Putting Your Appointments On Hold
In January you discovered how to get the main door open when the homeowner wouldn’t open it. In February I discussed how you can handle the objection, “We’re eating dinner.” This month though I want you to imagine you get to the front door and the homeowner’s on the telephone, what do you do?
The inexperienced canvasser would likely try to rush through their presentation because they want to do their job, but they don’t want to be inpolite and interrupt the homeowner’s call. That’s not you though, you’re a professional and you know you have to control the situation every time if you intend on making solid, qualified appointments; at least ones that will stick and stand a fighting chance to convert to a demo. So, what do you do?
Before that, let me point out a couple of obvious, but often overlooked realities.
- The homeowner’s call is more important than what the canvasser is there to talk about (at least from the homeowner’s point of view)
- The homeowner doesn’t know who you are and why you’re at their front door (what they assume is you’re selling something and this immediately raises those defensive “boxing gloves”)
- If they think you’re selling something they want to avoid a conversation with you
- You don’t have their full, undivided attention
What Do You Do?
You have to get the homeowner off the telephone. You cannot make a valid appointment if your homeowner is on the telephone; even if they put the person they’re talking with on “hold”. We all multi-task and we think we can successfully carry on multiple conversations, but the reality is we can’t. The key word is “successfully”.
If your homeowner’s on the telephone while you’re trying to make a presentation, they’re distracted. They want to know what you’re there for, but they also want to get back to their call, so they’ll feel rushed and they’ll want you to rush. You’re a professional; you can’t rush your presentation and expect to book appointments for demos that will stick. If you do successfully book an appointment with a homeowner who’s distracted by a phone conversation, they’re likely to cancel the appointment after they’ve had time to think about what they did, mostly because they’re uninformed.
Yes, they heard what you said, but they don’t really know what you talked about because their true attention was somewhere else. When they’ve had time to think about it it’s easier to call and cancel the appointment than call to find out more information. I’ve never known any prospect to call me up and say, “Hey, I wasn’t paying attention to your pitch, would you give that to me again?” They’re likely to prefer a dental root canal without Novocain over listing to a “salesman” again.
You Can Anticipate This
When the homeowner opens the door and you see they’re on the phone you have to acknowledge it in your presentation and gain permission to present or get invited back.
Here’s the script for getting them off the phone:
“Oh, I see you’re on the phone, when’s a better time I can drop off this notification?”
One of three things will happen:
- They’ll end their phone conversation
- They’ll ask you what it’s about
- They’ll ask you to come back
If they end their phone call they’ve given you permission to proceed with your introduction. If they ask you why you’re there, but don’t end their call you don’t have their undivided attention and you haven’t gain permission to proceed, so simply repeat the script; “ I see you’re on the phone, I have a notification for you, when’s a better time I can come back and drop off this notification?”
Their curiosity is peaked, but you have to stand your ground. Don’t give in to the temptation to blurt out a summary of your presentation. If they still haven’t ended their conversation simply tell them you’ll stop back when they’re not on the phone.
If their call is important and they do ask you to come back, then respect their wish and tie down when they want you to come back. Getting the homeowner to commit to a time, or duration of time, is equal to them granting you permission to present, but at a later time. It is a commitment.
When you return, they’ll be open to hearing what you have to say because their natural curiosity is peaked. The key, when you return, is not to sound like every other canvasser. That is handled properly with your introduction script (Scripts and templates are available to all Exclusive One-On-One Phone Coaching members).
Look at it from the homeowner’s point of view. If the roles were reversed, you were on the phone and a stranger came knocking on your door, where would your attention be? The reality is the canvasser’s the low man on the totem pole.
Here are two video examples of using my anticipated “on the phone” script. These were extracted from a custom video coaching series I did for a client. (For more information on how you can create a customize canvassing coaching video call me at 216-588-1337)
|
|
|||
| On The Phone-scenario Permission to present |
On The Phone-scenario
Come back |
|
||
|
Coaching methodology excerpt from a Canvass King customized client canvassing video
|