Many times I worked with one particular elder. He was kind to me and was very good at the door-to-door ministry. But he never spoke about the Bible. He'd talk about ice creams and blackberries. When I did a door I'd talk about the BIble, so he did all the doors, generally and instructed me on how to eat rosehips or pick up rubber bands that postmen had left to make rubber band balls.
One day, he found me chatting to a return visit. It had taken a lot of work on my part to get her interested in the Bible. So he walks into driveway and immediately commends her on the view from her house and starts talking all about that. Yap, yap, yap. Hardly let me say another word. I couldn't believe he did that.
Looking back I sometimes wonder if one of the main pulls a householder had was if they lived in a good size home with a few decent antiques in so that if ever there was a house sale of their goods he'd know where the rich pickings were. If so I wonder how such a practice could be adapted to phone calls. "Good morning, thank you for answering your mobile device, I was wondering if you own anything I could make some dosh out of?" Hmm probably needs to be more subtle.