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Are Door-to-Door Sales Dead Post-COVID-19?

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Technology has placed the world of marketing at your fingertips  with a few clicks, your next campaign is in the homes of your intended audience.
Unfortunately, even the most well-planned and executed campaigns fall short of your intentions because the market, in general, is so heavily saturated. People see ads on every device, so much so that many people inadvertently don’t even see them anymore. The marketing tactics that worked so well just a few years ago are no longer viable.
But just as certain clothing comes in and out of fashion, so too do certain marketing strategies. Remember the days of door-to-door salespeople knocking to see if your family wanted a set of encyclopedias or a vacuum? Of course. You remember because it worked so well. Door-to-door sales  when approached correctly  is still an efficient way to boost customer numbers and build lasting customer relationships. And it can be used to sell all types of products and services  including real estate.

What Are Door-to-Door Sales?

Going door-to-door is a time-tested method of direct selling. It’s basically a canvassing technique that sales and marketing professionals have used in the past to sell products and services in the homes of potential customers.
Door-to-door sales have various stages that resemble the modern sales funnel, such as:

  • Prospecting
  • Qualifying
  • Pitching
  • Closing
  • Follow-up

In real estate, brokers visit various homes or businesses in the hopes of landing an appointment with a decision-maker.
You’d think with a global pandemic that door-to-door sales would be off the table. After all, in 2020 no one could leave their homes, much less want strangers coming to their door.
But now, with cities and states relaxing guidelines, door-to-door is poised to become the great sales strategy it once was.

Why Are Door-to-Door Sales Effective Today?

With all the in-your-face ads that people see on their devices multiple times throughout the day, online marketing is like fishing in the dark and hoping you catch something edible. Some of the most important reasons door-to-door sales can still be effective include:

Increasing Competition

The market is simply saturated. You could have the best real estate marketing campaign and it could get lost in all the ad noise from your competitors.
But door-to-door offers you the opportunity to carve out a niche in an otherwise crowded space by getting to contact potential prospects face-to-face.

People Have Become Ad-Blind

With the market saturation and non-stop ads people see each day, marketing desensitization is at an all-time high. Plus, many consumers have ad-blockers installed on their devices. Maybe they didn’t respond to your other outreach efforts, and it may have nothing to do with you  remember the noise mentioned above? Not to mention, the past year or so hasn’t been easy for anyone. As localities begin opening up again, going door-to-door with a message about your services lets you provide your message clearly and correctly. It could influence potential buyers and sellers to use your agency when the time is right.

Easier to Pivot

Traditional marketing costs you  in research, PR, airtime, and more. Alternatively, going door-to-door costs much less. It also allows for faster message delivery directly to your audience. And if you need to make a change to your strategy you can quickly shift messaging.

Adds a Personal Touch

Traditional online marketing lets you reach thousands of consumers, but even with all the targeting in the world, it’s still a general message. Knocking on doors lets you speak directly to the prospect personally. You can ask questions, and the prospect can, too. You can analyze on-the-spot reactions and adjust your tactics going forward.
Reaching out on a personal level, still shows you’re willing to put in the time investment to get to know your community better. Plus, the prospects you contact will remember you. If you can address their concerns in a trustworthy manner, it’s more valuable than any impersonal, online message.

Gets Your Name out There

There are only a handful of times in consumers’ lives when they’ll need the services of a real estate agency. When the need arises, they probably don’t have much time  or don’t want to spend much time  leafing through all the potential agencies they could work with. They may be unaware of your brokerage. Reaching out to prospects at their homes lets them know you exist, and that you’re a member of their community. Additionally, as mentioned above, if you answer their questions quickly and honestly, they’ll trust you and look to work with you when they need to buy or sell a home or commercial property.

You Can Measure Success

Those blanket ads you throw on Facebook or Google can’t be completely tracked. Sure, you can take a look at your site’s bounce rate, but it doesn’t tell you much about what brought the visitor to your site  or why they left. Door-to-door lets you measure the success of your outreach, in real-time, which lets you calculate your ROI and make changes when and where necessary.

How to Succeed at Door-to-Door for Real Estate Agencies

Pull out your best jeans and sneakers and dress comfortably. Aside from your outfit, to succeed at door-to-door for real estate agencies, you should:

  • Know your market inside and out: You should share the benefits of partnering with your agency, know how to counter objections, and answer questions quickly. To do this, though, you have to know your local real estate market in depth.
  • Offer real value to the prospect: Google is only a click away for prospects. Today’s consumer is educated. You must come prepared with information that they can’t easily find. This helps illustrate why partnering with your agency would be a valuable decision.
  • Ask the right questions: Get to know your prospect’s pain points by asking open- and close-ended questions. This helps you establish the prospect’s needs.
  • Be a fantastic listener: Asking questions is great! But you have to know when to stop talking and allow the prospect to answer. Otherwise, you risk losing the opportunity to discover what they need and why they haven’t found it yet.

Partner with ProspectNow

ProspectNow is the perfect way to put together your door-to-door prospecting list. In fact, we’ve been helping agents and brokers just like you since 2008 find properties with a high likelihood to be listed in the near future. If you’re ready to find more leads, close more deals, and make more money, reach out to us today.

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