Canvassing Insider – Federal DNC Compliance posted 7/01/2010
Last month my monthly electronic newsletter “Canvassing Insider” made the transition from being emailed to becoming my blog. You’ve responded and based on the number of comments I received you like the idea. “Once a canvasser, always a canvasser”; canvassing for home improvement leads myself for more than 15 years, and in sales for longer than that, it’s always bothered me that sales people can get together to share information, to share techniques and to share “war” stories, but there’s nothing like that for canvassers… that’s why I’m working to create this as a forum to nurture such interaction amongst the industry. I’m dedicated to creating the opportunity for us to gather in order to discuss our challenges and successes, share our experiences and ultimately improve our businesses. We’re in control of our own business and financial destiny and I’ve never been one to accept circumstances. I hope you’ll agree and join me on this adventure.
In last month’s “Art of Canvassing” article I introduced you to the idea of “spotted leads” and I received a lot of questions regarding compliance with the federal do not call policy. This month I’ll collectively tackle those questions. It’s important to understand that my focus and expertise, during phone coaching and on site coaching is canvassing at the door, because I find that’s where a lot of canvassers want help. That’s why I created Canvass King. Working in the industry for so many years at all it’s different levels I identified there was a need for focus on canvass training and coaching.
Based on the various questions I received from last month’s article, they can be summed up into the big question everybody is asking, “Can I call a spotted lead and still be in compliance with the federal DNC?”
The fast and simple answer is yes, though you must scrub your list against the DNC list. If you have a resource for doing this, use it. If you don’t have a service or resource for scrubbing your list then go online and Google search for them. You can get software and systems very inexpensively, such as www.do-not-call-list.biz. To find more resources Google, “scrubbing list against federal do not cal list.”
I’m not endorsing the one I listed or any other. The point is if you have a way to scrub your list, use it and if you don’t, find one to use.
Interestingly, with regard to the do not call list most people think that once you put your phone number on the list that’s it… you don’t have to do it again. Actually, to remain on the list a person has to re-enlist to the DNC every 5 years. Most people are not aware of this and it’s likely the people you’re going to call are no longer on the list. Often, if a phone number is listed in the white pages phone book they’re not likely on the DNC; though you’re still responsible for scrubbing your list before calling it.
It may sound like a lot of effort, but it’s worth it. Because of the nature of spotted leads (canvassing the neighborhood, seeing a home with improvement opportunities, therefore you have descriptive information about their specific home which you can incorporate into your follow up call) they’re warmer leads and your call is simply a follow up to your in-person visit.
Often the challenge in following up the spotted leads is in the script; in not sounding like every other telemarketer. My follow up calls tie directly into the scripts I use when canvassing at the door.
I’ve helped companies double and triple their lead production for clients and the introduction is one major component for this success. In next month’s article I’ll give you some examples of introduction call scripts to spotted leads.
If you have ideas or techniques on how you handle your telemarketing calls with regard to staying in compliance feel free to share them here on the blog, or if you have a question or experience specific to your business, I’d love to hear from you here.
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While CANVASSING, turn half the people not home into appointments posted June 1, 2010
In March and April of 2009 I laid out a matrix for the front & backend numbers of canvassing. The biggest question I get asked is, “How many leads/appointments should my canvassers get each shift or per hour?” You need to ask yourself how many doors can your canvasser reach in an hour? Often the answer is, “I don’t know.”
If you measured your canvassing success only by the number of homeowners you contacted you’d be missing out on a lot of opportunity. 50% of the doors you’ll knock on won’t have anyone home. You’re in the business of opportunity and knowing that half your prospects won’t even be there significantly “ham-strings” your opportunity.
There are a couple of ways I’ve seen others try to handle no one home.
- Leave a door hanger and hope they call you back
- Backtrack your canvassing
Leaving a door hanger puts you and your “opportunity” in the same category as mass mailers. No matter how well written or pretty your door hanger is it can’t give as compelling a presentation as you can face to face with the homeowner. You’re relying on a lot of things to happen; the homeowner sees and reads the door hanger (and doesn’t throw it out with the rest of the junk mail), actually has deep desire for what’s presented on your door hanger and responds to the urgency you’ve created on it to call and set an appointment. In short, without being there to guide the homeowner through the process and get them to the appointment you’re at the mercy of the homeowner following through. You can send out thousands of mailers or door hangers and hope that you get a percentage of people to respond, but you know the response on print media is relatively low. I’m a believer that if you don’t greet a homeowner face to face then you should leave a door hanger, but you can’t rely on the homeowner to do the work.
In more than 15 years of canvassing I’ve never met a homeowner that said, “I’m going to stand at the front door (with nose pressed against it) and will not leave this spot on the off chance that someone will be canvassing the neighborhood for home improvements; because we need to get replacement windows.” Even then, if they’re not home when the canvasser does stop by do they think, “If I do miss this person, I will be sure to get back to them right away because I have money burning a hole in our pockets and the only thing we’re going to spend it on is our windows.” Yeah right. It doesn’t happen this way. You have to take control of the situation.
The other option is to re-canvass the area later that day, or the next time you’re in that area, but this will take a lot of time and is a logistical nightmare especially if you’re trying to get back on another day. Besides, you won’t know they’ll be there when you come back; and you’ll have wasted more of your time.
The only success is getting toe to toe, belly to belly, nose to nose with the homeowner.
Spotting Leads
If you’re canvassing for visible opportunities, such as replacement windows, doors, siding, gutter protection, etc. then your canvassers must be on the lookout for these opportunities (spotting leads).
Sometimes too you’ll speak to someone who isn’t the homeowner and you can learn information about the needed home improvements that you can use when you get a hold of the homeowner.
Take Control Back
Rather than waiting for a homeowner to call (which isn’t likely to happen) you can follow my spotted lead program. The first step is completing a brief description form containing:
- The home’s address
- Identifying the product or service needed
- A brief description of the home
Yes, this is more paperwork, but it’s far less effort then back-tracking and hoping to catch a homeowner there. Here’s an example of my “Spotted Lead” sheet.
As you can see there are 4 per page, which minimizes the extra paperwork your canvasser will have to carry.
They can be placed at the bottom of the stack on the clipboard.
Here’s a completed sheet. Once your canvasser returns to the office, they can look up the homeowner’s telephone number using the local white pages, online or a reverse directory.
Once you’ve found the telephone number, call them. You can backtrack a lot more homes on the telephone than you can canvassing the streets. Armed with the information from your spotted lead sheet you can contact the homeowner and make a presentation over the phone. The scripting is very similar to that at the door.
This is a productive activity on “weather” days when canvassers cannot get out and knock on doors.
Copy my “Spotted Lead” sheet and use it in your canvassing department. Once you’ve implemented it I’ll show you the matrix and numbers you can expect from this follow up system.
Feel free to leave any comments or questions about this month’s article and I’ll get back to you here.
Next month I’ll discuss the appointment flyer I use for spotted leads.