Secrets Revealed! Mormon Sales Forces Leveraged by Pest Control Companies.
When you open your door to find a salesperson, you may be surprised to learn that they’ve been shipped to your neighborhood from Utah. That is correct, recruited from Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. A common trend among the major pest control companies is to hire, train and license as apprentices, salespeople from the Provo, Utah area, and then send them across the country to knock on doors. With most industries moving away from door-to-door sales, it remains a profitable way for lots of pest control companies to gain new customers. This includes Aptive Pest Control, Alterra, Terminix and the list goes on. Why Utah? Because Utah is a hotbed of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they are no stranger to knocking on doors nor having the door slammed in their faces. Utah is “the Mecca of door to door salespeople; Many recruiters for the pest control industry say that Utah is an ideal place for recruiting because of the abundance of clean-cut college students who have returned from Mormon missions and are used to the hard work and rejections that comes with knocking on doors all day.
The clean cut college student “working his/her way through college” as a professional licensed pest control inspector. Technically they are not lying and are legally licensed by the state as an Apprentice - having successfully completed "40 hours" of verifiable on the job training and "8 hours" of classroom training in the category which they are selling i.e. pest control or termite. Make no mistake about it, they are Summer Sales Specialist i.e. professional sales agents. Do yourself a favor should they come knocking, ask to see their license to verify that they are a Certified Applicator and not an Apprentice; this holds true for the technicians that are visiting and applying product in and on your property.
How dare you post a "NO SOLICITING" sign. Who are you to prevent them from earning a living? These types of signs are nothing more than a distraction and objection to overcome. The sign tells them that you are afraid to say NO to a sales person thus they are required to knock. Remember these guys and gals have been trained at an early age to take rejections and are custom to having the door closed on them. A silly little sign is no match for their gall, these people have no respect for your privacy or your wishes. They are convinced if they can get you to answer the door you will fall victim to their charm, that of a clean cut kid working his way through school. Hell it must work, the giants of the industry fly em in every May, house them in rented apartments up on Round Grove and 121 and bus them all around the metroplex, targeting new construction and desired residential areas such as Flower Mound, Highland Village, Lantana, Frisco, Coppell etc. The season ends in September and the hundreds who have survived the Texas summer are shipped back to Utah.
Not even private property and gated communities are off limits to these Professional Door Knockers, they are nothing more than a challenge to them. I have actually had to provide service to many a home sold by the Mormon professionals an it always impressed me as I pulled up to a gated community, complete with guards and signage how they managed to gain entry and sell the neighborhood. The guard always stopped me, asked for my work order, name and address of client I was there to see and then he/she would call to verify before allowing me the opportunity to kill a bug on the private property. Don't under estimate the tenacity of these highly trained professional door knockers, it is as if they have military training in escape and evasion as it is obvious they can allude security guards and local police where soliciting is prohibited.
A wall is no match for a professional Mormon door knocker, the only thing they seem to understand is that which they learned growing up....getting the door slammed in their face.
Alterra Sales Force:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WXEcJ-ltEA
Aptive Sales Force:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZESGFEyOssA Notice the door Mormon door knockers in white polo shirts and khaki shorts.
Vantage summer sales / notice Terminix logo on polo shirts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykhG53CFrno
Actual Yelp Reviews: "The most ridiculously pushy salesman just left my front door.I have a No Soliciting sign clearly posted on my door, as I have to watch my son full time during the day, and I'd like to avoid the interruption during naps, snacks, and so forth.Your "route manager" rang my doorbell anyways, and started off by saying his truck will be by to service the area tomorrow and most of my neighbors have already purchased new service, and he'd like to know what time to come by and service for ants, spiders, etc. I told him that I have another service that I've been quite happy with for quite some time (while my 20mo. old and dog are trying to squeeze out the front door), and that this is a bad time.He looked down at my son and dog trying to squeeze out the door and responded with "Why is this a bad time, WHAT'S YOUR SON'S PROBLEM???" I didnt feel that I needed a reason to decline his service, but apparently I needed a better one than "I dont want to chase my lightning fast dog down the damn street buddy...".He kept talking as I was trying to close the door, and as I locked it in the middle of his sentence I heard him mutter something else and put his card in my door slot.Thanks Lazlo, the "Route Manager"...I will NOT need your service."
46 people voted for this review Useful 28 Funny 62 Cool
Here is another one! Got to Love them Mormon Door Knockers!!
"They don't underatand what "No Soliciting" means. Three times they have come to the door trying to pedal their services and three times I have alerted them to the conspicuous sign right above the doorbell. They seem to think it is a joke so here I am to prove it isn't a joke."
12 people voted for this review Useful 11 Funny 8 Cool
Last one I promise.
"This company has no contact information on their web site. A pushy salesman came door to door last night, accosted us as we were getting out of our car, in our garage and wouldn't leave when I told him we were happy with our pest company of 11 years. Did I mention it was 8:45pm! I also have a no soliciting sign on the door. I do not like the way he attempted to sell me, saying he had changed many people in the neighborhood, it's just a down right lie. Like I said above, there is no way to contact this company to complain about this sales tactic."
FYI....First Response Pest Control is locally owned and operated. The owner John Allen lives in Highland Village and actually gets out and services accounts daily, they employ veterans, don't like sales people/"professional inspectors"....so they do not have a sales force. All of his technicians are certified applicators and for that reason they do not require a sales team. First Response Pest Control provides pest control services in Highland Village, Lewisville, Flower Mounds, parts of Coppell, Lantana, Bartonville, Argyle, Corinth, Lake Dallas, Denton and Denton County. Visit them at www.lewisvillepestcontrol.net
