What's the secret to hiring canvassers?

You may not like this. You have to be good at canvassing yourself. Somebody has to train these guys...go with them the first day.

Your ad should say what you are doing, and how much they will make. You'll get people who don't mind that it's canvassing. Not many, but how many do you need?

You really need to do this a few days to be able to show the new guys that they can make money.

Claude is right.

Hey delta, do you want to chat on the phone with my canvassing manager? He's the best in the world.

Hi there,

I think there's a few different definitions of "canvassing".

If you're talking about people passing fliers, that's one type. If you're talking about people setting appointments, that's another.

What specifically do you want them to do?

All the best,

Sasha.

I agree with claude, before invite someone to your kitchen, fix all the kitchen first, it's cleaness and many aspects on it, when it's already fix. you can start invite people
wish all the best
Andra

I run a direct sales company in Canada.

I hire and train other sales reps within my company. I don't want to say lie to them over the phone, but just keep it simple. Telling anyone about canvassing, door to door etc, usually scares them away.

Direct sales , and canvassing is something that is best shown in person.

What I do , is tell them we are a distribution company dealing direct with businesses.

After my initial interview with them, I set them up the next day to spend a few hours with a top sales rep. I call it a Day of Observation. This rep actually shows them exactly what we do, and since the potential new hire see's my rep doing well, he is more willing to try out the opportunity.

So basically, they don't really know what exactly we do, until they spend the couple hours in the field with somebody who explains and shows at the same time. This works 100 times better then describing the exact job with words.

Hope this helps.

Hiring canvassers and other door to door salesmen is the most difficult type of hiring you could do. A low "show rate" is part of the game and something you can improve over time with a lot of patience and practice. Here is a blog that details exactly what you might say to Door to Door candidates who are calling and interested.

I know people who have 20+ years managing teams of D2D people and the very best of them have a 50-60% show rate. Some weeks are better than others, but you just have to keep at it and not give up.

Have you checked out Time To Hire? They specialize in finding door to door sales people and others who work on 100% commission. They can drive a lot of traffic to you, which is what you want because most people will not be interested. They can also target younger folk who are more likely to knock on doors.

Delta223,

I feel for yah for kid. Claude Whiteacre, Bob Ross and ewenmack all replying to your thread at the same time has to be an unfortunate luck of the draw. These gentleman throw their opinions out there "willy-nilly" and you have to take what they say with a grain of salt. I mean Come on Man! Look at their post to thanks ratio and it speaks for itself. I mean you're just as likely to see their face on a wanted poster at the post office as a name on the Who's Who of the Internet Marketing Consortium.

You lucky dog!

LastWarrior

P.S. "In as far as "canvassers", I say at every moment, especially up-front say "canvassers" and explain what it is, so that in the end you end up with more qualified personnel, instead of springing it on them at the last moment. That way you end up with people who have an idea of what's going on right from the beginning, thus dealing with those who have a mind-set of being prepared of what's required of them."

I worked as a door to door canvasser back in the early 80’s generating leads for a home improvement company “Energy Saving Products” aka… ESP of Orlando Fl, then in the early 90’s I was one of a team of 30 some canvassers for Pennsylvania Toxic Action who sent us door knocking to solicit donations for a politico lobbying group centred around environmental issues.

Most were anywhere from their late teens to early 30’s in age and you would not be told exactly what you would be doing until after you were hired.

On your first day they would load everyone into vans. About 8 to10 people per van and the driver who was also the crew leader. He or she would hand out maps and assign streets to be canvassed and times and locations for you to be picked back up at the end of the day.

The crew leader would take one newbie with them and just have that person tag along and watch and listen to the crew leaders spiel. By the end of the shift you would be doing the knocking and talking yourself while the crew leader would watch and listen.

The crew leader would offer tips, constructive criticism and encouragement to keep going. Those who could handle the work would show up the next day, those who could not handle it would simply quit.

I forget what the commissions were in the early 80’s… but at PA Toxic Action in the 90’s we started to canvas at 4pm till 9pm and the requirement to keep your job was to bring in at least $150 per day back in cash or check and it was not uncommon for some of us to collect $350 to $400 per day.

A good, simple, effective, short and easy to learn script like the example Ewen gave in post #8 is the key. Most people hired would not have taken on the job because going up to a strangers house on a cold and dark winter night and ringing their doorbell and asking for money was way to far outside of their comfort zone.

But on the first day… you would not learn the details until you and your crew leader were walking up to the first house and the only choice was to follow along for the entire shift or wimp out and call a friend to come rescue you or catch a cab or bus but that usually wasn't an option back then because you usually had no idea of exactly where you were. At the end of the first day those who could would stick and the rest would whimper off never to be seen again.

Cheers,
SteveSki

PS... Click Here for the complete marketing plan I used to make up to $2000 per day canvassing door to door installing reflective address signs in peoples front yards.

If you're having trouble getting people interested in your positions, what's worked amazingly well for us was signs, though in many neighborhoods/cities they aren't allowed (they still get us great results

I've found that signs works great in getting people to call... then it's up to you or your recruiter to get the job done. Many times, you'll go through tons and tons of people, some will give it a shot, some will go out and never come back, but a tiny percentage will stay for a bit longer, and if you allow for it, they'll grow with you and your business.

I found one of my best people through a sign who worked for me in the field for a year... took tens of people to find this guy but it was well worth it.