Hey Steve,
I am considering going door to door with some flyers I had printed up for my residential carpet cleaning services. We have an upper middle class area here that seems to be very profitable when I get calls. But will people call me or will they just blow my flyers off ? (Like I do when I get advertising stuff stuck in my door!) I guess my hesitation is that I don’t know if it is worth my time to try the more involved door-to-door route deal.
If I pass out 200 flyers a day and make sure I speak with at least 25 homeowners do you think I will have any luck? Thank you so much for your insights.
Hesitant to take the plunge in Memphis
Dear Hesitant,
Door to door is the fastest response marketing known to man and certainly the cheapest! You’ll do great. Hesitate no longer!
Sure, it can be nerve-wracking to knock on doors but after the first 2 or so, you won’t even feel it. Make sure to bring a gift of something more than just the flyer. A refrigerator magnet, a set of pens or the best of all, a free bottle of carpet spotter makes for a great ice-breaker. (Even better if it has a free lifetime refill label attached with your logo and phone number on it!) 🙂
IF you can make your goal of 25 home owners every day, without fail, you will definitely start booking jobs. Let us know how it goes.
Steve
P.S. I understand your concerns on making good use of your time. But if you aren’t doing anything else, how can it be “not be worth your time?” I say try it once a day at different times for a week to find the best time when most people are home. Then try it the next week at that time daily. See what comes of it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Bonus hint: How is your web site, Be sure to have the flyer you leave with the homeowner point them toward your web site. That is where you can trot out the heavy artillery in your sales effort.
hi steve!
was following several of your posts and articals. great insights. your opinion to the following please………
how bout giving a customer too good a deal to pass up. once set up and working give them another “package” deal too good to pass up.
for example 125-175 for all the carpet in your home(up to say 1500sq). ill give you halls and closets and you pay me stairs. a standard level of cleaning with corner gaurds, walk off matts, pre vac, pre spot as needed, prespray, double dry passes, rake.
so heres the upsell…. tile, area rugs, garage floor, deodorizer, matresses, car interior, area fragrences, bio treatment, anti stat, fan dry, protectants/sealers, 2 piece furniture maybe? anything on its own or in combination that can get you double or better on the ticket. now is that bait and switch? is it taking advantage of a person? is it ok to make an initial offer so compelling that you are willing to sell yourself a short to make a possible gain on the other end? stupid for other reasons perhaps like branding yourself with price?
“Is it OK to make an initial offer so compelling that you are willing to sell yourself a short to make a possible gain on the other end?”
A good question, Jay. I’ve taken so long to reply because I wanted to mull my answer over. My short reply? “Don’t get desperate out there”. The problem with quoting an implausibly low price to just “get in the door” is you lose respect in the process. And then the customer is ‘on guard” for your selling up questions and you easily get lumped in with the “bait and switchers”.
There is nothing wrong with offering the customer additional services and products. In fact, go to our Special Reports menu under the “Resources” section and you’ll see several there on “selling up”, including a great one on Scotchgard! But there is a thin line that I’m afraid I would be tempted to cross if I KNEW I was losing money on the job.
My two cents. Let’s see what others say …
Steve
PS Thanks for your support.
We agree with Steve that setting a minimum goal for doors knocked a day is a great starting point. Tracking the outcomes of those door knocks are equally important because you want to know; 1) How many knocks it takes to get a good lead, 2) How many leads it takes to make a sell, 3) The areas you’ve already knocked, 4) Collecting customer info to covert more to sales. We created SPOTIO for Door to Door sales teams and people to easily and efficiently track their activities.
Our experience has shown that Door to Door sales is a very effective sales channel when manged properly. We hope that you find our suggestions helpful, and look forward to hearing about your successes.