The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.
Marketing, social media, advertising

Ankerstein17

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
73%
Mar 22, 2015
88
64
29
Edmonton, Alberta
Hey guys,

Like many people, alot get started in door to door sales. For confidentiality purposes I will not state who the company is or any details

I know the Fastlane community it littered with hundreds if not thousands of great sales people. I will keep this really simple.

For you people, that have done door to door sales, what is the major lesson or tip you can give some one like myself, who is starting within the next couple of days?!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Denim Chicken

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
222%
Jun 5, 2010
425
942
California
You'll get a lot of people who are hostile when you go door to door, done it since I was a kid. Door to door isn't consultative at all, it's a very short sales cycle and the deal size isnt big but it will teach you persistence, thick skin, and all the other stuff that is needed as a baseline for ANY sales position.

If you have someone is remotely interested, FOLLOW UP. I cannot tell you how many coworkers of mine do not follow up merely because they are either lazy, or forget, or have such a terrible organization system that they just organize their contacts and leads on sticky pads.

Use an ipad or a mobile laptop/netbook to book calendar appointments RIGHT THEN and there so you don't forget. Send it to the customer also, you can do this easily in Google calendar.

If you say you will come or call, then do it. Nothing worse than a salesperson who makes an appointment and doesn't keep it. If it's out of your hands and goes to a closer, then well I guess that's not your fault and lets hope your comp structure pays you for the appointment, not if the account executive shows up.

Systematize everything. In the beginning esp if this is your first sales job, you won't have a clue how to start or where to go. Have a plan, a map since you're on foot. Hit X # of houses and have a goal every single morning what you will get done, whether or not someone's home. Eventually this turns into data and you can see your close rate, how many houses you can hit, how many knocks and answers will lead to an appointment, how many appointments lead to a sale, and how many $ an average sale is. From there you can improve based on your metrics.

People do not like when you go to their home. I don't either. It's a lot more intrusive than email or calling. So you have about 5 seconds to say something that will buy you the next 30 seconds. And use those next 30 seconds to buy the next 2 minutes and let's hope they are interested enough to keep talking.

Your objective isn't to sell them anything. Despite door to door not being a highly consultative or value priced service, (it could be consultative) you trying to sell on the first call or first meeting is like trying to sleep with a girl in the first 5 minutes.
They are baby steps. As stated above, try to win the first 30 seconds. Try to win the first 2 minutes. Then an appointment. Then the sale.

Be considerate of the customer/prospect's time. This is an universal truth. You knocked on my door, don't talk about you. Get to the point about who you are, why you are knocking and give me something interesting to let you keep talking.

Never ask an open ended question when you are bidding for their time. If you knock and say "Hi I'm James, how are you today?"
They will answer "Good, thanks not interested". Never ask a question in the beginning.
A better way to do it would be to push through at least 1 sentence, that's easy to understand and hopefully piques their interest in your services.
"Hi I'm James, I work for Rainbow Gutters and I noticed you guys don't have gutters on your home. We're currently having a special in this entire zip code and your 2 neighbors down the street just signed with us. Are you interested in hearing more?"

Then if they are actually interested, they will ask a question. How much, whats the special, why do I need gutters, etc. That is where you can answer their concerns.

If at this point they say Let me think about, try to at least get their phone # or some form of contact so you don't have to come knocking again. Not that knocking again is a bad idea but people are a lot more receptive to email and calls. Esp since they already met you.
At this point the follow up would include sending them the following potential links/documents: A RFP or quote with a professional business card, a FAQ or some form of info and pitch on why your services are important, a link to your 5 star yelp review page, and if it were me, an email with multiple calendar openings for an appointment using a free email calendar tool.

I personally would invest in getting some good, well written and tested marketing material such as a brochure or a flyer and put it on the door if the person is not home. If you are going to make the effort to go door-to-door, you might as well flyer while you're at it.

Real estate agents that have their shit together do this well. Some guys just post their face with a stupid magnet and notepad thingy on the door. Great, I'll never remember to call you even though I have your magnet on my fridge.
The good ones use case studies, they have flyers of the houses that they sold for top dollar in the past 12 months in your zip code. Now, do you want to sell? Call me for a free consult.

Numbers game. Door to door is a numbers game. You can increase your chances by doing what I said like flyering with great marketing material which is inbound to a degree. But for the most part, you have to understand the basic concept of sales. A certain # of calls/knocks will lead to a certain # of appointments. And of those, a certain # of appointments will lead to a # of sales. Figure out if it takes you 50 knocks to get 1 appointment, and 3 appointments for a sale, then you know you need roughly 150 knocks to get a sale. You know that you can get X knocks down per day.
This is called pipeline management and without it, you will have a whole bunch of sales one day and then you'll have a dry spell for a while.
Maybe not as drastic in door to door but in products and services with a long sales cycle, this means you not getting paid or making quota because you didn't manage your pipeline a month/months ago.

I would try to do it for a little bit as it will teach you some personality traits and characteristics need in salespeople like persistence and grind, but I'd continue to try and get a B2B entry level sales job, esp inside sales in tech. Make more money, not as physically tiring, and making money over the phone remotely is a powerful skill to learn.
 
Last edited:

Ankerstein17

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
73%
Mar 22, 2015
88
64
29
Edmonton, Alberta
You'll get a lot of people who are hostile when you go door to door, done it since I was a kid. Door to door isn't consultative at all, it's a very short sales cycle and the deal size isnt big but it will teach you persistence, thick skin, and all the other stuff that is needed as a baseline for ANY sales position.

If you have someone is remotely interested, FOLLOW UP. I cannot tell you how many coworkers of mine do not follow up merely because they are either lazy, or forget, or have such a terrible organization system that they just organize their contacts and leads on sticky pads.

Use an ipad or a mobile laptop/netbook to book calendar appointments RIGHT THEN and there so you don't forget. Send it to the customer also, you can do this easily in Google calendar.

If you say you will come or call, then do it. Nothing worse than a salesperson who makes an appointment and doesn't keep it. If it's out of your hands and goes to a closer, then well I guess that's not your fault and lets hope your comp structure pays you for the appointment, not if the account executive shows up.

Systematize everything. In the beginning esp if this is your first sales job, you won't have a clue how to start or where to go. Have a plan, a map since you're on foot. Hit X # of houses and have a goal every single morning what you will get done, whether or not someone's home. Eventually this turns into data and you can see your close rate, how many houses you can hit, how many knocks and answers will lead to an appointment, how many appointments lead to a sale, and how many $ an average sale is. From there you can improve based on your metrics.

People do not like when you go to their home. I don't either. It's a lot more intrusive than email or calling. So you have about 5 seconds to say something that will buy you the next 30 seconds. And use those next 30 seconds to buy the next 2 minutes and let's hope they are interested enough to keep talking.

Your objective isn't to sell them anything. Despite door to door not being a highly consultative or value priced service, (it could be consultative) you trying to sell on the first call or first meeting is like trying to sleep with a girl in the first 5 minutes.
They are baby steps. As stated above, try to win the first 30 seconds. Try to win the first 2 minutes. Then an appointment. Then the sale.

Be considerate of the customer/prospect's time. This is an universal truth. You knocked on my door, don't talk about you. Get to the point about who you are, why you are knocking and give me something interesting to let you keep talking.

Never ask an open ended question when you are bidding for their time. If you knock and say "Hi I'm James, how are you today?"
They will answer "Good, thanks not interested". Never ask a question in the beginning.
A better way to do it would be to push through at least 1 sentence, that's easy to understand and hopefully piques their interest in your services.
"Hi I'm James, I work for Rainbow Gutters and I noticed you guys don't have gutters on your home. We're currently having a special in this entire zip code and your 2 neighbors down the street just signed with us. Are you interested in hearing more?"

Then if they are actually interested, they will ask a question. How much, whats the special, why do I need gutters, etc. That is where you can answer their concerns.

If at this point they say Let me think about, try to at least get their phone # or some form of contact so you don't have to come knocking again. Not that knocking again is a bad idea but people are a lot more receptive to email and calls. Esp since they already met you.
At this point the follow up would include sending them the following potential links/documents: A RFP or quote with a professional business card, a FAQ or some form of info and pitch on why your services are important, a link to your 5 star yelp review page, and if it were me, an email with multiple calendar openings for an appointment using a free email calendar tool.

I personally would invest in getting some good, well written and tested marketing material such as a brochure or a flyer and put it on the door if the person is not home. If you are going to make the effort to go door-to-door, you might as well flyer while you're at it.

Real estate agents that have their shit together do this well. Some guys just post their face with a stupid magnet and notepad thingy on the door. Great, I'll never remember to call you even though I have your magnet on my fridge.
The good ones use case studies, they have flyers of the houses that they sold for top dollar in the past 12 months in your zip code. Now, do you want to sell? Call me for a free consult.

Numbers game. Door to door is a numbers game. You can increase your chances by doing what I said like flyering with great marketing material which is inbound to a degree. But for the most part, you have to understand the basic concept of sales. A certain # of calls/knocks will lead to a certain # of appointments. And of those, a certain # of appointments will lead to a # of sales. Figure out if it takes you 50 knocks to get 1 appointment, and 3 appointments for a sale, then you know you need roughly 150 knocks to get a sale. You know that you can get X knocks down per day.
This is called pipeline management and without it, you will have a whole bunch of sales one day and then you'll have a dry spell for a while.
Maybe not as drastic in door to door but in products and services with a long sales cycle, this means you not getting paid or making quota because you didn't manage your pipeline a month/months ago.

I would try to do it for a little bit as it will teach you some personality traits and characteristics need in salespeople like persistence and grind, but I'd continue to try and get a B2B entry level sales job, esp inside sales in tech. Make more money, not as physically tiring, and making money over the phone remotely is a powerful skill to learn.

Hey man, first I want to say thanks to replying to my forum thread. The reason I posted this is because I started a door to door sales job obviously. I started on Monday, and it actually surprises me the lack of 'training' in the job. Which is fine, because you have to gain experience and learn what you are doing and what you need to do differently.

Its kind of funny, because I am really good with people. Like as I went through college, I am a natural extrovert, it just takes me time to adjust when I am starting some thing and find my 'groove'.

It's funny how you mention the follow ups.... I totally agree with you, like Mr. G.C says.... (Grant Cardone)... "The money is in the follow up." I have always been following up with my customers, and coming back.

The problem I find with my job is they push for same day sales. I work for an alarm company, so because we are in the area for same day installs, I find it really deters customers. I can understand exactly why to. People don't like to be pushed to make decisions they like to be pulled to make decisions. They want to be pulled into the store, where they feel comfortable and everything. So I try different sales tactics to help the customer make the decisions.

But the real problem...

So how it works is every one gets whats a 'turf' an area where you can sell into. So I go through the turf strategically, and talk to customers that are home during the day during the day. No point knocking doors that look empty. So I typically will have a turf for 2-3 days if I do things right. So If I gain follow ups on the first day on turf, I follow up on the second. If I gain follow ups on the second, and don't have many doors left I have to sell on the same day..... If I don't, and there is no point in coming back to that turf, because I actually can't service that turf If I get a new area.... There's no point in coming back if I have no potential leads... Which to me doesn't make any sense. I would gain a new turf, and I would be maybe on the other side of town.... But that shouldn't mean I can't sell back into that turf I had before hand... To me that seems backwards.

I get it we want to push for same day installs as the customer sees the value in doing such.

So it's essentially, I have to build a strategy around that.... Which I have been doing but haven't been getting results. Which is fine, considering I just started! I am making progress though, which I am happy about.

Any advice on that?

Secondly, why do you suggest go into B2B sales afterwards??? Just curiosity? I had that same train of thought as maybe it would allow me to feel more relaxed and more 'myself' while still being an extrovert. Just wanted to know your train of thought...

Thank for the help thus far
 

Amon

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
274%
Jun 29, 2016
85
233
Cleveland, OH
I know the Fastlane community it littered with hundreds if not thousands of great sales people. I will keep this really simple.

Don't fall for any traps. There's probably 5-20 guys on here that can sell at the highest level, or provide any meaningful advice. The rest are amateur hustlers.

For you people, that have done door to door sales, what is the major lesson or tip you can give some one like myself, who is starting within the next couple of days?!

I started sales just a few months ago, and I will be taking home $XX,XXX in May.

The best advice I can give is , knock on more doors. Then find the people that your product will help the most. Find the people that want/need to be sold to. These are the ultimate leads.

Study the greats and their behavior. Mimic this behavior and you can change your life.

Good luck.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ankerstein17

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
73%
Mar 22, 2015
88
64
29
Edmonton, Alberta
Don't fall for any traps. There's probably 5-20 guys on here that can sell at the highest level, or provide any meaningful advice. The rest are amateur hustlers.



I started sales just a few months ago, and I will be taking home $XX,XXX in May.

The best advice I can give is , knock on more doors. Then find the people that your product will help the most. Find the people that want/need to be sold to. These are the ultimate leads.

Study the greats and their behavior. Mimic this behavior and you can change your life.

Good luck.


Thanks man for the great advice. I was looking for some Brian Tracy, before you had replied :)
 

Denim Chicken

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
222%
Jun 5, 2010
425
942
California
The problem I find with my job is they push for same day sales. I work for an alarm company, so because we are in the area for same day installs, I find it really deters customers. I can understand exactly why to. People don't like to be pushed to make decisions they like to be pulled to make decisions. They want to be pulled into the store, where they feel comfortable and everything. So I try different sales tactics to help the customer make the decisions.

But the real problem...

So how it works is every one gets whats a 'turf' an area where you can sell into. So I go through the turf strategically, and talk to customers that are home during the day during the day. No point knocking doors that look empty. So I typically will have a turf for 2-3 days if I do things right. So If I gain follow ups on the first day on turf, I follow up on the second. If I gain follow ups on the second, and don't have many doors left I have to sell on the same day..... If I don't, and there is no point in coming back to that turf, because I actually can't service that turf If I get a new area.... There's no point in coming back if I have no potential leads... Which to me doesn't make any sense. I would gain a new turf, and I would be maybe on the other side of town.... But that shouldn't mean I can't sell back into that turf I had before hand... To me that seems backwards.

I get it we want to push for same day installs as the customer sees the value in doing such.

So it's essentially, I have to build a strategy around that.... Which I have been doing but haven't been getting results. Which is fine, considering I just started! I am making progress though, which I am happy about.

Any advice on that?

Secondly, why do you suggest go into B2B sales afterwards??? Just curiosity? I had that same train of thought as maybe it would allow me to feel more relaxed and more 'myself' while still being an extrovert. Just wanted to know your train of thought...

Thank for the help thus far

So if I understand correctly, they give you a region and then rotate your region every 2 days or so which causes you pressure to close right away before you're reassigned?
Are you able to sell to the customer say like 2 weeks from your initial contact or does that go to the person who is assigned the turf at that moment?

I don't know enough about your company to understand why they do it that way but if it's not proven with data, it sounds like a bad strategy. Whoever is in charge of the sales dept should have an idea of how long your sales cycle is and if they are rotating you out in a few days, it doesn't sound right.

Same day selling also known as, one call close, is a different tactic and requires some hard pushy sales tactics. I'm not a fan of it and this is the type of stuff that car dealers use. I am versed in it as there were times where I had to get a sale that day because it's the last day of the month and I wanted to hit my numbers but I don't like doing it.

One call closes are easier the cheaper the product price point. One call closing someone for say $1000 when they are a straight cold lead and they have never even heard of you an hour before, is very very difficult and has a high refund or cancellation rate.

The ideal solution is to disregard the turf assignments, just make contacts and follow-up appointments the first couple days and even when you're re-assigned a turf and working a new one, you have them call you specifically and you make the effort to follow-up and close that house. If your company policy is free-for-all (bad) and has no rules of engagements in place with salespeople, then it's going to be more difficult. I hate companies like that that waste previous energy and sales morale by making their OWN sales guys compete over their own leads.

If it's free-for-all, then you really have to make sure to follow up in email or phone, house visit, etc with people who have shown interest and might buy. Responses from them would be something like "I'll think about it, we've been meaning to get an alarm system". You should also say, "Great. I just want to be honest, I get paid on commission and we always get assigned a different region every now and then. If you decide on trying our service, can you please call me direct? Here's my card and number."

If your company has a policy where first contact gets the lead, then you should make sure that it's recorded in the CRM, assuming all your salespeople have the same CRM connected to each other.


The reason why I say B2B is because, B2B is the highly respected, more consultative, expensive solutions. You are selling to business not consumers. And for this reason, you learn valuable skills such as how to get past the gatekeeper, how to pitch properly to C-level executives, how to prospect and find businesses and clients for your business. All things that are translatable for fastlane and business ventures.
B2B sales are better paying, not as associated with schemy or slimeball, dealership type sales stigmas, are in very high demand especially the tech industry, and you close larger deals with long sales cycles.

Transactional sales or one call close types are a different type of sales tactic and it gets old fast. It's a step above telemarketing. You try to sell, hard, dont care about them, try to get them to open their wallet, and if they don't buy, move on and F*ck em. Longer sales cycle when you're selling say, medical equipment or trying to get your prospect's company to buy $100,000 worth of your software for their entire company, you can't do stuff like that. You have to respect business etiquette. You also get paid x% on the $100k and get a base salary. It's not unheard of for the top guys with 5-10 years in Enterprise B2B sales making $300k+. You're also getting hit up on linkedin all day if you're good, and companies really value good, talented sales individuals because they bring in the money.

Your position will teach you sales habits but try to transition into a b2b inside sales role as soon as possible. you can even get one without experience a lot of times.
 

Ankerstein17

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
73%
Mar 22, 2015
88
64
29
Edmonton, Alberta
So if I understand correctly, they give you a region and then rotate your region every 2 days or so which causes you pressure to close right away before you're reassigned?
Are you able to sell to the customer say like 2 weeks from your initial contact or does that go to the person who is assigned the turf at that moment?

I don't know enough about your company to understand why they do it that way but if it's not proven with data, it sounds like a bad strategy. Whoever is in charge of the sales dept should have an idea of how long your sales cycle is and if they are rotating you out in a few days, it doesn't sound right.

Same day selling also known as, one call close, is a different tactic and requires some hard pushy sales tactics. I'm not a fan of it and this is the type of stuff that car dealers use. I am versed in it as there were times where I had to get a sale that day because it's the last day of the month and I wanted to hit my numbers but I don't like doing it.

One call closes are easier the cheaper the product price point. One call closing someone for say $1000 when they are a straight cold lead and they have never even heard of you an hour before, is very very difficult and has a high refund or cancellation rate.

The ideal solution is to disregard the turf assignments, just make contacts and follow-up appointments the first couple days and even when you're re-assigned a turf and working a new one, you have them call you specifically and you make the effort to follow-up and close that house. If your company policy is free-for-all (bad) and has no rules of engagements in place with salespeople, then it's going to be more difficult. I hate companies like that that waste previous energy and sales morale by making their OWN sales guys compete over their own leads.

If it's free-for-all, then you really have to make sure to follow up in email or phone, house visit, etc with people who have shown interest and might buy. Responses from them would be something like "I'll think about it, we've been meaning to get an alarm system". You should also say, "Great. I just want to be honest, I get paid on commission and we always get assigned a different region every now and then. If you decide on trying our service, can you please call me direct? Here's my card and number."

If your company has a policy where first contact gets the lead, then you should make sure that it's recorded in the CRM, assuming all your salespeople have the same CRM connected to each other.


The reason why I say B2B is because, B2B is the highly respected, more consultative, expensive solutions. You are selling to business not consumers. And for this reason, you learn valuable skills such as how to get past the gatekeeper, how to pitch properly to C-level executives, how to prospect and find businesses and clients for your business. All things that are translatable for fastlane and business ventures.
B2B sales are better paying, not as associated with schemy or slimeball, dealership type sales stigmas, are in very high demand especially the tech industry, and you close larger deals with long sales cycles.

Transactional sales or one call close types are a different type of sales tactic and it gets old fast. It's a step above telemarketing. You try to sell, hard, dont care about them, try to get them to open their wallet, and if they don't buy, move on and F*ck em. Longer sales cycle when you're selling say, medical equipment or trying to get your prospect's company to buy $100,000 worth of your software for their entire company, you can't do stuff like that. You have to respect business etiquette. You also get paid x% on the $100k and get a base salary. It's not unheard of for the top guys with 5-10 years in Enterprise B2B sales making $300k+. You're also getting hit up on linkedin all day if you're good, and companies really value good, talented sales individuals because they bring in the money.

Your position will teach you sales habits but try to transition into a b2b inside sales role as soon as possible. you can even get one without experience a lot of times.

Yeah exactly, you are understanding that correctly. Because based the turf area and size, you should be done knocking on all doors, and talking to all potential leads within 2 days realistically. Realistically, 3 if you talk with every customer at their doorstep for 30-45 minutes. But to me, it's a pure numbers game. Not interested, have every reason not to get helped? Okay, then next. Understanding you still want to make good report because neighbours talk.

For example. On Monday, I walk around doing door to door. Knocking on 40 doors. 10 of the doors are interested, and I can't close any of them. But I have built a good reputation with them and everything. So out of those 10 doors, I give my contact information, and they give me theirs. OKAY So i will follow up.
Because I know I will be done with that turf the next day potentially, I have a choice.

I have to either close them on day-2 or loose that turf. Meaning even though I am still in the neighbourhood 1 week later, (On the other side of town).... I can't service them or sell back to them.... Unless they want to pay more additional fees than what we discussed. Which just prompts no sales to begin with...

I think it's not a great system obviously, as you can see the fault.

So in regards to the B2B sales. I think thats where I will end up, i was thinking about that doing the door thing. I was thinking to myself.... "Even though you can't sell or close on the door, doesn't mean your bad at sales". Not trying to make excuses for the reasons not able to close at the home, but I believe its true as once again, people want to be pulled to make decisions, not pushed.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top