She was a free lance photographer who had been seen often in publications like Time and Life. Tons of her photos and paintings adorned every wall. It was really an incredible gallery of mid-20th century history! I asked him if he really had booby traps on the property. He laughed and said he didn't even own a gun! He'd just put those signs up because the property was so remote and he was living out there all alone, and hoped it would deter potential home invaders.
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Reminded me of this scene in "Second Hand Lions":
