Last month I talked about canvassing strategically, which is just a fancy way of saying you must have a plan when targeting neighborhoods to canvass. This month I’ll jump into the specific criteria I use to identify target rich neighborhoods and how to enlist everyone involved in the program to help in the targeting of neighborhoods.
For the people new to canvassing they would think that any home and/or neighborhood would be a target for home improvements. The reality is not all homes and neighborhoods are your target for leads, even if they are in need of improvements.
Before I get into the criteria, it’s important that everyone involved in your canvassing efforts, the canvassers, sales and support staff understands you do have a “standard” for what you’re looking for, even if at this point you don’t. By the end of this article you’ll have a clear understanding of the criteria and how it can be affected by everyone involved.
I identify 3 types of neighborhoods:
1. Transitional neighborhoods
2. Replacement neighborhoods
3. New developments
I find that Transitional neighborhoods are the most challenging. They’re areas where there is opportunity for improvements and you can capture a lot of leads, but those leads may not be credit worthy and a low number of them may not qualify; producing a low percentage of profitable leads.
Always consider lead values. Canvassers can get a lot of leads and get all fired up in these neighborhoods only to get discouraged because they don’t convert to demos to sales very well.
Next are the Replacement neighborhoods. These are areas where homes were built around the same time and are 15 years or older. The home values are above average, stable and the homeowners are credit worthy.
I talked last month about canvassing areas you’ve already done work in. Often these would fall in the “replacement neighborhood” category. You’re looking for homeowners that have done improvements with your company and their neighbors need the same type of work done to their home. Keeping detailed records on the homes and neighborhoods you do work in is important in these neighborhoods.
I haven’t yet discussed the demographics, but in replacement neighborhoods the demographics can vary; another reason for keeping clear records.
Lastly, there are New developments. Obviously you wouldn’t canvass these homes for replacement home improvements, but if your company sells sunrooms, basement finishing, etc. these neighborhoods can be target rich. Additionally, these “new” developments will become transitional or replacement neighborhoods in the next 12 to 15 years. You can see that tracking neighborhood records is a long-term canvassing strategy.
That gives you insight into the neighborhoods, next the parameters I look at within these neighborhoods.
1. Age of the home
2. Past work done in the neighborhood – identifying specific homes on which work has and hasn’t been done.
3. Price/value of homes (this information can be obtained from real estate and County Auditor records)
4. House hold income (this can be obtained in buying a list, but it’s not necessary)
5. Canvasser’s feedback
6. Drive through the neighborhoods and assess them for yourself (rely on experience)
7. Sales people (gather info from sales people who are in the homes)
These criteria and resources can help the canvass manager bridge the gap that I often see within home improvement companies.
Some are obvious, others not so obvious. For example, the sales people can give you a tremendous amount of feedback on the homes and homeowners because they’re spending a great deal of time in the home. They can see and “feel” what the reality is from inside, whereas the canvasser never makes it past the front door.
Last month I quoted General Norman Swartzkoff. General Swatzkoff was a smart strategist because he relied on his troops to feed him intelligence about the enemy so that he could develop strategy around it. I’m not suggesting that the interaction between canvasser and homeowner is a “battle”, though it sometimes feels that way, but rather management must rely on all the “troops” for intelligence. No information is too small or too insignificant.
Communicate with your people, especially your canvassers, what criteria you’re looking for in targeting neighborhoods. Work with them so they’ll gain the knowledge of what’s important. It helps you, the company and them in the long run. The outcome of the Gulf War was determined before the troops ever set foot on the ground, because they worked as a team and everyone had a clear picture of what was needed from everyone.
I’ve talked about identifying neighborhoods and the criteria for pin-pointing target rich homes.
Next month I’ll go into more on the mapping and describe my 2 Master Map book system.
Last Wednesday I kicked off the first of my monthly Teleseminars. There were a lot of people on the call and I received a lot of great feedback, about the call and the information. Thanks for everyone’s comments. Keep them coming. If you’d like to comment on them please leave me a message here on the blog. The next teleseminar will be next Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 2:00pm Eastern Standard Time. If you registered for a previous teleseminar you’re already registered for all future ones. You’ll receive an email reminder with the date, time and call access information.
If you haven’t yet registered for the teleseminar, go to www.canvassking.com/teleseminar and register right now. The calls are free right now and open to anyone involved in canvassing in any industry. Once you register you’ll receive the call access information. I hold 2 calls a month. The calls are on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday each month. The first is “Ask the Expert” where I and an occasional guest will talk about what’s working and what’s not in canvassing. The 2nd call is “Jump Start to Canvassing” and is open Q&A where you can voice your questions and get answers. You’ll hear what other people around the country are doing… and learn from them, as well as me. If you haven’t yet registered, do so at www.canvassking.com/teleseminar.
Finally, I created a free resource for anyone who has a question about canvassing. You get busy and when the questions pop up you don’t always have time to seek out the answer, so I created www.AskTheCanvassKing.com. Provide your first name and email as well as post your questions and I’ll get back to you with an answer and/or bring it to one of the Teleseminars in the form of content or to the group for discussion.
I hope you’ll join us on next week’s call.