Canvasing For Leads

SPCarpentry

In my local newspaper they have inserts from local companies all the time. I think you do all the printing then they charge you a fee to insert the flyer with a min. of like 1000 pcs. I would never knock on a persons door un anounced. I have used door hangers in a neighborhood that I was working in. though Were I'm located it's pretty dense. The average house lot is under a 1/2 acre so there are a lot of homes in the area. Now here is what I do! I drive around my area with a recording device or a passenger. I make a note of the street name and start driving. As I pass the homes I record any that look like they may need my survives. After I have a list of 25 I go online to my counties registry of deeds office. They have most of the homwowner informations for my surrounding towns. I save the link! LOL So now I look at my list see 2 Main St, then the list on line and find it's owned by John Doe. I know what the house is worth and I see the exterior foot print, like do they already have a deck? Now I have a home in need of work & the name of the homeowner! Over a couple of years I have fine tuned a nice cover letter introducing my services without sounding pushy. I can even personalize the letter to the homeowner if I want. Usually I just address the envelope to the homeowner and not attn:homeowner/current resident.

I now have a list of ove 500 homes! It does take some time and effort but it does seem to bring in work. I also make notes of the local real estate transactions for possible homes too. I add address all the time. Then when I have down time I work on it so I at least feel like I'm doing something! LOL

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RacerX780

I do the same thing for my mailings... I think it's the best way to go about it depending on your services. Yeah, it takes time... but your list is SUPER targeted rather then just a mass mailing to homes that might not even qualify for what you do.

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SPCarpentry

BINGO, WE HAVE A WINNER

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handyhands

You can also, very easily get the same information,..as well as the homeowners phone number by simply doing a reverse address search with your "recorded info." by using www.whitepages.com

Maybe try sending your letters,...Give them a couple days to get them--and follow up with a friendly phone call, again-introducing yourself and your services.

SPCarpentry

In MA that would be illegal. You can't make cold calls and if their on the no-call list you can get hit with fines

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UncleBob

Agreed. However you can put on place a complete 'white pages' directory for all homes in the State, run your monthly scrub against the DNC listings, and the 1.5% that you are allowed to call... well, call them

Press a button once a month, let a twenty-minute routine do it's thing - not a big investment time or otherwise. Little things that can sometimes make the difference

peakhomes

I've done a bit of it in the past, and it seems to be hit or miss. There have been times we've just done flyers and gotten a 5% return in areas that you wouldn't think much work at all would come out of. I'm actually thinking of hiring some canvassers now to go door knocking and give it a try. I know there are some companies that provide that type of service...so if any are reading this post, get in touch with me....otherwise, any input on tactics from readers would be great as well.

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handyhands

I perfectly understand about the dnc no call list, but....

You're telling me that you can't make cold calls, even after the list has been "scrubbed" through the do not call list?

No way.

**And also, you can get lists that HAVE been scrubbed by using www.salesgenie.com --we pay $50 a mth. and you can pull radius lists around job sites, or even do as your doing an run your list through their system to pull anyone out who is in fact on the do not call list.

I've been at this game for 20 years, and never have I heard of ANY state having a "NO COLD CALLING POLICY".

Taxgirl2010

Flyers are 1%-2% effective agreed and this only gets the buyers who are aware of their need. Door-knocking is #1. If you don't knock it and close it, someone else will because of their personality and execution style. Spend money on training, not flyers. Do you really want the life of your company depending on such unpersonable contact? Does that well written brochure really tell the buyer what type of people they are going to be dealing with? If you are aggressive, you get aggressive results. People and personality with knowledge sell. If you are not a salesman then sure, spend money on marketing, flyers, signs, internet, etc...but even to do that right, it would take millions of marketing dollars and the element of time for effective branding and this STILL does not target anyone who is not looking particularly for the product. People don't see an ad and say yeah, I was looking for a roof when I woke up, or yeah, I was thinking I need my windows tinted...but if a professional points something out, it sets the awareness for them to then look into reading about it after the personal contact. Only then will they decide to be motivated, by how they were presented with it. Selling begins upon making contact and you can back your approach with reputation and knowledge of the product. You can only guarantee contact by approaching with "in your face marketing". Winners do what losers WONT.
Keep stabbing yard signs in common grounds and littering mailboxes while waiting for the phone to ring. Being competition to you, it is just paving my way with directionals to set apart the closers from the order-takers. Knowing your competition and their techniques is knowing your market and creating the most effective strategy. If it does not work for others, it won't work for you either...no matter if its color, tri-fold or even a talking greeting card for that matter. If a buyer does not appreciate the door knock...get over it, he has no intention of buying because the need was not delivered, or the delivery was not properly executed to his expectations... not because it was inconvienient marketing (that is just an impression-if you knocked to deliver free gold and left, they would not feel "bothered"). It is your job as a salesman to expect what his expectations are percieved to be and overcome their objections. You cannot win them all, but not trying is no excuse for failure.

RacerX780

We've been having 100+ degree days here.. so I haven't been out this week. Sucks.. but just too freaking hot.

Tomorrow evening planning on hitting a new area.. hopefully with what I've learned from the past couple nights going out, we'll do much better.

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D & S Window Tinting - Serving NJ/PA/DEL

almreno

Hi all,

CT is great, have a great crew of 6 canvassers - and production is in motion. The key here is motivation and training, not that is hasnt been there before I got here - but canvassing managers have to understand the on-going importance of both EVERY DAY. A canvassing manager just cant class room train - throw a canvasser in the field and "hope for the best" and blame the canvassers when production is low. Also if your a owner or operations manager watching the cavassing dept's - be involved with this dept. It is very easy for a canvassing manager to loose foucs on the true mission of what it is were out there to do. Anyways - here till Aug 6th - Racer X I hope your doing well with your canvassing attempts. Talk to you all soon.

Rise Above

Ok so I think I have read every canvass thread here and there is a ton of controversy over the topic I have noticed. I think I'm ready to put a team together because I can't knock it until I have tried it. I read that some guys pay their canvassers $10 an hour (which seems fair to me) and then offer bonuses when a specified goal has been hit.

For example: they get a $200 bonus for every 10 appointments they setup. My question is would you still pay the bonus if you don't land all 10 jobs, or would you because it is simply for scheduling a date to send over a salesmen, which is what they had accomplished? This is all new to me and I just want to start out fair and right. Any light that can be shed on this would be helpful, thanks.

almreno

Rise Above: you are correct on the hourly - pay range between $10 - $13hr. As far as bonuses, it needs to be incentive based. The mission for the canvasser is to book a confirmed lead and get your "product specialist/sales person" in the home to do what they do. How many products to you market? Ill give you an example: $10hr base:

0-4 confirmed appts (for the week) = just your base pay
5-9 confirmed appts (for the week) = $75 bonus + base
10-14 confirmed appts (for the week) = $150 + base
15-19 confirmed appts (for the week) = $250 + base

or you can just pay them a set amount for demo appts and a set amount for sales that come out of it example:

$10 hr base:

for each demo (no sale) canvasser will recive $25 + your base - then if it sells your canvasser will recieve "X" amount (depending on sale amount) plus their base pay.

The reason is asked how many products you offer will depend the money you can put forth to the canvasser and not go over your lead to cost amount. You also need to create a pay structure for your team leads/field trainers or managers depending on how big or small you want this dept.

Hoped this helped, let me know if I can help more (and best of luck with the dept.)

almreno

I will call this "Easy as Pie"

So there we are out in the field, count is low and canvassers (as sometimes they often do) were complaining that no one wanted to talk to them and they were in a bad area. I had the canvassing manager show me the are they were in and told him to put me anywhere in that area and pick me up last. 45 min till end of shift - got out of the van and started knocking: Only took 2 doors before 1st appt came forward - 2nd appt within 15 min - then I met Henry and Rosemary very nice older couple lived in their home for 45 yrs and have never once considered even talking to a canvasser: long story short: 15 windows - 2 bow windows called in it in and confirmed on the spot. Then Rosemary loved it so much that I had stopped by and explained how we could help - She mentioned she just baked a Pie and asked if I would like a piece. OF COURSE (who can say no to pie) the best part of it all is as the van pulled up and had to wait till I finished every last bite with a glass of milk of course. Now Im holding out for a BBQ - steak would be nice.... Even when it looks like there is no light at the end of the tunell - just remember "There's always PIE"!!!

Supajon_70

Perhaps I've missed it on this forum, but the canvassed leads that I have gotten have a pretty high rate of cancellation, even with a short lead time to appointment.

What's the preferred lead procedure? Always set for next day?

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handyhands

Good thing for you old Rosemary didn't offer up the ole HAIR PIE!

almreno

Ok Handyhands - I laughed so hard I spilled my coffee and I may have to sue mc donalds. Supajon - answer to your question: I like to set within 72hrs - yes same or next day appts are great but not always possible for the homeowner (both husband and wife need to be present). Canvassing is a numbers game - Yes you will have fall out (figure about 35 - 40% depending on the process). A strong appt at the door starts with the canvasser. The canvasser should make sure to not only set a time that works for the homeowners, but also do "button up" at the end of the appt. The canvasser should call the appt in at the door (it only takes a second) who ever is on the other end is going to re-confirm vital information so the canvasser can move on. Same day appts are your best friends, next days are good and anything over next day - just ensure that there is a follow up call 24hrs to the homeowner to remind them of the appt. Not all appts will stick - How many appts do you get a day or week and what is your cancellation %? How many canvassers do you have? Let me know if I can help.

enforcer

ok,i understand CANVASSING is making a cold call a warm call but how do you eliminate tire kickers who say "ok,what the hell,its a free estimate" but have no intention of buying. what in your "canvassing script" helps eliminate the tire kicker?

Supajon_70

Cancellations were around 40%. Right now, I have no canvassers. However, I haven't had more than a team of 2 at any point. I like the idea of having a canvassing team, but the spark has never truly evolved into fire.

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almreno

Okay - enforcer/supajon: Your script is only part of finding the appts, Who you are, who your with and the reason you stopped by: But the canvasser needs to be trained to pin point the problems (before they knock on the door). The "Be nice estimates" are part of the game: its a numbers game - if your canvasser goes out and books 6 appts for the day: figure 1-3 may cancell or reschedule: and out of the remaining 3 that you present may only produce 1-2 sales (but then again what is your average sale amount - cuz that one sale may have been well worth it). Supajon: your question on sparking the fire is a simple answer: Find a highly motivated canvassing manager (kinda like a crack head with out the crack part) and trust me they are few out there that can fill those shoes. Canvassers after about 45-60 days will start to relax and get unmotivated in the field - I have worked for many different clients all over the US and its always the same - a canvasser comes in and is fully charged - and if the manager is not ensuring to train, motivate and be there for the canvasser (such as field training) they will fall fast.