What a great training ground for a sales professional … Door-to-door sales will stretch your sensitivity to rapport building in many ways, and it will require you to learn to make compelling presentations, while captivating your audience in a variety of situations less than ideal.
I remember those days in the home – a few years of them. As you drive up to the home, you look for the personality of the homeowners in the property’s appearance (you may find conversation openers there as well) … is it messy, is it extremely neat, are their flowers, color, special features (swimming pool, deck) etc? Also, when you knock on the door, you stand back away from it and turn your side to it – looking away, until they open the door. This lessens the fear they have of you, a stranger, standing very close to the door, facing it, and looking at them.
Rapport building will begin from the time the door opens until you leave the property. Door-to-door sales will help you learn to speed up for dynamos, slow down for thinkers, and to chat and talk with socialites. And, when it’s a couple, you learn to develop rapport with two people at the same time.
You also learn to center your presentation on their needs, while learning to ask great questions prior to the presentation. Also, you learn to control the presentation setting – perhaps at the dining room table or in an area most conducive to your product demonstration or the advice you give.
I remember the Southwest Bible salespeople – young college kids selling door-to-door during the summer … learning to ask for referrals to other neighborhood doors. Through the door-to-door experience they became good. Many went on to great careers as salespeople. The challenge of door-to-door sales makes a terrific proving ground. It builds heart and mind muscle for those who learn from it. Always respect those who go door-to-door. Lance [Note: An absolutely great movie to watch is William H. Macy’s performance in Door to Door (2002) … http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274468/ or, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274468/]