Hi, can I help you?

Hello, are you in the house?

Is there something I can help you with?

Do you know your neighbor Joe?

Yes?

Well, we’re out here doing some work for Joe and I just wanted to talk to you about it. Are you in the house?

What kind of work are you doing?

Pest control. We’re upgrading Joe and about 30 other houses in the neighborhood and I’d love to talk to you about it.

No thank you, we already have a pest control contact.

Great! Can I ask who you’re with?

I don’t want to get into that, and I need to get back to work.

Okay, I’ll come back later.

There’s really no point. Like I said, we already have pest control taken care of.

Okay, I’ll just come back later.

{sigh}

Edit… to people asking why I respond in the first place. People sometimes have a legitimate reason to come to my door. People who might even be doing me a favor, like neighbors bringing my misdelivered mail (which happens often enough to be its own post). So if I’m not sure you’re soliciting, I’m always going to start out polite.

Edit 2: to people asking who the company is… I don’t know. I didn’t give him a chance to tell me.