Brian Diamond started his business in 2014 with just one employee and $30,000. Today that same company employs 30 and is projected to make $4 million in sales.
How did Diamond make such a dramatic turnaround in just three years? Door-to-door canvassing combined with some smart technology.
“I would have never been able to do that if I decided to put up a bunch of billboards and gone with direct mail,” said Diamond, owner and president of Quality Home Exteriors, a 2017 Remodeling Big50 honoree.
Diamond said canvassing works especially well in today’s busy society where people often don’t have time to contemplate their home’s maintenance needs — or connect those to bigger issues. For example, often customers don’t realize that leaky windows, doors and siding can lead to bigger problems especially for those with comprised immune systems or asthma. Or if they do realize it, they don’t know how to deal with it.
“I’m amazed at how many people think they can’t afford it, so they just don’t do anything,” Diamond said. “What we do is connect with people when they think they have no hope and show them a way to do it.”
It starts with canvassers who personally engage the homeowner with a conversation about maintenance issues they see such as weathered siding. The canvasser points out the issue and asks how long it’s been going on, which often leads to a sale that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. “That homeowner would have never made a phone call,” Diamond said. “But we stopped and made a connection. That’s why we’ve been able to scale so quickly.”
The leads tell the story: 760 the first year, 1,300 the next and 2,400 the third year. “We were able to double the amount of opportunity to secure business every year,” he said.
Research on foot canvassing’s effectiveness in political campaigns backs up those numbers. In fact, foot canvassing is the most effective contact method, increasing voter turnout by about 7 percentage points, while phoning boosts it by 2.6 points. Other contact techniques such as direct mail, robocalls, and email have small to undetectable effects, according to a Brookings Institute study.
Diamond said the reason that canvassing is so effective comes down to the difference between traditional marketing and door-to-door marketing. “Canvassing is hunting. The traditional method of lead generation is gathering,” he explained. “With the traditional method, you’re waiting for people to make a decision, figure out a budget and then actually take action. Canvassing is casting a net and pulling them in.”
But Diamond also uses technology to hunt better. Using an app called Spotio, Diamond’s canvassers instantly gain neighborhood demographics including places that can be skipped because they’re rentals. As the neighborhood is canvassed, workers can use the technology to note why someone isn’t interested — and expedite sales calls for those who are interested. “The contract rate will improve 20% to 30% with same day contact,” Diamond said.
Diamond further uses that data to determine which zip codes are performing best with a profitability factor. The higher the factor of each zip code the more certain he is that it will turn around bankable leads and the more he focuses efforts there.
Ultimately, though, Diamond said his success comes down to the personal contact each canvasser makes with the homeowner, and the appreciation for what a home really is. That’s something even the best technology can’t reproduce. “We have people tells us, ‘I so appreciated that you stopped by and didn’t let me say, no. I would have never known what it would be like with new windows otherwise,’” he said. “The home is only place that family has they can call their own space. When you’re not comfortable in your home, where can you be comfortable?”
