Door To Door Prospecting

I agree with this approach if you don't have any brochures or marketing material yet. Do not pitch anything to them unless you have something tangible to show them (flyer, brochure, pricing sheet, etc.). Just introduce yourself and let them know what you do and offer to help them if they ever need any help. It takes a lot of the "pressure" off of the situation because you're not trying to sell them anything. If you get some good leads or clients out of it then that's awesome, if not you can contact them later to follow up and try to get a sale. It should go over pretty well.

I have never spent years on end pounding the pavement like some of these guys who have the real hardcore experience.

However I have sold four or five products door to door in my time...so I could offer a "little" advice.

I have sold, websites, newspaper subscriptions, health insurance, "meat" (out of a meat truck) and as a child I went door to door selling these little wholesale jewelry (wagon jobber type items), because my grandmother had a hair brained scheme and wanted to invest in wholesale novelty items. I had asked her if I could borrow money one day, and she handed me a box full of wholesale jewelry and told me to go out and sell it door to door. lol So I did.


Anyway, the thing that was easiest to sell door to door was "meat", man steak was hot 10 years back. I could make 4-600 dollars most days. Did that for about 3 months.

I learned 4 things from that experience, that immediately come to mind:

A: The exhilaration of selling your truck completely out on some days.
B: Be laid back and non threatening as possible.
C: You can get twice the price if you are bold enough to just "ask" for it.
D: Dont use a ton of words, make sure people are following along with you, dont leave em in the dust with your presentation.. Control the flow.

Here's an example of "D", when you walk up and you try to be "coy", their mind is spinning trying to figure out who you are and what you want....and making their own predictions and conclusions. Setting up their own "filters" that you will be perceived through- the nature of which will be determined by their own anchors to being approached by strange people walking in.....

You dont want that. You want to set your own impression before the filters start coming up. So you have to control the energhy from moment ONE.

In the meat industry you do it by holding up to a box of steak, as you are walking toward them (kind of like a white peace flag "I come in peace, with steak"...or "My agenda is not hidden"...) and sending their mind directly to that box of steak.

In your case:

When you walk up with a "Flyer" , or business card, introducing yourself and handing it to them, you automatically have control of their mind. It immediately goes straight to the flyer as you introduce yourself, and they are immediately drawn into your presentation, you can start pointing to things on the flyer... you have them engaged from the start, and you dont have to deal with all the mental negotiation of them wondering what your angle is...you just lay your cards on the table and do your presentation without having to deal with silent walls of suspicion about your agenda.

You can present to someone who may or may not be interested, but they dont have any guards up because they know what you are about.

Hope this helps. If I think of more Ive learned in this arena , will post.

2 of those door to door cold calling experiences I failed miserably- Health Insurance and Newspapers. Later did well with a health insurance lead gen room though. I did better with door to door after I had learned to telemarket.

Also, handing someone a flyer is less intrusive than sticking your hand out for a hand shake. It lets them shake your hand on their own accord.

As my brother Michael says, it enables you to greet and introduce, but yet still keep a safe distance from their personal space until you are slowly invited in.

-JD

Ps. Sometimes its nice to take a week and drive an hour or two out of town every day to sell, listening to motivational tapes on the way there and back. I have had some successful weeks that way, plus you meet new interesting people. Brainwashing yourself and burning success principles into your being is better than letting the world brainwash you with garbage. You cant be the same as everyone else who says "I dont need personal development" and succeed in sales.

Successful salespeople of all genre's are refined and practice like athletes...they stay in tune and in mental shape.

@ Ryan, this is a hot thread idea...if you capitalize every word in the title using the advanced editing options, you will attract more views and advice. Just a tip.

WOW! Reading John's posts brought back some memoires.

I started selling candy door to door when I was 11, made a lot of money
when I was 11.

How to... every door I knocked on got a sample, every door that got a
sample bought.

One time I found a 7 piece set of wooden handled screw drivers
for $1.00 and a 40 piece socket set for $2.00. I bought cases of
them and made a lot of money.

How to...

I went to gas stations after the owner or manger went home
for the day. I offered the night clerk a free set of the screww drivers
or the socket set if I could stand out at the pumps and sell.

I sold both sets as a pair for $10. Between Black Friday and
about a week before Christmas I made over $10,000 working
about 12 hours a week.

John mentioned that he tried selling newspapers but it didn't
work out. I sold hundreds of newspaper subscriptions.



How to...

• I clipped every coupon out of a weeks worth of newspapers.
• Then I pasted them all onto this roll of strong flexiable paper, it
  looked very cool with all of the colors and coupons.
• Then I added up all of the savings you would have gotten
  if you had used those coupons.
• I don't remember the nubers any more, but it was 100's
  of dollars.
• Then I went door to door, (I did have a list of who was not a subscriber) When they came to the door I asked them if they
  new that they had lost 100's of dollars last week as I rolled
  open my visual display.
• Then I explained to them that even if they didn't read the paper
  the coupons alone more than paid for the subscription fee.

I call working like that "AFAB" anything for a buck.

Enjoy,

Ryan, as a former MetLife agent and a former b2b public relations agent working an AT&T "feet on the street" campaign I can tell you that you have the right attitude. I like what one of our fellow Warriors here said about small towns being friendlier. However, they can also be more suspicious at the very same time. Be yourself and believe in your product offering. And always remember that when someone shuts the door on you they are not rejecting you (they don't even know you), they are rejecting either your product or your approach. And nobody can please everybody.

My final word: don't just do it. Just do it, and do it, and do it, and do it, and...

Cool

Now that you mention it; the ridiculous hardcore experiences also help me sell easier even online today too. So its all good experience.