Getting Doors Opened & Getting Leads
It’s a beautiful sunny day, you walk up and knock on the first front door and the homeowner opens the door with a bright smile on her face and you present a flawlessly scripted introduction and she gladly schedules an appointment for a demonstration for your product or service.
Wake UP! That’s how it may work in a perfect “canvassing” world, but anyone who’s canvassed more than a few doors will tell you that’s not reality.
There are a lot of moving parts to a great introduction and though I provide and teach using an introduction “script”, you also have to plan for the variables you’ll run into at the front door. These are what I call the “Non-Traditional Introductions.”
Over the next few months I’ll break down each of the more common uncommon introduction situations your canvassers will run into. I’ll set-up and show you the variables that determine what you should say and do based on these uncommon situations.
I mentioned scripts and often canvassers don’t like to use scripts for all sorts of reasons; though before you can teach a canvasser an introduction you have to have a great script. Many times these scripts will be developed by people with a sales background, or using sales psychology. In a traditional sales appointment you’d have time to ask open-ended qualifying questions to find out the homeowner’s needs and wants. In a sales call you have time to build rapport with the prospect, but the reality in the canvassing world is that you have about 10-15 seconds to make a first impression. Even in a “perfect world”, with no interuptions, most introductions take too long. You only have 10-15 seconds to get the homeowner interested in listening to more.
Canvassing uses many of the same techniques as in traditional sales, but it’s a different approach and language. Too many times I see canvassers using great closing points in their introduction and you just don’t have time in those 10-15 seconds. You have to demonstrate to the homeowner quickly that you’re not selling anything, because that creates pressure, and to get to the point of why you’re there.
Before I get into the Non-Traditional introductions I think it’s best if you understand the components of a good introduction, either in a perfect-world intro or the uncommon ones.
Introduction Components
Products
What product or products will you be promoting? Fundamentally there are two types of products, visible and non-visible.
Visible products
These are examples of things a canvasser can see and assess on a house, like:
- Windows
- Siding
- Doors
- Roofing
- Gutters
- Leaf Protection
- Driveways & Sidewalks
Then there are the non-visible items, like:
- Sunrooms
- Basement remodeling
- Water Proofing
- Kitchens
- Baths
- Handy-man services
Or a combination of these products/services.
Neighborhood
Identify if you’re canvassing around an install, somewhere you can reference neighbors or addresses the homeowner would be familiar with.
The other option is if you’re canvassing a new neighborhood where you don’t have any jobs presently. Or if you’re not comfortable using customer’s addresses.
It’s important to identify this and build it as part of your introduction. It will go toward the credibility of why you’re canvassing that particular neighborhood.
Your “Sit” or Demonstration policy
Does your company require that both homeowners be present for a demonstration, or one homeowner is sufficient for the demo (one leg).
These factors will play a key role in how your introduction will be structured and setup.
That establishes the basic components for your introduction, but as I mentioned earlier there will be a lot of different situations canvassers will face before or during their introduction they must be prepared for. The most common un-common introduction situations, or what I call, Non-Traditional introductions include:
- The “Cut-Off”, where the homeowner cuts you off within that 10-15 seconds
- They won’t open the door
- The homeowner is in the middle of dinner
- They’re on the phone
- They’re in the middle of something or getting ready to leave the home
- Or they give you the dreaded, “There’s no solicitation allowed in this neighborhood.”
I’m going to start 2010’s first newsletter off with breaking down the methodology of handling the “Cut-Off”. This will include the excuses of:
- “We can’t afford it”
- “We do that work ourselves”
- “We’re not planning on anything on the home this year”
- “We’re moving”
- “Our ‘windows’ are fine”
- To name a few
Watch for next month’s newsletter where I’ll tackle how to develop your introduction, including the key components as well handling the “Cut-Off.”