Now that your summer sales experience is quickly ending, here a few questions to ask yourself as you reflect on your overall experience knocking doors:

1. What life skills did I learn that I can apply to my future?

It’s likely you aren’t going to make a career in door-to-door sales. Regardless, knocking doors can offer you the opportunity to hone and refine life skills that will assist you in your future pursuits. These skills can include; negotiation, managing adversity, how to ask the right questions, selling yourself, and leadership. Hopefully you can walk away from your summer sales experience with an improved skill-set that will benefit you in the future.

2. Did my company keep the commitments they promised me during the recruiting process?

Recruiters gonna recruit. The door-to-door sales industry is chock-full of recruiters who over-promise the summer sales experience. If this happened to you, did your company at least come close to what was promised, or were they way off? Did the picture of the summer sales experience your recruiter painted last winter, come close to what your experience was during the summer?  All summer sales experiences aren’t created equally, if you feel as though you were misled by your current company, don’t be afraid to try selling for a different company next summer.

3. If I do it again, how would I approach the experience differently?

There is wisdom in experience, therefore you should use this summer as a launching pad for future experiences in door-to-door sales. Despite the ‘No Regrets’ mantra that is often used in summer sales, we’ve all had regrets when it comes to knocking doors; “I should have stayed out later.” “Why didn’t I work harder?” “I should have knocked one more door.” Learning from past mistakes is the bedrock for improvement. Move forward in a fashion that will allow you to improve during your next go-round.

These are just a few questions to contemplate as you reflect on your time knocking doors, but there are certainly many others you’ll want to ask yourself as you rank your overall experience. The best news is, you’re almost there, the light is visible at the end of the tunnel! When driving or flying home, be sure to celebrate the positive, and commit to improving those things that you could have done better.

Best of luck on the doors!!!

For more door-to-door sales training, visit my website at: lennygray.com

Click here to get my book: Door-to-Door Millionaire: Secrets of Making the Sale

If this blog helped you, I would greatly appreciate your comments below.

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Email: lennyg@d2dmillionaire.com

P.S. If you are thinking about starting a door-to-door sales program, or looking to improve your current program, be sure to check out my FREE video training – 8 Essentials To Running an Effective Training Meeting by Clicking HERE

My personal best sales day is 23 accounts and it happened on July 4, 2000 in Jacksonville, FL. More importantly, all 23 accounts were sold at the standard contract value and serviced during the next 2 days, meaning I got paid!

Despite my record day, I encountered 3 specific challenges throughout the day that could have prevented me from reaching my PR:

Discouragement

Poor Time Management

Satisfaction

First, I was immediately discouraged at the first door I knocked as the woman who answered was visibly upset that I woke her up on a holiday morning. After that encounter, I questioned whether I should go back to my car and wait 30 – 60 minutes before continuing to knock. Fortunately, I didn’t let this woman’s attitude convince me to get off the doors and I continued knocking. Discouragement on the doors can happen at any time, the best remedy for this is to figuratively pick yourself up, dust off your shoes, and knock another door!

Second, during the early afternoon I started to get hungry. Fortunately, I planned ahead and brought a brown-bag lunch with me that day so I didn’t have to leave my area to get something to eat. I walked back to my car, quickly scarfed down a sandwich, drank some water, and was back knocking doors within 10 minutes. Effectively managing my time was critical to my success that day and throughout my door-to-door sales career.

Finally, once I reached my sales goal for the day (which was 10 accounts), I could have easily convinced myself that I was done for the day and spent the rest of the holiday with my wife. However, I was determined to continue selling because I realized the next day I would start with 0 sales. Getting positive momentum is difficult in sales, so quitting early wasn’t an option for me. Becoming satisfied with our results when there’s still daylight to knock doors is a surefire way to fall short of our potential.

Discouragement, poor time management, and satisfaction are all enemies of success. In fact, all 3 of these challenges are regularly encountered by door-to-door sales reps. The key is to find ways to push through the daily challenges and keep knocking doors!

Any of these 3 challenges could have kept me from having my best sales day, but they didn’t, and they don’t have to stop you either!

Today is your day to get out there and set your personal record!

If this blog helped you, I would greatly appreciate your comments below.

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Email: lennyg@d2dmillionaire.com

P.S. If you are thinking about starting a door-to-door sales program, or looking to improve your current program, be sure to check out my FREE video training – 8 Essentials To Running an Effective Training Meeting by Clicking HERE

This summer marks 20 years that I’ve been in the door-to-door sales industry. Some of you reading this probably aren’t even that old! During my tenure, I regularly find joy in teaching the art of sales and communication, and then seeing others succeed when they implement my teachings.

Last month I received a text message from a former sales rep who recently graduated from medical school (the text can be viewed below). Messages like these are exactly why I do what I do. To me, this is more than selling door to door, this is about teaching men and women how to work hard, increase mental toughness and keep commitments. These are my company’s Values of Victory, that I describe in Door-to-Door Millionaire: Secrets of Making the Sale

Other valuable lessons taught to sales reps in my organization include; how to be better communicators, how to effectively read non-verbal signs, how to budget finances, and how to manage success.

All of this being noted, the ability to earn money, continues to be the principal motivator for most sales reps, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s more at stake here than just the money.

Interestingly, there are door-to-door companies that encourage frivolous spending because it increases the likelihood that sales reps return the following year once their money is spent. This ‘Spend Cycle’ isn’t something I encourage as I’d rather focus on helping my sales reps develop skills and talents that will assist them throughout their lives. Effectively budgeting finances is a lesson that should be learned by all of us!

After reading Ben’s text message below, ask yourself if you’d like to be in a similar position.

Is your door-to-door company building you up for long-term success, or are they encouraging you to, “spend it when you get it!”

If you’re interested in having an experience like Ben, contact me at:

lennyg@d2dmillionaire.com

Or visit our website at:

https://www.d2dmillionaire.com/why-d2d/

If this blog helped you, I would greatly appreciate your comments below.

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Email: lennyg@d2dmillionaire.com

P.S. If you are thinking about starting a door-to-door sales program, or looking to improve your current program, be sure to check out my FREE video training – 8 Essentials To Running an Effective Training Meeting by Clicking HERE

Teaching sales reps how do an effective initial approach is one thing but showing them is another. In this blog, I’m going to show you my initial approach from an actual encounter with a potential customer and break down the reasons why I say what I say and do what I do.

The first thing to point out is my demeanor before the potential customer opens his door. I’m laughing and talking with my videographer, so when the door opens, there’s not an ounce of tension. Oftentimes I notice sales reps who are too serious and anxious before the door opens. Having a relaxed demeanor and smiling goes a long way in making you and the potential customer feel more relaxed. Although you won’t always have somebody knocking doors with you, you can still portray a sense of enjoyment and confidence when the door is answered.

Second, this customer showed he was interested in talking by coming out on his front porch and closing the door behind him. I interpreted this as somebody who was willing to engage in conversation. Because of this, I extended the ice breaking opportunity a little longer than I normally would.

After breaking the ice, I introduce myself and go right into a name-drop. These are important aspects of effective initial approaches because you legitimize why you are in the person’s neighborhood.

Next, I give an explanation of what’s going on in his neighborhood and then get in front of a common concern. The common concern in this instance is the neighbors hadn’t been seeing much pest activity. Therefore, I address this concern by explaining why getting a pest service is necessary prior to having any issues.

Another thing to observe is my body language. Remember, as noted in my book, Door-to-Door Millionaire: Secrets of Making the Sale, being a door-to-door sales reps is like being an actor on a stage and you have to put on somewhat of a show. I’m using my hands to point out areas where pests can nest, vulnerabilities of the home, etc.

Next comes the, ‘what am I offering’ portion of the initial approach, which mixes in the Black Friday elements of limited products for a limited time at a discount.

Finally, I use the conversational close, “how long have you guys lived here?” and follow up with additional questions to show genuine interest in the potential customer. By doing so, you’ll notice that he opens up to me and shares personal information that I wouldn’t get from somebody unless they felt comfortable talking to me.

When he opened up about his kids, this gave me the perfect opportunity to start customizing a value build that addressed his personal circumstances.

Effective initial approaches are unscripted and personalized, but still include an introduction, an explanation of why you are there and what you are offering, addressing common concerns and using a conversational close to get the potential customer involved in the conversation.

As you incorporate these initial approach techniques you’ll be able to make the necessary improvements to strengthen your own initial approaches and make more sales! Best of luck on the doors!

If this blog helped you, I would greatly appreciate your comments below.

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Email: lennyg@d2dmillionaire.com

P.S. If you are thinking about starting a door-to-door sales program, or looking to improve your current program, be sure to check out my FREE video training – 8 Essentials To Running an Effective Training Meeting by Clicking HERE