1. Be nice.
  2. Tell them where they could stick it.
  3. Lock the door and hide.
  4. Pretend not to have any decision making power.
  5. Point to someone in the office and send them over.
  6. Tell them you’re very busy and only have about 60 seconds.

I have done all of these, today was exceptionally busy with walk-in solicitors.  Here is some simple math, if a solicitor spends 2-3 minutes explaining to you what they sell or what they are trying to unload.  Lets say you get 2 of these a day totalling about 5 minutes of your time each day, 5 days a week.  Thats 25 minutes a week mulitplied by 52 weeks a year (given you are open year round).  25 x 52 = (mumble mumble, carry the 1…) 1300 minutes.  That’s 21.67 hours a year of precious time and this is not including telemarketers.  You figure thats $5.3 billion dollars given there are 24.7 million businesses1 in the United States and saying the average pay rate of a typical employee who has to deal with the solicitor is $10/hr.  Now that’s something that will make you want to cut your ear off.

Imagine how much bloggers are costing their companies!