Door Knocking 101 - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Mr. Mike · 01-20-2009, 07:23 PM

This is a thread for us to put some ideas together based off thoughts or real door knocking experience.

I am no pro at door knocking but have learned a few things and I am happy to share.

Drive into a community and park nicely toward the back park and plan on knocking every door before you leave, do not walk on the grass to get to the doors.

Once you knock on the door be smiling and stand about 3 feet back and to the side of the door with the hinges, this away when they open the door they see you smiling.

Say hello I am _________ the owner of ________________ and we are setting up appointments in your area for later this week (or next week what ever you prefer to tell them), Let me ask you if you have been planning on doing any interior remodeling, painting, carpeting or anything like that, Oh well we work on the exteriors also do you have anything outside like painting, siding, gutters, pressure washing, tree trimming, windows, doors or storm doors to install.

Would there be one day better than another for me to come out and give you a free estimate all I'm doing today is setting appointments on all the things you are needing to have done what day would be good for us to meet.

I'm going to stop here and lets catch up on what has taken place, many may think the words are wrong, please state a better door knocking first quarter.

HomeGuard · 01-20-2009, 10:43 PM

One thing that Ive done in the past is create a short survey. (3-5 questions) Then When I get to the door I ask if they will give me a minute to complete a short survey(this takes the barrier down--they don't see you as a salesperson any longer) then I ask questions that are directed at my business like " Are you planning on dong any renovations in the next __ months"-- "what type of renovations?" "What do you look for in a company when you hire a contractor" ect.

Then I say thanks and start to walk away, but turn and say as innocently as possible, " you know, it would be silly of me not to ask you if you would like a free estimate?" and let them decide.

If you get an appointment, you can use the answer to the last question as a point to drive home on your sales pitch. If you don't get an immediate appointment at least you planted a seed with a conversation.

**Ed the Roofer** · 01-20-2009, 10:58 PM

Good technique. I like it.

Always leave something with them to look at once you are gone too.

That is your secret salesman, with no pressure felt by the home owner.

Ed

concretemasonry · 01-20-2009, 11:08 PM

Make sure you are wearing a tastefully and professionally identified shirt or jacket to make the owner feel he/she is dealing with someone that is openly identified.

Even if rejected, provide a professional card for future refernce.

Do not leave cheap brochures, since anyone can hire riff-raff to dump brochures.

tomstruble · 01-20-2009, 11:51 PM

some towns call that soliciting and you may need a permit

Winchester · 01-21-2009, 12:55 AM

Don't come to my house.

I've got work to do.

And if I don't have work to do, then leave me the heck alone anyway. I deserve a break for once

Mr. Mike · 01-21-2009, 01:05 AM

I like the survey idea, I could use that pretty good.

Never leave a card with people that schedule Phil says because they may call to cancel, only leave it with those who don't schedule. Where a large badge that says soliciting and if you need a permit use it as the badge either way the bigger a badge the more trusting you seem to be.

Publisher1 · 01-21-2009, 07:00 AM

I can't dispute that door-knocking works in certain circumstances (readers here know I investigated this stuff first-hand), but the more I learn about marketing, the less I like it.
It is intrusive, irritating, and downright annoying in most cases. (The one exception, what I saw in Columbus, OH, is where there ma be a concentrated local requirement, say after a major storm where damage can be seen or assessed from the outside.)
Our goal should be to, as much as possible, reduce the intrusion and irritation of marketing. The previous poster's suggestion by Phil Rea that you don't leave a business card with anyone who sets an appointment because they may (likely) call to cancel, is just an example of what is wrong with this type of intrusive marketing.
We should want people to buy, more than to force ourselves into their space by selling. If your product or service have real value, if you've built a good reputation and in good times you've relied primarily on referrals, you should be able to make your marketing work effectively in this manner, and not spend a fortune at it, either.
Remember, Joseph Needham didn't get my attention by knocking on my door (or initiating an irritating telemarketing call to me). And Mike Feazel uses radio ads extensively (not recommended for most of us, but works well for him) and has referral-inducing programs.
Most of the time, canvassing is wrong. I encourage you to look in other directions. Think encouraging people to buy, not forcing yourself on them to sell them stuff. Phil Rea is giving bad advice.

Mr. Mike · 01-21-2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Phil Rea is giving bad advice.

Remember Phil didn't knock on our door or blow are phones up to show us his routine, but he does have a movie crew walking door to door with him showing us how he knocks doors. I think you think our products will sale them selves and of course that is not the case, but Phil I don't think is capable of giving bad advice, just some advise you don't agree with possibly.

Quote:

We should want people to buy, more than to force ourselves into their space by selling. If your product or service have real value, if you've built a good reputation and in good times you've relied primarily on referrals, you should be able to make your marketing work effectively in this manner, and not spend a fortune at it, either.

I did not understand this clip above, are you saying that are Referrals, products and service sale them selves? Please explain because I am thinking that me at your door is going to make an appointment quicker than a card or postcard.

MCerminaro · 01-21-2009, 03:38 PM

I get alot of contractors comming to my door, all it does is annoy me, and from talking to my nieghbors them too. I do not think you are going to "sell" a job to a homeowner if they do not want it. I dispise high pressure, or in your face sales tactics. Personally I would NEVER hire or buy from someone comming to my door with those types of tactics. The door would surely be slammed in your face and has on many occasions.

The last thing anyone wants is to come home from work and deal with someone disrupting your life by trying to tell you why their services is the next best thing to god. I prefer a nice well organzied brochure, or flyer. I can look at it, hold onto for future reference, or throw it away and not have to get ignorant because some knucklehead wants to be a pain in my ass!!

handyhands · 01-21-2009, 03:58 PM

I canvassed for one day around a job we were doing. Grant it, Do i like knocking on someones door, and feeling like I'm being intrusive? No. the one day I spent out around the jobsite we were doing, I maybe knocked on 30 doors,.....talked to MAYBE 8 people. and landed one $15,000 siding job.

You definitly have to be in the right mind frame, and be able to handle rejection.

But,...here I am sitting here,....wondering if I brought my 10 yr. old daughter with me, fully dressed in her girl scout clothes and yeilding boxes of girl scout cookies,..if that may work to my benefit.....lol

MCerminaro · 01-21-2009, 04:03 PM

Only if they are the peanut butter ones!!!

jaros bros. · 01-21-2009, 04:03 PM

I don't think the survey questions are a good idea. First of all, you're disguising the real reason why you are there. Call it what you will, but it's not being honest. And if you aren't honest from the beginning, how do you expect your clients to be able to trust you in the future.
This is the same thing that I tell clients when they ask if I "take cash." In fact, this a selling point for me. Honesty from start to finish is extremely important. I think there are more ethical ways to approach door to door.

Josh Jaros

Publisher1 · 01-21-2009, 05:45 PM

Phil Rea's in-your-face obtrusive sales techniques are irritating, annoying and hardly the best way to build your brand. Canvassing can work, and I respect that intrusive marketing is often effective, but you face a major uphill battle in building trust and respect. The more you 'sell' the more resistance....

So how do you find business? If you are good and have a solid base of old customers, you can systematically communicate and follow up and with thoughtful strategies find huge response rates, referrals and repeat stuff. Or you can design your Internet marketing strategies to make it easy and low pressure for people to say 'yes' -- by overdelivering. Finally, by checking with your current/previous clients, you can determine which media and organizations they respect and use -- and allocate marketing dollars to these media outlets and/or organization sponsorship support.

Go ahead and canvass if you wish; it works, certainly, and if you are ethical about it you'll restrict your canvassing to environments where you are likely to be welcome and not intrusive (ie, after a storm, where insurance money will pay the repairs, and where state ordinances are such that you won't find your insurance goes up by making a claim -- like what I saw in Columbus).

Forget Phil Rea's tricks, though. This stuff will work some of the time, but it is the style of Glengarry Glen Ross, not the way business is done in 2009.

tomstruble · 01-22-2009, 12:18 AM

now that was a great movie, poor Shelly

Mr. Mike · 01-22-2009, 12:43 AM

I love Phil my man sorry but I do since I seen him Ive doubled everything, I think you may be a better door knocker than him possibly, but he is more motivating than you at getting me to a door,lol

Dave Mac · 01-22-2009, 09:15 AM

I like it when someone knocks on my door. I usually drill them with questions about how they work (door to door) I find most of the time its just highschoold kids trying to set a appointments up, they know know nothing, and most of them just started. If you ever find one that is good and impresses you, try to hire them to canvass for your company.

Mr. Mike · 01-22-2009, 10:46 AM

Quote:

I like it when someone knocks on my door. I usually drill them with questions about how they work (door to door) I find most of the time its just highschoold kids trying to set a appointments up, they know know nothing, and most of them just started. If you ever find one that is good and impresses you, try to hire them to canvass for your company.

lol, me to. Thats what I do.

wpc07834 · 01-22-2009, 12:48 PM

Wow. I know canvassing is intruvisive to some people. I would reccomend apologizing for disturbing them. I would never reccomend any high preasure tatics, and if you set an appointment you should beyond a shadow of doubt leave them a phone number if they would like to cancel there appointment.

Canvassing is not for everyone. It is my expeience that for companies that deal with the homeowner, it is one of the best leads you could ever get, not to mention the cost is much lower. Those of you that read trade publications will see that it is one of the top 3 lead sources.

I would like to share a expeierence that happend while I was trainning a new canvasser.

We were knocking on doors in a neighborhood one day when I saw this guy looking at us with the look that some of you that do not like people knocking on your doors. I approached him and asked how he was doing. He said that depends. You know one of those people that has attitude issues. I handed him a flyer, he looked over it and said he was in the biz. I did not think it would be a good idea to pitch him.
I asked him how bussiness was, and he reppiled" It's slow, the economy sucks and nobody wants to spend money. I said I agreed with him and asked how he has been doing. He told me that he has not recieved any calls in the last couple of months. It seemed all he could do was complain about how bad things were and just waiting till it would get better.
I told him that I hoped everything worked out for him and to have a good day.

I would have to admit the whole time I was talking to him, I kept thinking, I am gladd this guy is a competitior. With an attitude like that it should just be a matter of time before he goes out of biz. We had just wrote a couple of appointments and got a few good leads right around his neighborhood.

When things get tough, that should be the time to go to work.

I might not agree with publishers opion on canvassing. I would agree with his ideas about relationship building. There is nothing wrong with getting out and talking to the neighbors.

If you really do not want someon knocking on your door, just place a no soliciting sign or no tresspassing sign. If someone cannot respect that, then they are fair game for attitudes.

pcplumber · 01-22-2009, 05:09 PM

I met some successful contractors who sell about $50,000 to $100,000 per month painting houses and for all types of repairs. Door knocking is something I cannot do because I don't have the stamina and cannot handle the rejection. I did door-to-door when I was about 8 years old and I had some rejections that scarred me for life.

I did put an ad in the newspaper, for door-to-door salesmen, last week. I got about 10 calls and no bites. I put an description of what I am looking for on my web site so I would not have to explain everything on the phone.

http://bestlineplumbing.com/Salesman.htm

My battle plan is to hire two sales people to work as a team on opposite sides of the street. They will knock on doors and hand the customers a packet of goodies that include a calendar, 6 nice ink pens with rubber grips, two garden hose washers pasted on a picture of a truck, a brochure, and dye tablets to check for leaking toilet tanks. We will attempt to get the customer to allow us to show them how to check their toilet tank for leaks and offer to insert the dye tablets. Once in the home, we will be able to get the customer to talk to us, rather than us doing the talking. If the customer wants something, they will think about it while we are testing the toilets for leaks.

The hardest part is going to be finding the right team.