What I’m going to share with you here is a canvassing strategy I have not before seen used, but I’m using with many of my top private clients, in several different industries, home improvement, funeral pre-planning and home services. Before I present it I have to ask you to go into this with an open mind. It is so new and radical that your first reaction to it may be to say, “that won’t work in our business”, but I assure you it will. So, if you’re interested in being a pioneer then you’ll want to pay close attention to this; and you may want to have a private discussion with me for designing and implementing this strategy into your company.
With that said, I’ll start with 2 quotes (I like quotes – they give us perspective).
“Insanity is doing things the same way and expecting different results.” Einstein
“It’s better to be first than it is to be better.” Al Ries & Jack Trout (The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing)
What is the objective of canvassing?
- To get a lead
2. To get an appointment
3. To make a sale
The initial challenge we face in canvassing is the prospect isn’t expecting you when you come knocking on their door. When they open their door and see us standing there their first thought is that we’re a salesperson and they expect a sales pitch will follow. Any time there’s a sales presentation I guarantee there’s going to be some kind of resistance or objection. For us (canvassing) what are the 3 main objections or stalls?
- Time
2. Money
3. My Husband/wife takes care of that
Until now the only options the canvasser has is for getting the prospects contact information (the lead) at the least so we can follow up and continue to market to them or to set an appointment, which leads to the sales call. What if you had an offer, one that can virtually eliminate the time, money and passing it off to the spouse objections?
It’s a simple change in the standard canvassing formula, but the residual benefits are endless. It all comes down to how you position your offer in the canvassing proposition. Keep in mind that the approach I’ll show you is universal for any business.
As part of your introduction you’ll make an offer, and your offer is for an appointment or to get their contact information at the least. In the mind of the prospect the appointment leads to a sales pitch and giving you their contact information also leads to a sales pitch at some time. Remember, I stated earlier, in any sales presentation there’s always going to be resistance. Asking the prospect to give us their personal contact information or set an appointment with us only 30 seconds after they met us is asking that prospect to jump a big gap. My entire canvassing system was designed to bridge that gap, but this strategy makes it happen a lot faster.
Rather than asking for an appointment time or pick from a multiple of products or services, I go after their contact information first. You might be thinking to yourself, Chris, that’s no big surprise, but here’s the difference. What will make a prospect more willing to freely give up their personal contact information? Something they perceive as valuable and something that doesn’t feel like a sales pitch. The key is in the reason why you’re there. In my standard introduction offer I’m in front of them offering choices in finding the best time to give them a price quote because we’re in the neighborhood doing work. That has worked really well for the past 15 years. It’s now the information packet or buyers guide that I’m using to replace the appointment time in the introduction offer. The approach is a small tweak in the presentation. Rather than getting the prospect to commit to a time or product selection, I’m offering an information packet or buyers guide (the difference is only in the positioning). Hear me out here, information positioned as valuable and non-threatening to them. What’s non-threatening about it? It’s all in the approach. Remember, when you’re at their door they think you’re there to sell them something. When you completely disarm them and deflate their anxieties about you being just another sales person you open them up to the possibilities of what you’re really there to offer them. In the psychology world this is called a pattern interrupt. Your offer completely interrupts their thought process about you.
Offering an information packet or buyers guide takes away the price, time and pass off to the spouse objections; the 3 biggest objections a canvassers will ever get. Canvassers for all time have struggled how to overcome these 3 objections. I’ve heard an endless number of canvassers stumble their way through defending their position in trying to combat the price and time objections.
You can hear my complete presentation and how I position this new offer on my March 26, 2014 Silver Telecoaching call.
The key is I’m not asking them permission to send them the information, I’m telling them we’re going to send it to them and I only need to make sure I have their information correctly.
Your positioning is that you’re not asking them to make any decisions right now. You’re not asking them to buy anything, you’re only sending them information; harmless.
Here’s my tricky ninja move. By telling the prospect we’re going to send them the information they assume you’re going to mail it to them. There’s a perceived safety on the prospect’s part. No sales pitch, only sending them information. This takes the pressure off you and the prospect. It positions you differently than other canvassers walking their neighborhood. It moves your conversation from adversarial to conversational. It’s powerful. It gets you to be ‘liked’ and ‘trusted’ faster with prospects.
I wasn’t going to present this canvassing strategy, but I’ve seen it create so much success with my high level gold and platinum members I wanted to get the idea out to you. There are a lot more nuances about presenting and positioning this offer. I went into extreme detail on the live Silver Telecoaching call. If you’re a silver member or higher I suggest you go back and re-listen to the audio CD you receive as part of your membership. If you’re not a member and you want to get your hands on this canvassing strategy, call my office at (216) 588-1337.
On the CD I also go into detail as to what you put into your information package to make it valuable for the prospect. I also discuss how to use this same information offer to recruit new canvassers. Let me say it’s more powerful than handing out business cards, which everyone does.
If you were on the live call or listened to the CD from the call and you have questions about the strategy go to www.AskTheCanvassKing.com and submit your question or questions.
Until next month, keep on canvassing.
Chris Thompson
The Canvass King