Some big city companies are more and more resorting to marketing their products through direct contact with potential clients. The two sides agree on a date for the salesmen to go to the client’s home and show him the goods — which are normally unavailable in the market and so are sold at relatively high prices.
Salesmen often bring with the items valuable gifts for distribution to clients who agree to buy their expensive goods. I have no problem with this method or with salesmen visiting homes offering their products — but only as long as it is done within acceptable limits.
A problem, however, sometimes arises when the salesman insists on showing the products in the presence of both husband and wife; he often refuses to carry on with his presentation if the wife is not present. The salesmen do this because they know that women are easier to talk into buying something than men are. And of course wives can exert even greater pressure on their husbands. By behaving in this way, the companies are failing to respect the most basic characteristics of our conservative Saudi society.
Where are the authorities and why are they silent about such behavior that seems to have gone beyond the limits? Are they aware of what is going on and is this kind of marketing officially licensed? Why don’t the companies open special shops for their goods? Such a move would definitely help boost the real estate business.
One would like to know how the companies manage to infringe upon people’s privacy and discover home telephone numbers that are supposed to be confidential.
Not only that, they ask clients to provide them with the telephone numbers of relatives and friends and promise them gifts if the relatives and friends buy anything. There is a fear that such practices may increase with more and more companies abandoning conventional marketing and sending salesmen to knock on doors. It is time something was done to spare us the problems and inconveniences caused by these salesmen.
