The Palo Alto scammers are hurting more than just the people that fall for their scams

Have you obtained the necessary solicitors permit for Palo Alto? If you have please post a copy online. I keep the sample on the back of my door. It is the first thing I ask a solicitor for. When the solicitor does not have it I ask them to wait while I go call police to report the violation. They usually leave right away. Problem solved.

Fellow citizens, make sure you get a good description of the person: race, height, weight, eye and hair color, clothing including hats, shirts, jackets, pants, and shoes. Also get the direction of travel once they leave your home. If they get into a vehicle, the color, make, type, and plate number are a big help. Try and watch them for as long as you can while you are on the line with dispatch.

Sample Solicitor Permit for Palo Alto:

Web Link

Check out chapter four of the Palo Alto muni code for all the gory details:

Web Link

qq

Llana my advice is to leave a flyer or brochure. Yes, there are many good charities but I have put up a No Solicitor sign because of some aggressive sales people. Also, there's religious groups that want to save my soul. You say you just want to talk -- but maybe you interrupt people when they are eating or busy with something else. I have found when I agree with the solicitor, donations are expected. When I disagree, there's a lecture about why I need to change. Some solicitors still ring the doorbell insisting they are not soliciting -- they tend to be the religious or politically motivated ones -- but I don't want to explain my religious or political beliefs to a total stranger.

I will read your flyer and brochure if you leave one and appreciate it that you did not ring the doorbell.

Sorry we have the right to have a "no solicitors" sign at our house and we mean it.

Resident Barron Park says: "Have you obtained the necessary solicitor's permit for Palo Alto?" The problem with this according to the police is that solicitors use fake permits, and how would the average citizen know a fake permit from the real thing?

Psres says: "My advice is to leave a flyer or brochure." That is exactly what the bad guys do, if the brochure or flyer isn't picked up and left at the front door, they know there is no one home and the house is empty.

I agree with Pares. Leave a flyer - it's less intrusive. I have three kids and have no interest in listening to a stranger talk or sell. And yes, the scammers have ruined it for legit businesses.

Ilana, if you want to be a successful salesperson, you want to consider the best way to reach your customers. For starters, I suggest you challenge this belief: "door to door marketing is one of my most productive options." No it isn't. Read the comments above. Door-to-door is extremely problematic for many reasons, and you, no matter how enthusiastic you may be, are not going to change the general perception of door-to-door solicitation.

If you have lived here all your life, you should have a pretty good network. Make a list of all your friends and your parents' friends, teachers from Gunn, neighbors. Email or call them telling them what you are doing. Set up appointments. Create a website and a Facebook page. Offer to do some work for a prominent member of the community for reduced cost so that that customer can become a reference for you.

Just because College Works tells you that door-to-door is the best way to get business doesn't mean it will work in Palo Alto. It won't. It will just make a lot of people mad, and you may find yourself spending too much time explaining yourself to police officers.

Good for you for taking initiative and trying to earn money. All in all, it should be a productive learning experience that will serve you well in your future career too!

Parent says: "Leave a flyer - it's less intrusive" This is a very bad idea. A flyer left at your front door for two or three house indicates there is no one home and is a great opportunity to break in. Always pick flyers up immediately.

Ilana,

Forget door to door. I will never, ever buy anything from anybody door to door -- not even girl scout cookies. And, I won't talk to anyone about religion, either. My house is on the beaten path for door-to-door solicitors of all stripes, and I'm completely fed up.

I have not opened my door to solicitors or religious groups in ages, but I do read ads in the local papers. Going door-to-door is not the way to drum up business! Please know how wary people are of possible criminals, and just not wanting to be disturbed in their one safe haven. Good luck to you!

I have accidently knocked a couole doors with signs but I do respect the sign saying no solicitors I have one on my own door. I agree that there is a better way to reach palo alto residents and people will stary to see ads in newspapers and hopefully an article in the paly high school newspaper. Many of the fliers I have left I write a personal message on and I'm not leaving them on doors to stake out the area to rob homes. Just because my business is so new, direct marketing is my only option for the first couple weekends before the ads and lawn signs go up. I come to peoples doors trying to give them a free estimate and i understand the negative reactions I receive. Thanks for the comments, the advice from all of you is helpful and thanks for the good lucks. If you are interested in a free estimate google college works painting and they will connect me to you through your area of location

Keep the advice coming I really appreciate everyones opinions

I received one of your fliers and am underwhelmed by your business. Your photo looks like a Facebook invitation for new boyfriends. If you have really lived in Palo Alto, as you say, the fact that people don't like to open their doors to strangers should not be news to you.
You made grammatical and typographical mistakes in the flier, and your posting above is also full of them. I hope you will use your college education to overcome this lack.
Also, it is not clear who will actually do the work.
You appear to be skilled in getting free publicity. But in truth, I am tired of your message and your sense of entitlement. You say your father is an experienced entrepreneur, perhaps he can give you advice.

I'm sorry you did not like the flier. I was told to write a bio of myself and I wrote it in the first person. The typos were made by the person that changed all the "I"s to "Ilana"s and such. Thank you for the advice, I will demand to see the final version before they print the next batch. I am a college student starting my own business, I make mistakes.

I wrote the comment above on my phone, and did not check for typos, you are correct and I am sorry that my typos offended you.

I'm not lying about being native to Palo Alto if that is what you are implying, if you really feel the need to verify, check the paly high school year book. I am well aware of how Palo Alto treats solicitors, I myself have a no solicitors sign on my door and I expect people to honor that. I'm not expecting to change the city's view of solicitors through my direct marketing, I am only remarking that the recent scammers seem to be making everyone increasingly hostile.

I am sorry you feel that come off as having a sense of entitlement, that is not my intention. I am also not sure what you think I feel entitled to.

I am starting my own business as a college student to develop my skills and further my career. I only spoke about my father in the flier because he is my inspiration and I hold a lot of respect for him. I feel slightly disrespected by the comment above about how my picture on the flier looks like I'm trying to attract boyfriends on facebook. I am an adult and would appreciate being treated like one.

I'm sorry you are so bitter towards me, I'm not sure what I did but I apologize for causing you to feel this way.

Ilana, all the posters here have told you that they don't like door-to-door salespeople. You yourself say you don't like door-to-door salespeople! And yet your persist in insisting that you will only be successful if you continue to knock on doors.

I have worked with many salespeople, and the successful ones are those who try to step into their customers' shoes and understand how best to serve them. Since you seem to be so determined to force your way of thinking on the rest of us, perhaps sales is not a good business choice for you?

I actually said that people would start seeing ads in papers and lawn signs, I didn't I said anything about continuing going door to door. I am not trying to force my way of thinking on anyone, I am just remarking that people seem more hostile than before. Door to door marketing has already worked on some very nice people that wanted to have their house painted and were very happy to receive a free estimate. I am no longer going door to door in palo alto at least for now and I have expanded my territory to mountain view as well and so far people there seem to be more receptive.

All of you are attacking this girl who is in college trying to start a business and nothing in her post seems to be forcing anything on anyone. She has also been very polite throughout all her posts unlike many of the other people who have been posting. We are on an online forum so everyone seems to have more courage saying rude things to this young woman. Ilana do not listen to the people trying to bring you down, maybe this is why the youth of palo alto feel they have no option except going to the train tracks because adults just shoot them down. Talking shit to a college student who is making someone out of herself at such a young age is just rude and you should be ashamed of yourselves. From what I understand she has only been in business for a couple weekends, constructive criticism will help her but the hurtful comments will just do damage.

When I was in high school I earned the only extra money I had by going door to door asking people if they had any work for me to do (from raking leaves to cleaning bathrooms), for $1.25/hr. The work was fine; I hated the knocking on doors. But in fact people were rarely rude to me.
Today is a very different world, and some of the postings above show how much it has changed. There are indeed scammers and rude, aggressive pitchmen (and women) who have spoiled the atmosphere; many people are also far less tolerant and unwilling to talk to any stranger (also life is faster paced and some people don't have the time). This is a sad fact that cannot be changed by any one person. It probably does mean that anyone who wants to use door to door sales has to expect that, justified or not, some people will behave very obnoxiously.
I would advise Ilana to concentrate on what she has learned, especially from the constructive inputs, and just learn to ignore the negatives; people who cannot express themselves diplomatically will unfortunately always be with us. She has shown a great willingness to listen to all opinions here; that is more than many beginning college students would do (probably myself included when I was that age).

Sorry, Ilana, did not mean to hurt your feelings, and as I said the first time, it is great that you are actively trying to get your business going. I am also glad to hear that you are not going door-to-door. It's not only unlikely to be productive, it also may not be that safe for you (I am recalling a door-to-door job I had, not sales, when I was your age.)

I can't emphasize enough the value in working your network. I have helped my kids by posting messages about their job searches on email lists to which I belong, and other people do the same for their kids. My ucsc student has gotten jobs that way (a very different kind of work from you). I am on one local email list that has thousands of members; if you can find someone to recommend you on such a list, you will have more calls than you can handle! People around here do want to help kids, especially given how tough the environment is right now.

Also, your comments "I was told to..." -- you don't say who told you, I am guessing it's the College Works office? Although they probably have some very good advice for you, they haven't lived in Palo Alto their whole lives, and they don't know what will work in this market. You do. Learning to trust your own instincts will be a big step. Good luck!

Thank you for the respectful comment, I really appreciate the change in tone and the advice. I agree that networking is going to work best for me in Palo Alto but since my company has been successful for so many years with the same business plan, don't seem to understand that Palo Alto is not like every other town. I will work on networking like you said and see where that leads me!

What sort of email list are you talking about?

Well, for example I belong to a neighborhood list, the local parent club list (over 3000 members), a pet owner list, lists for schools I've attended, and smaller lists for groups with which I'm involved. You might want to check out yahoogroups (for example) and see if there are lists that you want to join.

After you get some customers, see if they will recommend you on Yelp. That way, when people google "Palo Alto" and "painters" your name will come up. You could try Craiglist too, as people do refer to that when they need services.

Do your own market research. The next ten people you run into, ask "when you need someone to do some work on your house, where do you get names?" Their answers might give you lots of other ideas for places where you can promote your business.

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your advice