My Craziest Door to Door Story Ever!

If you sell door to door, you've got a horror story.

Here's Jeremy Miner. So I sold home security systems door to door from 2000 and 2005 in summer programs out in Utah when I was in college. And I got lots of horror stories, but this one came to my mind. There was this one area I was at, it's Indianapolis, Indiana. I was there for summer of 2003, knocked on this door. This really like, seemed like smart, smart lady comes to the door. She's probably like late 50s, early 60s. Find out she's a retired professor from like University of Indiana, like economics or something, I don't know. I walk in, she gets me in the house and she has books from the floor to the ceiling and newspapers from the floor to the ceiling and research papers from the floor to the ceiling and trash from the floor to the ceiling and rat, whatever from the floor to the ceiling. And like a hundred cats. Now, later I found out that that is what's called hoarding disorder. I didn't know what it was, but this lady, she had to just retire. Like, she was smart, she was educated. Like, there was no issues. Like, and I'm sitting here, like, I'm sitting there, like in this little chair surrounded by books, newspapers, floor to the ceiling, cat crap all over the place, cats jumping all over the place. And I thought to myself, like, hey, should I like, morally sell this to her? But the reason why I did is because she'd had three break ins that year. A lot of her stuff had got stolen and, you know, she needed this. And so I sold it to her and got installed. I remember the technicians going in there, there was like two technicians that did the install job, like maybe an hour later. And they were like giving me hell for this. They're like, oh, my God. So if you've ever sold door to door successfully, you've done it for, you know, at least two, three years, you've probably ran into somebody that has that hoarding disorder. And I feel sorry, I feel horrible for them. But that doesn't mean if you sell them something, you're not helping them. Okay? It just depends on what you're actually offering. But that, that is Jeremy Minor's horror story. Now I'll tell you a few other stories. So when I was in areas, when I sold door to door back in school, the areas that I thrived the most in, that I would like go and like, as an alarm salesperson, I would sell like 5, 6, 7 installed accounts a day, day in these areas. You know, I had One week where I did almost 50 installed sales. Like, they all got installed were areas where they were big NASCAR fans. You know what I'm talking about? So, like Indianapolis, Indiana, Kansas City, Missouri, Topeka, Kansas. Like, those areas, I would find areas where, like, the. The NASCAR flags were, like, in the ground in their front yard. You know what I'm talking about. The, the old, you know, white guy, white lady, typical stereotypical, like, NASCAR fan. Okay. Those areas, like, I thrived in because they had really good credit. They always had, like 675, 700, and 750. I always call them grandpa, grandma, credit, 800 credit scores. And they always wanted to protect their stuff in their garage, their tool sheds, all that kind of stuff. To me, those are the easiest prospects to actually sell to. So if you've ever sold successfully door to door for more than a few years, you probably have ran into somebody that has that hoarding disorder. Like I said, it's. It's heartbreaking. I don't know why it happens. Maybe it'll happen to me. Hell, I don't know. Maybe in 20 years, I'll have a hoarding disorder. But it doesn't mean that you're not helping them solve their problems. It just depends on what you're actually offering them. So, man, I. I still remember the stench, the cat pee in the carpet. The thing is, she was so intelligent. Like, it wasn't like she was 90 years old, you know, like, she had just retired maybe a year or two before that. So this lady had her wits about her. But I don't know how you get hoarding disorder. I don't know if it's something you're born with or something goes wrong up there in your. In your brain or whatever, but I still. I still remember that. And the crazy thing is, I was actually in my third corporate career. I had to go to Indianapolis for something for like a week or something, and I had, like, this deja vu moment where we were driving around or something, and I was like, oh, my God, there's. I still remember, like, this. It's like a baseball field or something. I still remember this era. I was like, oh, my gosh. I literally sold every home. Literally. Like, there was 100 homes in there. I think I sold, like 90 of them. An alarm system. And I went over there, and that's where I remembered. This is probably about, I don't know, probably 12, 13 years after I sold this lady. I sold this lady probably 2003, 2004. And I. And I drove through there, and I still remember that house because the grass was like a foot high. Because obviously she didn't take her to the grass or whatever or have somebody take care of it. And she still had that damn alarm sign from my company that I sold to her in the freaking yard. All the alarm stickers on the. On the house. So she still had the damn alarm. It's crazy. So anyways, hopefully I helped her. But that was probably one of the craziest stories I had as a door to door salesperson. Besides, sometimes women coming to the door completely nude, that was awkward sometimes. And if you sold door to door, you know what I'm talking about.