Owning the Door

Door-to-door sales leads to success

Throughout the last decade of knocking on doors, I have experienced far more success than failure. In fact, I would rank door-to-door residential sales as the number one way to convert a prospect into a client. Granted, it has been the primary method of generating sales over the previous four-year span that has netted north of $1.25 million in gross profit.

As the owner of a high-end custom paint company, there is truly no better way to evaluate the need for my service than to assess the need from the front sidewalk. However, the best bait is useless if it’s not in the right pond. In my business, the right pond is multi-million dollar residential developments. But even more, the quality of the pond doesn’t matter if I don’t have the confidence to cast my rod. Getting a “yes” starts with the confidence to overcome any fears of knocking on the first door. As a door-to-door salesman, you have to own the moment.

Overcoming fear of rejection masked as a monster of your mind

Overcoming the fear of rejection for most people is oftentimes a powerful driving motivator for why we do what we do in both our personal and professional lives. Whether it is fear of being rejected by a prom date or a sales prospect, fear is an extraordinary motivator. In some cases, it can drive you to do great things and at other times some not-so-great things.

In most cases, fear of rejection is a huge obstacle to overcome when it comes to residential door-to-door sales. That fear generally manifests itself into a monster at our mind’s forefront that paralyzes us from taking action. The monster often looks like a hostile homeowner shouting, “Go away!” at the top of his lungs. This visualization starts small, but with time it creeps further and further into the forefront of our minds.

The buck doesn’t stop there; the monster quickly grows multiple heads. One head whispers High-end homes mean picky and rude homeowners. Another head whispers Door knocking is beneath me. Each head reaffirms the paralyzing comfort of playing it safe by protecting your ego from the fear of rejection and failure. This form of paralysis by analysis is ever so common due to the negative stigma of knocking on doors. With that said, door-to-door sales requires a very special type of person.

It isn’t for everyone; but that’s the advantage

It requires a rare individual to muster up the confidence to overcome any stigmas surrounding door-to-door sales. Generally, this fear is overcome by humility and submission to being a servant-based salesman. Additionally, those who have been successful at door knocking within my company are those individuals who understand the why behind door-to-door sales. In many cases, these individuals are more in tune with their purpose, which is rooted in the legacy that they are building for themselves and their families. This sense of mission and purpose trumps any ego that may whisper riddles of fear.

Most are above it

Door-to-door sales is a very effective marketing strategy—one that is not deployed by many talented salesmen, as most consider themselves “above it.” As a result, it is not hard to be seen as an outlier in a field of selfish, non-servant based performers. The good kind of outlier is a rare and memorable impression left at the door. This impression makes your next interaction with a prospect during the sales presentation one that he looks forward to and honors because he respects the effort and extent that you have gone through to serve him.

To that point, it would be quite efficient to hire a large number of door-to-door solicitors and have them submit their leads to the so-called real salesmen, but this cuts out the relational and servant-led approach that is taken on at LIME. Door-to-door sales is the opportunity that knocks for those who are the rare few that wear green.

What are some of your stigmas about door-to-door sales? Could you excel at something that most look down on even if it meant high returns?