With so many ways to reach customers remotely, door to door canvassing seems outdated and inefficient. However, effective canvassing is a tremendous way to comprehensively manage sales territory. Of the many nets a rep can cast, canvassing is the one with the smallest holes. The intimacy of a face to face interaction ensures that no potential deals can slip through the cracks left by online and inside sales techniques. Canvassing can be daunting without proper guidance, but these sales canvassing tips will set you up for success.

#1 Quantity is Quality

When canvassing a new territory, every house you visit has the same chance of bringing you closer to your sales goals. The success or failure of a day is often attributed to the volume of houses visited, or lack thereof.

It is important to remember that every house is an independent venture, especially if you hit a string of unresponsive houses. The next house has the exact same prospects if it follows 100 deals or 100 unresponsive residents. Remain confident in your skills and try to cover as much ground as possible.

Finding a way to cover as many houses as possible in a day can be daunting, so we recommend apps such as Badger Maps. It gathers all the places on your list and gives you the most efficient route.

#2 Make Every Visit Count

It takes careful organization and a lot of hard work to mobilize a canvassing task force. It would be a shame to see that investment not pay off. Think about past accounts in that territory, property layouts, and anything else that might offer insight. This preparation will make you more confident in your interactions and keep you consistent, making selling a breeze.

Once you get your foot in the door (no pun intended) the conversation can branch out in any number of directions. Brainstorm as many of these as possible and create talk paths to steer the discussion towards your objectives. For information on the sales process to supplement these sales canvassing tips, check out our blog.

#3 Take Breaks

Canvassing can be a taxing process. The strain of travel and personal contact can negatively impact performance and morale. Taking periodic breaks has been proven to increase overall productivity, so be sure to canvass some park benches or a comfy spot on a lawn.

These breaks are a great opportunity to check in with the office, follow up with promising leads, or go over your favorite sales canvassing tips. Anything you do off of your feet is a chance to recuperate and prepare yourself to visit more houses.

#4 Set Goals

Setting goals is a beautiful thing. Writing down goals gives you up to a 95% higher chance of accomplishment. Write down the exact territory you want to cover before the day starts. Your goals will keep you from getting sidetracked and give you a greater sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

These goals will be easier to achieve if you can plan out the fastest way to get between locations. Smart route planning tools like Badger Maps can do things that were impossible with paper maps and help you reach your goals faster.

#5 Stay Nourished

We all know this feeling. It’s been awhile since lunch, you are getting kind of cranky, and you are approaching the realm of hangry. If you are on edge or agitated, you will not see positive results, so stock up on produce and protein and stave away starvation.

If you need to find a quick bite to eat, you can search for any type of restaurant and easily add it to your route using badger map's amazing places tool. These sales canvassing tips are not all for the benefit of the company. Effective canvassers care for themselves because they are ambassadors who should appear vibrant and healthy.

#6 Be Understanding

This might be hard to believe, but not everyone is going to love hearing from a stranger knocking on their door. As a canvasser, your job involves interrupting people’s days, something that can lead to annoyance and frustration. Keep it short and sweet, and hit the road if you are not welcome.

Canvassing can teach you a ton about what works in sales. Be sure to use every success, and more importantly, every failure as a building block. Mistakes are important, but not if you continue to make them. These sales canvassing tips are a great start, but personal experience is the only way to hone in on exactly what works for you.

#7 Don’t get discouraged

Don’t let some jerk ruin your entire day. It's not like you are a girl scout selling thin mints. You shouldn’t expect to win everyone over immediately. Canvassing is basically just cold calling in person, which only works less than 5 percent of the time (Although these sales canvassing tips will hopefully lead to a higher conversion rate).

The most important thing to remember is persistence. Barring natural disasters and freak accidents, you are the one who decides when it is time to stop. It may seem nice to quit, but when there is more to sell, never give up.

Best of all, you can use each “no” as a big bright sign that points to “yes.” As a strategy for increasing your conversion rate, identifying and overcoming objections is a great path to success. Worry and anxiety obstruct a lot of sales. Use the first moments of introduction and interaction to learn as much as you can about the customer. The more you make it about them, the better they will feel, and the more opportunity there is to build solid trust in a short amount of time. Brevity is the soul of wit, so be sure that you present relevant benefits, not a laundry list of features. Making the value proposition clear is essential if you want to boost your success. Here are some more ways you can increase your conversion rate. Following steps like these will help you tune and adjust your pitch so that you can be confident you’ll always be at your best.

Take outside sales to the next level by combining these sales canvassing tips with the power of Badger Maps Today!