Door Knocking 101 - Page 5 - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Mr. Mike · 06-04-2009, 06:36 PM

Quote:

One quick question: Have you ever heard anyone say that they loved the fact that some stranger knocked on their door and tried to sell them something that they never asked for? I know I haven't.

Answered maybe at 05-28-2009 01:52 AM by pcplumber below:

Quote:

do like to have salesmen knock on our doors. We like door salesmen when it is convenient for us and we don't like them when we don't want to be bothered. There is a happy medium.

Ten years ago, just after I met my 3rd wife (don't ask me why I've had three), a pots and pan salesman knocked on my door. I saw his company's name on his box of pots and pans, and before the salesman said one word, I said, "come in and write me up an order". The salesman thought I was joking until I explained, I bought the same pots and pans for my first two wives, and I was actually looking for a set for my new wife, and I was very happy that he came to my door.

I also had a house painter come to my door and I had wanted to have my house painted for a long time, but never made the effort to look for a painter. I was going to paint my house myself and was very happy when the painter knocked on my door.

It is all about whether or not you need the product or service that is being offered. Some people are very happy we knocked on their foor because they needed our service.

pcplumber · 06-04-2009, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guerilla

Canvassing is really a profitable and easy to use marketing tool. It should just be one of the channels you use though.

Try a simple straightforward approach.

I got this from a course on marketingforcontractors.com a few years back.

Real simple. (extend doorhanger with name so they can read it)
My name is____________ and I work for_______(point to badge)
We are doing some work for the ______ family over on ________________ and I couldn't help but notice:

That you have chipping and cracking stucco here and here.
The the paint on your house is beginning to peel here and here.
That you still have the original single pane windows.
That your home has a composite shingle roof
Or whatever problem your product will solve.

(This may draw them into a conversation about their house. Talk about the problems you can see - [alot of homes in this area seem to have the exact same condition and...] then close)

I am setting appointments for free no obligation inspections and I do still have a few openings tomorrow. Would both you and your spouse be available around this time tomorrow or would something a little later be better?

The KISS method works. Don't try to trick them with surveys and don't waste their time. Home owners are not stupid. They know you are selling something if you are at their door.

Tell them who you are, let them know you are doing work nearby, point out the problem you can solve and let them know you would like to give them a free estimate.

If they say no, be nice, give them a door hanger or a nice color flier with photos of your work and move on to the next door.

All it takes is one customer in a neighborhood to make it worth while for most of us. I have a crew of 4 that pounds the streets after I start a job and then again when I finish one. We generally will get a job for every 500 houses we knock on. That is a full day for my crew.

I just did some calculations and my door knocker has been with me for 9 weeks. He speaks with about 15 to 20 homeowners every day and this is about 100 homes per week. We sold 19 jobs in the past 9 weeks, so we are closing a sale for 1 out of every 50 people he actually speaks with. Our sales from door knocking, for the past 9 weeks is exactly $128,649, so we are averaging $6,771 per job. So far, three of the jobs we did were $20,000, $20,500, and $19,500. So, 3 jobs account for half of the sales. Most of the jobs were $4,000 to $6,000 and few were less than $2,000. I pay my door knocker 10%, so the door knocking has been a terrific additional income.

handyhands · 06-05-2009, 07:32 AM

I was just curious,...We've canvasses in the past,..and as of recent have just began again and the results so far are very promising.

The question I have for you, is.......You said you pay your door knocker 10%. My question is,..what exactly is he doing for you to earn that 10%. Is he merely knocking on the door, introducing himself as well as your company and services and leaves them a card/ flier? Or is he actually setting the estimate on the spot?--And last question,....Does your door knocker also sell for you, meaning prepared to give an estimate himself, or is he merely talking to people, handing out fliers/ cards and then leaving the selling up to you?

Please answer these questions when you get a chance as I'm eager to know.

Thanks for your very informative posts, and continued good luck!

pcplumber · 06-05-2009, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by handyhands

I was just curious,...We've canvasses in the past,..and as of recent have just began again and the results so far are very promising.

The question I have for you, is.......You said you pay your door knocker 10%. My question is,..what exactly is he doing for you to earn that 10%. Is he merely knocking on the door, introducing himself as well as your company and services and leaves them a card/ flier? Or is he actually setting the estimate on the spot?--And last question,....Does your door knocker also sell for you, meaning prepared to give an estimate himself, or is he merely talking to people, handing out fliers/ cards and then leaving the selling up to you?

Please answer these questions when you get a chance as I'm eager to know.

Thanks for your very informative posts, and continued good luck!

I guarantee my door knocker $200 per day as a draw against a 10% commission. I made a little program for tracking his pay that is in the File Swap thread (I think) or in this thread.

My door knocker does not close any sales. He only knocks on the doors ans set appointments. Eventually, I would like him to learn enough to close sales, but his learning is going slower than expected. When he closes sales he will get an additional 7-1/2%, or a total of 17-1/2%. When he knocks on a door he offers free toilet test leaks, free drain or sewer cleaning, and free inspections for furnace repairs, or any other type of service.

handyhands · 06-05-2009, 09:48 AM

Are you hiring, by chance? lol (Just kidding)

I'm the marketing manager with my company and have done canvassing myself and seen the benefits firsthand, and at this point we've hired a young gentleman to handle most the canvassing aspects and are looking to hire a couple more door knockers as we have several interviews set up for today.

Again, thanks for your very informative posts. Looks like you have a good thing going there, and you only have your own dilligence to thank for it.

Thanks again!

wpc07834 · 06-15-2009, 02:29 PM

I still love reading these threads on canvassing.

I still believe that if you think canvassing is not for you, your competitor is loving you. I have seen more sales come from canvassing in 1 week than what a truck and ladder contractor sees in 1-2 years.......

pcplumber · 06-21-2009, 09:04 PM

http://www.bestlineplumbing.com/DoorSalesman.htm

Our door-to-door sales are doing great for the little effort I have been putting in, but it is going slower than I wanted. The reason is because I am burned out and have not had the energy to organize the canvassing and make a database to manage the canvassing.

A few weeks ago, I posted a simple MS Access program for tracking the salesmen's commissions. Today, I completed the program for managing the campaign. This program helps to track all the houses the canvasser visits and whether or not we want to go back to a house. The program is great so we know which houses we went to and we can go back to houses that were not home at a later date. The program prints reports and has several search capabilities. Now, I think we are ready to increase our canvassing team from 1 to 2, or 3 canvassers.

These are screen shots from the new program. You can download this program and use it for free. If You have any suggestions please post them.

I placed an ad for canvassers in the Los Angeles Times at a cost of about $300 for 3 days and I got calls from many undesirables. I never used Craigs List for anything before. Yesterday, I placed a 30-day ad for only $25 and I started getting several calls within an hour and most of the people calling sounded better than from the Los Angeles Times.

pcplumber · 06-21-2009, 09:07 PM

The software will print this blank form for your canvassers to fill out in the field. At the end of each day it should take only a few minutes to enter the information in the computer as the fields on the form and computer screen are almost identical. I don't like to use ''Yes" or "No" fields. A '1' always means yes, and a '2' is a no, or a '1' always means 'Active' and a '2' means 'Not Active'.

This program will have about 30 reports when it is finished. We started using the program today and it is terrific. Before, I had no way of knowing how many house he actually visited every day. Now, this program make my door knocker accountable and I can see what he is accomplishing every day. My reports will tell you exactly how many homes he visted each day, how many people he actually talked to, how many appointments were set, and how many jobs were sold. Then, we will be able to calculate the ratio of visits and tell the average number of homes we visit to close each sale.

Carport King · 06-23-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Publisher1

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.

Mark I would say the contractors that are knocking on doors does not know how to write an ad that pulls in sales. Now I am not knocking them but writing a good bribery ad works much better and builds your brand so much faster.

**Floorwizard** · 06-23-2009, 08:37 PM

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Mark I would say the contractors that are knocking on doors does not know how to write an ad that pulls in sales.

And I would say that a contractor that focuses on just ads but does not suppliment with beating the street, leaves a ton of money on the table.
I agree that a good ad can work wonders...but if you don't have a "10 second elevator pitch" you aren't making as much as you should.

Kjurczyk · 07-02-2009, 10:28 AM

Door knocking is a great and inexpensive lead source if done right.

The best application we have is door knocking while a job is in progress in the area. The script that was posted at the very beginning is pretty much spot on with one little add on- In the first few lines I would say "just wanted to apologize for all the noise you may have been hearing, we're completing a job around the corner (you've probably seen our trucks)... then continue the script.

I do the 4-15s rule. 15 house to the left, right, front, and back.

On some of the bigger jobs I will offer the homeowners a free car wash (because of all the dust in the air from our work). Not if they set a lead, I just give them a car wash coupon if they answer the door. "I just wanted to stop by and apologize for all the dust in the air from our work around the corner. We are completing a job in your neighborhood and I wanted to stop by and give a free car wash coupon as our way of saying thanks for being so patient while we finish the job. (hand them the coupon) By the way, have you had a chance to check out what your neighbors are doing"
I buy car wash coupons in bulk for about $2.50-3 per wash. It is well worth the costs. You would be amazed how many people open up to you after you give something so small. Plus you are no longer a "salesmen" you are a human being, and they let their guard down.

If I spend $90 on car wash coupons on one canvassing campaign and get one job from it, its a home run.

Any company can knock on a door, the question is what are you doing differently to separate yourselves from everyone else?

Publisher1 · 07-04-2009, 04:28 PM

Kjurczyk, this indeed is intelligent canvassing. Working in the neighbourhood where word of mouth verification is easy to confirm, showing some good-will wih a small gift, and a rational reason for the door-knock, makes much sense.

Home Services · 07-05-2009, 10:15 AM

Do any of you guys have canvassing suggestions for this scenario?

We are starting a new (additional) company...Safety Bath. Selling & installing walk-in bathtubs ($5,000-$12,000 ticket) approx. as well as bathtub step-thru's, grab bars, safety seats, etc.

Obviously our target market is much more limited than say windows, siding, roofing and so on. Our target is limited to seniors, the chidren of seniors & handicapped individuals.

Any suggestions/ideas are appreciated.

handyhands · 07-06-2009, 08:02 AM

I'd be tempted to hit the 55+ communities. There's alot of them around.

My thoughts are, if you're going to canvass a neighborhood "blindely", how many seniors are you actually going to speak to for every 10 doors that you knock?

Kjurczyk · 07-06-2009, 01:33 PM

I'd agree with Handy. Canvassing is all about numbers. You need to hit 50 people to get a yes. So unless you can place yourself in an area where you can hit 50 of your potential target (seniors) you won't be successful.

Sounds to me like direct mail would get the job done a little more effectively because your audience is more targeted than the general audience you find canvassing.

pcplumber · 07-06-2009, 11:11 PM

I am always amazed regarding the young age and number of people who tell me they can't lift their leg high enough to get into a regular bathtub.

Walk-in bathtubs are for people handicapped by weight, age, and many other physical limitations.

We do door canvassing only between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and most of the people we talk to are seniors, or 55+.

If I were going to do door canvassing for walk-in tubs I would want to have a really good video I could show each customer and the video should explain and emphasize all the benefits, ease of installation, etc.

Perhaps, the opening pitch would be to sell the customer on watching a 2-minute video. Do the least amount of talking. After the customer watches the video you will know if they are interested by whether or not they ask questions.

Home Services · 07-07-2009, 05:36 AM

Good points guys. I like all of your ideas. I agree that 9-3pm would be the time to catch seniors at home or younger stay at home moms that might say "my parents could use one of your tubs"... you get the idea...

We do have a video that would work well in pcplumbers scenario. I am looking into setting up a telemarketing room, direct mail campaign, a little TV & canvassing...

Any more of your ideas would be appreciated.

UnitedMA · 07-07-2009, 09:09 AM

We've had much more success with local networking and relationship building. I can't say that canvassing isn't in our future, but we have our 5 sales guys in local networking groups which can take anywhere from 2-5 hrs. a week, but it's worth it. It leads to about 500K in sales every year not including additional referrals. Not that you can't do both, but in my opinion (if you have to choose)local networking groups are the way to go.

pcplumber · 07-07-2009, 09:04 PM

Yesterday, after 12 weeks of training I gave my door canvasser a plumbing truck, some tools, a camera, television monitor, 8 x 10 printer, and a helper. Yesterday, he got two hot leads. I sent one of my plumbers to the leads and the leads did not pan out.

Today, I told my canvasser to close his own leads. Today, he signed a contract to install a toilet flange, reset the toilet, install the owner's pedestal sink, and run 5 feet of gas pipe for $1500. He also sold a simple job to replace drain pipes underneath a house for $5,000. The canvasser gets paid 10% for getting the lead plus 7-1/2% for closing the lead, so he made a little over $1100 today and this is only the first day I let him attempt to close a sale by himself.

Since, I can get my canvasser to close his own leads I can have my plumbers concentrate on the leads we get from our brochures as we have for the past 36 years. The door canvasser's leads were sucking my valuable plumber's time and our gross sales actually declined. Now, the canvassing will be entirely independent.

Home Services · 07-08-2009, 05:46 AM

PCPlumber,

Please keep us all updated on the results of your "new" canvassing stratagy. Thanks