Let me set the stage for this month’s article on managing canvassing. You work like crazy to build a productive and profitable department; that means finding people who have the motivation, personal stamina, attitude, and work ethic to weather the grueling job of knocking on doors and persevering through no after no to get to the yeses.
You then develop those with the entrepreneurial spirit through the ranks, promote them from canvasser to field trainer, assistant manager to manager, and canvass manager to sales only to face the possibilities of having them lured away by a competitor; or worse yet, they go off and start their own company and become your competitor.
What I’m going to cover this month is, for some, a little challenging to get their head around, but I’m going to show you the benefits of considering this path when you have that superstar canvasser turned entrepreneur, and how you can create a win-win situation for both of you.
Some home improvement companies I’ve come to work with started by outsourcing their canvassing efforts, which often brought mixed results. There are variables involved with outsourcing canvass leads, far too many to cover in this article, but basically it has to do with the lead source company’s skills and abilities in gathering the canvass lead and the home improvement company handling those leads.
If you’ve been following my articles you’ve picked up on the fact that the canvass lead is an intimate lead. What I mean by this is in order for the canvasser to generate a lead at the door, has a lot to do with the rapport he or she’s built with the home owner to establish the need, developed their trust to capture their contact information and then set an appointment. But then how the company handles that lead to maintain that level of trust. I’ve seen many times when two different organizations are involved there’s a “disconnect” between the two, and the home owner’s caught in the middle ultimately canceling the appointment. The home improvement company never gets a chance at a presentation on the opportunity created by the canvassed lead. There’s an abundance of leads out there, but we can’t afford to be reckless with them.
So what’s the solution? I contend when you have an employee who’s proven themselves, worked their way up through your ranks and is ready for more, and you don’t think you have more to offer them, blow the glass ceiling off your thinking and set them up in business for themselves; if they’re truly motivated they’re going to leave you anyhow. There’s no reason you both can’t benefit from their productivity and motivation. You do have more to offer them. You’ve taught them everything they know about canvassing, but what you know, and take for granted, that they don’t is business in general. There’s more to running a company than running a canvassing department.
What Can You Offer Your Canvasser Turned Entrepreneur?
When you have someone who is motivated enough to consider venturing out on their own encourage and help them. First you should communicate this is an opportunity within your company and establish the right expectations early. Then you can help set them up in a joint venture as a lead generating company specializing in canvass leads for your company. There are a lot of benefits doing this.
- As a company you know how to run canvass leads; you’ve had success with the leads so you know how to handle those leads.
- This person’s developed through your system; they know every aspect of your canvassing method. Not only do they know your scripts and how to canvass at the door, but also all the management aspects; how to recruit, how to interview, how to train and how to target neighborhoods.
- They’ve worked in your company every day. They know your company dynamics, who’s who. An outside company getting canvass leads for you never sees what’s happening inside your company with those leads, how they’re handled. They’ve never met the phone person who’s validating or confirming the lead.
There’s a lot of power in knowing who’s doing what and what’s getting done. That’s a benefit you could never get by outsourcing your leads. Setting this person up in business in essence is keeping them within your organization. You don’t have to lose a good person.
It’s franchising without all the red tape. Imagine getting a McDonalds franchise without all the upfront costs, royalties, corporate aspects, lawyers and legalities. You get all the systems without all the headaches. Best of all, they won’t have to find business; your company will be their biggest client.
You’ve invested a lot of money in this person. The very definition of investment is “an outlay of money for income or profit.” There’s no reason you can’t set up a joint venture that continues to pay dividends on your investment in this person. It’s all possible if you remove the limitations on your thinking.
I mentioned earlier in this article there are far too many possibilities to this idea than I can discuss here. I’ve worked with companies who decided to set up a separate venture and build relationships with non-competing remodelers to provide them with canvassed leads. This is just another way you can multiply your efforts without dividing your time.
If you’re faced with this possibility right now, or would like to discuss the idea of setting up a separate canvassing lead company, you can contact me at cthompson@canvassking.com