In a moment, I’m going to reveal the 3 biggest mistakes sales reps make while canvasing that cost them appointments and exactly how to avoid them so you can line up more inspections faster and easier, ultimately spending less time knocking doors and more time signing deals. As a bonus, I’m going to share a couple word-for-word approaches that work. But first, let me ask you a few questions:
- Do you dread going door-to-door to line up inspections, and do you feel like you spend hours upon hours doing it each day or week?
- Does it take you more than 10 doors to line up 1 appointment, and do you feel like you still just don’t quite know what to say at the door?
- Do you feel like you have to try hard to convince people to let you inspect their roof?
- Are you tired of feeling like a pushy used car salesman at the door, but don’t know any other way to try to set appointments?
- Do you give up as soon as someone says they aren’t interested at the door?
- Or are you already generally successful at the door but would like to take your skills to the next level right now to get more appointments faster, easier, and spend significantly less time canvasing?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, then I have valuable information to share with you. First of all, you’re not alone. In fact, many if not most storm restoration salesmen feel that the area they like the least and need most improvement in is lead generation. That list of questions was generated from personal experience when we first got started in storm restoration sales. Door knocking was like pulling teeth, and the solution to not being able to line up enough appointments was, “Just knock MORE doors!” We believe in working smarter, not harder, so we focused on testing and perfecting door-knocking approaches that are relaxed, low-pressure, and most importantly, effective, so that we could canvas less, set up more appointments, and spend our time closing deals instead of beating the streets.
The bottom line is, door knocking is exhausting, and not knowing exactly what to say or when and where to focus your energy on lead generation sucks. It leaves you feeling drained, rejected, and burned out. On the other hand, knowing exactly how to get appointments lined up fast and easy gives you the power to control your time, freedom, and income.
You don’t have to spend your lead generation hours feeling awkward, pushy, annoying, or defeated. We’re going to teach you today how you can stop beating your head against the wall using approaches that don’t work or make you sound pushy or sketchy. Stop killing yourself knocking doors the old way, and start using our powerful, effective, proven approaches to knock fewer doors and line up more appointments faster and easier.
Do these 3 things and you WILL line up more appointments right away, period:
1) Always offer 2 times.
This is one of the golden rules of sales! People always feel busier than they are. Between work, family, sports, church, and social lives, people have plenty going on, but even someone with work, happy hour, and a little league game still has many hours to spare throughout the day (usually spent on the couch watching Law & Order or Facebook stalking).
For this reason, if you simply ask if you can stop by “on Wednesday” to do your inspection, and the homeowner’s kids have soccer practice on Wednesday, they’ll just say they’re “busy.” Soccer practice might only be from 3:30-5:00, but without offering specific times, their natural reaction will be to just generalize that they are “busy” on Wednesday. However, if you say, “Would 4:30 or 6:00 work better for you on Wednesday?” they will recognize that while they will be busy at soccer practice until 5, they would be available by 6. Likewise, if you ask a homeowner if you can do your inspection at 6 pm, and they don’t get home until 7 pm, their response cannot be anything but a “no, six o’clock doesn’t work.” If you offer two times, such as 6 or 7, they have an option.
Offering two times also results in an answer that cannot simply be a “no.” If you only say, “Would 5:30 on Tuesday work?” a homeowner can reply with just a flat “no.” Nos do not allow room for exploring the real objection, and makes it difficult to proceed. Offering two times encourages the homeowner to give a valid reason to why a particular time may or may not work, aiding you in finding a time that would work and uncovering and handling any objections they may have so that you can overcome it and ask for the appointment again.
2) Do not sell at the door.
Meeting a homeowner for the first time and then telling them you can get them “a free roof” from their insurance company sounds like a sketchy scam. You are there simply to set up an inspection, nothing more. Homeowners immediately put up a defensive wall and are not interested in hearing a single thing that comes out of your mouth if you turn into a fast-talking, greasy-haired, silver-tongued selling sales robot.
The problem is that many salesmen mistakenly believe that if they “dangle the carrot” and make promises of all the stuff they can get that person, that they’ll be more enticed to say yes at the door. The opposite is true. Selling at the door sounds like a shady scam, and it’s a sure-fire way to get the door slammed in your face over and over.
The point of speaking with someone at the door is simply to offer a free inspection and set up the appointment. This is done by sharing with them what you have been finding in the neighborhood due to the recent storm, explaining what’s going on as a result of the widespread damages, informing them that you’ll be doing free inspections for the neighbors on these days at these times, and seeing what time would work best for them to get their roof checked out, because “it’s better safe than sorry.” This relaxed, casual, matter-of-fact approach is much more effective and allows you to have the opportunity to make the sale at the appropriate time: on the appointment.
3) Do not do inspections on the spot.
You may encounter a homeowner that says, “Well can’t you just jump up there right now and let me know if I have damage or not?” Your immediate gut reaction might be, “Awesome! This guy is already into it.” Resist the temptation for three reasons:
- Dropping everything and doing the inspection on the spot gives the impression that you have so little going on, that you have a lot of time to answer anyone’s beck and call. Somebody who is good at their profession should be busy; too busy to do things on the fly.
- By scheduling an appointment, you are actually creating an opportunity to build trust and a positive impression of your reliability as a professional, because you have an opportunity to demonstrate to your customer that you are a person who follows through by being there when you said you would be there.
- The second time they meet you, you are a familiar face. This gives you two interactions with that person instead of just one, and it helps you in your mission to build rapport with that person.
If you want to learn the secrets to explosive and effective lead generation, you MUST learn what mistakes you are unknowingly making and how to avoid them. You’ll be amazed how much more receptive homeowners will be to you, even if you’re the 10th person that has knocked on their door. If you aren’t getting at least 1 appointment per every 10 doors you knock, then you need to learn our techniques. You can enroll in the Roof Sales Mastery Comprehensive Online Course right now and in a few minutes you’ll gain access to dozens of word-for-word door knocking approaches that WORK, plus how to overcome 12 different objections at the door – methods you can use right away to transform your results.
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