“HEY! YOU GUYS LIKE STEAKS, RIGHT?”The Motivations of the Door-to-Door Steak Salesman

Allison EdmondsQualitative Methods in Social Research

Dr. Lee Garth Vigilant

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Objective

The life of a door-to-door salesperson is anything but glorious. Battling

rejection, long hours, the occasional threatening dog, and the possibility of making

little to no money seems to be enough to discourage anyone from doing this job day

in and day out. However, I have come across a group of men who find this line of

work particularly worthwhile. With this study, I intend to discover the motivations

behind door-to-door salesmen at a Midwestern steak-selling company.

Reflexivity Statement

I have a close personal relationship with one of the salesmen. Therefore, I

have been familiar with the happenings of these salesmen for a period of time

before the decision to conduct a study about them. This does create a bias, although

I feel that I have represented the characteristics of the individuals and the job as

accurately and objectively as possible.

Methodology

This study was done over a two-month period. I used my ties to some of the

salesmen who worked at the same door-to-door sales company. My hopes were to

gather other participants through the snowballing effect. I set out to gather

information in a number of ways. First, I conducted four interviews with door-to-

door salesmen. The questions allowed for a discussion of the difficulties and stress,

as well as the positive aspects of the job. These interviews ranged from about ten

minutes to nearly an hour. I use the term “salesmen” for this study because only

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men were working for this particular steak company at the time of the study,

therefore my informants were all male. Their ages range from 19 to mid-40s, the

majority of them being under the age of 30. I have used pseudonyms for the

salesmen in order to ensure confidentiality.

To further my knowledge and gain first-hand experience of the door-to-door

sales profession, I designated four days to engage in participant-observations. I

employed the use of ethnomethodology; I observed the everyday actions of one

salesman, Ben, as he conducted business as usual. In order for me to carry out this

part of the study, I had to sign on with the company and become an independent

contractor, as do all the steak salespersons. During my fieldwork, I utilized aspects

of grounded theory, developing an understanding and reasons for the actions

exhibited by the salesmen. To keep myself in check, I made use of participant

feedback, asking Ben to verify my interpretations and make suggestions ensure

accuracy and validity.

I spent roughly half of my time observing from the vehicle, listening and

watching as Ben pitched sales and recording my observations in a notebook. The

other half was spent tagging along with the salesman to each door, acting as a

trainee. I did not carry my notebook with me while observing the customer-

salesman interaction in person.

Limitations

Several limitations hindered my research. I found it much harder than I had

anticipated to schedule interviews with the salesmen, as most of their time was

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absorbed by their job. Therefore, the interviews were typically conducted late at

night, after the salesmen had returned from a long day of work. I assume the

interviewees were tired and not fully engaged in the conversation.

My busy schedule as a student, along with my other responsibilities,

hampered my ability to spend an ample amount of time as a participant-observer.

Therefore, the data gathered may not wholly represent of the door-to-door sales

profession, although I feel I have collected enough information for the purpose of

this study.

Literature Review

Bogdan discusses two training programs for door-to-door salesmen and –

women. Trainees are given a script of the sales pitch to memorize. Once memorized

and tweaked to fit each salesperson’s personality and the specific situation of the

customer, the pitch lasts about an hour. Bogdan incorporates the instructors’

experiences with clients. The instructors categorize potential clients as either

“slowcomers,” who do not say much during the pitch, but eventually will purchase

the product, or those who agree with the pitch, are giving good feedback, but

ultimately say no to purchasing the product. Years of experience leads to an

understanding of which type of people are typical buyers (Bogdan 1972: 57).

Bogdan also discusses some of the sales techniques that trainees learn. “’Yes, yes,

yes” is a technique that makes the client affirm what the salesman says or praise the

product.” Another technique, cleverly called “getting the client involved”

incorporates the client in the pitch. Salespersons are taught to get into the home

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and ask the clients to review the product themselves; clients are asked to touch and

use the product. A major tip given to trainees is to make the customer feel at ease

because “putting clients at ease helps the sale” (Bogdan 1972: 62). The steak

salesmen involved in my research use some of these techniques, but opt to use

others as well.

Yet, there may be more to a sales job than perfecting the pitch and tweaking

it to fit the clientele. Steven P. Brown and Robert A. Peterson discuss the effect of

effort on sales performance and job satisfaction. They concluded that effort had a

significant and direct effect on work satisfaction (1994).

However, there are a number of drawbacks that come with a door-to-door

sales job. The Wisconsin State Journal published a short article warning consumers

of door-to-door sellers who mislead buyers into purchasing low-quality meat. This

article alludes to the fact that most door-to-door salespersons are not trusted and

stigmatized for their low-status jobs. The salesmen in my study also describe the

stigma they face and must overcome on a daily basis.

Barbara Whitaker’s article in the New York Times also discusses some of the

stigma that salesmen face. While her study was centered on telemarketers, the

same stigma applies to door-to-door salespersons. Whitaker observes Ms. Wiley,

who “interrupts dozens of people she doesn’t know, trying to sell them something

they didn’t ask for and probably feel they don’t need.” Whitaker attributes these

salespersons as being intrusive and uninvited, and always an annoyance during

dinnertime. According to Whitaker, salespersons face “rejection, suspicion and, at

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times, outright rudeness… in short, theirs is a job that is arguably at the bottom of

the retail food chain” (Whitaker 1996).

Maynard Stoddard gives a detailed experience of a day spent selling ladies

lingerie door-to-door. He was nearly bitten by a Russian wolfhound when the owner

luckily stopped him. However, the woman’s toddler snuck around her and the dog,

biting Stoddard in the calf. He was then ushered inside where the dog drooled on

his nice pants and the toddler proceeded to throw lady’s undergarments around the

house. With a puncture wound from the dog’s collar and full diaper on his lap, the

woman actually bought three items (Stoddard 1987: 48-49). Stoddard’s detailed

description allows us to understand the struggle of the day-to-day life of a salesman.

I imagine the salesmen involved in my study experienced similar situations.

Marc Thompson describes his short-lived career as a door-to-door salesman.

He recalls being young and in need of a job. A newspaper ad he spotted while job

searching was quite vague in addressing the requirements of the job. It simply

stated, “Talented, motivated people wanted to join an expanding marketing team!

Get paid up to $60,000 a year!” Of course, the huge amount of money caught his

attention. Thompson goes on to describe his experiences with potential clients. He

states, “Most people were too polite to swear right in your face. But it was worse

because you could see the looks of condescension, anger or pity in their eyes when

they closed the door” (Thompson 2011).

Stigma and hard work come hand in glove in the profession. One long-time

door-to-door company, Southwestern, mostly employs college students who are

willing to work “an almost nonstop, 80-hour week that begins with showers at 6

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a.m., breakfast and self-motivational reading by 7 and knocking on the first door by

7:59. The knocks… continue till past 9 p.m.” Huggins describes the struggles

involved with the job, the hardest part being the necessity to stay motivated

throughout the day, no matter how many times the seller faces rejection.

Schweingruber and Berns discuss the importance this company places on emotion

management. Southwesten employs an extensive training program specifically

dealing with emotions. “Emotional purposes” are anything that the salesperson

feels strongly about and can use to sell the product. The “emotional other” is “a

person for whom a salesperson has strong feelings and who can be used… to

motivate the salesperson.” Controversy among scholars develops around the

“emotional bridge,” where emotional one connects his/her previous self to the new

self that is being developed in the job. Some say that the accepting one’s role as a

salesperson into their personal identity can lead to “emotive dissonance, alienation,

and identity confusion” (Schweingruber and Berns 2005:681-682). However, not

fully adopting the role may result in insincere actions when dealing with potential

customers.

Hard work is not without pay off. Huggins also lists several benefits of the

door-to-door sales job: a resume builder for the future and large sum of money one

could potentially earn. He reports that the average earnings for someone in their

first year of working are $8,700. One saleswoman earned $16,000 halfway through

her summer of selling (Huggins 2006). Schweingruber and Berns also discuss the

benefits of door-to-door selling, stating that the job “teaches [salespersons] to better

experience adversity, learn more about themselves, improve their “self-motivation,”

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gain increased knowledge about the world and human behavior, and improve their

interpersonal skills” Southwest encourages their salespersons to focus on

“something more” than money (2005:690). From here, I develop my initial

question: what are the motivations behind the door-to-door salesmen? With many

obstacles to face on a daily basis, is the money enough to give them the drive to

succeed?

Terminology

Throughout my research, I have developed the vernacular of the steak

salesmen. I understand that some of the terms and language used by the salesmen

is not familiar to everyone. Here, I define these terms:

Case: the box of meat that a salesmen hopes to sell. A case contains six smaller

boxes containing different cuts of meat, totaling fifty-six steaks.

Drop a single/double: Selling one or two cases of steaks, respectively, at one house.

Hit up/Hit that: as in, “hit up that door, too!” the act of knocking on a particular

door for a sale.

Hook: A potential customer agrees to looking at the product.

Hustled: Convincing a potential customer to buy a case at a high price, or selling

several cases to one customer.

Show: After the hook, the salesman displays the product

Spoused: as a salesman nearly solidifies the sale, the spouse of the potential

customers steps in to make the ultimate decision to not purchase any products.

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Power Hook: After the pitch, a salesman does not wait for the potential customer to

make a decision on whether or not they would like to see the product.

Results

There are a number of negative aspects of the door-to-door selling

profession. All of these drawbacks seem to hamper the drive to be a door-to-door

salesperson. I draw my main focus and examination from these characteristics.

Time

The first drawback I discovered is the incredible amount of time spent on the

job. A typical day starts at nine o’clock in the morning. From there, the salesmen

spend about an hour at the workshop, discussing their routes and destinations, then

finally filling up their van or truck with enough product for the day. Any time

needed for maintaining homes, such as cleaning, laundry, buying groceries, etc., was

done either in the early morning or on the weekends. However, weekends are

(hopefully) spent with family or friends. As Greg said, “[The job is] really hard

because I don’t see my family as much.” Mitch also alluded to the fact that the job is

all consuming and there is no such thing as a social life.

By law, salesmen are not allowed to sell after nine o’clock at night. However,

most salesmen will stay out until this time to maximize their chances of making

more money. This means that salesmen do not return home until 10 PM or later,

depending on how far from home they were selling. Some stated that they spent 12

to 16 hours per day on the job. Others reported spending 60 to 80 hours a week on

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the job. Usually, salesmen will go out every day, although they are not required to

do so.

Travel and Expenses

Salesmen at this company are allowed to travel anywhere in Minnesota,

North Dakota, and South Dakota. They are also allowed to choose where they would

like to go for the day, just as long as no one else in the company will be in the same

area. While this does allow for freedom, it also means that traveling can be a huge

time and gas expense. Salesmen are required to pay for gas, food, and a hotel, if they

choose to go on an over night trip. Thus, salesmen also experience a great deal of

pressure to sell the most product as possible in order to cover their expenses for the

day and hopefully make a profit. If a salesman did not make any sales, he is required

to pay out of pocket for any expenses. Therefore, there is no guarantee that one will

make any money each day.

Not only are the long hours of driving tedious, they are also extremely

uncomfortable. I spent my time as a saleswoman in two different vehicles; each one

had its own set of drawbacks. On the first day, we drove a large van. It was difficult

to maneuver on the interstate due to the tremendous winds on this particular day;

the creaking and swaying made conversation or enjoying music nearly impossible.

The heater made painfully loud screeching noises if left running for too long,

meaning we spent about half of the trip bundled in our coats to stay warm. The

second van we used noticeably more comfortable and quieter. However, Ben

reported having frequent back pain from driving in old, worn out vehicles every day.

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On The Job

The job itself is exhausting. Most salesmen will run to each door in order to

contact as many potential customers as possible. If a salesman convinces the

potential customer of a show, he will run back to the van to get a case and run back

to the door. The faster he does this, the less time the potential customer has to

rethink the situation. A salesman must then describe the product while opening up

each individual box. After a salesman has knocked on three doors on each side of

the street, he then will move the vehicle up to knock on the next three doors. By

doing this, he has less distance to run back to the vehicle if he gets a show. However,

it is time consuming to keep returning to the vehicle this often, meaning it is simply

a potential time saver.

The major obstacle on the job is the negative customer reactions and

rejection. Two salesmen said they would approach, on average, one hundred

potential customers per day and make less than ten sales. When asked about

rejection and disrespectful customers, salesmen answered:

“That varies, I mean I would say—eighty percent is rejection right off the bat. The

whole look, you can tell that they’ve seen-- the door-to-door guy. And then you get

the twenty percent that’s just normal, nice people. They can say no without making

you feel like shit.”(Mitch)

“You get turned down multiple times a day. Disrespectful customers? I don’t know it

seems like… you get ‘em all in one day. I mean—that’s how it feels. You get the one

that’s like a jerk to you then it’s like—when it rains it pours. I would—probably

average it out to about one or two a day that they’re real negative.” (Daniel)

“I’ve gone into bars and like people have thrown pitchers of water at me. I’ve had

people point guns like, ‘get out of here!’ I’ve had dogs bite me.” (Greg)

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Salesmen also run the risk of being reported to local police. Some towns establish

city ordinances that require door-to-door salesmen to carry permits. However,

rarely do towns post these requirements. Other towns do not allow door-to-door

sales at all. Thus, salesmen often fear being kicked out of a town or fined.

Stigma

Of course, when addressing stigma, it only seems natural to utilize Goffman’s

theory on the subject. He defines stigma as possessing an attribute that non-

stigmatized individuals identify to be discrediting or less than human (1963). The

reason for frequent rejection could be the stigma attached to door-to-door

salesmen. Ben stated,

“Well, door-to-door salesmen, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Don’t trust

them… Like, my parents never bought anything from them. They always slam the

door. Like, no one wants to deal with them. So that’s just… what I’ve known so that’s

my stereotype of the job.”

Perhaps this automatic distrust and hate for door-to-door salesmen develops from

societal norms; norms that salesmen tend to break frequently. The home has

become a sanctuary: a highly valued private space where individuals feel that they

should not be bothered. Door-to-door salesmen are violating that space by

interrupting that privacy, typically at inopportune times. One potential customer

yelled through her screen door, “What do you what?! I’m making supper!” Salesmen

are aware that most people are in their homes around dinnertime, which is most

convenient for them, and most inconvenient for potential customers. Dinnertime is

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family time; a very intimate and rare gathering of loved ones. Of course, a salesman

is out of place and unwelcome here.

Salesmen must overcome this stigma in order to sell anything. Therefore, first

impression is key. Salesmen must take negative reactions in stride and remain

positive, personable, and enthusiastic, which is no easy task. While selling, Ben

worked to establish a positive atmosphere before even speaking with potential

customers. He would often wave to potential customers from the vehicle. Then, he

must establish trust in order to build rapport.

Building rapport is especially difficult when communication is hindered. Due

to the distrust that most people have for door-to-door salesmen, potential

customers would often hide behind their front doors, speaking through the glass or

poking their heads around the door. This is uncomfortable for the salesman as he

feels cut off from the person and unable to make connections.

Intricacies of Selling

We have looked at all the stressors involved in the logistics of the job, but

have yet to examine the difficulty in mastering the art of sales. First, the salesman

should identify a neighborhood where sales are likely. Salesmen typically sell in

middle to lower class neighborhoods simply because of population density. As

stated before, the salesman must maintain positive energy, and also approach

potential customers with confidence. When speaking with customers, Ben spoke

quickly and clearly, not allowing the customer to interrupt. It is best to keep control

of the conversation and avoid awkward silences.

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The conversation is walking a fine line between being overzealous and

charismatic. A salesman must use tactics to keep the sale a possibility, even if the

customer appears to be declining. Most salesmen will start with a case price that is

fairly high, hoping for the off chance that someone is willing to pay such a high price.

Generally, the potential customer will decline this offer. However, the salesman

now has room to negotiate without dropping prices to point where he makes little

to no money. Too much pressure at this point could cause the sale to go downhill,

not enough pressure will most likely end the conversation without a sale.

I witnessed Ben use a strategy that Bogdan discussed: making the client feel

comfortable. Ben describes this strategy as such:

“Another strategy that I use that works is ask if they have a table inside where I can

show them the steak. Get in the house. It makes it a lot more at home and plus

people are self-conscience. They don’t want their neighbors to see them dealing

with a door-to-door salesmen because they are afraid they’re going to be looked

down upon. You’re in the house; it’s more confidentiality, more private. It’s more of

a conversational thing. If they have like an interesting theme to their house,

comment on it and they’ll think, ‘oh yeah, nice kid.” They’ll open up to you and be

more trusting of you.”

It seems as though the salesman is giving the customer a false sense of control in the

situation. However, the salesman will continue to direct the conversation. While

this may be a good strategy, it is difficult to pull off due to the violation of privacy.

This is an example of how important first impressions are, as they lead to trust and

building rapport. Without a connection between the salesman and the customer,

little success is likely.

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Salesmen must also learn how to adjust their sales pitch to fit the specific

customer’s situation. For example, when Ben approached a group of men who were

smoking cigars in a garage, he catered to the laid back and joking attitude. The

conversation was informal and light. It is key to pay particular attention to detail

and gather as much information as possible within the first few seconds of

connecting with the customer. Ben said he often looks for a chest freezer in open

garages, a sign that the family stores large quantities of food and would have room

for a case of steak. In this scenario, he would also pitch a higher quantity of product

than usual. These intricacies must be learned through trial and error and can be

gained through experience and persistence.

Money

Throughout my time studying the door-to-door sales profession, I found that

most topics are rooted in money. Dealing with all the aforementioned stressors and

struggles are actually worth the amount of money that salesmen make. When asked

about the benefits of selling door-to-door, salesmen answered:

“I don’t know, every day I go out and even if I make less than I wanted to, I still

probably made more than I would if I was working at Quizno’s like that last year, or

anywhere else that I’ve worked for minimum wage. It’s just not worth it. Your hours

can be so much more productive with this job.” (Ben)

“It offers me a way to make as much money as I want to. I can go out there and make

twenty dollars and be happy or like, I can go out there and work hard and get more

money. I like getting paid based on how hard I work.” (Greg)

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“There’s not very many jobs where you can make the money you make if you apply

yourself. I have a feeling that when I go out and sell, and if I make—make what I’m

worth that day. Like, I made four hundred dollars that day because I’m worth four

hundred dollars that day. That’s how hard I worked because I got after it with no

BS… I never had a job before where I felt like that.” (Daniel)

On a two-day trip, Ben made about six hundred dollars, after expenses. Over

a four-month period, Ben earned a total of eight thousand dollars. One could

potentially earn thirty- to forty-thousand dollars a year as a door-to-door salesman.

However, I imagine sticking with a job like this for an extended period of time is

unlikely. At the same time, I found that starting up a business like this one is fairly

easy. In fact, one independent contractor, Daniel, now owns his own company,

making the switch in a few short weeks. He simply bought his own vehicle and his

product supply in bulk. Running a company brings even more profit as independent

contractors can sign with Daniel, owing him a cut of the sales for each day. Daniel

still has the option to continue selling on his own to maximize his profits. Owning a

business like this can bring in about one hundred thousand dollars of profit a year.

Adventure

While money is the major driving force behind these salesmen, I found that

adventure also had an impact on the decision to continue doing this job. On the job,

I witnessed beautiful countryside as we traveled among the rolling hills of North

Dakota, and again through Minnesota’s national forest. Neither of us had been to the

small towns we planned on selling in, adding to the adventure of the two trips.

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Meeting new people was also seen as a positive aspect of this job. The

mystery involved in not knowing who will answer the door, or what the following

conversation will be like:

“I like that I get to meet people every couple minutes. That’s fun ‘cause you run into

some great characters and some not-so-great characters that are mean. … I find a lot

of humor in this job just through that…. there’s so much mystery to this job, you

could say. The next house, you convince yourself that the next house is gonna be a

slam, the next house is gonna be a sale and you never know, like, what’s gonna

happen, how that sale is gonna come about. I mean, you might bullshit with a

customer for 45 minutes to an hour like [I] … did in Mandan to this old couple. Oh

man, they were such a blast! Or it could be like, alright, this is business, thanks for

the steaks buddy! I’m outta here! Just a quick (snaps)-- like that” (Ben)

Some salesmen had particularly interesting encounters with potential customers:

“I went out a couple weeks ago… and I was tired like I was running door-to-door

and I don’t’ really like to run ‘cause I’m a smoker and I’m kinda bigger so I like to

walk up and back. Well my buddy’s like, ‘make sure you get that house!’ I’m like, ‘oh

man!’ it’s up on the top of a hill and like I was so out of breath. So I’m like, ‘hey you

guys want some steaks?’ I didn’t even pitch ‘em normally. Ya know, just trying to get

them to say no so I can just go. Well they ended up saying yes and I got excited that I

didn’t even care that I was out of breath. Go down there and come back and I offered

them two cases for a certain price and they’re like, ‘well, how much for the rest of

your truck?’ Really? Wow, I didn’t even expect ‘em to say yes at first, and I didn’t

expect to ask all that like I just love those moments, those kind of people.” (Greg)

“I had some weirdo invite me in when he was butt-naked on the couch. And the

people that go, “Oh my god, I’ve been waiting for you to show up!” Those always

stand out.” (Daniel)

Ben shared with me his favorite experience on the job. He met an elderly

gentleman, Joe, who asked him to come inside and have a beer. He then told Ben

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several stories about his family and childhood, and his time spent in the Korean

War. After an hour of listening to these stories, Ben tried pitching the steaks again,

only to find that Joe had no intention of buying anything. However, Joe left him with

thought-provoking words, “I hope in this negative experience you can find the

positive in it.” Interactions like these are proof that this job offers more than a hefty

paycheck, but is rewarding through experience and lessons learned.

There are also smaller benefits to the job. I was offered a plate of brownies

after Ben made a sale to a woman, which was entirely unexpected. The possibility of

making that sale gave me a sense of urgency and yet the anticipation was almost

agonizing; an adrenaline rush took over, which can be seen as a benefit for thrill-

seekers.

Developing Skill and Personal Growth

Interpersonal skills are necessary for this job, as alluded to above. It takes

time for salesmen to develop these skills. Salesmen must learn how to handle

awkward and difficult situations with unruly customers. Ben, along with most of the

salesmen, responds to these situations with humor, laughter, and understanding.

They must overcome stigma and accept total responsibility for themselves. For most

salesmen, learning the ropes of the job took between several weeks to several

months, depending on the person. Yet, putting in the time to achieving these skills

brings about several benefits:

“I think I’ve gained a bit of confidence in myself because this job—you need to have

confidence if you wanna make it. People can see right through you if you are just not

a confident salesman. If you are, and you go about it as yeah I’m a good salesman,

not bragging about it but if they see that confidence you’re probably gonna get more

sales that way. People will look up to you more.” (Ben)

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“No, you learn—you learn to have self-control ya know what I mean? You’re out

there by yourself a lot so you gotta have self-control to be able to motivate yourself.

I mean, those are probably the things I wasn’t great at before.” (Mitch)

“I’ve grown a lot because ever since I’ve been doing sales itself, like it’s helped me

with my life. Like, at home as well as with my coworkers and stuff like that too,

‘Cause it’s all about positivity. You can’t go out with a screwed-up head or you’re not

going to do well. It helps me stay focused and stay positive.” (Greg)

In order to best describe the benefits of developing these skills, I will borrow

from Jeffrey Kidder’s study on bike messengers. He found that bike messengers

experience edgework while on the job. Edgework can be defined as putting emotion

back into daily work and intentionally challenging oneself to do more than just the

daily tasks of the job. Refining one’s skills or even developing new skills can be

characterized as edgework (Kidder, 2006). However, for the door-to-door

salesman, edgework would consist of personal growth, which is not easily found at

other, more conventional professions. The challenges involved with such a stressful

and consuming job ultimately result in discipline, self-motivation, and the ability to

overcome any hardship through coping mechanisms. It can truly be said that the

most difficult jobs are the most fulfilling in terms of personal development.

Conclusion

The typical day for a door-to-door steak salesman is full of setbacks,

pressure, intricate sales strategy, and maybe an unexpected and enlightening

experience. Fulfillment can be achieved by remembering that positive aspects

overcome negative ones. If anything, salesmen are always left with good stories,

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personal skills and improvement, and an impressive resume builder. Kidder would

explain these positives as edgework, or the extra benefit from working beyond a set

of tasks, making the job worthwhile.

Further studies would require more interviewing and extended amount of

time as a participant-observer. Taking on the job full time for several months may

bring more information, allowing for a much more exhaustive study.

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“Door-to-Door Sellers Mislead Wisconsin Residents into Buying Low-Quality Meat.”

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