Do you ever go Door to Door?

[Cutaplug]

I know this might sound crazy but I just moved to a city where there are 100,000 people and hardly any public places to detect. The local park board doesn't allow any detecting in the 60+ parks here. There are no sidewalk/streets at all, and only a few older schools and churches. Have any of you printed business cards for "finding keys, lost rings, etc..." and gone door to door to try to get permission to detect? I'm sure I'd get mixed reactions being a complete stranger asking to dig in someones yard but I was wondering if anyone here has tried it and if so how did it turn out?

 

[imi_wakaranai]

I have an analogy to offer. Consider asking permission to detect as similar as asking a girl out for a date in high school. I have a friend that wasn't afraid to ask out any girl he thought to be attractive, even though his own friends thought they were out of his league. He got a lot of rejections, but he also dated quite a few that we thought would never give him a chance. Perhaps out of boredom, some people will say 'yeah' to a date and others may just not give a hoot if you want to dig up their yard.

 

[banditicey]

Where are you located?

In England you cannot detect public property but although I know it is an issue in parts of the USA
I am not aware of total Bans anywhere specific

 

[Cutaplug]

@imi great analogy =) It's funny that you said that because my best friend and I used to go partying and we came up with a game called the "shutdown" game. We'd see who could get shut down the most times in a night. Instead of letting rejections ruin our night we had a blast with it, especially with some booze in us. We almost alwasy ended up with a couple of hot girls I guess it's kinda like metal detecting, persistance pays off.

@bandit Located in Columbia MO

 

[Goes4ever]

I door knock all the time, I will knock on any house, I dont care how nice or fancy the place is, you have nothing to lose, before knocking you cant hunt there, so knock and if they say no, then you are where u started.....BUT if they say yes, your golden!

 

[Cutaplug]

I door knock all the time, I will knock on any house, I dont care how nice or fancy the place is, you have nothing to lose, before knocking you cant hunt there, so knock and if they say no, then you are where u started.....BUT if they say yes, your golden!

Any tips for a newb door knocker? What 10 second pitch have you found works best?

 

[Goes4ever]

here is a permission FAQ I wrote for my personal detecting site:

Getting Permission FAQ

Almost everyday I get emails and PM

 

[Cutaplug]

Thanks for the Q&A's! That is exactly what I was looking for and will open up a lot of opportunities for me. So what are the usual responses? Do people give you that "what the hell are you talking about" look? What's the craziest thing anyone has said/done? I used to do non pay cable disconnects a while back and ran into some very interesting people so I'm sure asking for permission for metal detecting can't be that bad

 

[Goes4ever]

I average 7 out of 10 saying yes

 

[imi_wakaranai]

Thanks, that was going to be my next question for you.

I average 7 out of 10 saying yes

 

[Bell-Two]

I learned my door knocking technique from Terry although I modify it a bit to fit my personality. Like he says you normally get more yes than no. Most of my better finds came this year from door knocks , many silver coins, v nickel, Indian heads, buffaloes several large cents including a 1796 Draped bust!

 

[Cutaplug]

I learned my door knocking technique from Terry although I modify it a bit to fit my personality. Like he says you normally get more yes than no. Most of my better finds came this year from door knocks , many silver coins, v nickel, Indian heads, buffaloes several large cents including a 1796 Draped bust!

You must be farther East than me or doing some really good research to find coins that old =) So how did you modify the scipt?

 

[ironman200081]

If you are willing to drive 45 min, I can show you some great public spots! CoMo parks are too dangerous these days anyway.

 

[Bell-Two]

I learned my door knocking technique from Terry although I modify it a bit to fit my personality. Like he says you normally get more yes than no. Most of my better finds came this year from door knocks , many silver coins, v nickel, Indian heads, buffaloes several large cents including a 1796 Draped bust!

You must be farther East than me or doing some really good research to find coins that old =) So how did you modify the scipt?

I am in Ohio, I generally try to notice something about the house or farm and try to intergrate it in my greetings. For example if a field near the house has a good crop growing I comment on that, most farm places have either or both cats and dogs I try to pet the dogs as they come out...if they are friendly! or if you see a bunch of cats comment their cat crop seems to be doing fine. I also try to find something I observe about them that I can relate too, just to start the conversation again. About the only set thing I say is about why we came. And even if you get turned down smile thank them for their time, sometimes this leads to a conversation about their house, inquire how old it is etc. A couple of times after getting an initial no, they change their minds and give you permission. Getting permissions is mostly an art rather than a science. I was in sales for close to 40 years and I have learned how to read people most of the time.

 

[Rebel 012]

Just wanted to say this was one of the better posts Ive read in a while, Thanks to all those that posted the great information.

 

[ashdigger]

Go for it what have you got to loose, most people are really nice about it, even the ones that say no. good luck!