Fear of Public Speaking, Marketing, wtf??

[h2o]

I've ran into this twice. Just a few minutes ago, some guy selling magazines comes to my door and proceeds to say something along the lines of...

"I'm doing this to get over my fear of public speaking, blah blah, so will you buy this magazine subscription so I can get points towards, cash prizes?"

I took a look at his magazines and stuff but refused to buy it. I thought if he's doing this to get over his fear of public speaking I'd have him talk more.

Anyway, is this just a gimmick to get people to feel sorry for these guys and buy magazines, or are these guys for real.

He did talk really fast and seemed possibly a bit nervous? But, I'm suspicious, and I think it's a scam of some sort.

Anyone else run into this before?

 

[Interpol]

Reminds me of the scene in Office Space where the guy pretends to be a recovering crack addict to sell magazines...

 

[tristan22]

I had this happen to me several weeks ago. It was raining really hard and i felt sorry for the guy, but i didn't buy anything.

I looked the company up and low and behold it is a scam. Tons of people across the country ordered magazines and didn't get their product even though they paid for it!


I guess they hire young adults and have them travel all across the US selling their BS; a van drops them off in a neighborhood and picks the sales person up in several hours.

 

[penkitten]

i dont like public speaking very much either

 

[h2o]

ok, yeah, this is getting annoying...another guy came to my door today with a similar spiel. he didn't mention the fear of public speaking thing, but i told him about the other guy who already been here. and i told him if he wants to also get over his fears of public speaking he should go around and talk to people and just practice and wished him luck. how is selling magazines helping him?

i'm convinced it's a scam too.

haha, office space, good movie.

i was once terrified of speaking in general, but i got over it with practice, not selling magazines door-to-door by getting people to feel sorry for me.

 

[tristan22]

Trust me, it's a scam just do some google searching. Each and everyone of the sales persons talk about a points system, public speaking, trips, moving up the corporate america ladder, etc!

Some of these sales persons get really good at "convincing" people to hand over their money for magazines. Just do a search and you'll see just what i'm referring to!

 

[LowPlainsDrifter]

I went from deathly afraid of public speaking (I once hid in the bathroom in eighth grade to avoid orally presenting the results of a research project in front of everyone), to actively enjoying public speaking.
Just like anything else, it's a skill you can master, and you may surprise yourself with how well you do it, if you try it.
Dale Carnegie courses are great for learning public speaking, and Toastmaster clubs are great because they put you through a rigorous certification program - the meetings often have 5-25 people at a time, and the environment is very supportive.
Please folks, don't just say, "I hate public speaking, it makes me uncomfortable" and just drop it for the rest of your life.
It's a really great feeling when you present something to a crowd and they just eat it up!

 

[cant think of a user name]

Originally posted by Interpol
Reminds me of the scene in Office Space where the guy pretends to be a recovering crack addict to sell magazines...

Haha yeah, that was the first thing that came to mind after reading his post.



I don't get how someone would feel sorry for another person who's trying to sell magazines to get over their fear of public speaking. It just doesnt make sense.

Pretend Dude: dudde.... im selling mags to get rid of my fear of public speaking... totally... yeh... it'll be awesome if you buy some.......

Normal Person: wtf. so you'll be equally happy if i dont buy any mags since you're only doing it for your speaking skills.

Pretend Dude: noo buy some, then my skills will increase ten-fold

Normal Person: the size of your face will increase ten-fold if you dont go away now.

Pretend Dude: yooo chill out duudde.

Normal Person: okay.

Pretend Dude: bye then.

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

I'm better with a small group of ppl, but I've been forcing myself to do things that Im uncomfortable doing. Lately, I've been taken the lead in group work at school, and always ask to do most of the speaking. My confidence in my public speaking abilities have improved...

 

[RedPill]

Alright here is what I don't understand...

I was also approached recently by someone selling magazines to get points for cash for college. Instead of selling magazines and getting a snip of that cash for tuition, why don't you just ask me for cash, straight up? Same thing also happened with someone looking for money for school sports funding. I don't want magazines or packaged meat or cookies or any other horsesh1t consumer products. It's like, give me a slightly detailed description of what you want money for and maybe I'll give you a donation that goes entirely to your cause. Or hell, go spend the money buying pot. I don't care. Why use some intermediary company though to get points for money. It does not make any sense at all.

Better yet, pay some hot chick $10 an hour with the cash I gave you to take the orders for you while you stand in the background with the paperwork. Sh1t maybe I should start this business, where absolutely nothing is sold, I'm just asking people for money in exchange for nothing. "Hey Mrs. Johnson my name's RedPill and I'm collecting donations so this girl and I can go party in Vegas next month. Would a silver donation of $10 be good or a gold donation of $20 be better for you?" This could be revolutionary...

 

[PhilShackleford]

Haven't heard of that before. I think a fear of public speaking is difficult and not sure why being a door salesman could help that?!