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The First Door Is The Car Door - The hardest thing about door to door sales is getting started. They say the first door is the car door and what it means is that it's tough to get out and start knocking. You need to convince yourself every day that you are helping people by telling them about your product or service. You need to sell yourself until you feel sorry for anyone who does not have your products or services. This is critical to give you the courage to sell door to door.
Dress For Success - People are more concerned about opening the door than ever before. What impression do you give? You have only seconds to make an impression that will allow you to make contact. First, be spotlessly clean. Be very well groomed. Greasy hair or dirty hands are enough to prevent a contact. Dress like a person they would want to talk to. Depending on the neighborhood, it could be a person in a suit, it could be a person in a golf shirt and kaki pants. I suggest you try different attires and see what works. For example, I would be much more likely to open the door to a person in a suit. Are they the FBI? My pastor? Tax collectors? Try different attire and see what gets good results. Men should beware of beards. I have one and I can tell you it makes door to door sales much harder. Also leather jackets, cut away t-shirts, and tattoos are all handicaps in door to door sales.
Be sure to have visible ID. People expect it. Wear your id openly and turned so the prospect can see it before they open the door. Picture ID is best. If possible have signs and graphics on your vehicle that identifies you and your company
Be sure to back away from the door after knocking so they know you will not rush the door to push in if they open it. If there is a porch, you might consider walking down the steps and waiting off the porch. This also means the prospect has to open the door to ask who you are. Don't look in the windows after you knock, don't touch their stuff. Don't pick up their paper or mail - even to hand it to them.
Opening Lines That Work - In door to door sales, you have only a few seconds to make an impression. You need to have your opening prepared. You need to practice, keep track of results and keep improving your opening. Do not start with telling them about your product. If they wanted it, they would have called you. Here are some suggestions to try.
If you can see something on the outside of the home, try talking about that. For example, if you are a roofer, you might open with "Good morning. I am Carl from Acme Roofing. I stopped by because as I drove by I noticed the flashing has pulled away from your chimney. Has it started to leak onto your ceilings yet? I stopped to tell you a few things you could do to fix that problem before it becomes a really costly one."
Notice that this approach is all about the customer. It starts a conversation they want to join. Work on a similar idea for your product or service. Do not start with "I am from Acme Roofing. Are you interested in a new roof?" That just isn't going to work in today's market.
Notice that the opener offered a solution for free. Later you can convince them it's better to hire you for help but starting a conversation for free assistance is a lot easier than selling a stranger.
Setting Reasonable Contact Goals - Many door to door salespeople are out there with no idea what to expect in terms of numbers. What is success? You need to have a reasonable expectation of contacts and sales. While these numbers differ in different industries, here are some rough ideas to start with.
If you sell door to door for 4 hours per day set a goal to start of 10 contacts per hour or 40 for the day. That is an average of 6 minutes per door. Set that goal and stick to it. Make a commitment rain or shine. Try different hours, different attire and different openings to see what works well for you. You have not failed if it doesn't work at first unless you don't change anything! Don't worry about selling to start. Just work on your mind and confidence until you know you can have a good conversation with 40 people per day. Since your goal is based on four hours of selling, if you missed you goal, ad an hour until you reach it.
The next goal you need to set is for meaningful contacts. What percentage of the doors you knock do you enter into a meaningful conversation? I will suggest you start with a goal of just one in ten or ten percent. That means if you contact 40 people per day, you will make a meaningful presentation to four.
Content and presentation numbers and goals are very important to success. There is no rejection involved. So far your success is based on hours worked and doors knocked. Now let's look at sales.
Setting & Achieving Reasonable Sales Goals - You need to set a reasonable goal for sales so you can celebrate victories every day. I suggest you start with a goal of one sale in 4 presentations or a closing rate of 25%. Based on our goal for contacts of 40, and 4 presentations, that would give you a goal of one sale per day. If you don't meet that goal, look into training, and trying new ways to close. Analyze why they say "no" and try to solve the problem. Having a goal and meeting it gives you a much better feeling each day than just hoping and not keeping track.
There a few tips for door to door sales that we know will help you stay up and motivated. In door to door sales often rookies make sales and performance fades with time. Working on the techniques in this article will help you keep that "rookie edge" and sell more every day.
