The Watch Walk-in

My first summer selling was an intimidating time. Day after day I’d knock on people’s doors all day, get a few lines of my pitch out, and have the door close on me as fast as it opened. After a week with out a single sale my manager, Riley, a zany short guy from Canada, came out to knock with Jeff, Chris, and I. Jeff and Chris had the same problem I did. We couldn’t get in a single door. When you can’t get in someone’s door it is just about impossible to sell something. Riley told us he would remedy this.

Riley gave us a few pointers on the car ride out to the area we’d be knocking in that day. Most of it was just a pep talk, but there was one method that Riley called solid. It was the “watch walk-in.”

The watch walk-in is very simple, the sales man asks an off the wall question that vaguely relates to the product being sold. In the case of home security systems we would explain door sensors then ask if the rear sliding door is single partitioned or double partitioned. We don’t even know what that means so it’s a pretty safe bet that they don’t either. Immediately after the question, before the homeowner has a chance to answer, we say, “well, let’s just take a look at that.” The sales man then looks down at his watch, wipes his feet on the door mat, and walks right into the home without looking up.

Riley claimed that this method worked every time. Between the three of us we hadn’t been in a single door in a week of knocking twelve hours a day six days a week. So, naturally we were a little skeptical. Riley was so sure that it would work he bet us he could get into the first door he knocked on. If he couldn’t, he owed us lunch.

We pulled up to our area in a somewhat rundown part of Dallas and piled out of the car. No one was home at the first few doors we knocked. When people were home the three of us tried out our pitch, got a quick “no” and Riley critiqued us. It was now Riley’s turn. After our lack of success we were sure we’d be getting a free lunch.

Riley knocked on the door with me standing to his left and Jeff and Chris standing back a few steps. A rather large black woman wearing a moo-moo answered the door. And by rather large, I mean this lady filled the door frame. I’m not sure how she got in and out of her house with out greasing the door jams. Riley started talking to her and it was easy to tell that it was going nowhere. But if Riley is anything, it’s determined. We watched his subtle positioning on the front porch as he asked the question, “now, your rear sliding door. Is that an American slider, or an Australian slider?”

I’m pretty sure there is no such thing as either. As the summer progressed I learned that we make up lots of crap at the door.

The Nubian sumo at the door kept a stone face and said nothing. Riley then looked down, wiped his feet and proceeded into the doorway all while keeping his eyes glued on his cheap Timex watch. In fact, his eyes were so glued onto his watch that he failed to realize that the lady never moved.

As I said before, our manager is a short, zany, Canadian. So short in fact that his face was about breast high to our potential sale. The three of us did all we could to stifle the laughter as Riley pulled his now blushing face from between the mammoth udders that were poorly concealed behind the low-cut moo-moo. He took a step back, looked up, and with a straight face said, “not happening today, is it?” She shook her head no and we backed down her doorsteps.

We laughed for a solid half hour before we were able to do anything else that day.