Adam Bensman (the "roof strategist") delivers a short motivational YouTube talk for door-to-door salespeople about handling rejection and staying motivated. He shares personal anecdotes about being yelled at and kicked off porches, then gives three core tips: (1) don’t take confrontations personally ("there's no one in the canoe" mantra), (2) "see dollar signs" — focus on commission potential (he cites average commissions of about $1,000–$1,300 when he started), and (3) make canvassing a game and practice endurance/kindness. He also recommends counting potential commissions (but not spending them) and says that if invited into a home you should have roughly a 70–90% chance of getting a contingency agreement. Video promotes his downloadable sales assets and an e-book. The piece is upbeat, anecdotal, and practical.
Questions this video answers
July 2, 2019
Approximately $1,000 to $1,300 per sale
About 70% to 90% chance of getting a contingency agreement if invited inside
Chapters
Hey, guys, Adam here, the roof strategist. And today we're gonna have real talk, real talk about what it's like to get your teeth kicked in at the door. Prospecting can suck. You have days where you muster every single ounce of energy you possibly have to get back out of your door and go knock the next door when the angry, drunk homeowner who works third shift woke up and racked his shotgun and told you to get the F off his doorstep. These times suck. They defeat what we do. They take the air out of our wings. But there's a way to get past it. Now, when I came into door knocking, I had zero experience. I had the opposite of thick skin. I was a sensitive Sally. I hated it. I knocked on a door. I had someone screaming at me. My kid's napping. He's been up all night. And I get, like, the whole story being screamed at me through the window. I'm like, well, now you woke your kid up. But we've all been there. So what I want you to do is really, really dig deep. And here's what here. I'm gonna give you some tips. This is a hype video to keep you on track. So if you're out knocking doors, put this one on your playlist and play it over and over again when you need me in your ear to say, hey, buddy, get out of your truck. You got this. Go do it. So here's some tips. Number one. You cannot take any of this personally, okay? At all. Truthfully, door knocking was, like, the best life experience I could have ever asked for in terms of my confidence and my ability to communicate and interact with other people, because I realized there's a. There's an old. I think it's a Chinese proverb, and I'm going to tell you, it's my favorite one. There's a guy paddling up river in a canoe, okay? And in the up river, he sees coming down river is another canoe. And the canoe is just going towards him and towards him and towards him. And he keeps looking up, and he starts screaming, hey, man, get the F out of my way. Aren't you looking? And the canoe keeps getting closer. And this guy goes, what the hell, you effing moron? Get out of the way. And then it gets closer and closer, and he says, dude, you're going to hit me, you freaking idiot. And then the canoe hits him. And as the canoe passes down the river, he turns around and looks, and he realizes that no one was in the canoe. So what's the big takeaway here. No. 1 being in the canoe means it's not about you. We have all these reactions to people and things that happen outside of us, but what it ultimately is is how we interpret the outside feedback. Now, when someone's yelling at you and kicking you off their doorstep, here's the news, buddy. It's not about you. It could have been you or anybody. It could have been the Jehovah's Witness knocking at the door. It could have been the Cutco sales guy. It could have been their best friend if they had a bad day, they're going to yell at someone if they don't know. So, number one, tip number one, do not take it personally. It ultimately has nothing to do with you as a person, so you cannot personalize it, right? It's their property. It's their home. When you're in this field, you'll realize that people interact in business very differently when we're at their house versus if I'm in a store and they're coming to me. So don't take it personally. And remember, tell yourself, there's no one in the canoe. There's no one in the canoe. This is my mantra, by the way. I'll, like, stub my toe or I'll, you know, I'm tying my shoe outside the truck and the. The wind blows the door and it hits me in the head and I'm about to have a tantrum like, oh, what the. And I'm like, you know what? There's no one in the boat. No one slammed the door in my head, right? It just happened. So when you can remove yourself from the situation, you're going to stay confident and you can stay calm and you shake it off. And it's a game, okay? So that's tip one. Don't take it personal. Tip number two, see dollar signs. When I started knocking doors, I was broke as a joke, okay? I had to ask my mom to pay for gas to go visit my family for Easter. This is how bad it got. I literally couldn't drive an hour. I know how bad it is. So I saw dollar signs. My commissions on average when I started were around $1000 to 1300 bucks. Obviously, with some bigger ones. If I see a dollar sign on a Saturday and I can knock a door and get a deal and two deals, I see a thousand dollar bill. I wish they made those. They don't print those, I don't think, but maybe they should. Uncle Sam, if you're listening, I see $1,000 at the door. Okay? Now all Of a sudden all of it is like you're just a, a target. I just want to have a conversation. And this could be a thousand dollar conversation or a $2,000 conversation. So see money signs. It'll help you get past it and help you keep that motivation up. Because there are days that you'll get your teeth kicked in all day long and the next day you got to get up and start over, but you're defeated. But you say, hey, I go knock that door. It's a thousand dollar day. And by the way, if you can start counting your commission before it even comes in, don't spend it, by the way, just count it. It's motivating to count it, not motivating to spend it. Premature owners don't like writing draws. Alright, so that's tip number two. Tip number three is to make a game out of it. Okay? When you make a game out of it, there's two ways to do it. One is I would make a game out of it on using every opportunity I could to practice. If I had a homeowner that was like chomping down my throat and they're yelling at me and I could just sit there calm, I would make a game out of it to challenge myself to see how long I could just stand in front of them and take it, kill them with kindness and have a conversation. Okay? And when it becomes a game, what's amazing is you'll make sales. So there was a guy I'll never forget, two old guys, by the way, and both of them were mowing their lawn when I walked up. That was my favorite way to make sales is when they're mowing the lawn. So I see this old guy mowing the lawn. I walk up to him and he shoos me off like this. And I said, hey, listen, can I have one minute? He kills the mower and he gave me that death stare like, you better make my head spin in the next minute or you're off my property. And all I did was mention that I was working with his neighbor. I noticed that his roof looks like it needs to be replaced very soon anyway because it's old and there's a very good chance that it's hail damage and I could help him get it replaced using the coverage of his insurance. So instead of the roof probably being about 15,000, I can get it done for your deductible. All I need to do is take a look, I'll take photos, I'll show you what I find. It's up to you. You don't like it, no problem. I signed the deal. Okay. And his name was Gerald. Old guy. His wife loved me. Every time I was in there, it was like coffee, tea, snacks. I loved it. So make it a game. Don't take it personal. And the second time, by the way, when I did my other video about repetition in the neighborhood, this guy saw me mowing, basically flipped the bird. He had his little ear muffs on so he couldn't even hear me. Wouldn't even take him off. So I just waved. Whatever. Did two of his neighbors walk by again? I wave. This time he's more receptive because he's seen me three times and he sees two neighbors signs. So we had a conversation, same thing. Get up on the roof, find damage. Him and his wife love me. Got referrals. While I'm standing there, the neighbor across the street called me because on the second, before my second trip, he gave the neighbor my business card. So make it a game to see how long you can endure the discomfort the. And kill people with kindness. If you can do that. If you can use all three of these, one, don't take it personal. There's no one in the boat. Number two, make it a game. See how long you can stay in front of them. That was actually number three. I'm reversing the order. And then number three is to see dollar signs. So if you can do all three of those things, you will stay motivated to go knock doors. It's just an avenue. You're outside, man. Believe me, this is way better than sitting in a cubicle, cold calling all day long, you're outside. And in between this, you meet great people, you build a network, you meet the neighbors, and you have fun and you're out in the sunshine. So I hope this is a motivational video for you guys to keep that motivation up when you're prospecting and knocking doors. Now, if you're new to the channel, click subscribe. You're welcome to check out the assets available in the video. Description. My proven sales and marketing material is available for you to use instantly. You just download it. Literally. Just type in your name, phone number, company name, click print, and you'll have access to all that. The details are on the website. You can take a look. And I also have an e book that's the three tricks to get to the kitchen table. There are three really, really powerful ways to help you soften the door knocking experience. So just get inside. Because chances are, if you get invited into the home, in my opinion, you should have a 70 to 90% chance of walking out of that house with a contingency agreement signed. So thanks again for tuning into the channel. Click like, drop those comments below. Subscribe if you haven't already, and go knock some doors, make some money. We'll see you guys in the next one.
