Canvassing

vinylguy

hey smell's,
first and foremost try to remember when i or my guys are canvassing we are not salesmen! repeat " not salesmen"
we are nothing more than a door to door commercial. just like sending out direct mail we are a piece of mail only were live mail!
and oh by the way i would catch your eye and make you look twice. but that is only cause i'm so good looking!
and as far as saying no thank you, well thats fine cause thats just one more no and i would say thank you cause just like internet leads or direct mail iits all in the #'s game and you just put me one step closer to a yes.
and by the way, keep doing what your doing and you'll keep getting what you have. but be warned with a down market like everyone says it is those precious leads may not come in as fast as you like, and we all know what that means to a company.
one more thing to smells, i could care less weather you like what i do or not. you know why? cause it's my business and i'll continue to run it the way i feel is best for it.
also if yuo can't just look at the #'s tha wpc is putting up ans say WOW! or maybe double WOW! than that is your loss and the guys that are counting on you for a livings lost.
it's a shame that just because someone doesn't agree with what someone else does that they should declare it wrong.
i'll bet your one of those people against saying the plege under god huh!

smellslike$tome

Not sure why you're coming down on me, I never said anything about right or wrong. I simply stated what would happen if you knocked on my door. I understand it's all about numbers, isn't all advertising simply about numbers? I would not yell at you, flip you off, call the police, or even slam the door in your face. I would politely say "thank you, I am not interested" and close the door. I do not believe that your approach would be effective with me, I understand that the next guy may be a different story.

As for business, thanks but I don't think you need to worry about us. 2007 was our best year yet and '08 (all 3 weeks of it) is off to a ripping start. Slowdown? Haven't noticed any slow down. Then again we are a service company and when someone finds water or poo where it ain't supposed to be or has to choose between a cold shower or no shower, they're gonna call regardless of what the talking heads on tv are saying about housing starts or recessions.

__________________
Looking For A Birmingham Plumber The Best Plumbing in Alabama

smellslike$tome

Oh yeah, don't kid yourself. When you knock on my door to tell me about your company, you are a salesman.

__________________
Looking For A Birmingham Plumber The Best Plumbing in Alabama

C.C.R.

ya can't do it here in MASs.

UNLESS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE ALMIGHTY PATS!!! Oh, did I say that out loud?

__________________
Complete Custom Remodeling
"When Quality is Top Priority"
www.completecustomremodeling.com

vinylguy

smells,
good to here your doing so good 07 was our best year ever also.and were the same way here in this area of central pa. have not felt any effects of a slow down yet! and hope we never do. but then again our home prices never took a big jump up ethier.
point well taken on your comment

vinylguy

ccr, havent you read the post on the supreme court ruling? they can't stop ya maybe try to or make you get a permit but its still your right .

wpc07834

Smells,
You are right. There are those people out there that think the same way. However those are not the people that I want to talk with. You are right those people you market other ways. I hope that you would agreee that sales is a numbers game. I think you will find that if you talked to 10 people, maybe 7 or 8 will tell you no. What about the ones that say yes?

wpc07834

Imagine if you need a cup of sugar and you want to go next door. If they are not home, you try the next door. Do you think you should have to go down and get a permit? What about just wanting to speak with somebody, still need a permit? Canvassing is not about going door to door and trying to sell someone a product, its all about getting a lead.

Cole

IMHO, I can see where it would work for you.

But I would never in a million years would think a remodeling company would get leads from walking the neighborhood knocking on doors. Yes, maybe postcards / doorknob hangers but not knocking on doors.

It might work for small projects, but anything big, I highly doubt you get from beating on doors.

__________________
Tulsa's Leader in Outdoor Living Construction | Facebook | Tulsa Pergola Builder | Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens

Vinny

Cole, if your talking about a quick signing on a 1 mil addition / renoavtion, your right. Canvassing may not bring in a job like that but I do know a couple of guys that do more than one type of home improvment like smaller 100k renovations, and they got those size jobs from a canvassed lead.

__________________
Roccies Asphalt Paving
The Right Way Driveway Company
If you say you cant, your a loser. If you say you wont, your a quiter. Which one do you want to be?

Cole

Vinny, are those guys getting the jobs from knocking on doors, or postcards/doorknob hangers?

I would love to talk to them about it more.

__________________
Tulsa's Leader in Outdoor Living Construction | Facebook | Tulsa Pergola Builder | Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens

wpc07834

Look, this is pretty simple. Can you drive by an area and see homes in the neighborhoods that are potential canadates for the type of work you offer? If the answer is yes. Then it will work. If you want to try something new, Go and knock on the doors 5 houses to the left and 5 to the right then 10 houses accross the street. Tell them that you did the job next door, and you just wanted to introduce yourself incase they may be in the market. Give this a fair chance and see what happens.

Cole

No, we do custom remodeling. I highly doubt I could spot from driving by that someone wants an addition, renovation.

I already have a neighborhood campaign in place when we are working on a project. Radius around the project etc...

I am a big believer in postcards and doorknob hangers, but for me knocking on doors, is a no no.

IMHO, it will work for some, but not for all.

__________________
Tulsa's Leader in Outdoor Living Construction | Facebook | Tulsa Pergola Builder | Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens

wpc07834

Cole,
If you put door knockers out and do post cards, You want to tell me that a person telling a prospect in person,can't do a better job. Listen, if this is what you trully believe. You are right. However I choose not to believe this. When everyone else is complaing about leads, I'm worried about hiring more people. Please don't tell my canvassers that this won't work. They don't know that, so they go out everyday and do it anyhow. The difference is they believe they can.

Cole

No, no I know a person can do a better job then a postcard or hanger. I just think in my line of the work (custom remodeling), I don't think it would work for us. If I had a company salesman come up to my house while I was at home during the day trying to set a lead for remodeling, I would think that they are struggling or they do not do good enough work to stay busy. That is just my honest opinion. The advantage you have is that you can see psychically what needs to be done to the house and bring it to the attention of the homeowner. We do not have that luxury.

Oh, I am not trying to start an argument, you are giving me a couple of ideas, and I am going to put some brochures together and do it myself one week coming up in a month or two. I think if I can hand our brochure to the customer face to face, it may be different. I am going to give it a try!

That is what is so good about this forum, companies sharing information which would not happen if this place didn't exist!

__________________
Tulsa's Leader in Outdoor Living Construction | Facebook | Tulsa Pergola Builder | Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens

wpc07834

I am not sure you should send out a sales person to do this. I would never try and sell someone right then and there. My guys brought 25 leads in. I am now pacing well over a 100 leads a week, just from this one single lead source. This dissussion is about canvassing for leads. Is anyone reading my post have canvass dept?Are you interested in starting one?

Vinny

I'll do what I can to put you in touch.

__________________
Roccies Asphalt Paving
The Right Way Driveway Company
If you say you cant, your a loser. If you say you wont, your a quiter. Which one do you want to be?

wpc07834

I only canvass for Replacement window and siding leads. I have seen some very big deals come in lately. If I told you what we did in January this month, you probablly would not beieve me. I am running 9 guys doing nothing but canvassing. Its amazing what has happend since I talked my employer in running a canvassing divission. Today my department kicks the s..t out of Any other lead source.

wpc07834

You can do this anywhere.

vinylguy

i agree with wpc,
i have been canvassing for years myself always wanted to get a crew up and running tho and everytime i do it seems it falls apart. very frustrating to build a crew. so i went out and hired a person to run the canvass crew so that he could train and make sure things are happening with them. only problem is now all he does is trian them at the office and then sets em free and if he goes out with them he takes them to a ****ty area. so i think i will have to start over again i called him last nite and he didn't go out cause he had sinus infection what the? anyways i went out last nite myself and brought in 3 set leads in 3 hours from 3 pm to 6pm and 2 spring call backs for future work so thats cool but i was trying to make a competition out of it but i guess i was the only one in the game. oh well i'm heading back out today again. and results on leads yesterday were 1internet lead 2 telemarketing leads and 3 canvassed leads all are now set but the only ones set when i got back to the office was the canvassed leads so does it work yes and well to