Over the past several months I’ve written about key components of your canvassing call that are critical to getting the lead or not. As I look back over the past 5 month’s articles I realize I haven’t gotten past the Introduction; and that’s OK. If you’re going to be successful at canvassing it’s important you learn the little things that make the difference in getting the lead or not; those little hinges that will swing the big doors.
In January I wrote how the homeowner’s perception of you and your offering were important. In February about getting past your own limiting mindset; in March about the “first impression” you make which ties back to January’s article. In April I wrote of defining and understanding the purpose behind your Introduction and avoiding verbally vomiting on homeowners. In May I wrote of getting the commitment at the end of the Introduction, which brings me to the subject of this month’s article.
It’s rare you get a commitment for an appointment without some feedback from the homeowner. It’s the level of resistance in this feedback that many canvassers misinterpret. What I mean is that sometimes you get and objection from the homeowner and other times you get a non-objection, but it can be interpreted by you as an objection. If you make this mistake, interpreting a non-objection as an objection and addressing it as such, then you’re making your job harder than it should be.
This month I’m going to identify objections from non-objections and then next month write about how to handle each.
Let’s tackle objections, or things that are real obstacles in the homeowner’s mind. I define objections as things the homeowner says that mean “no”. For example, you’ll hear things like:
- We’re not interested
- We can’t afford it
- We have a brother-in-law in the business that can do the work (we don’t need you)
- Not at this time
- Not this year
There are more real objections and variations on the ones I listed here, but you get the idea. The meaning behind their statement is, “No, we don’t want it, need it, can’t afford it.) These are real obstacles from getting an appointment and they must be defused.
On the other hand the homeowner will make statements we can interpret as objections, but in reality they’re not objections at all. Starting with my definition, non-objections are statements that are not “No’s.”
For example, you’ll hear:
- I want to talk to my spouse
- When we’re ready we’ll call you
- It’s not a good time; we’re busy right now
And there’s more. If you dissect these statements, the homeowner isn’t saying no to your offer, rather making a statement or raising a question. If you make the mistake and respond to these non-objections as objections you can turn them into objections they hadn’t thought of, or create others; making your objective of booking an appointment with them a distant possibility.
Think about calls you’ve made over the past few days that didn’t convert to an appointment, or even a call to set and ask yourself, “Did I get objections or non-objections during the presentation?”
Next month I’ll address how to handle both of these effectively. If you do reflect on your recent calls and you’re not sure whether the homeowner threw you an objection or non-objection shoot it to me at www.AskTheCanvassKing.com and I’ll address them on an upcoming teleseminar. Stop back next month to read the continuation of this article.
Passivity will get you nowhere, yet taking an active role in your education will create motion and motion will makes things happen. That’s why I created www.AskTheCanvassKing.com. It’s a communication resource for both of us. You can get your problems solved and I can learn what problems you’re having so I can tailor my articles to address your problems because if you’re having them, someone somewhere else in the country is experiencing the same thing. We’ll talk again next month.