Hire a Canvassor?

I found many canvassers on Craigs List..... and

SeamlessGutters said:

I do seamless gutters and was wondering if I should be hiring people to canvass for me instead of door knocking.

How much should I pay per lead or appointment?

I would say my average job is $800-$1200 with a 45% profit margin.

But I think I am going to make them stay in area's with bigger homes. So my per lead costs is worth it.

I was thinking $25 per appointment? I like the idea of a appointment. I would close 1 in 3 which would mean each is costing me $75.00. Does that seem right?

Will I find somebody to work for this. I know at $25 an appointment I could make $150.00 a day easy.

I really would like to stay away from hourly if at all possible.

Thanks,

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I can't see paying for the appointment. By law, I think we have to pay minimum wage for a canvasser, so I pay my canvassers a percentage of the sales, or you may consider minimum wage plus $25 or more when you close a sale.

I advertised for canvassers in the Los Angeles Times two times and got nothing. I was surprised at how many good sales people called from Craigs List. In Los Angeles, we have to pay $25 to advertise on Craigs List for 30 days, but the listing is immediately pushed down and buried by other listings within one day so you may want to place a new ad every few days to stay on the top.

If you think you could make $150 a day easy.... why not tell them where to go and pay them $10 an hour? that's only $80 a day, you save money lol

even $10 an hour is high for a canvasser, $9 would be more the going rate, at least here in cali where wages tend to be higher. now you're down to $72 a day.

I don't know how much per day workman's comp would be on the kid, but it couldn't be enough to make it cost you more than that $150/day you think you could rake in doing it yourself

S Winklepleck said:

If you think you could make $150 a day easy.... why not tell them where to go and pay them $10 an hour? that's only $80 a day, you save money lol

even $10 an hour is high for a canvasser, $9 would be more the going rate, at least here in cali where wages tend to be higher. now you're down to $72 a day.

I don't know how much per day workman's comp would be on the kid, but it couldn't be enough to make it cost you more than that $150/day you think you could rake in doing it yourself

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Because when you make a offer and they except it, you will have a fixed lead cost. Someone knocking doors is often unsupervised. Do you really want to have a employee that does not guarantee to produce.

Knocking on doors takes alot of motivation. Only a rare person can stay enthusiastic after rejection. $125 day or more will buy consistency

Knock-Knock Who's There?

I seen your other post and I would keep doing it yourself for 1 month. The reason? Educate yourself first. After 1 month you will have learned it all and heard it all.

Then I would hire one person to work a neighborhood with you. Then once that person is a master at it then hire one to work with him or her. I would think a women would be great for this.

You also need to keep them motivated, and that is done with MONEY! Do not be afraid to pay for performance.

Plus start them out around an existing job you are doing. This makes it easier to start. Plus they can see you are a real company because they see your truck and your installing gutter.

Do not turn this into rocket science keep the KISS effect.

Good luck.

Carport King, that is good advice.

Perhaps you'll find canvassing so distateful you won't inflict anyone on the job; or if not, you will have enough respect for the process that you can guide and train your canvassers with real experience.

(I'm not the best at outbound sales, of any kind, it isn't my thing, but before I started my business I sold real estate for a couple of years and in pinch, can pull in an order or two -- and I certainly can relate to the frustrations and challenges of my sales team!)

You are also right in suggesting linking the canvassing to current jobs; it certainly makes it more humane and it is a much more valid approach -- and yes, the canvasser should "feel" and respect the work your non-canvassing staff actually perform.

I would only use canvasing if I was trying to break into a new area. I'm develped enough locally, that I get enough local work. But I'd like to expand and use some canvasing.

I'd probably be wanting to do it myself.

No one else is going to care as much as the owner of the company doing it.

The owner is less likley to get a door slammed in his face.

$150 a day is not going to keep a good salesman happy, motivated, and make him care enough in the summer heat.

I think canvasing is best done, 3 to 4 hours in the evening, and 3-4 days a week. Never on the weekends.

For me, If I'm closing 1-2 good jobs a week, that's all I can handle so it's not as important for me as it is for gutter jobs, where you can do 2-3 a day.

publisher one

perhaps he will not find it so distasteful if he does it himself for a month.
if i would have listened to you about a year ago i would have never of done canvassing but i'm here to tell ya i'm glad i didn't listen to ya !
just my opionon tho, but i do see alot of people or companies on here that have done still do it and will always do and they seem to be doing pretty good in these so called economic times.
just my two cents worth!:whistling

I am thinking about hiring a canvasser but not to knock on doors.

I want him to pass out flyers to every house that looks like it needs a roof.

I also want him to carry a clip board and write down the address of every house that gets a flyer, and then I’ll have someone enter the data into our Marketing software to build my mailing list.

Give me your feedback on this approach.

MEL said:

I am thinking about hiring a canvasser but not to knock on doors.

I want him to pass out flyers to every house that looks like it needs a roof.

I also want him to carry a clip board and write down the address of every house that gets a flyer, and then I’ll have someone enter the data into our Marketing software to build my mailing list.

Give me your feedback on this approach.

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Your results will be much better if you have him knock n the door and speak with the homeowner

SeamlessGutters said:

I do seamless gutters and was wondering if I should be hiring people to canvass for me instead of door knocking.

How much should I pay per lead or appointment?

I would say my average job is $800-$1200 with a 45% profit margin.

But I think I am going to make them stay in area's with bigger homes. So my per lead costs is worth it.

I was thinking $25 per appointment? I like the idea of a appointment. I would close 1 in 3 which would mean each is costing me $75.00. Does that seem right?

Will I find somebody to work for this. I know at $25 an appointment I could make $150.00 a day easy.

I really would like to stay away from hourly if at all possible.

Thanks,

Click to expand...

I canvassed a lot in my late teens for many companies. And I ran into the deals your listing above lots of times.

I use my own car, pay for gas, and he will pay me when he gets a sale, or a pitch. :lol: It never works out that way.

For canvassing to be successful you need to pay hourly plus commision, give them $10 per pitch and a low hourly according to your state min wage.

There are also insurance issues and each city needs to be checked with to see if you need a permit. I had permits for several citys that I had hanging around my neck to show cops when they would stop me in the really nice neighborhoods with those laws.

Crafty Homeowners well versed in their local laws do often call the local PD on you just for walking from house to house knocking doors.

So all these things need to be takin into account before starting.

MEL said:

I am thinking about hiring a canvasser but not to knock on doors.

I want him to pass out flyers to every house that looks like it needs a roof.

I also want him to carry a clip board and write down the address of every house that gets a flyer, and then I’ll have someone enter the data into our Marketing software to build my mailing list.

Give me your feedback on this approach.

Click to expand...

Hi Mel-

Another thing you can do, and SHOULD do if this is the method of attack you're going to utilize....

Make sure to get those addresses as you said of the houses being left a flyer...And for FREE you can go onto www.whitepages.com and do a reverse search of the address and 99.9% get the phone number of each of these homes. (It's alot cheaper than using salesgenie, but the only unfortunate thing is the homeowners number will not be "pre-scrubbed", meaning they could very well be on the national do-not-call list.

Either way, you could follow up the fylers being passed out with a pleasant phone call stating something simple like:

Godd afternoon, Mr./ Mrs.________--This is _________ w/ (company name)...We were in the neighborhood the other day, and as we were passing out flyers noticed that some of the shingles on your house are buckiling/ curling,....then run with it from there.

Personally, I find it a very effective way to get in the door and get some immediate business.

Good Luck!:thumbsup: