Closing Canvassing Thoughts

There are several grey areas when it comes to canvassing. For example, is leaving flyers on
doorknobs, mailboxes or cars considered canvassing? That seems to be up to
interpretation. Whether it is technically considered canvassing or not, this can be an
effective tactic. Many companies, such as pizza companies, dry cleaners and book stores
hire high school kids to do this type of work, allowing them to pay minimum wage and still
keep their costs lower than mailing flyers through the post office. This strategy is especially
effective if you target the areas where you distribute your flyers, and keep it just to the
areas where the highest number of ideal prospects will be.

When all is said and done, it is important to remember that baby boomers like being sold
to. They want to purchase products and services, especially when it will improve their lives
or enhance their lifestyle. Show them how your product or service does that, and you’ll
make the sale. And not only that, but they’ll love you for it.

No one will claim that canvassing is easy, and some people are more suited for it than
others, but there is no question that canvassing is an effective method of sales. This is
backed up by Chris Thompson, The Canvass King, who states, “Companies don’t know the
proper way to develop and implement a canvassing program, and therefore shoot it down
before it ever gets going. These companies will usually come to the conclusion that
canvassing wouldn’t work for them when in fact, they never even tried,” and further
stating, “The choice is yours. You can either lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

If canvassing isn’t something you see yourself doing, it’s a good idea to outsource the task.
If, however, you want to practice this tactic on your own, the most important tips to keep in
mind are: be genuine, believe in your product, and care about and be interested in the
prospect. The best sales people are the ones that people like, respect and want to be friends
with.
Since guerrilla marketers are always prepared before deploying a weapon, we’ve listed
some action steps to help you launch this tactic:

Action Steps:

1. Map out the benefits of doing business with you. Don’t take any benefits for granted,
thinking they are too small to matter. You never know how a benefit will hit home
with someone, so speak up. List out the benefits of the product or service you
provide in general terms first, and then laser in on the specific benefits of doing
business with you in particular. Also, list out your features and then come up with
benefits to back each of them up. No one cares about features unless they get
something out of them.
2. Prepare a list of testimonials and endorsements you can bring with you to your
meetings with prospects. Everyone wants to know that they aren’t the only one
trying a product or service. They want to feel they are making a decision that is
sound and verified.
3. Have something tangible to bring to your meetings, such as business cards,
brochures, case studies, product reviews and sales videos. Also consider
demonstrating your product or service if it makes sense. The more you can give
them to see and touch, the more effective your presentation will be.
4. Come up with enticing reasons to get the prospects to close immediately.
Remember, once you leave them, your ability to close them goes down considerably.
Maybe you want to run a promotion that ends the next day. Or maybe it’s as simple
as mentioning that prices will increase soon, or that inventory is available now but
might not be later.

Canvassing is one of those tried and true methods of marketing that just might never go out
of style. It has proven itself in effectiveness, and the fact that it is low cost makes it a clear
winner. In marketing, there is almost nothing more effective than being face-to-face and
personal.