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How to make door to door prospecting more enjoyable?

by Delta223
27 replies
Hi, someone I know hires high school and college kids to knock on doors and offer free painting estimates. Daily training is done and prospecting sessions are kept short to avoid burnout. Despite this turnover is very high. Feedback indicates that main reason people quit is not the stress or the pay, but because the job becomes monotonous/boring after a while.

Any ideas on how to make door to door prospecting more fun for a team of reps (2 to 4 of them)
#door #enjoyable #make #prospecting
  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    There is no easy way.

    The thrill of winning keeps the process fun.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    I run canvassing teams for my remodeling company. Turnaround will always be high but the key is to keep them as pumped up as possible for the day. Here are my tips for keeping canvassers motivated and wanting to stick around.

    1. Good base pay and good bonuses that are always within reach. They always need to be out pushing for that next bonus.

    2. Always keep them working in pairs, on opposite sides of the street so that they have companionship.

    3. Always get them fired up both in the beginning of the shift and after the shift.

    4. Give them constant opportunities to move up into a supervisory position. Your good canvassers (maybe 10% of who you hire) will get burned out eventually and will need a position with responsibility and more pay. The best strategy is to create a position called a 'field trainer' where you actually don't have to pay them anything yet you get them to do more work.

    A field trainer is the person who goes out with new (or struggling) canvassers and shows them the ropes for a day or two. They're responsible for the training in the field. Once they show that they can do this, they'll have the opportunity to become a crew leader who takes responsibility for 5 or more canvassers, where they'll make more money and do less knocking.

    -----------------

    Canvassing is a job that requires constant teamwork, motivation, training, and opportunities. It's not anything that should be treated like a routine job because people will drop like flies once they have a bad day or two.

    I would like to mention that canvassing is incredibly powerful when done right, and is sickeningly profitable.
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    • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
      Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

      I run canvassing teams for my remodeling company. Turnaround will always be high but the key is to keep them as pumped up as possible for the day. Here are my tips for keeping canvassers motivated and wanting to stick around.

      1. Good base pay and good bonuses that are always within reach. They always need to be out pushing for that next bonus.

      2. Always keep them working in pairs, on opposite sides of the street so that they have companionship.

      3. Always get them fired up both in the beginning of the shift and after the shift.

      4. Give them constant opportunities to move up into a supervisory position. Your good canvassers (maybe 10% of who you hire) will get burned out eventually and will need a position with responsibility and more pay. The best strategy is to create a position called a 'field trainer' where you actually don't have to pay them anything yet you get them to do more work.

      A field trainer is the person who goes out with new (or struggling) canvassers and shows them the ropes for a day or two. They're responsible for the training in the field. Once they show that they can do this, they'll have the opportunity to become a crew leader who takes responsibility for 5 or more canvassers, where they'll make more money and do less knocking.

      -----------------

      Canvassing is a job that requires constant teamwork, motivation, training, and opportunities. It's not anything that should be treated like a routine job because people will drop like flies once they have a bad day or two.

      I would like to mention that canvassing is incredibly powerful when done right, and is sickeningly profitable.

      As you know I only use the phones. Two years ago I hired 6 guys to do local.
      There job was to go door to door. It somewhat worked. I hired old school pro's.
      I also spent quite a bit on local advertising, from tv and radio to penny savers.

      6 was almost breaking even. So I hired 6 more. So now I had 12.
      Man o man, THAT was one of the worst decisions of my business carrer.

      I KNOW part was because i did not have a "real" manger who understood outside
      door to door sales.

      now I understand the rest of why it failed.
      The bold part. I never teamed them up, I never had a "field" trainer.


      We have a population of over 350k, maybe i need to retry this.
      I often felt it failed, because I failed it....
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

        As you know I only use the phones. Two years ago I hired 6 guys to do local.
        There job was to go door to door. It somewhat worked. I hired old school pro's.
        I also spent quite a bit on local advertising, from tv and radio to penny savers.

        6 was almost breaking even. So I hired 6 more. So now I had 12.
        Man o man, THAT was one of the worst decisions of my business carrer.

        I KNOW part was because i did not have a "real" manger who understood outside
        door to door sales.

        now I understand the rest of why it failed.
        The bold part. I never teamed them up, I never had a "field" trainer.


        We have a population of over 350k, maybe i need to retry this.
        I often felt it failed, because I failed it....
        I had canvassers for years. They were just registering people for drawings, to set up appointments for the salespeople. We had a manager, sometimes it was me. But I would drive them out to an area, have them on opposite sides of the street, and gave a bonus for the most registrations at the end of the shift. I think the shift was only three hours. It was in the early evening.

        It was always profitable, but turnover was really high. No matter how you dress it, I can't imagine it being fun. Four guys were easy to manage, drop on a street, and pick up. I've had as many as 12 (I think), but they were harder to manage, and the results dropped per guy.

        The reason it worked is that We drove them, picked them up, kept counting the results, and made it hard to be lazy about it.

        If we just sent them out (something we tried) on their own...they usually just went home or came back after an hour.
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        • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          I had canvassers for years. They were just registering people for drawings, to set up appointments for the salespeople. We had a manager, sometimes it was me. But I would drive them out to an area, have them on opposite sides of the street, and gave a bonus for the most registrations at the end of the shift. I think the shift was only three hours. It was in the early evening.

          It was always profitable, but turnover was really high. No matter how you dress it, I can't imagine it being fun. Four guys were easy to manage, drop on a street, and pick up. I've had as many as 12 (I think), but they were harder to manage, and the results dropped per guy.

          The reason it worked is that We drove them, picked them up, kept counting the results, and made it hard to be lazy about it.

          If we just sent them out (something we tried) on their own...they usually just went home or came back after an hour.

          I did not do that. I cherry picked from the ones wanting a job on the phone.
          I left them to there own devices, until i realized i needed more, then i attempted to
          step in ... and of course by that time it was to late, and i did too little.

          I always thought that "it" had a chance, i just screwed it up.

          My door to door skills was very limited, so when the "pros" said ...
          I want .. need ... expect ...

          I folded.

          big mistake.
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

            I did not do that. I cherry picked from the ones wanting a job on the phone.
            I left them to there own devices, until i realized i needed more, then i attempted to
            step in ... and of course by that time it was to late, and i did too little.

            I always thought that "it" had a chance, i just screwed it up.

            My door to door skills was very limited, so when the "pros" said ...
            I want .. need ... expect ...

            I folded.

            big mistake.
            Yeah, my guys had a two or three sentence script. And I paid them for every call in we got. I paid $2 per call in, no matter what happened with the call.

            Twenty years ago, we had kids (meaning early twenties) making $100 a day for 3 hours of work. We paid them cash at the end of the week. The best guy I had was a homeless alcoholic in his 40's. One summer he was raking in $200-$250 every day. He would work, get paid, be gone for a few days...and show back up. One day he just didn't come back.

            There was no sales training. They just had to say three lines. They just needed to be supervised. If my reps wanted to, and had no appointment for the day, they could go out also, and I would pay them. They would call in from the field, and I would give them their appointments for the evening.

            But it wasn't required. New reps had to do this for the first week after training, just to guarantee they would have a check at the end of the week, and to separate the wheat from the chaff.

            At $2 a call in, we could cherry pick the leads. They got a case of Coke or Pepsi for looking at our vacuum cleaner. The prospect could even request Diet Mountain Dew if they liked. We would just buy it in bulk at the local grocery store.

            If the rep went out registering the people for a case of soda, they got their pick of the appointments that evening. That was actually a pretty good incentive.

            I sometimes went out too, usually with a trainee. And I would take the appointment (or one of them) that nobody wanted....just to make a point.

            If there were new reps out, I would stay in the office and phone close.
            I may write a book on phone closing (closing for a rep calling into the office), but the market is small.

            But the best leads were the friends and family of the new rep. We would take them on the appointment, do the presentation for them, and pay them the commission. It made them money, and me too (or a senior rep)
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    Buy a huge bag of weed and tell them that at the end of the week who ever got the most appointments wins it! LOL

    Seriously though, Bob is right on target with his response!
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    Money makes it fun.
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  • Profile picture of the author bgray
    Get a shtick like this guy -
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    Hebrews 12:11

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  • Profile picture of the author reboot38
    Paint me green and call me a pickle
    LMAO. Video brightened up an otherwise sh*tty day.
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  • Profile picture of the author aduttonater
    I enjoyed the video that was posted.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

    3. Always get them fired up both in the beginning of the shift and after the shift.
    Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

    Buy a huge bag of weed and tell them that at the end of the week who ever got the most appointments wins it!
    I think that's what Bob may have meant by saying he gets them "fired up" before and after every shift...

    @Delta223: I don't think you can make it "fun." Show me a job that needs continual motivation coming in to keep them from bailing and I'll show you a job that sucks. Rather than "fun" I see people who do door to door work because of devotion to a cause, community, a religious belief, money or ambition. Can you use any of those as triggers?
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  • Profile picture of the author mfuji55
    Have the kids try to make the customers laugh. Maybe have them come up with their own pitch, maybe like using the force "You will let me paint your house" make them feel like they're doing a stand up act and try out new jokes every day, from this experience, they can become the next Chris Rock or I guess kevin Hart now, that could be an interesting experiment!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    I did some cold canvassing BTB for the phone company years ago.
    I teamed up with a couple of other guys who were also doing it.

    One of them was kinda nuts. When he finished his business with
    the customer, he'd ask for something. If they had a bowl of candy
    on the counter, he'd ask for some and take a handful.

    He'd fill his pockets and after a while he'd be filling yours too.

    People gave him all sorts of things. And they loved doing it.
    Nobody ever got mad at him. I couldn't believe it.

    One day we were sent to a large industrial park. I was driving that
    day. When we got out of my car, I locked it and headed down the street.

    We agreed to meet back at the car in two hours. Right around lunchtime.

    When I got back to the car, there were two great big bags of popcorn hanging
    off each side mirror. There were four or five cakes on the roof. They had our
    lunch spread out on the hood of the car. (he'd been to a catering company)

    He also had two large containers filled with assorted ice cream bars and popsicles
    packed in dry ice.

    And of course, his pockets were stuffed with candy.

    I laughed till it hurt. So did they.

    I learned how to "make it fun" from working with those guys. That lesson has stayed
    with me all these years later.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    "Hire in masses, train them in classes, sell all their friends and family, then fire their asses!"
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by Rearden View Post

      "Hire in masses, train them in classes, sell all their friends and family, then fire their asses!"

      Reardon; Do you really think that way? Did you say this because of my last post? Are you just joking because it's catchy? It's a serious question.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnJMJKEnterprises
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        Reardon; Do you really think that way? Did you say this because of my last post? Are you just joking because it's catchy? It's a serious question.
        I double Claudes question... If you are solid in what it is you do you should train a mini you.... Make sure your employees enjoy working for you, or else no matter what they do will be miserable.

        Claude mentioned incentives which is a great way to entice door to door salesman. Give them something to work for each time you take them out and they will perform! Ignore them and you will fail as a result..
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      • Profile picture of the author Rearden
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        Reardon; Do you really think that way? Did you say this because of my last post? Are you just joking because it's catchy? It's a serious question.
        Hi Claude,

        Picked up that old saying from a Top Gun life insurance producer regarding the life and times of a life insurance sales manager.

        Probably some truth to it, as you know personally how the Big Mutuals -- and probably most financial advisory firms -- work an agent to create his "Project 100" (now it's Project 200) -- otherwise known as the warm list he already has, that he can convert into clients more easily than, say, cold walking.

        Your post regarding selling family members on the vacuums reminded me of that timeless truism.
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by Rearden View Post

          Hi Claude,

          Picked up that old saying from a Top Gun life insurance producer regarding the life and times of a life insurance sales manager.

          Probably some truth to it, as you know personally how the Big Mutuals -- and probably most financial advisory firms -- work an agent to create his "Project 100" (now it's Project 200) -- otherwise known as the warm list he already has, that he can convert into clients more easily than, say, cold walking.

          Your post regarding selling family members on the vacuums reminded me of that timeless truism.
          Reardon; Yup, I used to work for a vacuum cleaner distributor that ran his whole business that way. Hire in masses, fill the training classes, and then hope they quit after they sell a few relatives.

          I even ran my business that way for a short time. But It always paid better if I worked with the reps and tried to make then at least semi-successful.

          One thing I always hated was hiring people that you absolutely knew couldn't learn to sell anything, just to get them to sell a few relatives. After they ran out of relatives, they always quit...once they talked to a prospect that didn't love them.

          We would have the experienced guys go with the new guys on leads the new guy brought in (friends, referrals, canvased leads). The first ten sales we actually made for them. I wanted to make sure everyone had a decent check at the end of the week. And I wanted them to see real sales being made in front of them.

          But 95% still quit at the first sight of a real prospect, that wasn't sold for them.

          Hiring people that you know are going to fail, and trying to prop them up long enough to make an easy sale or two before they give up....just ate at my soul.

          But canvassers? it was a different story. It took little skill, made them money if they just put in the effort, and they almost always left with money in their pocket.
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    I would suggest making them all go at once or at least in pairs. They can bounce off ideas form each other. If one is losing it, the other one can back up and say something.
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  • Profile picture of the author SuperKC
    You would be better off nailing down ppc in your area, hiring someone to hit craigslist on the hour, and start offering commissions and kick backs to home depot / lowes employees privately for referrals.
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  • Profile picture of the author seonutshell
    I used to be a door to door canvasser for shelter getting people to sign up for $10 a month donation. Best team leader i ever had would give us a break every hour, and get us motivatd each hour. Its hard to lead but e was a natural leader and we were always pumped to gt those sign ups.
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  • Profile picture of the author LastingLifeSuccess
    Money solves most problems. Pay the prospectors more, maybe a lot more money, until you find the really good ones who will do good work for good pay.

    Make it worth their while and those final select few will make it worth your while.

    Best of luck sorting this out.

    LLS
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Iannotti
    Have a shot or 2 of whiskey than start knocking on doors.... It certainly made cold calling more entertaining..
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