Sep 18 • General discussion
Marketing Tip #3 - Knock Constructively
Thinking about adding Door Knocking as a part of your general marketing or farm-building (see marketing tip #1) plan? Door knocking CAN be a great strategy or a tricky one. As soon as that door opens, the goal is not so much how can you get your information across to this owner as quickly as possible, but how can I relax the potential pressure this owner may be feeling as quickly as possible.
What you are wanting to do is break the ice as quickly as possible once they open the door. We want to do this so the conversation is a relaxed one, not an uncomfortable one for that owner. They will actually consume the information you are providing a lot better if they don't think they are on the brink of being sold. Most people who actually open the door are doing so with hesitation. My anecdotal determination is that more than half of the home owners that answer the door are thinking one of these thoughts the second they open the door:
- This is an agent who wants me to buy or sell something. I don't want this pressure.
- This person is going to try and convince me to sell my house and I don't want to. I don't want to have this conversation.
- This person wants me to buy something & I feel too nervous to say yes or no. I don't want to commit to anything right now. I don't like this.
And this is IF they do open the door, I have had every reaction you can imagine:
- No words, just door slammed in my face
- "Fuck off"
- Only the peep-hole opened and chat through there, like I was a criminal trying to get in
- My personal favourite "All realtors are the same, you are all crooks, get off my steps" 😂
Pro Tip: the faster you can build a thick skin in this business, the longer you will stick around in this business.
So there are two ways to go about this now.
1) Traditional:
" Hi there, my name is Jay McInnes with ABC Realty. I was just curious if you would be interested in selling your home?"
For this traditional approach, you have asked a closed-ended question with pressure attached. "No, I'm not interested in selling. Bye." Of course this can be done when ever, where ever. This is a shot in the dark, hoping to catch the right person on the right day who is open to discussing the thought of selling with you.
2) Constructive:
" Hi there, my name is Jay McInnes with ABC Realty. Don't worry, I am not trying to get you to sell your house today. I actually wanted to inform you that your neighbour down the street at 1234 John Street is selling and that we are having an open house this weekend. I was just here to ask If you may have any friends or family members that you may be interested in having as your neighbour that you could bring by?"
This second approach is a little different. This approach is used when you or a colleague you are hosting an open house for in the area have an actual open house about to take place. So there is a bit more of a pre-requisite with option #2. For the constructive approach, you have also asked a relatively close ended question still, but you have removed the pressure. It is no longer about them. We have removed the spotlight off of their current desire to sell their house or not & replaced it with a spotlight on new real estate information for the block/neighborhood. So the pressure is released. Instead of this feeling like an inquiry session, it is now an information session. And receiving information is not something that typically puts people on edge and wanting to close the door in your face. You are now an information source instead of a point of potential pressure and nervousness for the person opening the door. So this approach of course may not work every time. But it has a much higher success rate than the first to give you the best chance forward from here.
*Remember, first impressions are not only what was SAID in that encounter that you are being judged on. But how that person FELT in that encounter that you are being judged on.
So following what ever answer is provided during the "Constructive" question, you can now do one of two things. Either follow up with the traditional "Sounds good. Have you thought recently by chance about selling, yourself?" You are NOW asking this questions in a more relaxed environment where the owners guard is potentially further down. Or (my personal favourite), don't ask at all during this conversation. Politely take their response, hand them a feature sheet for the open house in question, thank them for their time and end the conversation. What ever their answer, you respond with:
"Sounds good. Well I will be at 1234 John Street myself from 2pm - 4pm this Saturday. Feel free of course to bring anyone by who you may believe is interested in joining you on the block. Or of course just come by yourself if you are interested to see what the house looks like & I will hopefully see you there." And that's it.
That owner will or will not come to the open house. If they don't, it doesn't really matter. You will see them again soon. If they do, this is simply the next opportunity you have to build rapport and get to know that owner better.
Personally, I would not visit them again (unless invited) until the house has sold. THAT is the trigger for your next meeting.
Some caveats:
Now if this is your listing for example, these owners would have already seen the following from you before you go to visit them that second time:
- Just listed flyer
- door knock meeting
- chatted at the open house
- Just sold flyer
All of these points have further solidified to them that you are a neighbourhood specialist and how seriously you take the business. They have spoken to you, know your personality, seen your marketing, know you are informing everyone about listings you have etc. AND possibly most importantly, you have not pressured them to sell their home with you.
Now, the house has sold. Now you have more information ammunition to re-visit them with.
"Hi again, so I sold that house down the street, Can you guess how much it sold for (remember, your just sold flyer if already sent out but only ever has the list price on it, Never the sold price, so they don't know it yet. You are now hand delivering the most important information of all right to their doorstep!).
This meeting after discussing the sale price of the neighbouring house, what type of traffic the property received over the past time on market, how many offers were received etc would I ask them, "Have you ever thought about selling at all? Or do you plan on staying here a while"? And then let the conversation go from there. You will get clues along the way with your conversation up until this point on how open they may be to the idea of selling, namely their reaction to the selling price of your newly sold listing.
So now you can see the two structural differences between the Traditional & the Constructive approaches to door knocking. One is cold and potentially turns the owner off from the first conversation & the second one is warm, filled with market information and never truly making the home owner feel like they are on the spot, one and done depending on their answer. You have laid a foundation with the constructive approach. If you saw this person again in the grocery store you would actually say "Hi, how is everything going, good to see you again!" This is because you have actually had a normal conversation with them already & the foundation of the relationship is there. Maybe they want to sell now and maybe they don't. But you have now built a framework with this person who now knows exactly who you are and what you do so when they are inevitably ready to sell, it only makes sense to call you or at least include you in a list of candidates to call for the job.
This is what playing the long game looks like with door knocking. Now maybe they do want to sell and you list their home the next week, anything can happen. Playing the long game does not mean that all the money strictly comes later. It means you are building foundations in all the right areas to create consistency of systems, clients and income later. Future you will thank you!
Try this out with your next listing or the next listing you cover for a senior agent in your office (see marketing tip #2) and comment below how it goes!
Good luck and happy selling! 🫡
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Marketing Tip #3 - Knock Constructively
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