Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 10:11:30 -0400
From: Robin McCarty
Subject: Book salesman
You all should still be suspicious of the so called children’s book seller!
Renee, when you say you researched the company online, what did you check? Do you know how easy it is to create a fake business that looks very legit in a very short amount of time? I have had several legitimate businesses. I can create a website, register with the NC Secretary of State, get a DBA from county and get into the BBB.org database and more in a very short amount of time. To be listed in the BBB.org database, you only need to pay a fee.
I don’t mean to ding you. Just want to let you know that anyone can look very legitimate with very little money or effort. You said he was “pretty evasive”. Great observation on your part! If you or anyone is trying to make a sell and someone said go in to town to find the people who are most likely to buy, what would you do? If you really wanted sell books, you would go in to town where the population is higher. If your intentions are to scope the place, you might be evasive to get whatever info you can while you are there.
Aaron, when you say he seemed Ok to you, how did you make that determination? I’m sorry. I do not understand what a hand-drawn map has to do with anyone seeming to be OK? If someone ask me how to find parents of young children, I would take every piece of info I have about them to the sheriff! Maybe there is a chance he just wants to sell books but that sends up HUGE red flags! Don’t you get it? If you want to maximize your profits, esp profits selling books, why would anyone legit go to a rural area unless they are selling farm equipment? This does not add up! Barnes & Noble closed some of their urban and suburban stores in areas of high population. Borders Books went out of business and they were in high pop areas. Amazon is world’s leading book seller. Do you see them going door to door? No, of course not. Because the vast majority of books are purchased online. There is free census info online. If some legitimate company would send someone from another part of U.S.A. to make sales in little ole Chatham County, would not they be smart enough to arm them with population data? So what reason would a book salesman would go door to door in a rural area? This guy either has zero marketing abilities or could it be… he is not a true book salesman? If he is a true book salesman, he is going starve!
I’m not trying to ding you either! I’m saying you need to be suspicious.
We live in an area where the crime rate is very low. Even if we don’t always agree, we usually reach out to each other and help each other. This sense of community sometimes gives us a false sense of security. We tend to think everyone has good intentions and things that happen in other parts of the country could not possibly happen here. Wouldn’t it be so great to live in a world where there is nothing but good? But the world is not all good. This guy is extremely suspicious.