Doorknob Hangers On Qualified Homes

JohnnyRoofs

I'm planning on starting a small doorknob hanging campaign for my roofing business. I will be doing the hanging myself. My idea is to just locate neighborhoods in nearby areas that have a lot of roofs that need done and walk them on a nice evening/weekend when there might be some people out. I have good social skills and appearance so I'm hoping I might be able to set a few appointments with people that are in their yards.

Anyway, I'm only going to be putting them on homes that visually need new roofs so I might get 250? hung. Can I expect a higher % of responses because these are qualified targets?

The hanger is 8x4, the front is a picture of a nice roof with "Have You Looked At Your Roof Lately?" in large letters with my logo and # at the bottom. Back says "We were in the neighborhood and wanted to introduce ourselves! We are in the process of setting our 2007 schedule and would love to compete for your business. We install a full line of products that will fit any home and budget." It then goes on with several bullets points like Registered and Insured, Free estimates, etc.. At the bottom it says "Trust the professionals at Lifetime Roofing for all your roofing needs. Call us today to schedule a convenient time to inspect your roof and free estimate!" Then my logo, #, and address. I did the setup, printing, etc myself to control cost and quality the first time.

I'm hoping to get 10 leads or so out of this. What do you guys think?

ButlerDesigns

You will get alot of mixed opinions on this. You will get the ones like shows that your LOOKING/DESPRATE for work. I think its an ok idea. I would rather just introduce yourself and just tell them to talk with their spouse and think about it. Then give you a call. DO NOT push them. You will go alot farther not pushing. Just like a car dealer. I tell them dont push me and you will get my business. They just throw me the keys and say take it for a spin. I do and next thing you know they made 50k off me. Not being pushy goes along long way. Best of luck

John

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John Butler
Butler Designs, LLC

MattCoops

it may work
but only 250 houses, you may get a few calls
getting face to face and talking with them maybe help setting appointments

we generally get a 2-5% response from door hangers

more when we do proximity hangers, in areas where we are doing work or estimates
Then people drive by your lettered truck, or a yard sign, and see a door hanger on their way home from work, it helps to get them to call

__________________
Matt with Cupan Custom Tile & Paint of Lowell, Massachusetts
Design and installation of ceramic tile and natural stone for floor, wall, and countertops
(978) 601-8774 | cupantile@gmail.com | view tile pictures and more

Mike Finley

With the way you described your piece it sure sounds good, and your premise and technique does too.

The best part about what you are doing is you are highly targeting your potential customers, you're going to be hitting the people most likely to need your service, instead of putting out 20 on a street you might be hanging only 2. Normally out of those 20, 18 of them wouldn't even be a potential customer anyways, so you should get really high returns.

If you want to compound your returns, if you could figure out a way to hit the ones that don't contact you, again every 3-4 months I'm betting you will be shocked at how many calls you get over time.

vinylguy

make sure your web address is on the flyer! also butler that no pressure junk is for you and other but if the potential client is ready for a new roof than go for it. everyones different ! how do you pressure someone anyways if your just introducing yourself? hi i'm bill give me your job or i'll pee on your lawn! some of you think all people think like you do. its just not the case and you don't need pressure to sell.

Ed the Roofer

Another idea I picked up from a seminar by Richard Kaller, was to pull out the binoculars when you are sighting a home with a roof in poor condition.

Not to be used as if you were a Peeping Tom, but if you did stir up any on site interest with someone who was home, you could tell them what poor shape the roof is in. You let them know that you have a trained eye for picking up severe defects which could start leaking in the near future.

Then you hand the high magnification binoculars to them and they will see things about their roof that they never realized before.

It will increase the sense of urgency without coming off as high pressure. They are discovering the defects for themselves.

Good Start, Johhny Roofs.

Ed

woodmagman

wow that is great...I am going to use that from now on. I wonder if it will work with foundation cracks, or worn hardwood flooring. Joking aside that is a great idea.....

dougchips

Ed, how about the binoculars with the built in camera? You could take a picture print it on a postcard and send it to them. If someone sent me a picture of my crappy roof I might read their card.

"warning your roof needs life support" with red arrows pointing out issues.

Might want to test market it first to see if you piss people off. By posting this I am giving it to someone else to test market it for me

__________________
To get the best replacement windows, or sun rooms contact the replacement windows experts at FHI Vinyl Window Company.

Ed the Roofer

DougChips,

I have never heard of a non-CIA pair of binoculars with a built in camera as you mentioned.

For the same affect, I guess you could use your high magnification digital camera as well.

What about carrying around a compact digital video recorder. You could have them magnify up to 800 X for the most ludicrous affect.

Personally, I think the lower end regular binoculars would work out the best. You do not come off as saying; "HEY!!! Your the Homeowners who win the Grand Prize for the crappiest roof in the neighborhood!!!" I just think if someone sent me something like that, I would feel it was too presumptuous of them.

Even if I did decide that they were right, I would probably be too embarrased to contact the guy who put my crappy roof on digital display mode. Who else got copies of the picture of my roof?

Ed

ButlerDesigns

Ok leave the no pressuring to me. You will get aheck of alot farther not pressuring then pressuring. Makes no sense..If you pressure someone you are nothing but DESPERATE..flat out...You are just like a car dealer trying you darnest to get a sale no matter what it takes. Just say high my name is John and few basics and then let them decided! If they are serious about it they will come to you.. I would tell you to get lost as im sure most will.. Heck why dont you give them a 50% off coupon why your at it!

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John Butler
Butler Designs, LLC

dougchips

http://www.opticsplanet.net/digital-...inoculars.html

Ed, You could do it with Reno works for a before and after.

Attached Images

 

__________________
To get the best replacement windows, or sun rooms contact the replacement windows experts at FHI Vinyl Window Company.

Ed the Roofer

Coollllllllllll!

I like new toys!

I've got to check that bad boy out!

Ed

woodmagman

Looks like Star ship Enterprise or a Catamarand.

bill r

It sounds like a great idea, but there are some 'snakes in the grass'. If a pedestrian approached me in my yard with the message 'have you looked at your roof lately', i'd be pissed. But if he simply identified himself as a roofer and was surveying/hanging the neighborhood, I'd be much more open, particularly if he had a neat shirt with his company logo, a 3-ring binder prop of some sort to authenticate his business purpose, and most importantly if a pickup with ladders, etc was easily visible. Then I'd want to invite him to look at the roof, etc

edit: If anyone's prowling my street, I want to know whether theyre casing for robbery, for stray kids or just what they are 'up to'. So, go for it, but be careful to not alarm people or anger them.

2nd edit: Ed and Doug and others have a lot more experience; I wanted to give you some possible hassles to think about to make your idea even better. If my roofs rotten, I'm going to know it and be concerned about it, but I still wouldn't appreciate an insult. Insult my house, insult me. Just shine it up a little, and you've got a goldmine business-generating idea. Always keep your logo'd vehicle in plain sight for credibility; doesn't matter how old or new it is. It simply says that you are who you say you are. Good luck building your backlog. Bill

3rd edit: How's about, "We sometimes survey housing of a certain age..."

Ed the Roofer

Another trick I learned from that seminar master was a unique method of cold calling.

One or two estimators are standing on the sidewalk just staring and pointing away at the roof before them. (The homeowners must be home or out in their yard for this to achieve any results. They MUST notice you pointing over and over again at their house and roof.)

Finally, after they question you as to what you are doing, you respond;

"Mr. and Mrs. Jones, we are so ans so from xyz company and we just had to stop and take a look at some things on your roof.

Mr. Jones, I'm sure you know the terrible shape your roof is in already, so I'm not telling you anything new. But, you see here, I have a new estimator in training and I wanted to show him all of the trouble signs to look for and your roof is the one on this block that just jumped out screaming at me.

We were working on the "John and Jane Smith" home one block away and I couldn't pass up this opportunity to show my new estimator as many of the warning signs as possible to look out for during an upcoming inspection.

I must assume that you already have your own roofing contractor lined up to take care of your problems, don't you? Well here, maybe this will help you out in doing your own inspection, or at least give you some good advice.
(Give him a problem identifier brochure with advised solutions included)
(Or; Give him a "How To Choose A Roofing Contractor" brochure.)

What problems you ask? Well here, look at this other brochure too; (Give him a a full color brochure that shows all the signs of a roof needing to be replaced. GAF and OC both have good articulate color brochures available.)

After a brief moment for him to glance at the brochure, ask him to take a closer look using your binoculars. There Mr. Jones; Do you see the similarities on your roof and in the brochure you just looked at? Thats exactly the things I wanted my new estimator to see up close.

By the way, when were you having your contractor come out here to take care of your problems and replace your leaky old roof?

Oh, you didn't call anyone yet? Well, if you would like a Free estimate, we are already working on the next block on your neighbors home, so we could easily take a look at it for you. Why don't you go and talk to John and Jane Smith on the next block, and while you go there, please check out the neatness of the jobsite and see if you have any further questions you would like to ask us.

If you like, we could do the measurements right now and prepare a very detailed scope of work and budget for you.

If its okay with you, we will go and measure it right now. Would that be okay with you, or would you prefer that we measure your roof tomorrow, when we are finishing your neighbors roof?

Why, Thank You very much. That works out just fine for us too.

We could have this proposal and budget ready for you and your wife to look over tomorrow evening or the day after.

Does tomorrow evening work out better for you or would you prefer us to come over Tuesday sometime.

Good. Then thats when everything will be ready for you.

Oh Mr. Jones, once again, I want to thank you very much."

Ed

JohnnyRoofs

"Have you looked at your roof lately" was an idea borrowed from Certainteed. It's what they have on one of their hangers along with "That was one Hail of a storm!", "It was a dark and stormy night" and "What's all the commotion about?" I figured it was more "proven" than anything I could think of and I kind of liked it.

I guess I was just thinking if a homeowner was out in the yard I'd just walk up (company shirt and hat) and say something like "Looks like you might need a new roof before too long." Hand them the hanger and say "We'd love a chance at your business." If they dont respond tell them have a nice day and move on. If they do respond, just let my natural charm take over.

I understand and accept the low percentages that are normally associated with flyers/hangers etc. I was hoping since this will only be to qualified HO's I might be able to approach 5% response rate. I was hoping for something like 250 hangers, 12 leads, 3-4 contracts. Does that seem obtainable?

Ed the Roofer

Actually, even though I posted that different method to initiate a contact with a homeowner for a cold call estimate acquisition, I would only use it on the exact neighbors on the exact block where I was currently working.

The targeted flyers will produce enough results for you. You just have to remember repetition and branding awareness. ie; Job signs, truck signs, company logo shirts, etc...

The stop by and introduce method seems too much akin to the Jehovas Witness people, who are very polite but also get brushed off politely as well, if unsolicited calls were made at my door.

Yes, I know the door hangers you speak of. Ugly family on the picture. The Certainteed Learning Resource Center has many many tools for improving your business available, and I use them extensively.

Ed

liltrainerboy

i have a kid that passes out 500 flyers a day. bout 5 hours a day .. 5 days a week. 6 bucks an hour plus comission(50 a job)i have been getting an average of 3 calls a day for the last month.. way exceed my expectations. the kid is doing very well for himself. hes gonna be one of the highest paid guys that i have..lol

POOLMANinCT

this idea is exciting...

if I received a 4x6 pic of my homes flaws in the mail... I'd call at least out of curiosity. if it were in an envelope I'd never open it..

w/ top notch copy, member association logos(for credibility) contact lic # etc. this could be a very fresh approach, though labor intensive.

put a stamp on the back mail it.. I don't like doorhangers or advertisements dropped of at my house..

ray


there is a lawn mower in the areas that has a junky flier, put it in a plastic bag w/ som rocks to weigh it down, & throws them on the driveways. one year he used mulch samples to weigh the bags down... havent seen him in a while ....hmmmmmm

aac_cos

I wish I had the time to stage jobs like that again! It reminds me of a long time ago...