How Do You Guys Just Knock on Doors???

[slushpuppyking]

I've noticed so many times on this forum (especially when the best leads and such) you guys talking about just doing lots of door knocking. Total rookie here so I just have to ask.....huh?

How in the world do you know you are knocking on the door of someone that is in the age range or income level you are looking for? When a 40 year old women opens the door do you just say "oops, wrong house"?

I've done all kinds of sales but never the door knocking kind and it is kind of foreign to me. I think I could do it but I'm more of a "gotta have a plan" type of guy. You guys make it sound like you just pick a neighborhood and start knocking on doors. That seems really odd to me. Anyone could be in that house and I'm not sure how you know it is a potential client.

Is there a method to this that I just haven't picked up on yet?

 

[Newby]

I've noticed so many times on this forum (especially when the best leads and such) you guys talking about just doing lots of door knocking. Total rookie here so I just have to ask.....huh?

How in the world do you know you are knocking on the door of someone that is in the age range or income level you are looking for? When a 40 year old women opens the door do you just say "oops, wrong house"?

I've done all kinds of sales but never the door knocking kind and it is kind of foreign to me. I think I could do it but I'm more of a "gotta have a plan" type of guy. You guys make it sound like you just pick a neighborhood and start knocking on doors. That seems really odd to me. Anyone could be in that house and I'm not sure how you know it is a potential client.

Is there a method to this that I just haven't picked up on yet?

You don't think 40 year old women ever buy life insurance?

Introduce yourself and make the best of whoever answers. Then move on to the next one if no interest.

 

[jjrardin]

Yeah, me too LOL. huh? I too would like to have more of a plan. I am a newb to insurance, but have done other types of sales. One thing I have done is cable tv sales door to door. But EVERYBODY was a prospect.
At any rate, I just got my license and have talked with a couple people on this board, including Mike, the guy who came up with the door to door survey in another thread.
I agree with the 40 yr old answering the door.... not the target market, but my feelings were that there is WAY too much to learn, to have all the answers before I went out D2D or called on the phone, so I just did it.... I picked an older neighborhood and went to knockin'. I did the survey to 30 thru 82 yr olds. I didn't make any sales, but the 82 was lonely and let me go through giving a quote. Went back down the block, got my car/computer to get rate info.
So , no sales,
nobody was rude,
I did about 25 doors,
3 I don't wanna/no time,
5 surveys,
1 quote. -wasn't really trying for appts, just wanted to talk/learn

Again, too green to really overcome any resistance, but felt I had to start somewhere. For the younger people that answered the door and were nice enough to do the survey, I did say 'life insurance' instead of 'final expense', but had no plan.....
There has been some talk on here about narrowing down the neighborhood by income/age on usdata or one of those sites. I'll be diving into that more this week and see what I can come up with.

Well, there it is... post #1. Been reading for 6 months, got my lic in Oct and appointed in Dec. Looking forward to a great 2012!

Jim in Arkansas - Go Hogs!

 

[somarco]

This is not my idea of fun but you would be surprised what works.

The career life guys will probably know this story and can provide a name, but there was an agent that built a successful career (I believe in NYC) riding the elevator, walking into offices and asking if anyone wanted to buy life insurance.

 

[Rearden]

I understand where you're coming from.

Mentally, it has made the most sense *for me* to have a lead card *they* sent in, asking that I follow up with them.

 

[somarco]

Door knocking is interruption marketing.

Lead cards are permission marketing.

Interruption marketing (TV & radio commercials, pop up ads, cold calling) will work for some products and with a relatively small segment of the population.

Permission marketing when done properly can be more successful. You are asking a question in a non-obtrusive way and looking for those who raise their hand.

Retail is a form of permission marketing. The advertisement creates interest. When the customer enters your store (including a virtual store) they are giving you permission to ask "may I help you". Even if they say they are just looking, they are still a viable prospect. What you do with that opportunity is up to you.

 

[nfl72]

coldcalling is a tough way to go. I sold combined insurance for a year back in the 80's. you do learn how to get into someones home. coldcalling is where you put them under the ether and then call back in 60 days to try and save the cancellation.

forget cold calling and buy leads.

Work Smarter not Harder!

 

[rousemark]

This is not my idea of fun but you would be surprised what works.

The career life guys will probably know this story and can provide a name, but there was an agent that built a successful career (I believe in NYC) riding the elevator, walking into offices and asking if anyone wanted to buy life insurance.

Mehdi Fakharzadeh, Metropolitan Life.. He started with Metropolitan Life as a debit agent knocking doors in lower income high rise apartments. He says that was his initial approach and he led the company the first year. I heard him speak in the early 70s.

Of course, he soon developed his market from the home service market to more lucrative ones. .. One of my favorite stories that he told was about trying to make contact with a business owner. He would call, the secretary would answer.. He would give his name and ask to speak to the owner by name and the secretarty would ask "where are you from?"; he would answer,"Metropolitan Life" and she would never put him through. One day he called but when she asked where he was from, he answered, "Tehran, Iran" (which was true) and she put him through immediately. .

 

[Newby]

You guys are REALLY over thinking everything. Door knocking is prospecting...not selling. You will get MANY no interest people before you get an interested one. Once you have an interested prospect you can sell now or set an appointment.

You just want to be direct and quick. Don't waste your time or theirs. If using a survey I would have no more than 3 questions (see the 1st page of the survey thread for my version.)

If you want to be even MORE direct do this:
55+ answers door
Hello sir! My name is John Smith and I represent Settlers Life Insurance Company. We are conducting a community outreach today to allow seniors to add additional permanent life insurance at a low cost. Would you like to take 5 minutes to see what you qualify for?

30 year old answers
Same basic script but you might say, we can qualify most people for up to a million dollars of life insurance at very low rates.

With ANY door to door you want it short, quick, and lots of doors. Most will be no. You want to qualify them and you want them to qualify you. When you click, you slow it down and make the sale.

 

[VolAgent]

This is not my idea of fun but you would be surprised what works.

The career life guys will probably know this story and can provide a name, but there was an agent that built a successful career (I believe in NYC) riding the elevator, walking into offices and asking if anyone wanted to buy life insurance.

I know exactly who you are talking about, but I can't think of his name. He is a MetLife agent. He is well into his 70s now I believe, and he turned down a massive pension so he can keep on selling with them.

To the person who talked about resistance. That initial door-knock is not the time to start overcoming objections. Take anything but a yes as a no and move on.

The first contact is the part that is easily botched. Aggressiveness at this point makes you come off as a "salesman" in every bad sense of the work. Think of it as fishing. You don't keep throwing the hook at the fish that pass you by and hope he suddenly changes his mind. Instead, recast and look for the fish that has some interest. Once it nibbles at your bait, then you can start trying to set the hook.