Last month was the start of my discussion on my Validation call from the front door after and appointment has been booked. The discussion was prompted by a submittal I received from Corrina at my www.AskTheCanvassKing.com site. Feel free to submit your questions and I’ll answer them here on the blog or on an upcoming Teleseminar.
Let’s recap from last month. Getting the homeowner committed to an appointment is a majority of the battle for canvassers, but often I hear disturbing reports of how frequently homeowners will fallout from the appointment before it’s issued. There can be a lot of reasons for this, though the one you can control and is many times the main reason people do cancel, is they don’t comprehend the importance or value of the appointment they’ve setup.
If the homeowner takes your appointment too casually or lightly they’ll probably cancel. It’s all about perception. When a homeowner responds to a TV, radio or print ad for home improvements they understand the seriousness of the company offering the product or service going to the expense to produce, take out and attract their attention. (This isn’t necessarily expressed consciously, but it is understood.)
In comparison, consider the homeowner’s perception when the canvasser shows up at their door. My approach is intentionally designed to appear very casual, no pressure and not sounding like every other sales person. Therefore it comes across as a casual approach… translates to the homeowner’s perception, little expense. In reality it takes as much if not more effort to put together a canvass crew and strategically send them out into the neighborhoods.
So it’s our job to increase the value of what we’re offering them; enter my Appointment Validation Call. You’ll also see within the design of my Appointment Validation Call is a bit of potential “take-away” selling.
For your validation call you want to consider what’s important to confirm, what will cause the appointment to stick.
For me, and what I teach my private clients, there are three key pieces of information to the validation call.
- Do they qualify for the product or service to be demoed?
- Are they the homeowner and will they both be present for the demo?
- Will they have the time set aside needed for the demo?
The value of the validation call implies to the homeowner that this is a real appointment and not something you or your company takes lightly. Here’s a brief description of each of the keys I incorporate into my validation call.
Do they qualify for the product or service to be demoed?
You want to get specific when validating for the products and/or services you’re going to demo for. For example, when the canvasser calls in he or she will tell the person validating the appointment the homeowner’s name, spouse’s name, the product or service and the date and time of the appointment. The person validating the appointment must be specific pertaining to the product or service. “Mrs. Jones, I understand you’re looking for a quote on 9 replacement windows, is that correct?” If they’re not they’ll say so and it’s your opportunity to ensure it is a product or service you demo and that you’re showing the homeowner what they want.
Are they the Homeowner and will they both be present?
It’s obvious, but important that the person validating the lead (a manager or phone room person) verifies they’re speaking to the homeowner and that both homeowners will be present for the demo; if that’s what your company requires.
Will they have the time set aside needed for the demo?
For most demos it takes a couple of hours to measure, show the styles, colors, features and benefits of your products and services. I don’t recommend you tell the homeowner the presentation will be 2-3 hours because they quickly back out at that point. I do however teach that you find out if they’re allowing enough time for the complete demo. You can’t come out and ask them, “Now, will you be home all evening?” This is too forward and suggests the demo may be longer than they’d like. Here’s how I present the question to find out if they’re going to be home long enough. The person validating the call asks, “Mrs. Jones, I see we have you set for Thursday at 6pm. Now on the off chance that our person is running a little late, would it be safe to say that you and Mr. Jones will be home the better part of the evening?”
If they will be they’ll say yes, but if they have other plans they haven’t talked about, this question flushes it out in a soft way. If they say, “We have to leave at 7pm to pick up Johnny from soccer practice”, you can reschedule the appointment for a later day and time when they will have enough time.
The validation call is designed to more formally commit the homeowner to the appointment/commitment they’ve made. Here’s a video demonstration of a validation call at the front door. This is an excerpt from my new, complete DVD canvass training series titled, “Canvassing in the New Economy.”
The Validation call is used to increase the percentages of an appointment confirming and being issued. (This clip is an excerpt from my “Canvassing in the New Economy” training program soon to be released)
I’ve summarized the validation call in this article due to space. I went into much greater detail about the Appointment Validation Call on my April 20, 2011 Teleseminar. I made audio CD’s of that call available for a week after the Teleseminar, but because of addressing it in this article if you’d like to get a copy of the entire April 20th call on Appointment Validation you can order it at www.canvassking.com/teleseminar-cd. You’ll be responsible for only the shipping and handling cost for the CD, a small $2.95 charged to your credit card. You’ll need to act fast if you want it because I’ll only make it available until Wednesday, May 25, 2011 (which is the day of my next live Teleseminar).
Now that you’ve read this article I’d like to know what you think. Most people I talk to tell me that these articles really get them started thinking about their own situations and I’d like to hear your comments about this article and how it applies to you and your canvassing. Leave your comments below and I look forward to hearing what you have to say. If you have questions about canvassing and/or canvass management you can go to www.AskTheCanvassKing.com to submit yours.