Negosentro.com | Best Strategies for Today’s Door-to-Door Salesperson | Door-to-door sales have come a long way from the old stereotype of a salesman in a plaid suit trying to push his way into a flustered homeowner’s living room to sell his product. Today’s sales methods are far removed from old ideas. What are the best door-to-door sales strategies today?
Study the Best Prospects
The most successful door-to-door salespersons know that choosing an unknown neighborhood and knocking on random doors will likely waste a lot of time. A much smarter method of selling starts with studying an area and finding the best possibilities within that area. For example, if you sell lawn care, you would avoid neighborhoods filled with high-rise apartment buildings and seek out homes with yards.
Some tools that help with lead qualification include sales enablement technology, discovery calls and sales territory mapping software.
Read Body Language
If you are worried about properly delivering a sales pitch, you may be too anxious to look for nonverbal cues from the potential buyer. The best way to remedy this situation is to know the product and the pitch forward and backward. When you are an expert, your confidence increases because you know you can answer customers’ questions. Your thorough knowledge lets you go on “autopilot” as you speak, freeing your mind to watch customers for cues. Are they making eye contact? Are they nodding along? Are they trying to close the door? Watching body language allows you to know when to change direction or exit the sales call.
Get to “No” Fast
While every salesperson will have encounters with rude customers, most people are polite. They may not be interested in the product or service being sold, but they don’t want to cut off a sales pitch in the middle, and they don’t want to shut the door in someone’s face.
Put the customer at ease by making them feel comfortable saying no. Doing so keeps an unsuccessful sales call short — but it also creates trust, opening up the chance that the customer will take a closer look at the product and listen to you more closely.
Don’t Apply Pressure
You probably know that making a customer feel badgered or obligated will not make a sale. Instead, take time to build a rapport and learn the customer’s needs and wants. When you ask questions and really listen to the answers, you understand his or her situation. Your pitch can then be directed to matching your product to the customer’s needs and objectives.
Follow Up
If a customer has answered a door-to-door sales call with no prior knowledge of your arrival, he or she hasn’t had time to think about the purchase at all beforehand. In other words, right before opening the door, there was no plan to buy a product. The customer may need some time. Possibly, he or she may want to consult with a family member about the purchase, especially if it is rather large or subscription- or contract-based. Ask the customer how long is needed to think it over, and then schedule a time to return. This simple courtesy may take time out of your schedule, but it could secure a sale that would not have been made under a short time span.
Create a Time Limit
While offering to call again on a customer who’s thinking over a purchase, do yourself a big favor and set a limit on the amount of time you will spend on attempting a sale. When offering to come back, ask the customer if he or she would be ready to make a decision in a few hours (or a week, or whatever time limit you feel is appropriate). Then go back and confirm a final answer. If the answer is no, you may move on, directing your attention to other leads.
The personal touch of door-to-door sales is still important today. Listen to your potential customers and plan your time wisely, and you can build a successful sales career.
