I used to pretend I worked for a female magazine investigating women's issues. I'd select some telephone numbers at random from the directory and call. I'd ask if the women would answer questions on a survey for the magazine and give them categories. The first was ladies footwear, the second politics and the third war. 99% chose ladies footwear. I'd then ask pre-written questions such as shoe size, favorite shoes, heel height, colors, etc,etc, then age group and finally weight group (100 lbs - 110 lbs etc). After this, I'd offer to send out a sample tile or carpet square for testing saying that a new range of underlay needed testing and would they help. many said sure, and I'd send them the samples which i got them to trample on with their heels and send back for analysis. If they did this a few times and were happy, I'd ask them if I could video the event to see just how they were doing it. After all, it would really help with the 'analysis'! Often, i'd get to video quite a few women in their homes, trampling pieces of carpet or tile. I also took some close up pictures. When you get this far with someone, you can generally get them to do pretty much anything, since the initial embarrassment has gone. With a couple of ladies in particular, I said i was a manager of a carpet testing company and we got to the video stage. I mentioned to both of them that we had developed an underlay which reduced the weight of a 130 lb women in heels down to effectively a 30 lb women, so the carpet didn't get damaged. I even offered to lay beneath it whilst they walked over it to show them. I simply brought along an ordinary may/rug and laid down on the floor. On both ocassions, the women walked all over me laying underneath, in their highest, spikey heels. Of course they laughed and giggled about it and for a few months, i 'tested' carpet samples with them. It was great fun and a real challenge to get their confidence. If you do it right, you can convince them!

Dowmatheel