Strategies for Effectively Canvassing an Area 

Sales is about being fast paced and making the most out of selling hours. When you intelligently canvass a neighborhood, you not only make the most of your time, but you also establish trust within the area and land more sales as a result. Lead sales trainer, Ryan Roche, teaches you how to canvass smarter with these 2 simple steps.

Collect Lots of Intel

The better you know an area, the more likely you’ll be successful selling there. Any time you are able to sit down with a lead, get to know as much information about them, the area, and the neighbors as you can, your sales will benefit. With our app you’ll already learn a lot about the customer, but dig deeper and get more personal by asking questions like:

• Do you know about how many families are in the area?
• Who gets home, when?
• Who is tech savvy in your family?
• Have there been recent break-ins in the neighborhood?
• Do you hear about problems with spiders, bugs, etc in the area?

Even if the prospect is not your ideal customer, they can still be a valuable resource to easily collect data about the area. Getting general information about a neighborhood, as well as industry specific information—learning about break-ins or pest problems—will set you apart from other reps. The more you know about your surroundings, the better you’ll sell.

Look For Any Signs of Life

Rather than going house-to-house hoping that people are home, look for what Roche refers to as “Signs of Life.” If there are cars missing, lights off, visible oil spills in the driveway, there is most likely no one home. There’s still a slight chance that someone’s there, but you want to play to your odds. It’s most effective to knock until 4 or 5 pm (skipping the houses that show no signs of life) and as most people return home from work at 5 pm, circle back around to the houses that were previously vacant. 

This is what Roche calls the “Yo-Yo Approach” to knocking. After time has passed and people are home to chat with, it’s important to go back to the houses you skipped. This is how you make the most of an area. Most reps usually skip going back to missed houses, but by doing a yo-yo approach, you’ll be set apart from the competition because you cared enough to speak to every person. Having commitment and attention to detail with an area builds trust and recognition with your leads that’ll turn into referrals or future sales. 

How to Keep Learning

If you liked what you learned from this video, we have plenty more for you. Visit our SalesRabbit Learn program that gives you a playbook of resources and training for reps and management. You can use our training videos, but why stop there? Upload your own learning content or rely on the great content library we’ve already built. Once you have your training materials, you can assign videos for reps as homework and track their progress through the training. Using our program will introduce premium content that’ll impact the future of your success.

With our door to door app, you can sell more and sell faster.

In door to door sales, productivity is the name of the game. Everyone knows you need to be constantly filling your pipeline, but nobody wants a pipeline full of people that aren’t closing. By using a door to door app, your teams can move prospects quickly through that pipeline and close deals as fast as possible, all from a mobile device.

Step 1: Target the Right Buyers

Most salespeople consider door-to-door sales a numbers game, and there is an element of truth to that. You have to do a lot of knocking sometimes to build a substantial pipeline. But you also end up spending a lot of time with people who don’t have anything to offer you.

Every industry has an “ideal buyer,” and these buyers have characteristics that make them ideal. Some industries need buyers with a certain credit score, others need buyers with a certain level of income, some need buyers who are homeowners instead of renters, some prefer recent homeowners, etc. Time spent talking with anyone other than your ideal buyer is time wasted.

With DataGrid, you can view dozens of homeowner data points from the app and use them to target your ideal buyer. That way you don’t waste time with everyone who can’t qualify for your service or are unlikely to buy. Weed out all the disqualified people digitally and you’ll have much more time for the right people.

Step 2: Map Your Leads and Customers

Outside selling takes place geographically, so every good door to door app obviously needs to map out your leads. It should also map out your customers, and you should be using that customer map as a canvassing strategy. 

That’s because referred customers close at a much higher rate than ones you create on your own. When you’re going door to door, chances are your product or service is visible to your customers’ neighbors. They see the security stickers, the solar panels, etc. It’s also very possible that your customers have had conversations with their friends about your company. So ask them about those conversations. Ask them if they know anyone interested in making the same purchase.

Even if they don’t know anybody specific, you can still canvass around their house and use their names in conversations. “Hi, I’m from Example Pest Control Co. We serviced your neighbor’s yard last year and they just renewed with us. Are you interested in having a yard that looks just as good?” It’s a great way to build reputation and trust.

Your sales will simply move faster when they’re driven by relationships.

Step 3: Pick the Best Route

If you want to maximize productivity, you need to cut down on time spent doing anything other than selling. You especially need to focus on eliminating time spent behind a windshield.

Most people know how to use their phone to find a route from one destination to another, but that’s not always the best way to do things. Say you have three different leads that you need to see. Several apps can give you the best route between A and B, but what if that route puts you farther from Lead C than you need to be? You’re going to end up wasting time on the road.

With our app, you can find the best route between 20+ different leads, all at the same time. Just select a batch of leads and you’ll be seeing (and selling) them all in no time.

Step 4: Expedite the Approval Process

One of the most difficult parts of the sale is the approval process. At this point the prospect has expressed enough interest to find out if they are qualified for the deal, but that interest can wane if you’re stuck in an approval process that lasts for several hours, an entire day, or more.

You also don’t want to waste all that time just to discover that someone isn’t qualified. The sooner you find out, the better. Then it’s on to the next prospect who actually is qualified.

We’ve already mentioned DataGrid, and one of the data points that it provides is a homeowner’s soft credit score (basically an informed estimate of their score). You can use that information to canvass strategically in areas and streets that are more qualified.

We’re also integrating credit scores and title checks directly into our app. This will provide you with a credit approval within fifteen minutes or so– a step you can easily incorporate into your sales process without dragging things out uncomfortably with the prospect. 

We are also building in logic to the approval process. This allows you to pull different credit reports based on the result of the first request. Say, for example, that a prospect doesn’t quite have the right score on the first bureau report. We can have a second request built-in to check other bureaus until one of them are approved. You might currently be losing qualified customers because you are only pulling one uncharacteristically low score and basing your decision on that.

Step 5: Use Digital Contracts

When everything has been agreed upon, you don’t want to waste time (and lower your customer’s opinion of your service) by filling everything out on paper. There’s just too much room for error and delay when you’re running things that way. Paper gets lost, damaged, or misread. And it takes so long to transfer paper information from the rep/closer to the back office. 

Instead, do it all instantly in the app. Use a form builder to make sure you’re collecting all the vital information you need and then collect a signature digitally. Process any transactions you need, and then instantly send customer information to your managers or techs to get the on-boarding process underway. 

Any other way of doing things is simply second best and leaves too much to chance. 

Always Look for Opportunities to Accelerate

These are good tips, but every sales process is different. Luckily, our app allows door to door teams to consistently collect data on their performance. Use that data to analyze your strengths and weaknesses and make adjustments accordingly. Our rep tracker and leaderboards are especially helpful resources for accelerating your teams.

If you have more questions on our door to door app or how to optimize your sales team, check out our overview video, talk to a rep, or read more of our resource articles.

Peak selling season is upon us. Do sales leaders have the strategy to get the most from it?

A lot of new sales leaders in the D2D industry are successful reps and field managers who have steadily worked their way up the company ladder. Most of them have found success in the field because of their confidence, optimism, personality, and endurance. They’re typically good on the porch, too, and understand what it takes to handle an area and a conversation. These are all great attributes, of course, and they have some benefit when a salesperson is making the transition to sales leader or VP of sales. Unfortunately, these positions require a lot more, and all-star reps are often unprepared for the job’s demands.

In fact, studies have found that “72% of new sales leaders in our sample arrive in a company with no defined sales strategy.” Instead, these leaders often fall back on their previous sales experience and end up trusting their gut or trying to come up with quick patchwork solutions that don’t address the roots of the problem and create new problems altogether. As a result, the turnover for these positions is extremely high and “no other member of the executive suite fails as often as the sales leader.”

Why are these leaders failing so often? Because they don’t have a defined sales process or analytics system. They’re overconfident in the ability of individual salespeople, they’re building off of previous door-knocking success, and they’re basically winging it because hey, they’ve sold a lot.

How do you get out of this mode? By creating a plan that addresses the real problems:

Step 1. Build a top-level sales process.

You need to be planning and tracking the sequence of events that takes someone from being a prospect to a customer. You need a sales process that is trainable and measurable while also being adaptable to different areas and scenarios.

This sales process will act as the framework for almost all of your data gathering, which is the most crucial part of your growth. Here’s a door-to-door sales example: say your reps are making a lot of contacts at the door but struggle to close in the house.

Since you have a set sales process that defined those steps, and since you are collecting rep performance data, now you know what you have to do to get better. If you didn’t have those things, you might think they’re struggling with a different part of the sales process and try and solve the wrong problem.

Have you mapped out the key stages of this process? Do you collect data on those stages? Do you have strategies for improving each of these stages?

Step 2. Reinforce your process with sales-specific technology.

This includes effectively rolling out sales software that is mobile-ready and specific to the needs of a door-to-door or field sales company. This means territory management, geographically-based lead tracking, real-time communication, and compatibility with the custom data reporting that adapts to your sales process.

Step 3. Build a library of top training materials

What are you doing to build knowledge for your reps and managers? What training resources do you have? What tools are you providing your salespeople with for when they’re in the field? This is especially important for companies with seasonal hiring patterns, since you want to give new employees every chance to learn and succeed quickly.

You need to have enough content and materials to reinforce the pillars of your sales process. This content needs to be scalable, repeatable, and trainable. Create video walkthroughs or whiteboard presentations about key parts of the sales process and rep success. Continue to create content that addresses specific company needs as they arise.

You also need to help individual reps develop a strategic approach to their work. Like the eager yet inexperienced sales leader, it doesn’t matter how motivated a rep is if they’re going to approach their work without a plan. A lot of very motivated reps like to go on the attack and knock a lot of doors, but that will not produce results if they aren’t speaking to the people on the other side of those doors.

Make sure your sales processes and trainings encourage a strategic approach to the field that is, like the larger company processes, based on data that is being constantly gathered, adjusted, and refined.

Want to learn more?

Check out the full piece and learn more about outside sales leadership.

Are you considering expanding your sales teams?

If yes, that’s great news and a sign that your business is thriving. However, it’s important not to rush into things and instead make smart decisions about scaling at the appropriate time and place.

In this article, we’ll explore some tips on how you can confidently build a sales team with the aid of sales tracking software by asking, planning, then learning.

Ask Yourself: Is There Room to Scale?

Assess Current Reps’ Performance

Before beginning the recruitment and hiring process for outside sales reps, it’s crucial to ensure that there is sufficient room for them. Hiring new reps without considering the capacity of your current team may result in low morale and high turnover, as current reps may feel threatened by the new hires taking away their shares.

Before you hire, assess your current areas and rep numbers. Determine if there is adequate potential in your current areas for your reps to work in and grow. It is essential to give your current reps room to improve and progress, and to avoid limiting their motivation.

Leaderboards can provide a comprehensive picture of your current team’s capabilities and can help you keep track of the potential in your areas while also comparing rep performance.

Assess Expansion Opportunities

If you plan to expand to new areas, it’s crucial to conduct research on the area’s sales potential. Collecting accurate data is the best way to avoid overexpanding your sales team.

Say you’re selling solar door-to-door, and you get to an area where houses owned by people who make $150k+ are twice as likely to buy than those who make under $100k.

If you expand to the area without conducting that research and knowing that data, you may think there are enough deals to keep four reps happy, only to realize it’s a lower-converting area with the potential for only two reps.

Scaling without data can cause discouragement for everyone involved and hinder expansion. SalesRabbit’s DataGrid AI is an excellent tool to obtain the information you need before scaling.

Plan: How Can You Ramp Up Quickly?

Onboarding and Training Development

Once you have analyzed your areas and your current reps’ performance and concluded that it is time to bring on new hires, it’s important that you provide them with everything they need to succeed from the beginning. This means a planned onboarding process and training materials.

One of the most effective ways to reduce employee turnover and shorten the runway to rep profitability is through an efficient onboarding and training program. By demonstrating an investment in the employee, you help make them feel valued and motivated.

Effective Options for Training

While some companies already have a decent training system in place, others may not have invested much time into it. SalesRabbit has developed a learning platform, allowing you to upload your content and track your employees as they work through it.

Building an effective onboarding and training program is an investment in your new hires and your company’s success. A well-planned training program not only accelerates new hires’ productivity and success but also creates a strong foundation for future growth.

If you haven’t developed any training or don’t want to invest additional resources, SalesRabbit Learn offers a full library of pre-made, elite-level training videos.

Learn: How Can You Communicate at Scale?

Don’t Overwhelm Reps

Maintaining effective communication is one of the biggest challenges that outside sales teams face. With reps spread across different cities, states, and countries, keeping everyone on the same page can be a daunting task.

Sending out a mass text or email may not be the best approach since you need to ensure that the right information reaches the right people, without overwhelming everyone else.

In addition to communication challenges, building a motivated team culture is crucial for the success of sales teams. However, this can be difficult to achieve when company-wide interaction is limited.

Use Messaging Designed for Sales

Communication is an essential aspect of outside sales. When they don’t have the right tools, sales reps can struggle to effectively communicate with a large group of people, especially when there are different levels of hierarchy within an organization. This is where in-app messaging platforms designed for the industry come in handy.

Collaboration is a critical aspect of sales, and messaging platforms can help facilitate this. Sales reps can use a messaging platform to communicate and collaborate with other members of their team, such as sales managers or customer service representatives. This can help ensure everyone is on the same page and has access to the same information, ultimately leading to a more productive and efficient sales process.

If you need sales reps to send important updates and promotional texts to a large group of people, you can do that with just a few clicks. You can also facilitate communication with specific regions or teams, enabling sales reps to personalize messages and build stronger relationships with prospects and customers.

Using a messaging platform that is built into a sales app has the added benefit of reps not needing to switch between multiple apps or platforms, which can be distracting. With everything in one place, it’s easier to focus on talking with prospects and customers, which can lead to a more productive and efficient sales process.

By utilizing a messaging platform built for sales, you can build a strong and inspiring company culture that consistently enriches everyone’s experience within your growing company.

Need Help with Sales Team Management?

We understand that each situation is unique, and we’re happy to offer customized assistance for scaling. If you’re facing growth challenges or want to explore how technology can enhance your processes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re eager to collaborate with you and support your growth.

👉 Book a demo with SalesRabbit.

Door-to-Door Sales Recruiting

Eventually, every growing company needs to solve the recruiting problem. Who is the right person to hire? Getting this wrong is one of the biggest costs that companies will face. If you hire the wrong person, you waste money on onboarding. You lose money when a dud salesperson works leads that could’ve gone to a pro. You waste money firing. You lose money hiring again.

But the right hire can change everything for a company. A strong salesperson can set a strong example and redefine what’s possible for their colleagues. They are their own walking training module. They find new markets, set new standards, and bring fire to the team.

We’re probably not telling you anything new. So let’s talk solutions. We’ve created a video listing the characteristics you want to find in a prospect and the ones you want to avoid. That should help you build a team of qualified, excited reps who are going to represent your company the way you imagined when you started the hiring process.

This video came straight out of our SalesRabbit Learn library. It’s one of dozens of videos covering all the top problems faced by reps and managers alike. If you like what you see, check out the Learn page for more information.