After many years of observing what traits people have who make it in door-to-door sales and those who fail in door-to-door sales, here are some factors for you to consider.
Optimism Is Critical
The number one factor in all sales success is optimism. Sales managers around the country tell us that optimism is a habit that is tough to change. If you feel things will work out for the best, if you see the silver lining in adversity, you will do well in sales and in door-to-door sales. If, however, you tend to have chips on your shoulder, to see the worst in people and events, you will probably crush yourself from being successful in door-to-door sales. Make an honest assessment of yourself in this area.
Will Work Retail Hours
Door-to-door sales success is a numbers game. There are more decision makers home to talk with you during evenings and weekends. The prime time to sell door-to-door is from when school age kids get home and dark. Saturdays are by far the best day of the week for selling door-to-door and Sunday is the second best day if it is acceptable in your community. Great door-to-door sales people usually start work about noon and work into the evenings. They also take week days off and work on weekends. If you would like this “show business” style of life, you will thrive in a door-to-door sales career. If you are a nine to five, Monday to Friday kind of person, you may do better in other endeavors.
The Thrill Of The Chase
Great salespeople love the thrill of making money from nothing but a sales call. It’s like the thrill of hunting. If you get an adrenalin rush you can’t wait to repeat every time you get a sale, you can do very well in door-to-door sales. However, if you pine for the security of a regular pay check and prefer to be paid despite your performance, you may not be cut out for a sales career. Also, if you like to be outdoors and have each day different from the last, you will enjoy door-to-door sales.
Support From Others
Support for a sales career from your family, your spouse and your children is very important. They have to understand that some weeks you will be rolling in dough and others they will have to make sacrifices. They have to be willing to accept the low esteem most people have for door-to-door sales people. They have to support you in good times and in bad. If you have that, you are a very lucky person and should succeed. If your family thinks you are crazy to do this and that you are throwing your life away, they will wear down the last stub of self respect you have on bad sales days.
Planning, Not Luck
Great salespeople keep track of numbers. In door-to-door sales it is especially important that you are working from actual numbers and not from “gut feel”. How many doors did you knock today, how many let you speak with them, how many did you close? If you work from real numbers you will have less feeling of desperation. Real numbers create success. Guesses or estimates are usually far off the mark in this field. Also, what doors do you knock? Big earners knock on doors that have the right demographics. Be sure you are in a neighborhood that is likely to want the product or service your sell.
Successful door-to-door sales people are made, not born. If you really want to sell door-to-door, you can develop the habits and attitudes that will make this an enjoyable and lucrative way to make a living.