http://money.guardian.co.uk/utilities/story/0,11992,942220,00.html
Cold-calling the cold callers
The Trading Standards Institute has argued that door-to-door selling should be made illegal, but Ashley Davies finds some organisations willing to offer a spirited defence of the method
Ashley Davies
Wednesday April 23, 2003 The Guardian
For most of us, uninvited doorstepping salesmen are about as welcome as a coughing nurse off the Guangdong express. This is either because we don't want to buy what they're selling, we don't trust their motives, or we resent being targeted in our off-duty space.
Some door-to-door salesmen, and double-glazing hawkers in particular, should be banned, says the Trading Standards Institute (TSI), which is worried that people are being ripped off. The organisation polled almost 9,000 households, and found that 95.7% of people did not appreciate being sold to at their front door.
So we turned the tables on the cold callers, and asked them to justify their methods.
Direct selling is worth £2bn a year, and 70% of this total is made by members of the Direct Selling Association (DSA). The organisation argues that people who buy through its members are in safe hands: they are guaranteed a two-week period in which to cancel their orders. Many orders are made by regular buyers, who are clearly comfortable with the system.
Richard Berry, director of the DSA, argues that cold-calling has social benefits. "A high proportion of selling is done by part-time workers, many of whom are women selling to friends and neighbours," he says, adding that house-to-house selling is often the only way to get hold of household goods no longer available in shops.
"Most of it is done by invitation, which is why a blanket ban would be invidious," says Mr Berry, who feels that unscrupulous builders are the real culprits in the door-to-door world.
A spokeswoman for double-glazing company Everest provides less of a social argument against a ban. "We have a code of conduct, and uphold stringent behavioural standards in our representatives," she says.
The sales method, she argues, should continue "as long as people uphold codes of conduct and behaviour. Most of our business isn't cold-calling anyway: it's often repeat business and word of mouth".
London Electricity got itself into trouble last year for using what were described as "unscrupulous" methods of getting new customers through door-to-door operations. Many customers, particularly older people, who might have struggled to understand the concept of competing energy suppliers, have found themselves bewildered into signing new agreements.
The utility industry responded to the bad publicity by setting up EnergySure, which regulates and vets salespeople.
London Electricity is well aware of the need to keep its powder dry, but is unlikely to stop cold-calling. A spokesman said: "We are confident that door-to-door sales is still the most successful channel to market.
"All our customers know we will audit phone them to check whether any contracts signed are real or not. At the end of the day, it is not in our best interests to treat our customers badly."
Mention irritating doorstepping, and Jehovah's Witnesses will spring to many people's minds. They are not actually selling anything, and so cannot be accused of unscrupulous sales tactics, but they do have a code of conduct of sorts. It's in Matthew, Chapter 10, according to spokesman Paul Gillies: have peaceful contact, avoid confrontational situations and be cautious and harmless. That's what Jesus directed his apostles to do.
There are other guidelines that the Witnesses try to follow, which generally encompass good manners such as not forcing their way in, not knocking when people have visitors, and not waking up a sleeping shift worker.
Each week, public speaking training and counselling are given in Kingdom Halls to help people. But with some 125,000 Jehovah's Witnesses each knocking on doors for a couple of hours a week, surely that's a lot of potential rejection to deal with?
"The levels of interest in what we have to say vary," says Mr Gillies. "We all get discouraged sometimes, but often the saddest experiences are when people reveal their disillusionment but say they don't want to discuss it and you know you can provide them with some comfort."
· The Glass and Glazing Federation, which represents double-glazing salespeople, obviously doesn't like cold callers either. Its phone was engaged for hours.
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