Tuesday, October 3, 2023
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    Property Tax Rally held at Montana State Capitol

    Property Tax Rally held at Montana State Capitol

    Aviva and Socius to develop £1bn south London cancer research hub | News

    Aviva and Socius to develop £1bn south London cancer research hub | News

    Property Forum Awards 2023 – Shortlist announced

    Property Forum Awards 2023 – Shortlist announced

    International Real Estate Report Highlights Portugal’s Thriving ‘Property Hotspots’

    International Real Estate Report Highlights Portugal’s Thriving ‘Property Hotspots’

    Irwin Mitchell adds Keith Davidson to ESG practice | News

    Irwin Mitchell adds Keith Davidson to ESG practice | News

    Mitiska REIM raises €168 million | Property Forum

    Mitiska REIM raises €168 million | Property Forum

    Cavalry Barracks developer goes into administration | News

    Cavalry Barracks developer goes into administration | News

    Warehouse supply in Poland hits all-time high | Property Forum

    Warehouse supply in Poland hits all-time high | Property Forum

    Back at peak levels: House prices rebound after a rapid decline

    Back at peak levels: House prices rebound after a rapid decline

  • Retail
    Best years ahead for Hong Kong retail industry as patience needed for post-Covid recovery, Wharf group says

    Best years ahead for Hong Kong retail industry as patience needed for post-Covid recovery, Wharf group says

    Allsup’s in Waco; Stay Classy pauses; $344M in unclaimed property; state tennis

    Allsup’s in Waco; Stay Classy pauses; $344M in unclaimed property; state tennis

    Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh inks 1,700 sq. ft. lease at ShopRite-anchored plaza in Delran

    Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh inks 1,700 sq. ft. lease at ShopRite-anchored plaza in Delran

    BPF calls for empty rates relief extension | Features and analysis

    BPF calls for empty rates relief extension | Features and analysis

    Staunton streetscaping, Buc-ee’s confirmed and library happenings: The Digest

    Staunton streetscaping, Buc-ee’s confirmed and library happenings: The Digest

    Vukile targets growth in rural retail

    Vukile targets growth in rural retail

    Why tackling 2 massive redevelopment projects in Muskegon makes perfect sense to Jon Rooks

    Why tackling 2 massive redevelopment projects in Muskegon makes perfect sense to Jon Rooks

    DFS Opening the First World-Class, Seven-Star Luxury Retail and Entertainment Destination DFS Yalong Bay in Sanya, Hainan, China by 2026

    DFS Opening the First World-Class, Seven-Star Luxury Retail and Entertainment Destination DFS Yalong Bay in Sanya, Hainan, China by 2026

    3 Stocks Whose Dividends Look Safe Right Now

    3 Stocks Whose Dividends Look Safe Right Now

  • Residential
    Construction to renovate Archer School into affordable housing ramps up

    Construction to renovate Archer School into affordable housing ramps up

    HUD Announces Over $30 Million to Combat Housing Discrimination Nationwide

    HUD Announces Over $30 Million to Combat Housing Discrimination Nationwide

    LA Housing Department Proposes Increasing Residential Hotel Enforcement — ProPublica

    LA Housing Department Proposes Increasing Residential Hotel Enforcement — ProPublica

    Annexation for south entrance property before Whitefish Council

    Annexation for south entrance property before Whitefish Council

    Overall private residential property prices remained broadly flat amid lower sale transaction volume in 3Q2023

    Overall private residential property prices remained broadly flat amid lower sale transaction volume in 3Q2023

    Affordable Housing Planned For Boston’s Seaport

    Affordable Housing Planned For Boston’s Seaport

    New York trial to set Trump damages after judge finds real estate fraud

    New York trial to set Trump damages after judge finds real estate fraud

    Invest in Your Future – Scotsman Guide

    Invest in Your Future – Scotsman Guide

    8 SF properties could become next office-to-housing conversions

    8 SF properties could become next office-to-housing conversions

  • Office
    Apartments, retail and more proposed for old Cooper Stadium property

    Apartments, retail and more proposed for old Cooper Stadium property

    KERA Sells Property Near Uptown Dallas, Making Way for New … – CoStar Group

    KERA Sells Property Near Uptown Dallas, Making Way for New … – CoStar Group

    US office prices headed for ‘severe crash,’ investors say

    US office prices headed for ‘severe crash,’ investors say

    CTO Realty Growth Announces Sale of Single Tenant Office Property in Reston, Virginia For $18.5 Million -October 02, 2023 at 07:31 am EDT

    CTO Realty Growth Announces Sale of Single Tenant Office Property in Reston, Virginia For $18.5 Million -October 02, 2023 at 07:31 am EDT

    Taking a closer look | News, Sports, Jobs

    Taking a closer look | News, Sports, Jobs

    Severe crash coming for US office properties, investors say

    Severe crash coming for US office properties, investors say

    What $250M Brickell Office Sale Means

    What $250M Brickell Office Sale Means

    Dubai property: Office rents, occupancy levels to go up in near term – News

    Dubai property: Office rents, occupancy levels to go up in near term – News

    DA’s office investigating Michael Baxter & Associates

    DA’s office investigating Michael Baxter & Associates

  • Industrial
    This Week’s Dallas-Fort Worth Deal Sheet (October 10, 2023)

    This Week’s Dallas-Fort Worth Deal Sheet (October 10, 2023)

    2024 Pre-Roll Consultation Period is Underway

    2024 Pre-Roll Consultation Period is Underway

    Investment firm KKR sells $560 million of U.S. industrial real estate, including Lehigh Valley properties | Lehigh Valley Regional News

    Investment firm KKR sells $560 million of U.S. industrial real estate, including Lehigh Valley properties | Lehigh Valley Regional News

    Australian Property Journal’s sales and leasing transactions wrap

    Australian Property Journal’s sales and leasing transactions wrap

    Industrial Tenants Flee Sydney High Rents, Space Shortages

    Industrial Tenants Flee Sydney High Rents, Space Shortages

    Public hearings Monday on Clarkesville budget, millage rate

    Public hearings Monday on Clarkesville budget, millage rate

    $1.2b commercial, industrial, retail sales in year’s first half: CBRE overview

    $1.2b commercial, industrial, retail sales in year’s first half: CBRE overview

    Restaurant Real Estate: October 2023

    Restaurant Real Estate: October 2023

    Commissioners to consider development plan for land near Taylorsville

    Commissioners to consider development plan for land near Taylorsville

  • Hotel
    Council hears more on Oasis sports complex

    Council hears more on Oasis sports complex

    Diversified Trust Co Increases Holdings in DiamondRock Hospitality: A Promising Investment Opportunity in the Hospitality Industry

    Diversified Trust Co Increases Holdings in DiamondRock Hospitality: A Promising Investment Opportunity in the Hospitality Industry

    ‘Overlooked’ Kilmarnock and Irvine set to receive ‘surprise’ £20m cash injection from UK Government

    ‘Overlooked’ Kilmarnock and Irvine set to receive ‘surprise’ £20m cash injection from UK Government

    Paving the Way for Sustainable African Development

    Paving the Way for Sustainable African Development

    England’s Slow-Motion Debt Crisis Rolls Into View

    England’s Slow-Motion Debt Crisis Rolls Into View

    Check in for a greener future at Holiday Inn Express Newcastle | Newcastle Herald

    Check in for a greener future at Holiday Inn Express Newcastle | Newcastle Herald

    Bexhill and Hastings among towns set to receive £20 million of long term investment

    Bexhill and Hastings among towns set to receive £20 million of long term investment

    Sunrise host Edwina Bartholomew reveals her little-known side hustle with her husband Neil Varcoe

    Sunrise host Edwina Bartholomew reveals her little-known side hustle with her husband Neil Varcoe

    Chameleone, Bebe Cool too old for music battles, opines Tuff B

    Chameleone, Bebe Cool too old for music battles, opines Tuff B

  • Buying a Home
    Consumer Corner: Should I rent or buy a home? – NBC 6 South Florida

    Consumer Corner: Should I rent or buy a home? – NBC 6 South Florida

    How buying a new home can save you capital gains tax on shares, MF

    How buying a new home can save you capital gains tax on shares, MF

    Couple buys UFO-shaped house in DeWitt Township, will document renovations on TikTok

    Couple buys UFO-shaped house in DeWitt Township, will document renovations on TikTok

    Seaside haven votes to ban wealthy Londoners from buying holiday lets amid demands they face TRIPLE council tax…but local firms say they need tourists to survive

    Seaside haven votes to ban wealthy Londoners from buying holiday lets amid demands they face TRIPLE council tax…but local firms say they need tourists to survive

    How to buy a video doorbell

    How to buy a video doorbell

    Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley buy £5 million home in London next to Harry Styles

    Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley buy £5 million home in London next to Harry Styles

    Most expensive villages to buy a home in Suffolk revealed

    Most expensive villages to buy a home in Suffolk revealed

    31 Mistakes First-Time Homeowners Will Never Repeat – BuzzFeed

    31 Mistakes First-Time Homeowners Will Never Repeat – BuzzFeed

    Nan ‘couldn’t walk for a week’ after buying product from Home Bargains

    Nan ‘couldn’t walk for a week’ after buying product from Home Bargains

  • Selling a Home
    You can buy an 8x18ft tiny home on the beach for only $45,500

    You can buy an 8x18ft tiny home on the beach for only $45,500

    Grandma scammed out of nearly $480K after selling family home in fraud scheme

    Grandma scammed out of nearly $480K after selling family home in fraud scheme

    Grandmother scammed out of $750,000

    Grandmother scammed out of $750,000

    Home battery owners earned up to £26 in trial for selling power to the grid

    Home battery owners earned up to £26 in trial for selling power to the grid

    James Packer mansion: Billionaire selling LA home for $132 million – 9News

    James Packer mansion: Billionaire selling LA home for $132 million – 9News

    Liam McCallum family sell up home and take memories of their miracle boy with them

    Liam McCallum family sell up home and take memories of their miracle boy with them

    Texas couple arrested for selling exotic cubs and violating the Big Cat Act, authorities say

    Texas couple arrested for selling exotic cubs and violating the Big Cat Act, authorities say

    Land Bank board members need to show up and do their job

    Land Bank board members need to show up and do their job

    Zoopla is selling an extravagant home in Watford for £650k

    Zoopla is selling an extravagant home in Watford for £650k

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  • Home
  • News
    Property Tax Rally held at Montana State Capitol

    Property Tax Rally held at Montana State Capitol

    Aviva and Socius to develop £1bn south London cancer research hub | News

    Aviva and Socius to develop £1bn south London cancer research hub | News

    Property Forum Awards 2023 – Shortlist announced

    Property Forum Awards 2023 – Shortlist announced

    International Real Estate Report Highlights Portugal’s Thriving ‘Property Hotspots’

    International Real Estate Report Highlights Portugal’s Thriving ‘Property Hotspots’

    Irwin Mitchell adds Keith Davidson to ESG practice | News

    Irwin Mitchell adds Keith Davidson to ESG practice | News

    Mitiska REIM raises €168 million | Property Forum

    Mitiska REIM raises €168 million | Property Forum

    Cavalry Barracks developer goes into administration | News

    Cavalry Barracks developer goes into administration | News

    Warehouse supply in Poland hits all-time high | Property Forum

    Warehouse supply in Poland hits all-time high | Property Forum

    Back at peak levels: House prices rebound after a rapid decline

    Back at peak levels: House prices rebound after a rapid decline

  • Retail
    Best years ahead for Hong Kong retail industry as patience needed for post-Covid recovery, Wharf group says

    Best years ahead for Hong Kong retail industry as patience needed for post-Covid recovery, Wharf group says

    Allsup’s in Waco; Stay Classy pauses; $344M in unclaimed property; state tennis

    Allsup’s in Waco; Stay Classy pauses; $344M in unclaimed property; state tennis

    Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh inks 1,700 sq. ft. lease at ShopRite-anchored plaza in Delran

    Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh inks 1,700 sq. ft. lease at ShopRite-anchored plaza in Delran

    BPF calls for empty rates relief extension | Features and analysis

    BPF calls for empty rates relief extension | Features and analysis

    Staunton streetscaping, Buc-ee’s confirmed and library happenings: The Digest

    Staunton streetscaping, Buc-ee’s confirmed and library happenings: The Digest

    Vukile targets growth in rural retail

    Vukile targets growth in rural retail

    Why tackling 2 massive redevelopment projects in Muskegon makes perfect sense to Jon Rooks

    Why tackling 2 massive redevelopment projects in Muskegon makes perfect sense to Jon Rooks

    DFS Opening the First World-Class, Seven-Star Luxury Retail and Entertainment Destination DFS Yalong Bay in Sanya, Hainan, China by 2026

    DFS Opening the First World-Class, Seven-Star Luxury Retail and Entertainment Destination DFS Yalong Bay in Sanya, Hainan, China by 2026

    3 Stocks Whose Dividends Look Safe Right Now

    3 Stocks Whose Dividends Look Safe Right Now

  • Residential
    Construction to renovate Archer School into affordable housing ramps up

    Construction to renovate Archer School into affordable housing ramps up

    HUD Announces Over $30 Million to Combat Housing Discrimination Nationwide

    HUD Announces Over $30 Million to Combat Housing Discrimination Nationwide

    LA Housing Department Proposes Increasing Residential Hotel Enforcement — ProPublica

    LA Housing Department Proposes Increasing Residential Hotel Enforcement — ProPublica

    Annexation for south entrance property before Whitefish Council

    Annexation for south entrance property before Whitefish Council

    Overall private residential property prices remained broadly flat amid lower sale transaction volume in 3Q2023

    Overall private residential property prices remained broadly flat amid lower sale transaction volume in 3Q2023

    Affordable Housing Planned For Boston’s Seaport

    Affordable Housing Planned For Boston’s Seaport

    New York trial to set Trump damages after judge finds real estate fraud

    New York trial to set Trump damages after judge finds real estate fraud

    Invest in Your Future – Scotsman Guide

    Invest in Your Future – Scotsman Guide

    8 SF properties could become next office-to-housing conversions

    8 SF properties could become next office-to-housing conversions

  • Office
    Apartments, retail and more proposed for old Cooper Stadium property

    Apartments, retail and more proposed for old Cooper Stadium property

    KERA Sells Property Near Uptown Dallas, Making Way for New … – CoStar Group

    KERA Sells Property Near Uptown Dallas, Making Way for New … – CoStar Group

    US office prices headed for ‘severe crash,’ investors say

    US office prices headed for ‘severe crash,’ investors say

    CTO Realty Growth Announces Sale of Single Tenant Office Property in Reston, Virginia For $18.5 Million -October 02, 2023 at 07:31 am EDT

    CTO Realty Growth Announces Sale of Single Tenant Office Property in Reston, Virginia For $18.5 Million -October 02, 2023 at 07:31 am EDT

    Taking a closer look | News, Sports, Jobs

    Taking a closer look | News, Sports, Jobs

    Severe crash coming for US office properties, investors say

    Severe crash coming for US office properties, investors say

    What $250M Brickell Office Sale Means

    What $250M Brickell Office Sale Means

    Dubai property: Office rents, occupancy levels to go up in near term – News

    Dubai property: Office rents, occupancy levels to go up in near term – News

    DA’s office investigating Michael Baxter & Associates

    DA’s office investigating Michael Baxter & Associates

  • Industrial
    This Week’s Dallas-Fort Worth Deal Sheet (October 10, 2023)

    This Week’s Dallas-Fort Worth Deal Sheet (October 10, 2023)

    2024 Pre-Roll Consultation Period is Underway

    2024 Pre-Roll Consultation Period is Underway

    Investment firm KKR sells $560 million of U.S. industrial real estate, including Lehigh Valley properties | Lehigh Valley Regional News

    Investment firm KKR sells $560 million of U.S. industrial real estate, including Lehigh Valley properties | Lehigh Valley Regional News

    Australian Property Journal’s sales and leasing transactions wrap

    Australian Property Journal’s sales and leasing transactions wrap

    Industrial Tenants Flee Sydney High Rents, Space Shortages

    Industrial Tenants Flee Sydney High Rents, Space Shortages

    Public hearings Monday on Clarkesville budget, millage rate

    Public hearings Monday on Clarkesville budget, millage rate

    $1.2b commercial, industrial, retail sales in year’s first half: CBRE overview

    $1.2b commercial, industrial, retail sales in year’s first half: CBRE overview

    Restaurant Real Estate: October 2023

    Restaurant Real Estate: October 2023

    Commissioners to consider development plan for land near Taylorsville

    Commissioners to consider development plan for land near Taylorsville

  • Hotel
    Council hears more on Oasis sports complex

    Council hears more on Oasis sports complex

    Diversified Trust Co Increases Holdings in DiamondRock Hospitality: A Promising Investment Opportunity in the Hospitality Industry

    Diversified Trust Co Increases Holdings in DiamondRock Hospitality: A Promising Investment Opportunity in the Hospitality Industry

    ‘Overlooked’ Kilmarnock and Irvine set to receive ‘surprise’ £20m cash injection from UK Government

    ‘Overlooked’ Kilmarnock and Irvine set to receive ‘surprise’ £20m cash injection from UK Government

    Paving the Way for Sustainable African Development

    Paving the Way for Sustainable African Development

    England’s Slow-Motion Debt Crisis Rolls Into View

    England’s Slow-Motion Debt Crisis Rolls Into View

    Check in for a greener future at Holiday Inn Express Newcastle | Newcastle Herald

    Check in for a greener future at Holiday Inn Express Newcastle | Newcastle Herald

    Bexhill and Hastings among towns set to receive £20 million of long term investment

    Bexhill and Hastings among towns set to receive £20 million of long term investment

    Sunrise host Edwina Bartholomew reveals her little-known side hustle with her husband Neil Varcoe

    Sunrise host Edwina Bartholomew reveals her little-known side hustle with her husband Neil Varcoe

    Chameleone, Bebe Cool too old for music battles, opines Tuff B

    Chameleone, Bebe Cool too old for music battles, opines Tuff B

  • Buying a Home
    Consumer Corner: Should I rent or buy a home? – NBC 6 South Florida

    Consumer Corner: Should I rent or buy a home? – NBC 6 South Florida

    How buying a new home can save you capital gains tax on shares, MF

    How buying a new home can save you capital gains tax on shares, MF

    Couple buys UFO-shaped house in DeWitt Township, will document renovations on TikTok

    Couple buys UFO-shaped house in DeWitt Township, will document renovations on TikTok

    Seaside haven votes to ban wealthy Londoners from buying holiday lets amid demands they face TRIPLE council tax…but local firms say they need tourists to survive

    Seaside haven votes to ban wealthy Londoners from buying holiday lets amid demands they face TRIPLE council tax…but local firms say they need tourists to survive

    How to buy a video doorbell

    How to buy a video doorbell

    Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley buy £5 million home in London next to Harry Styles

    Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley buy £5 million home in London next to Harry Styles

    Most expensive villages to buy a home in Suffolk revealed

    Most expensive villages to buy a home in Suffolk revealed

    31 Mistakes First-Time Homeowners Will Never Repeat – BuzzFeed

    31 Mistakes First-Time Homeowners Will Never Repeat – BuzzFeed

    Nan ‘couldn’t walk for a week’ after buying product from Home Bargains

    Nan ‘couldn’t walk for a week’ after buying product from Home Bargains

  • Selling a Home
    You can buy an 8x18ft tiny home on the beach for only $45,500

    You can buy an 8x18ft tiny home on the beach for only $45,500

    Grandma scammed out of nearly $480K after selling family home in fraud scheme

    Grandma scammed out of nearly $480K after selling family home in fraud scheme

    Grandmother scammed out of $750,000

    Grandmother scammed out of $750,000

    Home battery owners earned up to £26 in trial for selling power to the grid

    Home battery owners earned up to £26 in trial for selling power to the grid

    James Packer mansion: Billionaire selling LA home for $132 million – 9News

    James Packer mansion: Billionaire selling LA home for $132 million – 9News

    Liam McCallum family sell up home and take memories of their miracle boy with them

    Liam McCallum family sell up home and take memories of their miracle boy with them

    Texas couple arrested for selling exotic cubs and violating the Big Cat Act, authorities say

    Texas couple arrested for selling exotic cubs and violating the Big Cat Act, authorities say

    Land Bank board members need to show up and do their job

    Land Bank board members need to show up and do their job

    Zoopla is selling an extravagant home in Watford for £650k

    Zoopla is selling an extravagant home in Watford for £650k

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Sam Taggart’s Hard Sell | The New Yorker

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2022-08-01
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Sam Taggart’s Hard Sell | The New Yorker
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Perhaps the biggest obstacle to using sales as a path to redemption is that redemption, in turn, increases your sales. Pessy told his disciples that, once he got physically and mentally and emotionally stronger, he became such a great salesman that “my boss bought me this cool-ass Breitling that cost ten thousand dollars”—he held up his watch again. “I wear it all the time to remind myself that the real wealth is health.”

When Sam Taggart was selling Kay on solar, he instantly sized her up as a lamb, using the BOLT system, which sorts people into bulls, owls, lambs, and tigers. A bull’s force must be met with equal power; as the pest-­control salesman Parker Langeveld puts it, you “stand your ground and redirect, and then mount the back of the bull while he’s disoriented.” Owls study product specs and buy reluctantly, if at all. Owls, Taggart told me, “are usually Jews, or Asian dudes. My first two years knocking, if an Indian opened the door I’d say, ‘Wrong house.’ ” Lambs want to be told what to do. And with tigers you chitchat and reassure them that they’re getting the latest tech. Bulls drive a black Dodge Charger, owls a Toyota that gets great gas mileage, and lambs whatever the salesman wanted off the lot. Tigers leave their garage door open so everyone can admire their red BMW.

As I considered my own place in this taxonomy, I realized that I’m an owl. I want to know every detail. I also realized that my self-image as a savvy, unpersuadable New Yorker was dead wrong. All a salesman has to do is listen to my concerns and I’ll start giving serious thought to buying his tropical-­fish subscription or backhoe. I’m susceptible even as I’m being shown how the trick is done. In one D2DU video, a solar salesman named Pistol Pete Winston pitches Taggart, demonstrating how to bulldoze the “one-legger”—the solo homeowner who won’t make a decision without his spouse. After Winston sets a follow-up appointment with a forced-choice question (Is Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning better for you?), he insures the spouse’s attendance: “As much as this is about helping you save money and increase the value of your home, if you qualify, it’s also about sharing with you what the community is doing to help the environment, and they just ask that both of you be here for that.”

A grin spreads across Taggart’s face: “So you make it about the community.”

“The heathens are no longer at the gate, sire. They’re now at the food truck.”

Cartoon by Michael Maslin

“And ‘they’ just ask . . .” Winston notes, drawing Taggart’s attention to the masterstroke of his coercive piety. “Who? ‘They.’ ” I’d buy solar panels from Pete Winston. And I live in an apartment building.

Perhaps eighty per cent of salesmen are tigers, as Taggart is, so they’re drawn to the latest persuasive techniques. When Taggart filmed an online commercial for a D2D sales summit in March, he did a tongue-in-cheek practice take: “Do you want to pull someone’s brain out of their head and mold it and put it back in their skull? Have you ever heard that sales is bad because it’s a manipulation technique for making people do whatever you want, and thought, How can I learn that?”

His actual ad wasn’t much different: a promise to reveal “how you break into the subconscious mind of your customers to master the art of selling.” Rather than preying on the customer’s fear of loss, you reframe his outlook using “wordsmithing.” Avoid saying “problem” (instead, use “challenge” or “situation”), “contract” (“service agreement”), “chemical” (“product”), “sell” (“provide”), or “sign” (“initial”). Not The customer wouldn’t sign the contract because it cost too much, but The head of the family I served O.K.’d the form once she grasped the unparalleled investment opportunity. “Bucks” sounds cheaper than “dollars,” so you build value in dollars, then promote in bucks: This service is two hundred and forty-nine dollars, but because we’ve got technicians in the area today I can give it to you for ninety-­nine bucks.

A fancier-sounding form of conditioning is neurolinguistic programming. Taggart suggests making seemingly anodyne observations—“Hey, whether you do it or don’t do it, it would make sense to just do it, right?”—that, operating on the same frequency as subliminal advertising and homeopathic medicine, brainwash the prospect into obedience. There’s no real scientific evidence for these techniques, but they have a powerful placebo effect, and salesmen need a thick buffer of confidence against self-doubt. Self-doubt leads to failure, and failure is unacceptable. When reps bagel, the penalties can range from having to lip-synch to Britney Spears to having to shave their beard and consume the clippings.

Failure is abhorrent because it can induce a contagious loss of faith in the whole enterprise. Managers teach salesmen to avert this death spiral by imagining that they’re getting paid for rejections. If you get five thousand dollars for a solar sale, but you sell only one out of a hundred prospects, then condition yourself to believe that you’re getting paid fifty bucks for each no. Michael O’Donnell, successful as he is, told me, “I want to throw up in the bushes half the time. The only way I get myself out of my house is that I made a sacred commitment to get one person to say no to me every day, and I try to experience that no as an uplifting event that I’m getting paid for.”

There are two types of door-to-door salesmen: those motivated by money or by the call of their persuasive gift, and those simmering for a shot at redemption. Taylor McCarthy had a high-school G.P.A. of 1.8; Michael O’Donnell was an alcoholic; Luke Ward, who in 2021 made $1.4 million selling solar, was convicted of several felonies during his years of heroin and meth addiction. “The obsessive quality that made me an addict is also what makes me great at sales,” Ward told me. “That, and the competitive need I have—that all great salespeople have—to be recognized as the best.”

Adam Schanz, the founder and C.E.O. of Alder Security, is the simmering sort. His ability to sell alarm systems elicits wonder. Sam Taggart said, “Adam is the best door knocker in history.” Schanz requires his execs to knock doors for a week each year; in 2019, he spent his own week in a town in northeast Louisiana and sold two hundred and five accounts—a total that might take a merely great salesman half a year. He installed systems for local officials and paid them a hundred dollars for each referral who bought in, got more leads from church congregants after he dropped a thousand dollars in the collection plate, and then raced from house to house, sweeping the town clean like the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Schanz, who grew up in a Mormon family, is exceedingly precautious about acts of God, but he remains an optimist about humanity. “In the meanest neighborhoods of Brooklyn, where you live,” he told me, “I can knock on any door and get the people to let us borrow their car and drive to McDonald’s to get a milkshake. It’s amazing how awesome people are when you give them a chance!” And yet, when he started on the doors, he said, “I saw salesmen tricking old people, and liars and cheaters being rewarded. It’s a flashy, trashy industry.” After his second year, he told me, “I called my mother in tears and said, ‘The Cinderella story is a lie, Mom. What you taught me is bullshit.’ ” Schanz’s mother encouraged him to stay true to himself, and he redoubled his efforts, reading every sales book he could, setting three appointments after nine each night, explaining the fine print so that customers couldn’t possibly be confused. He radiated a passion for his product that few people feel for their families, let alone for a seven-inch touch-­screen panel with two-way voice and 24/7 monitoring and support. Three years later, when he sold five hundred accounts in a summer, he called his mother again and said, “Mom, it’s legit! I’m the best in the world at this!”

It’s easier to sell, of course, if you fiddle with the truth. That’s why everyone at your door announces himself as “the regional manager,” even if the region under management is just the space occupied by his own body. Last year, Vivint Smart Home paid $23.2 million to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, to settle allegations that some of its salesmen had been fudging credit reports, including “white paging” to make sure that customers passed a check—that is, borrowing the superior score of an unwitting person with a similar name. Another legendary industry workaround was to go to the local graveyard and run a likely name: the dead frequently retained their credit rating, and the tombstone supplied a birth date.

When home-security salesmen seek to take over another company’s account, they sometimes tell the customer that they’ve come “from the alarm company” to upgrade her system. Schanz himself founded a business called APT, which sounds a lot like ADT, the nation’s largest security company. He contends that his reps never pretended to be from ADT: “Our whole thing was to clown on their equipment and service—to win accounts by doing the opposite.” Unpersuaded, ADT sued four times. “Their goal was to crush me,” Schanz said, even as he acknowledged that his company paid seven million dollars to settle the lawsuits: “I admit that I’m not perfect.”

On the doors, the ends frequently justify the means. In a Knockstar University video, Taylor McCarthy tells trainees, “It is never O.K. to be pushy in selling. Unless it’s a life-or-death situation,” he clarifies. Or, he further clarifies, “if you feel as if it’s a life-or-death situation—if you’re selling home security, if you’re trying to protect the environment,” or “if you’re trying to protect somebody’s lawn.” Danny Pessy told me, “If your intention is to deceive the customer—if you’re saying your meat truck broke down, and it’s actually meat from Ralphs that you repackaged—that’s a no. But, if your intention is to serve them, then you can say whatever you have to say to get them to buy the amazing product that you believe in.”

As Taggart ambled into a development not far from his office, he noted with pleasure that new owners were still moving in. “You can sell these people anything,” he said. “They need Internet, they need alarms, they need pest, they need solar.”

At the first house, a man named Geo answered Taggart’s knock. He wore baggy shorts and had a phlegmatic air. Taggart, pegging him as a lamb, started his pitch gently: “Where normally you’d pay up to sixty thousand dollars, in this neighborhood we’re setting up standard kits to fit on the roof sizes. Is it cool if we step inside and show you? It takes, like, two seconds?”



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