You’re familiar with the various methods for capturing leads for your home improvement products and services; traditional advertising (radio, TV, print, etc.), cold call telemarketing and canvassing. My focus is on the canvassing and last month I discussed converting spotted leads to appointments. I often get asked how spotted leads differ from cold telemarketing. Initially you’d expect because the homeowner’s never met you the initial call would be cold. No, not at all! There is a lot more opportunity in a spotted lead.
You’ve heard me say before, with canvassing you can anticipate, even control your lead production. The same is true with spotted leads. In fact, as you learned last month, spotted leads are virtually identical to canvass leads. The lead itself was canvassed; the difference is you didn’t get a face to face with the home owner. What you have though, having visited the property, is the homeowner’s need. How do they differ from cold calls and what can you expect from these leads?
Canvassing is an outdoor business. Unlike traditional lead sources it is dependent on any number of uncontrollable elements; bitter cold, sweltering heat, rain, homeowners not being home… you name it, I’ve heard all the excuses for why a canvasser can’t canvass. And in many scenarios they’re valid, but often they’re nothing more than excuses. I often see canvassers hit 40 homes in a neighborhood in the afternoon, keep a list of no contacts and then go back to those homes later. I’m not a big fan of this; it’s not the most productive use of your time.
When the weather isn’t agreeable to canvass, sometimes a manager can have canvassers telemarketing old canvass leads, which can be effective. You can be even more productive when you add calling spotted leads. Weather can no longer be an excuse for you not booking appointments.
The matrix for how many leads a canvasser can get is based on the number of doors they can knock on in an hour, their familiarity with and ability to deliver the script (refer to the article from March 2009 or click on www.canvassking.com/March_2009). The same is true for spotted leads. It’s based on the number of calls you can make. In fact, if you overlay your numbers for canvassing, against calling spotted leads, you’ll see the numbers are very similar. You can expect to get similar conversions from spotted leads that you get from canvassing.
Even if the spotted leads converted at a lower rate than canvassing they’d be far more productive than cold telemarketing calls. Why? Opportunity. When canvassing you have the opportunity to see the home, many times being able to identify the need. Spotted leads offer you the same opportunity. You’ve been to the home. As a result you, know their need. On the spotted call you can establish immediate rapport and credibility. An opportunity you don’t have cold calling.
Therefore, the formula is: “Activity with Opportunity = Success.” Cold calling offers you only the activity of contacting homeowners. You have no idea if they have a need; you have to establish that and the only way you can is by asking. You’re dependant on the homeowner giving you that information, which if they do, they’ll do reluctantly. Here’s what the beginning of most cold call scripts sound like, “Hello Mr. Jones, how are you today? I’m Joe and I’m with XYZ Company…” It screams “sales call.”
When the homeowner hears this they automatically raise their guard. They’re on the phone with their boxing gloves up and ready to defend themselves from you and a barrage of questions (trying to flush the need). In short, from the moment you dial the phone, there’s little opportunity and the chance you keep them on the call is slim.
The opportunity on spotted leads is already present. Just with my canvassing system, you avoid sounding like every other telemarketer. Instead here’s the initial part of my spotted lead script, “Hi, good evening this is Chris with XYZ Home Improvement Company and we are doing work on homes in your neighborhood and we recently handed out notification fliers to you and all of your neighbors notifying that there might be some noise and dust. Now I understand that you have the gray house with the red shutters, correct?” With the traditional cold call approach the homeowner’s first thought is, “What are you selling?” With my approach their thought is, “Yes.” It’s impossible to transition into a presentation following a “No.” I’ll take yes every day, and I’m betting you would too.
If you want consistent results, you need “Activity with Opportunity = Success.”
In the past few months I’ve given you a lot of “nuts and bolts” you can use in your canvassing. Unfortunately, none of it will do you any good if you don’t have your head right about what you’re doing. Next month I’ll start to discuss the mindset of a canvasser.
I’d welcome any feedback you have about this month’s article, or if you have a question about something you’re experiencing in your canvassing. This is an open forum, don’t hesitate to participate.