This summer, many BYU students have hit the streets hoping to score gold and sell pest control to people who have no need for it. However, finding people who will fall for the scam is difficult. Most people will readily reject anyone selling preposterous pesticides. However, summer salesmen in Modesto, California have found a way to increase their door-knocking success: tailing the missionaries.

An average day for Braydyn, one such summer sales bro, starts with driving to the missionaries’ apartment. He waits for them to leave, then surreptitiously follows them to the neighborhood where they begin door-knocking. Braydyn will keep a count of which doors open, and the doors that accept pest control offers. He will then return to the neighborhood he surveyed the previous day, and knock on his chosen doors.

“People who will open the door for missionaries and people who are willing to buy pest control greatly overlap,” explained Braydyn.

One of Braydyn’s colleagues, Jourdan, uses the same sales tactic. “After starting to use the missionaries to find possible sales, my success rate and sales numbers have gone up significantly! God really does put missionaries where they are needed.”

As missionaries around the country experience varying levels of success this summer, they can find peace in the growing success of the missionaries.