With a canvass lead, the homeowners were contacted by you. Their level of interest could be anywhere in the buying cycle. If your sales reps have never sold a canvass lead you’re going to encounter resistance if not outright mutiny. I’ve seen average sales reps — closing at 25% — go 0 for 16 on canvass leads. They will think (and say): This isn’t our customer. There’s no urgency here. They’re not even serious about this.
And that’s legit. Because those are the types of reactions they’re getting in the home, which is why the sales manager needs to be onboard. Explain to your reps what’s being said at the door and the key differences between this type of lead and the other leads they run. It helps your salespeople to know the origin of that lead and the differences between this type of prospect and others.
The selling points will be different even though the presentation will be largely the same. It’s not so much a matter of differentiating your company relative to competitors as showing prospects the problem, explaining how your product can be the solution, and creating the urgency for them to take action now.
5. Support team. To generate a lead, any kind of lead, takes work. To generate a canvass lead takes a lot of work. You have to recruit and train canvassers on an ongoing basis and have to measure and track their productivity daily. (Yes, every day.) Someone needs to manage them in the field. You need scripts, fliers, a handbook, a pay plan.
There are tasks here for your human resources person — who will need to process recruits — and for the marketing department, which will need to find new neighborhoods with suitable demographics for canvassers to work and find out what sort of restrictions or regulations might exist there. You’ll need a support team of designated people in your organization with tasks specific to canvassing.
LEADERSHIP ROLE With all these essentials in place, you’ll still need someone to oversee your canvassing operation and run it on a daily basis. This manager is out in the field, showing canvassers how to do it, that is, working and walking with them.
Hiring that manager is the first step in getting a canvassing operation up and running. It’s the biggest obstacle for owners if they’re not already canvassing. It’s also the most common reason why canvassing operations fade into inactivity: because that manager leaves.
A canvassing operation needs a leader. That said, you, the business owner, can’t simply delegate the job to your manager and walk away assuming the leads will immediately begin to flow. You regular input and feedback into the process will make it accountable and keep things on track.
Here are some other tips for getting your canvassing operation up and running.
- Reduce turnover. Even the best canvassers have good days and bad days. They get slammed with constant rejection. That’s demoralizing and creates the continuous turnover that makes a successful canvassing operation such a challenge.
No matter how well trained canvassers are, rejection will always be there, and so will your need to recruit. But you can reduce turnover and, even better, find your new canvassing leaders, by creating incentives.