Paying Door Knockers - Posted by Gary-NJ

Real Estate Investing
1

Posted by Gary Looft on May 12, 2007 at 11:35:15:

I agree as far as earning the trust thing goes. I will be the one dealing with the owner. I am planning on using door knockers simply for the purpose of establishing initial contact and leaving behind informational flyers. If the door knocker finds an owner that is willing to move forward, they either get a phone number and name or call me immediately from the house. I will take over from there.

Having other people knock doors gives me time to concentrate on other areas of marketing. Also, several people can hit alot more than I can on my own.

2

Paying Door Knockers - Posted by Gary-NJ

Posted by Gary-NJ on May 10, 2007 at 14:41:47:

I am looking to hire some door knockers to drum up some pre-foreclosure leads. Can someone that has experience with doing this please tell me how they go about paying people? I know that the preferred method is to pay straight commission. I think people may get discouraged very quickly if they get doors slammed in their faces a few times and then walk away. Does anyone pay door knockers a small amount per door knocked?

If anyone can weigh in on how they handle their door knocking operations, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks.
Gary

3

Re: Paying Door Knockers - Posted by Frank Chin

Posted by Frank Chin on May 14, 2007 at 04:52:21:

Gary:

Some years ago, a friend of mine had a business, which I was an investor. The business was installation of alarms.

He did the selling, had a sales manager on commission helping. He observed that when they did door knocking, other solicitations, a small percentage of it turn to sales.

So he came up with an idea along what you’re suggesting, hire a phone telemarker to do the initial solicitation, he or the sales manager would do the followup, the idea being that he can spend more time on the business, and the sales manager would be calling on qualified leads.

The idea sounded good on paper but was a dud in practice. Sales actually went down.

While the telemarketer developed many leads to followup on, when the sales manager followed up with a call to make the appointment to go, or actually showed up, he was told:

  • There was a misunderstanding, they didn’t quite understand what the telemarketer was talking about.
  • They thought about things since the call, and is not interested anymore.
  • They talked to others since, and was told it was not a good idea.

My friend and I, and the sales manager sat down to discuss what went wrong, and we concluded that when ONE person shows up to do the solicitation, if there is an interest by the customer, repoir is either established at that point or not, and if there is, it’s then followed up by additional information and the sales pitch.

But with the “two step” process, repoir and the momentum is gone, and by the time we got back, the customer was not interested anymore.

Oh, I got a tenant of mine hiring door knockers for his business, tried different ones till one worked out, and for a SHORT while did OK. BUT then, word got out, a competitor paid the guy a few dollars more, and the door knocker went to work for his competitor.

He conclued too late that he should’ve have done the door knocking himself.

ALL THE ABOVE STORIES FROM THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS.

Frank Chin

4

Re: Paying Door Knockers - Posted by RichV(FL)

Posted by RichV(FL) on May 12, 2007 at 09:37:13:

Gary,

I agree with Bill on getting to talk to the owner and earning the trust of the owner. In my humble opinion this is something that should be done by you.

RichV(FL)

5

Re: Paying Door Knockers - Posted by BigHarold

Posted by BigHarold on May 11, 2007 at 21:46:12:

I add it to something else they’re doing. For instance, I give them leads to go door-knock, and for each one they get in and get initial paperwork signed, I give them $100 dollars. To this, I add that for each crappy house and FSBO they can give me, I’ll give them $10. That way, they are getting some money for going out to the door knocks, because they can spot these other houses on the way. Of course, if they can get in, they make a whole lot more money. It seems to work here.

Harold Wilson
Wilson Properties

6

Re: Paying Door Knockers - Posted by Bill Jacobsen

Posted by Bill Jacobsen on May 10, 2007 at 20:47:52:

I have found that the door knocking, getting to talk to the owner and beginning to build trust with them is the most important part of the process. I do not turn that task over to just anyone but prefer to do it myself.

Bill

7

School of Hard Knocks (ROTFLMAO) Too Funny (NT) - Posted by Stew(NE)

Posted by Stew(NE) on May 14, 2007 at 09:27:48:

…