The ability to find work for you and your business is one of the most valuable skills of all time.
Sales, marketing, and direct selling all fall under this category, but when the chips are down and you don’t have a job for the day everyone should have a little experience doing some good old door knocking.
In an earlier article I mentioned how you never have to go door to door again and I meant it. However this past week I came home to visit my dad’s house about an hour and a half away from where I normally do business. Having about 5 days of sitting still pretty soon I couldn’t handle it. I quickly put up a Facebook ad and was ready to get to work.
But if you’ve done FB ads at all you know there is generally at least 1-2 weeks of lag time in which you’re replying to messages and setting appointments. It just takes a few days sometimes. I wanted a job THAT day however.
So I packed up the truck, and drove to a nearby neighborhood that I’ve worked in the past and hit the streets. First house wasn’t home. Second house said they already had someone coming to do it. 3rd house I got the job right then and there, and though smaller, around $175 in cash, it was enough to keep me loving this business.
After I finished that job an hour or so later I kept my momentum up and knocked on 6 more doors, securing 2 more jobs for the following 2 days. From about 30 minutes of door knocking I generated $900 for my business. Not too bad right?
Why wouldn’t you door knock all the time?
There’s a couple reasons for not doing so but in my experience door to door only works well if you have a few key components within yourself.
Confidence. Laid back. Nonchalant. Expert in your field.
I’ll explain these in a minute but right now I want to mention the main reasons I don’t usually go door to door.
Number 1. Its harder to scale. If you’re the main operator in your business you should be focusing on getting jobs completed as fast as possible. Ideally you hire someone to help you and or begin to do jobs for you but until you reach this point you don’t want to be spending all day knocking on doors.
Number 2. It leads to slightly lower paid jobs. The power dynamic of approaching someone else’s house and they KNOW you have nothing else to do gives them a bit more power. When you have an ad running and 10 different people are trying to schedule you, you have quite a bit more power and can set your price as you want.
Number 3. Nothing can match the power and scale of a good advertising campaign.
But with all these reasons Door to Door is still a great option for gaining traction and momentum in a new area. Additionally if its maybe a new city you can begin to learn what makes people tick. What their needs are and how you can help them. The answers might surprise you. When I first went door to door I was selling driveway cleanings, but no one wanted their driveways cleaned.
Now I sell roof cleanings and I end up having more jobs than I need, and I’ll send the extras over to some of my buddies.
But how the hell do you generate a job from only talking to someone for a few minutes?
I would say the most important part is to identify your target. Go to a solid neighborhood in your area that has more money than the average joe. Visually look and see which houses need your help. If you do house washes look for the dust and moldy house. If you clean gutters and roofs look for the roof that has piles of leaves and needles. If you clean driveways approach the dirtiest driveway you see.
Often if you do this right people will say “we were just thinking about getting this done”. Exactly. You read their mind. Believe it or not if you do a good job and are honest people will always want to do business with people like you. Successfully weeding through the numbers is our next challenge.
The biggest thing is door to door is a numbers game. A lot of it has to do with luck but as they say, “the harder I work the luckier I get”. If you can really internalize this and not care if someone says no then you can really start to make money.
Stop caring if people say no. Most people will. You just have to step up to the plate and swing. Even in Major League Baseball the hitting average is only .245. This means most people only hit 1 out of every 4 times they go to the plate. You’re gonna swing and strike out but what’s important is keeping after it and going until you land a job.
Body language
Besides number, this is the most important step to landing lots of pressure washing jobs.
According to many studies over 55% of our communication is with our bodies and the other 38% is with tonality leading to 93% of our conversation is processed before our words are.
This is huge. If you’re not beginning to study body language now you should start. Effective communication to potential customers can become your superpower. With your body language alone you can subconsciously put people at ease, make them trust you, and get them to buy from you.
I mentioned these 4 traits earlier. Confidence. Laid back. Nonchalant. Expert in your field. This is how we need to feel about ourselves the second we respectfully walk up someone’s driveway. You have all the answers and you’re just seeing if they are even interested about getting ______ done anytime soon.
One tip I learned from a dating coach is people usually just have 2 questions when a stranger comes to talk to them. If you can answer these right away you put them and their subconscious brain at ease knowing you’re not a threat.
#1 Why is he talking to me?
#2 How long is he going to be here talking to me?
That’s pretty much it. With this in mind, I usually start off knocking on the door and waiting patiently with my hands where people can see them (another subconscious thing. If people can’t see your hands they won’t trust you as much). The first words I say are usually something like this “hey! I was just driving through the area to visit a friend/just got done with a job and I’m heading home right now but I saw your guy’s roof and I do roof cleanings over in (different city) but I’m here for a week if you guys need anything done”, say this with confidence, remember you get jobs all the time(even if you don’t have any right now. People want what you have.
The more you can make it seem casual like you were on your way to do something else or are heading home the better. Then if you can make it seem like you were just driving by and you didn’t creepily stalk them home from the bank will put them more at ease. Laidback. You ultimately don’t care either way what they say and you’re just seeing if they’re interested at all.
If they do seem interested at all, if they ask you any questions related to the roof, answer professionally and knowledgeably. They should know they’re dealing with an expert and that you know what you’re doing.
That’s pretty much it. Like I said, its a numbers game it will take many houses to get comfortable and even more to get a job but always remember the harder you work the luckier you will get.
Door to door is great experience and it makes you feel badass as hell by being able to get jobs wherever you are and whenever you want.
Get out there and crush it, and make that money!
- Spencer