wpc07834

Thinking about canvassing? Not sure where to begin? I do not have any money to spend on advertising. Will this work for me?
Answer yes.

Recruiting... Internet, friends, referrals,

Pay structure... Pay on presentations. It's just a matter of how many present to your close ratio. If you can not close 2 out of 10. You are in the wrong field.

Small canvassing operations should have a minimum of 4 guys knocking doors.

Larger organizations should have 2 canvassers for each sales rep.

pcplumber

I like to pay a percentage of the sale rather than for each appointment. I would think when you pay for the appointment the canvasser will not blow off the duds. When you pay a percent the knocker will look for better leads so he doesn't waste his own time.

I am still fairly positive canvassers have to be paid no less than minimum wage.

We are still looking for the best words to open a conversation with. My plumber who started canvassing is kicking my profesional canvasser's butt. My plumber works only about 2 - 4 hours a day and he has sold 1 and 2 jobs very large jobes every day since he started a few weeks ago.

This is what he told me he says at the door and I would not agree with his statement, but it works.

"Hello, I'm from XYZ Plumbing and I stopped by to introduce my company. Have you heard about XYZ before?"

Then, almost every customer either says yes or no, a conversation has been initiated, and the canvasser continues with telling about the services we provide.

I give the canvassers coffee cups, pens, brochures, and calendars to hand out and I don't know if he gives them to the customers. If I were canvassing I would hand the customer the items first.

Whatever my canvassers are doing works and I will never stop canvassing. Canvassing has been the easiest, fastest, and least expensive way to get leads. Why didn't I do this 36 years ago?

I agree and would like to get 4 canvassers going but I keep terminating the new canvassers and I have only two. I am thinking about advertising for plumbers that want to canvass, but I am afraid to let plumbers know about our canvassing because an ex-employee heard about what we are doing, started canvassing, and we bumped heads two times on the same block within the last two weeks. I've cut myself out of jobs in the last few years a few times for talking too much.

"Loose lips sink big ships"

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wpc07834

Maybe we should shut this post down before everyone figures out how good canvassing is for leads. We are in a business that requires us to produce a certain amount of leads each month. We will never grow if we settle on just enough.
Canvassing is buy far the best lead out there for the home remodeling industry, next to the previous customer who calls you back for more work.

Most people who start a canvassing team find the can really do well, then they drop because they can not afford to stay on top of it. Or just loose energy.

I think recruiting is the lifeblood of this industry. We should always be looking for talent that can help grow our company.

89PAINT

Hi guys that do canvassing consistently. We are a painting company and although we do not canvass at the moment, I did a lot of canvassing for another company for years and know how amazingly it works

We averaged at least an inquiry per hour, but usually more like 2-5.

They were a $25M a year company that did all of their work in the summer... But therein lies my question - canvassing worked really well for us in the spring and summer - but what about the fall and winter???


Right now we have alot of leads for the just two of us that sell, but we are entering our slower season and I am worried that our referrals, etc will not continue at the rate that they are now.

Do either of you have experience with canvassing in the winter?

How well do you think a canvassing department would do for painting in the winter?

what products WOULD sell the best in the winter?

Thanks!

BDiamond

My partner and I started a window and siding company with $5000. In the first year we grossed $4M and started strictly w/canvassers. I still use them today.

I pay them $9/hr. I also bonus them for appts AND sales.

I pay for appts because I want them to set a good solid appointment so the sales guys don't have No Shows and 1 Legs. I want strong commitments from the HO's. I do it on a tier system. 0-5 appts/week equals $. 5-10 appts/week equals $$....so on. This encourages them to provide volume AND quality

That is considered their regular pay.

Then they got bonused on the sale 1% of the gross sale. If I'm making money then so should they. I have a canvasser that I BONUSED $1400 this week but that was with $114K in gross sales based on his leads.

I don't have sales guys or myself canvass because we usually try to sell at the door. I tell my sales guys when they complain about the appt (tire kickers, broke, etc) that the canvassers have no other duty than to make sure that all HO's are present, they own the house, and they're employed. After that, if they can sell, it shouldn't matter.

We usually lose about 20% to NO Shows, 1 legs, cancellations, resets, etc.

Canvassing is a great way to go. Turnover is the hard part. Screen hard, train well, reward your performers, dump the slackers, and Keep your applicant pool high!

wpc07834

Cold weather.... Hard to get people motivated for canvassing. I just tell them that we are all lucky just to have a job today.

I have tried many different pay plans. Here is what I am using now. $50. per day base they work 8:30 till 5pm (they only knock doors 4-6 hours)
they receive a bonus only after the 5th appointment is run. I do not pay a sale bonus. Their only job is to find the leads. We call them back and weed out the bad ones

nlgutters

Thanks!!

What percentage of your sales is from canvassing?

Also what is your fully loaded lead cost from canvassing?


Nice website by the wayy.

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www.nlseamlessgutters.com

wpc07834

You must be joking about my web site. I do not use it for anything other than the domain name.

Canvassing can run anywhere from 12% to 18% depending on how good your sales force is and if you have a manager. You can have a much lower cost if you run the program.

I believe that canvassing works best when you have a good structure in place.

Canvas Manager, Team Leader, Canvasser...

I have seen canvassing dominate up to 95% of all leads issued and as low as 30%

When starting a program you need to have money to invest, it takes time getting the crew together and trained.

Sales Reps can close anywhere from 20% to 60% depending upon the training the sales rep has.

Price can have a huge impact on closing ratio too.

Right now this economy sucks, people just do not want to spend money and they are not picking up the phone and calling to get estimates. You have to work harder to produce leads and know the value of the lead that you get.