Selling door to door can be a very successful career. You need to be faster at
making an impression than in other types of sales and you need to stay up and
face more rejection than other forms of sales. Let's look at tips for doing just
that.
The First Door Is The Car Door - The hardest thing about door to
door sales is getting started. The toughest door to knock is the first one. It's
tough to get out and start. You need to convince yourself every day that you are
helping people by telling them about your product or service. You need to have a
lot of enthusiasm to sell door to door. Yoiu need to sell yourself before you
sell them. 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. If ypu are a distance from the door, the
prospect is more likely to open the door and talk to you. 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%. If your goal is 40 contcats
and 4 presentations, that sets your sales goal at one 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.
--------
Looking for openings that work in door to door
sales? Want to set reasonable goals for contcats and sales? This article is free
door to door sales training. For more information on door to door sales training
visit
http://www.door-to-door-sales.info
or call 800-941-0068. Visit our free sales training bloog at
http://www.sales-solutions-now.com
tweet this!
