I have a sickness. It’s called canvassing-itis. Canvassing is in my blood. I’ve been doing it most of my life. I’m not like everyone else in canvassing. I love rolling up my sleeves and training and coaching. I also love canvassing and what I do today brings both of those loves together.
What I’ll discuss in this article I’d rank in among the top 3 of the most important keys to your results in canvassing.
I’ve walked with thousands of canvassers and I’ve seen how they didn’t use this small key tactic properly and left literally thousand dollar bills on the door step. People have seen me work at the door and wondered walking away from that door how I got the lead. What I show you here is the technique that brings the leads.
People who see me do this are mystified by how quickly learning this skill will double and triple your results.
My system is an automatic response system. Doesn’t matter what you’re canvassing for it works when you apply it. You can stop floundering at the door when the homeowner throws an objection at you during the introduction.
Professional batters and golfers work on their swing or stroke over and over in order to develop muscle memory so their body can perform the same successful swing or stroke each and every time.
MLB players are professionals, but they get back to training every year. Spring training is about getting back to the basics and that’s what you’re going to find here, getting back to the basics and I promise you if you learn this you’ll start closing more leads.
Those that know my 5-Step system know there are directions after each step.
Here’s the scenario that happens at every door with every canvasser. He or she walks up to the door and presents their introduction. If you’re using my system you know it, if you’re not that’s OK, where I want you to be for this lesson is immediately after delivering your introduction. After that, something is going to happen and I refer to it as getting either a red light or green light from the prospect; and you need to be able to recognize each light. Now, I’m not going into detail on each specific red or green light response. My focus here is your automatic response to either; it’s on the ‘step 2’ part of my system, the transition.
As you’ll see it’s a response that is so powerful in turning around and directing the presentation that you must learn it so it’s automatic. I should be able to wake you up during the middle of the night from a deep sleep, throw an objection at you and without thinking, you respond with the transition question. It should be that engrained in your subconscious mind.
First – Red Light Green Light
Red Light Objections (These are comments where the homeowner is saying they are not interested in some form or another. You must deal with these before you can secure the lead)
Green Light Comments (You’ll notice I wrote comments, not objections. These can be interpreted as objections, but they’re not. I consider these stalls. They’re not saying no to your offer, it’s a passive yes)
With red light-objections you have to overcome the obstacle of the objection given to you by the prospect before you can move to booking the appointment. If you get a red light statement and move immediately to booking the appointment too soon you will likely alienate the homeowner.
With green light-statements you can move directly to lead capture and booking the appointment. The transition line that’s the most effective is, “Great, we can get you that information.” This statement keeps homeowners in what I call, “the looking stage”; which means they’re still considering what you offer, but on their terms. That statement gives the perception that you’ll be mailing information to them; it keeps them in their comfort zone, which buys you time to build rapport with them.
Let me pause for a moment and interject something very important. Even though I set this up as a step after the introduction, the transition can be applied anywhere within the system that you get a response or objection from the prospect.
Anywhere you would get a green light comment from the prospect would indicate its application. It’s the transition statement that comfortably moves you from presentation mode to lead capture mode.
One of the most common green light responses I hear is where the prospect passes off the responsibility of decision-making to another person.
For example after your offer statement they tell you that they can’t make that decision, their spouse is the one who handles all those decisions. Recognize this is not a red light response. They didn’t say they weren’t interested in your offer and you shouldn’t handle it as one. It’s an indicator that you should move to lead capture.
For green light responses you automatically come back with “Great, we can get you that information to your spouse.” For red light response though you need a transition question that’s so simple yet so powerful it breaks the prospect’s attention and the energy of the direction they’re trying to take you.
The benefits of my transition question are that it disarms the prospect from their present course of action, but it does it in such a way that it’s not adversarial. You also discover what type of buyer they are, or, how you must proceed with this prospect in order to move them to being a lead or an appointment.
The best presentations are tailored to who the prospect is.
It’s more conversational rather than confrontational. From here you can proceed with your standard presentation because you’ve taken back control of it.
Now back to the green light response for a moment before I wrap up this article. Where do you go after your response?
They’ve given you a green light, maybe saying, “I’ll have to check with my husband.”
You say “Great! We’ll go ahead and get that information out to your husband.” From here you want to move into lead capture mode and start collecting their address contact information first. Start with what you know, such as their street address, which you’ll often have when you’re standing at their front door. This lead capture I call my Rule of 6 and I’ll save that for another article.
From the people you get most green light answers I would expect they weren’t looking into your product or service prior to you arriving at their door. With that said I can say with extreme certainty that at the moment you arrive they’re not that interested in what you offer. They weren’t already thinking about doing what you’re offering. If you look at the leads you’ve captured or of those who’ve become your customers and originally gave you a green light answer I’d guarantee you it’s less than 20%. That means that 80% of your leads and customers will ultimately be the result of a red light objection and you need the tools to be able to regain control and direction of the appointment in order to influence and assist them toward giving you their contact information, or better yet, setting an appointment or making a purchase.
I would recommend you take a piece of blank paper and draw a line down the middle. At the top of the left hand column write the words “Red Light” and at the top of the right hand column you write “Green Light” and then in each column write every red and green light response you’ve ever heard from a prospect. Once you have that you can start roll playing my transition lines with every response. And keep practicing it until it becomes an automatic response. Its then, and only then, that you will start dominating your profession.
Too many canvassers are getting stalled at the transition. My transition lines have jump-started so many sales conversations that have resulted in a lead capture, appointment or sale, but it can only be effective if you learn it so well it becomes an automated response on your part.
Once you master it you’ll dominate your canvassing leads.
I highly suggest you go back and listen to the live call from my Silver Level coaching call of February 12, 2014. You’ll hear detailed examples of handling green and red light responses along with roll plays of each we did on the call.
If you’re not at least a silver member go to the sidebar on the right and discover more about the membership.