The people within your company that should have the most training are canvassers. In the neighborhoods and at a grassroots level they have the most direct contact and immediate impact on prospects for your company. However, instead of being the people to get the most training and attention, they receive the least. Yet they’re expected to perform and produce at the same level and with the same results as the sales people in the organization. Let’s face it, if the leads and prospects they produce are not in abundance and properly prepared and qualified then it will affect your sales people’s performance and results. It has a trickle-down effect.
I see it all the time. Companies who think their star sales people can pull any lead out of the trenches and close them. First, why should they have to work that hard. Second, everyone will be happier when there’s lead-abundance; more importantly, quality lead-abundance. Yet few companies really recognize the value and importance of giving these ‘frontline’ teams the care, attention and resources they need. You’re here, either as a member or follower, and that makes you different. You recognize the value and impact canvassing has on the company. For that, you’re to be commended. So buckle up, this will be filled with important and valuable information (not that each article isn’t).
At a fundamental level, it starts with coaching canvassers. No one will receive more rejection on a daily basis than a canvasser. If leads are the life blood of your business, then you know the outbound marketing people need the teachings and coaching to continue to generate leads to drive the company. Last month’s coaching article was titled: “Where’s All The Coaching Gone?” and this month’s will tie into that one.
When I work with canvass managers there are 4 parts I show them to teach in my canvassing script. Stop there a moment. I used a dirty word with a lot of people, ‘scripts’. Before you can get into coaching a canvasser you have to get rid of the head trash stuff they have about scripts. You have to talk about they feel about scripts, their opinions, how they feel they sound too canned, etc. Often that’s the elephant in the room when one wants to teach their team a script. You have to get it out of the way to make room, in their mind, for the new one they’re going to succeed with, mine.
The 4 training components are:
1) Navigate through the script
2) Read the Script out loud one Section at a Time
3) Breaking Down the Psychology and Methodology of the Script
4) Practice, Drill, Rehearse
All traditional canvassing systems (And I do mean ALL) only go after the ‘now’ buyers. Every company is desperate for leads. They all need leads yesterday because they need sales today. They’re out there looking for buyers. Here’s the unspoken truth about that. There are only so many ‘now’ buyers out there. You and every other competitor is out canvassing for those people. You’ll get a percentage of them and they’ll get a percentage of them. If you review my archives, you’ll see where I go over those numbers and the number of ‘now’ buyers is very small compared to the total number of people your canvassers will connect and talk with.
On average only 5% of the people you reach will be now buyers. Divide that 5% up between all the other companies who are knocking on their doors offering the same products and services you are and the number of those you get drops drastically. Now consider ALL the companies canvassing those 5% offering products and services not in your category and the pie gets divided up even further.
The key factors for people are time, money and reaching the decision maker. So 5% of all the people you reach those 3 things align. The ‘now’ buyers have the time and money to invest in what you offer and you’ve reached the decision maker. What about the 95% of people you reach who are not ‘now’ buyers? Those 3 things (time, money, decision maker) may not align right now for that 95%, but they will, at some point. What if you could capture even half of that 95%? You’re capturing the future-buyers, before the market and your competitors do, because they’re only focusing on the now-buyers. Better yet, what if you could convert 1% or 2% of those into ‘now’ buyers?
Canvassing is about creating the opportunity for a sale of your product or service. Every other canvassing system focuses on only the now opportunities, but there are hundreds, even thousands of opportunities available, they’re just not all right now. How valuable would it be if, in 6 months or a year, all the moons aligned and they had the time, money and the decision maker said it was time to invest in what you offer, you had that person and they knew of you, and they liked and trusted you? You didn’t have to send a canvasser out to their door every 6 months when they became a now buyer, only relying on ‘good timing’, but rather relying on a systematic means of having that prospect in your hip pocket when the time is right? How valuable is that?
The now buyer is someone who is qualified to invest in your product or service. You have leads that progress to the point of being qualified, having the need, the want and the means to invest. That’s what my system does. It allows you to get the ‘now’ buyers along with a whole lot of future buyers.
Show canvassers the benefits of canvassing with this method. I’ve been teaching this system for more than 4 years now and the empirical data shows that canvassers are producing 4 to 5 times more leads per canvasser shift than the traditional methods produce. I used to teach those methods, and you can improve the numbers if you work on the nuances of the presentation, but the results are nominal compared to the results my clients experience with my system.
We get the now+ people. That’s to say we’re getting the now buyers plus additional ones who want to hear more about what we offer. The conversion of that ‘+’ segment is not for discussion here; you can find detailed discussion on that topic in the archives. Here’s the difference. You’ve captured those future buyers and stay in front of them in time. We’re converting a high percentage of those people when they are ready because we’re the ‘only’ choice. That’s to say we’ve stayed in front of them, built trust and when they’re ready they come to us. A residual effect, but one that can’t be confirmed with data, is when all those other canvassers knock on their door, with the old system, and annoy them, they’re reminding them they received information from us and they know, like and trust us. All because of how we approached them initially and nurtured the relationship with them. In essence, the competitors are aiding in moving future buyers forward to becoming ‘now’ buyers, for us. These are people we would have had to get in front of, again, at the right time, canvassing door-to-door. Clients are doubling their businesses at a minimum.
Aside from the direct results from canvassing, the residual benefit occurs in your recruiting message. The recruiting message from every other company canvassing is that they’ll fail 95% of the time. Your message is that you have a system that will make them successful. The numbers prove it. This will impact your recruiting ability and on your ability to retain people, because they will be more successful with you than others.
On the live Silver Telecoaching call I break down the psychology and methodology to the introduction of my presentation as example of how to train and coach specifically on the script. If you’re a Silver member or higher you receive the audio CD from the live call. I’d direct you to the 43:34-minute point on the call to hear both the script and how I break it down for training purposes. If you’re not a member you can remedy that by going to http://www.CanvassKing.com/SilverProgram.
If you have questions regarding this topic or ones specific to canvassing challenges you’re having in your company, you can submit your questions directly to me at www.AskTheCanvassKing.com.
Committed to your canvassing success,
Chris Thompson, The Canvass King