This is the first article of 2012 and I thought I’d start the year off with something different. Something I’ve never talked about. It’s also something most people don’t talk about because many don’t think it’s an important part of their success, but it is critical to their success.
I spent much of November and December talking about preparing for the 2012 canvassing season and much of what I talked about was mechanical canvassing stuff. But I want to talk to you about personal development; not so much yours, but your crew’s. I’ll warn of two things and promise you one. I won’t be able to cover everything in one article and this may seem like a rambling monologue over the next couple months, though in the end you’ll have a clearer understanding of your role as their leader.
You can teach people the scripts and strategies to make them successful as a canvasser; that’s where I spend a lot of time, but you can’t truly motivate people unless you tap into their emotional DNA. The skills and strategies are the tools you give them to do their job, but those things will never motivate them for long, especially if they’re not seeing success.
The most skilled and experienced canvassers need to be continually motivated. If you think you can only teach them information and not inspire, give them the mechanics and not motivate; even put them in the hands of your most successful canvassers to shadow and not encourage them; provide them with a toolbox of skills but never tap their beliefs you’re frankly kidding yourself and don’t fully understand your role in the business.
As an owner or manager it’s your responsibility to see the big picture, provide the vision and goals for the company in order to build the business, but you can’t do it entirely on your back. You need people to help build the business and just as the homes we provide opportunities of improvement for are built on strong bricks and cement to support them, your business must be built up around people who are continually motivated to do your work.
I’ll assume you have your own methods or systems for recruiting, interviewing and hiring, as well as training and an ascension model for promotions. For example purposes I’m going to use my own canvassing system and how motivation and personal development are woven into it as example. If you don’t have a system of your own, you can borrow mine until you develop your own.
The people you hire as canvassers bring their own set of innate skills and baggage. They are who they are and you hire them based on what they can do for you and how well they can perform. The cold truth is you can teach them, but you can’t change them. That’s something they have to want to do on their own.
Developing top performers isn’t done with the mechanics, as I said, they have their skills. The mechanics you teach is strategy for adapting their skills to your system, but you can’t truly bond with an employee via technical how-to information, no matter how good it is. You can only be influential in people’s lives when you affect how they think and feel about themselves and how they can affect their world, in our case, as canvassers.
You can pile on strategies, tactics and techniques all you want, but if you’re not penetrating into the person’s intellectual and emotional DNA you will be only temporarily influential. Don’t think it’s only the rookie canvassers that need psychological reinforcement and affirmation. Your successful veteran canvassers need as much emotional confidence boost as the newbies.
I mentioned your system. I’m referring to the duplicatible steps you can teach them to perform their job as a canvasser. Think about a manufacturing assembly line for automobiles; there are teachable, repeatable actions at each step along the line. Employees know what their role is in the process, how to perform to produce the results at each step and what the finished product looks like. The assembly line is the system, but the process never gets going until someone has the knowledge and vision to turn on the switch and start the process. The manager is the one to get the process started and keep the workers along the line motivated to maintain their performance level. It’s your role to keep your people motivated to produce the desired results.
My 5 Step Canvassing System is designed to provide canvassers steps they can easily follow, which produce controlled positive experiences. At each step a canvasser knows what to say, why they say it and what the outcome will be if they follow the system.
They can learn the steps, even see others perform the steps and solicit the results, but until they experience it for themselves they won’t really believe in their own ability, so you need to give them the belief … yours.
Additionally, my system is only 5 steps, not 30. And the 5 steps are easy, which translates to “I can do that!”
Next month I’ll discuss the 3 components I use to motivate canvassers. I start using them in the initial group interview, and then continue using them throughout their time with me as a canvasser.
Then the next month I discuss how having an ascension ladder, a system through which canvassers can be promoted works to keep canvassers focused and motivated automatically. A lot of what I’ll cover over the next 3 months is provided in my Ultimate Jump-Start Canvassing Success Program”.
I want to remind you that this month will be the final month for free access to my Teleseminars. If you haven’t registered then do so now at www.canvassking.com/teleseminar. The call is free and we start promptly at 2pm Eastern Standard Time on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of this month.
If you have questions about this month’s article or canvassing in general, write me at www.AskTheCanvassKing.com.
You can also leave me comments here that I’ll respond to.