Have you been to a shopping centre (mall) lately?  They are full of pushy salespeople, usually with strange accents and very good looking, trying to get you to buy the latest face cream or makeup or whatever.

This annoys the heck out of me!  How about you?

If I really want to buy some face goop, I will go to a reputable retailer, not a small pop-up store or kiosk that will be gone in a month when I have a problem with it.

And I really don’t need to be told by some 25 year old hunk that I am “beautiful”.  I am 47, old enough to know that he is only saying that to flatter me into wanting to buy stuff from him.  If I really was that beautiful, I wouldn’t NEED his face stuff.

Anyway, I can now fight back!  And so can you…

Here you will find (in the Resources area on the right) a place where you can download and print off stickers saying “NOT INTERESTED”.  Put one on your chest (or wherever) before you go shopping, and you have your first line of defence.

If they approach you, point to the sticker.  If they are still persistent, then there is a second line of defence.  In the Resources section you will also find a flyer you can print off to give to the Pushy Salesman to tell him exactly how you feel.

But what about those annoying people who knock on the door to try to sell you electricity services, or insulation, or whatever?  Again, print off a sticker saying NOT INTERESTED and put it on your front door.  Or you will also find DO NOT KNOCK stickers advising people that you are not happy to have them try to sell to you.

And again, you will find a flyer you can print off and hand to anyone silly enough to actually knock on the door, explaining how you feel.

You know, one of the things I find uncomfortable about saying “no” to sales people is that they act as though I am upset with them personally.  I’m not, I just don’t want to buy their product or waste my time talking to them.  By being prepared with a sticker and/or flyers, it is clear that this is nothing to do with them personally, so I don’t need to feel uncomfortable!

Now, there are a couple of more things I want to tell you…

I am going to start a page where you can share your experiences with using this system.  Let me know how you go!  And also a page where you can Name and Shame pushy sales people who ignore your requests to leave you alone.

Let me know what you think!