OFT cracks down on sales tactics

Open the door at your own risk

The Office of Fair Trading is launching a campaign to help people resist the tactics employed by door to door sellers.

It receives about 15,000 complaints each year from people who have been pressured into buying goods and services that are often overpriced or substandard.

Clever sales techniques are used to lure the customer, essentially trapped in their own home, into parting with their cash.

Keeping control of the situation is the key, but the salesperson also wants to maintain the upper hand.

Former door-to-door salesman Jay Shah trains sales reps for double-glazing and home improvements.

His blunt message to trainees is: "Take control".

He tells them that once they are in the house, without even asking just turn off the radio or television and sit yourself down on the sofa. Even ask for a cuppa.

Essentially they are buying you, not the product Jay Shah Former salesman

"So, the customer has to be firm. It's endemic in the UK that we are too polite. We need to say 'no thanks and goodbye' more often."

Security safeguards such as checking the seller's identity and not signing up for a product on the spot are basic steps to take, OFT advises.

The more advanced ploys are more tricky to detect straight off and more tricky to counteract.

Gleaning information about your family, house and interests simply by casting an eye around your house, and then chatting about common interests are often used to make people feel friendlier to the salesperson.

Mr Shah says he often used to pick out whether there were any golf trophies or clubs lying round the house.

Although he does not play the game himself, he's interested in it and can strike up a conversation about it, gaining the customer's confidence in the process.

"You've got to be clever and cute. Occasionally you can get caught out, so it's best not to say anything that you can't back up," Mr Shah told BBC News Online.

Business, not pleasure

"You want them to believe in you, so you have to sound convincing.

"Essentially they are buying you, not the product."

The OFT says a customer must remember that it is a business call, not a social call.

Even if the thought of free samples, services or discounts lights your fire, don't feel indebted to the salesperson.

They have probably got a car boot full of freebies and they will have given the same freebies to the last customer.

Easy targets

And what the salesperson is saying is not necessarily true.

Mr Shah says that when selling double-glazing a salesperson would probably have a good look at the windows and comment on how strong the draught was... whether there was a draught or not.

Vulnerable people are targeted as well. Salespeople often seek out potential customers who look like they might like a chat, perhaps live alone and don't get much human contact, Mr Shah said.

He even had a roof repair salesman make a cold-call at his own home who said he could see a few loose roof tiles.

Mr Shah was so intrigued by this obvious untrue sales ploy that he asked the man inside his house to explain his technique.

He was, however, strong enough to reject the sales patter that he teaches to sales rep, not cold-callers.