The Art of Canvassing for Leads - Shawn Meredith

Hey, everybody, it's Jim Johnson here, the head coach at Contractor Coach Pro with this week's episode of Contractor Radio. And this is really cool week because it's actually the second episode this week. And I really wanted to get this one done because a little bit of the timing of the year and the timing of the day, I wanted to make sure that we did this on a Friday because the guy that we're gonna have on as a guest today may talk to us about the important importance of what we may do on a Friday for our Saturdays. And we're going to talk a little bit about canvassing today. We're going to talk about how we do lead generation and how we do sales through this concept of canvassing, or better known as door to door. And door to door sales has been around for a very long time and we want to talk a little bit about why it's so important. It's the lowest cost, fastest way to get new business. If you're strategic and tactical about it and apply it in the right circumstances. It works both for insurance restoration type work for you insurance restoration contractors as well as you retail guys. We have quite a few retail contractors that do door to door canvassing. And so our tip this week is this coaching tip, I really try to get those out before we get started is if you're going to canvas, it's all about your mindset and your purpose, about whether you feel good about doing that or not. So whenever I first started canvassing myself, I kind of put myself in this position where I was looking down upon it. I felt like I had more skill. I was better than door to door canvassing because I felt like a, for lack of a better term, slimy sales guy. Slimy door to door. And the reality was that that wasn't what we were. What we were is educators. And so if you can get your mind wrapped around this idea that you're out there to educate, you're not out there to sell. And I'm sure our guest is going to talk about that today. But that's our tip. Get your head wrapped around that. It'll make it a lot easier and you'll actually open that door and start to get to work. So I want to bring on our special guest today. His name is Sean Meredith. He is with hire a canvasser. He has been doing this for several years now. Lots of experience at it and I'm bringing him on for a reason. He's one of the few guys out there that are in this marketing game where he delivers he actually shows up, does his job, does a great job of it, and tends to educate those folks that he's working with quite well. So I want to welcome the owner, founder, all things guru when it comes to door to door out there. Sean Meredith. Welcome to the show, man.

Good morning. How are you, Jim?

I am doing fantastic and I've been wanting to get you on the show for a while. I think I mentioned it maybe almost a year ago. Like we were talking back and forth and things just get away from us. We had crazy 2020 and I can't wait to talk to you about that when it comes to door to door as well. But it's good to have you tell us a little bit about your background, how you got here, maybe what you did before this whole canvassing thing that kind of led to where you are.

Really. Been in door to door sales my whole Life. Started at 13 selling newspaper subscriptions for two years and from 15 18, mom wanted me to have a job that didn't. It didn't work out very well for me and I knew I had to get back into door to door. Then at 19, hopped on a crew I'm sure most people are familiar with with like magazines, chemicals and that type of deal, and did that for a few months, found out that that type of environment wasn't really me, and came off the road after a few months and then hopped right into Kirby vacuum. And that was fun. And sold Kirby's for about two and a half years. Learned a lot about closing, you know, one stop closer and then after those two and a half years, hopped into the meat business and did it for seven years.

So, okay, that's the, that's the, the double up right there is what I would call that. You sold Kirby vacuums and you sold meat door to door. Like those are the classic door to. If you would have just told me Cutco knives you to have the trifecta and it would have been like, all right, he's got all three of them down.

What.

During your time at Kirby, what were some of the things that you learned from that that has helped you with what you're doing today?

Work a whole lot of hours, you know, Kirby, you know, you were on a crew, you know, and it wasn't a common, you know, getting to that office at 8 in the morning, you know, chanting those Kirby songs and getting all pumped up, you know, till next thing you know. You know, a lot of times with our crew, we would be two hours away, you know, door knocking all day and demos as Possible and closing.

So we sang songs. This is something I did not know about. I knew training and stuff like that.

The gang's all here. Yeah, you know, so. Yeah.

So how about the meat thing? Like, door to door? I've always. So I think the meat thing is actually kind of cool. I've had those guys come to my door. I know I can talk them way down to, you know, getting it somewhat affordable. I kind of know the whole gig there. I've always thought door to door wine sales would do awesome. Like, you just have people that are on a route. You come to them once a month, you sell them all these bottles of wine. You have these little tastings. I have a feeling there's something to do with the alcohol bureau saying, no, you can't do that. But I always thought that would be a really good idea. Did you find yourself going back to the same people often, or is it always new people in the meat thing?

So the honest answer is, a lot of people in meat offices like to smoke a lot of marijuana, so they would be very forgetful. I was one of those people. I've always had a mind like an elephant. I didn't forget much, so I would always remember who the customer was. Even if they lived an hour, two hours away. I would just pop up out of just nowhere. And you were expected to. To buy him, you know, but seven years, I did a lot of door knocking to build up that, I guess you could say clientele. But it was. It was very fun. I mean, going from, you know, asking somebody to spend 18 hours on a vacuum cleaner at that time, you know, to now going into an interview and saying, wait, you just want me to go out and sell food? Door to door? Sign me up.

You sound like me. So I have been in sales a lot of different types of sales. I would call them retail sales, where it's like somebody actually has to give you their money to buy whatever it is, right? And health clubs, insurance, and things like that. And whenever I got into this, it was like, so what you're telling me is all they gotta do is pay their deductible, and then they get all this big new stuff. Sign me up, man, this sounds easy. This is not all that hard. It's not really sales, comparatively speaking. So, um, from those two experiences, I would imagine you got a lot of training. Is that a fair statement?

Yeah, I mean, that was. That was a long time ago, but kind of like the way I do my training now, you know, Kirby was the same way the meat business was the Same way for the most part back then, you know, where you rolled along for three days, you know, you were learning how to hook doors, and then the veteran would come in there, do the demo, you know, close, and you would kind of have to learn it all visually. You know, that was kind of the training back then. Just hands on experience.

So you said something that I hadn't heard before. Hook doors. And I have an idea. You kind of a setup guy, right?

Yeah, it's the most important part.

And so we have a lot of that concept in insurance restoration. Right. We'll see companies that'll have people going out, knocking doors. Knocking doors, knocking doors. And finally they'll get. Somebody says, hey, yes. And boom. I got a sales guy over here. And he comes over and takes it, takes over from there. So similar concept, right? Okay. When it came to moving from those into this, what happened? Where'd that transition come from?

Well, I didn't come straight from the meat business to here. I went through five years of B2B hustling power equipment all across the east coast. That was the hardest thing I've ever did. That was the hardest.

What made that different?

It was everything psychological. I mean, you're literally trying to go out and hunt. And when I say hunt, it doesn't matter if it's a random business. It doesn't matter if it's a guy that has enough wheels on his truck that you think has money. It is straight hustle and your determination to just run around all day around a city, you know, and ask somebody for, you know, $6,950 that doesn't know you from Adam, and to tell a very convincing story. You know, why you have all this power equipment on the back, your pickup truck? A lot of people could not do that. I mean, that's. That's tough, boy.

That's taking meat sales to a whole new level.

Ticket item that I've done, you know, but it's like knocking doors, right? You can't sell a roof if you can't get on one. So the power equipment business was the same way. You know, you have to be good quick, tell a story. You got to get them behind that truck. So when they get behind a truck, you could tell the story of why you have this stuff, why your boss is getting rid of it, and kind of do everything without sounding like a salesperson of why you have this here in front of them. Because if you can't get them behind the truck to listen to the story, you're never gonna get rid of Any of it. Right. So everything is a hook.

Yeah. So that. That's always been that thing. Right. For us as consumers. This, this line of, hey, I had some extra meat in my truck. I was just in a. Stopped in or, hey, I got this extra power equipment. That was one I've never heard before. So how does it. How do you feel about that? Because it truthfully isn't extra. It's like, hey, we got this stuff. Right.

Well, we were trying to sell greed, not need. And the more you understood that it's not about what's on the back of that truck. And a lot of people would have a problem understanding. They would think, oh, I've got to go out and sell this load today. You're not selling anything. You're selling greed. Greed sells stories. The better storyteller you are, the more people will get greedy, you know, so if they see it and they always in a trade show, my boss, blah, blah, blah, we can't send it across state line because of OSHA bill fines. You know, you get them thinking and they're like, oh, this is like $14,000 worth of stuff. And your boss is only wanting, you know, 69.50 for this big diesel generator. You're gonna just let me have everything? All of it? That's what he told me.

So just from a moral standpoint, how did that sit with you as an individual?

I mean, I really, you know, believed in the product. With the first company I worked with, I thought it was good, you know, city to city, state to state, getting more into it for five years of doing it, being called a gypsy more times than I could ever count. I mean, I got called gypsy all the time.

Yeah. So not feeling real great. So how'd you get into this? Like, where did that come from?

Well, so when the economy, you know, collapsed back in 09, actually get a job, wasn't used to doing nothing like that. And it was, you know, doing lead generation for window company retail and only did it for about three weeks. And one day the crew manager came to me and he's like, you know, you have a lot of talent, you know, for setting leads, you know, doing windows. Why are you doing this? And I was like, there's no jobs. You know, the economy was gone. He said, you know, you need to get into roofing. And I was living in Lexington, Kentucky at the time and started making some cold calls and talked my way into the. Into the business and had a company was going to give me a shot and I didn't know the difference. Between a, you know, an arc, a 30 year arc, you know, in a three tap. So I just kind of learned it as I went. And after day one, we were driving back to the hotel, me and my roommate, and we got crushed with hell. So it's like the golden egg fell right, literally on our car. Because I've never seen hell like that before.

That's kind of like one of those God moments, right? Like it was, I'm going to give Shawn a break. And I'm assuming things went pretty well from there.

It did, yeah. A lot of very fast learning. I mean, I never see, I thought we were going to die in a car. I mean, it's like, oh, my God, the windows are going to break out, we're going to die. You know, never experienced it. And. Yeah.

So let's talk a little bit about some practical stuff. But before I do that, I want to ask you, I always ask these three questions of anybody I'm interviewing. And to this point, what's your greatest achievement? Minus the family stuff. Right. Like we all that, well, that's unknown. And we better say that or our wives will get us. So besides those things, what's your greatest achievement today?

Hire counsel. You know what, you know what I've done and you know, 11 years into this, you know, continue to grow and get better and more knowledgeable, you know, getting custody of my daughter. You know, 2011 was a huge, a huge thing. You know, court was very weird on that Thursday. And the judge goes, when do you plan on flying to Colorado? And next day we were on a plane as soon as I got awarded and went out there with no money, a hundred dollars. The company had picked us up at the airport, took us to a little diner, gave me $100. Two weeks of a rental car, two weeks of a paid apartment. Said, build your canvassing crew. I wish you the best of luck. There we were, you know, I've got this eight year old daughter and then 2016, stay with it. Then I said, you know what, let's go back to Kentucky, get out of Colorado, start hiring cancer. Just take this thing nationwide. And it's worked out so far, last four years.

Yeah, you've done an amazing job with it. And what a story, right? Like, you fought for custody for your daughter. You were able to make that happen, and you were on a plane the next day, had 100 bucks in a rental car for two weeks. Like, wow. But talk about being, you know, maybe at a very low point in your life and digging your way out of it to the Point where you are now with this, hire a canvasser company and sending canvassers and teams all over the place, helping contractors generate more leads, generate more revenue. And you do some pretty cool stuff whenever you do that, because you actually will take the time to maybe train some of their people and let them tag along with you. Is that a fair assessment?

Not during the, not during necessarily the league campaigns, but the training's done separately. I personally do the three day training. Now I'm going to start doing it to where I'm bringing one of my pros with me to the companies. Sometimes I get requests where companies can have, you know, five or six people, and that's just too many for me personally to be able to work with because I'm not that guy that's wanting to come in and do a three hour motivational speech in your office. My training is, you know, you're going to see it, you know, in front of your own eyes. You know, we're going to go out to the field, we're going to work.

I think that's one of the most valuable things that you do though, like you, you actually take them in the field. It's not this classroom type learning and role playing and stuff like that. You may do a little bit of that up front, but when you actually take them out in the field and say, hey, let's go do this together. And there's a big difference between telling somebody something and showing somebody something. And I think showing actually solidifies whatever it is that you may have told them before. All right, that's great achievement, man. It really is. To go from there to where you are today, that's, that's pretty awesome. So let's, let's talk some practical stuff, right? We talk about, talk about some sales. You're going into a fresh new neighborhood, nobody knows who you are or what you're about or anything like that. What are some of your approaches to getting from a strategic standpoint? I mean, do you knock all day long? Do you knock at specific times? What does that look like, you know.

Pre Covid, you know, depending on the time of the year. Yeah, I mean, most of our guys would be going out, you know, in the springtime, you know, from like two to seven, you know, as the season, you know, gets a little later. I mean, you, you know, be out there at 8 o' clock, at 9 ever since. COVID every day is a Saturday right now and it has been since March and it's been, it's been awesome, you know, which kind of COVID would just stay around for the next five years. I mean, everybody's home, they're all working from home.

Don't say please don't say that.

You know, there's no. There is. I mean, anytime you wake up, you go knock. Nowadays, I mean, they're there, you know, take advantage of it.

Yeah, it is a great opportunity really for those of us that do the door to door and canvassing and those type of things. People are home and we're not restricted as much as we used to be. I've seen a lot of companies kind of change their tactic. Just saying, hey, we're going to get started about 10 o' clock in the morning, maybe even 9 o' clock in the morning and get out there and start knocking doors and people are actually home. So. So, okay, we're going to go knock doors. Timing isn't all that big of a deal during COVID but during normal times it's something we're going to be in the evenings and those type of things.

Yeah, I mean, unless it's like fresh. Fresh. I mean, things can always, you know, change. You know, it goes a lot with our clients as well. You know, they're, you know, we allow them all the freedom they want. You know, they're picking the neighborhoods, they know where the adjusters are buying. You know, we're just following their lead and setting them up for success.

All right, so you knock that first door and somebody answers it. What's the approach?

Great. So I would never deviate, never deviate in anywhere in this country. I don't care if it's a two day old storm, a two week old storm, a two month old storm. I do things in a very unorthodox kind of manner that a lot of people won't, you know. So do you like want me to like tell you exactly what I say?

I'd love to hear it. I mean, I think it'd be great for our listeners. Here's one thing I know, okay, Sean, just, you know, sometimes we're a little bit cautious about information we share. And I can tell anybody and everybody everywhere what my tactics are. So this is a tactic that you're about to share. But I also know that they'll never execute it the way I will, nor do they understand the entire strategy behind it. So feel free to share.

See, now I feel like I gotta stand up so I can get into my zone. Now you're getting me in my little world, you know, but you know, the first eight seconds is most critical, you know, so I'm always very cautious to always stay as far back as I can. If there's steps, I'm always going to be down at the bottom of the steps, you know, always keep your distance. I'm a very handsy type person, but I'm almost like a robot. So once they open the door, you know, and I could be like this. I don't wear any work shirts, as you probably may know that I don't wear any of that stuff, you know. Hey, S B. I know you guys been bugged by a ton of people over the last couple weeks. I just want to stop and give you a flyer and see if you folks have filed a claim yet. At that point, within eight seconds, I've approached them slowly. I've put the flyer into their hand, I've taken two steps back. I've got outside of their bubble. And I've already put you in a weird situation with my first question that's already coming out. And however you respond to that question is how Now I'm going to go.

With the next one, so maybe I can play the role of the homeowner a little bit. I want to kind of point out something there that you do. You ask a question, right. That question is critical because when you ask them a question, they are, for lack of a better term, required to respond, whether it's a no or a yes or anything. But they're required to speak instead of just stand there. And so if you make a statement, they're not necessarily required to do that. So this question that you're asking, if you filed a claim yet or not, is there a reason you asked that particular question?

Yeah, well. And I know a lot of people don't agree with the sorry to bother you part. There's a reason I do that is because a lot of times we can be working in very, very competitive markets. Sometimes a homeowner will say things unconsciously to me without thinking about it. So when I lean into it, hey, sorry to bother you. I know you've been bugged by a lot of people the last, you know, X amount of time, I can get that response out of them. And if they say, well, yeah, you're the 20th person that's been here. I'm going to attack that type of situation right then.

So when you say you're gonna. I know what I say to that question. You know, my normal response is, thank God you waited. That is so great. I'm so glad you didn't get confused by one of those other guys out there. Let me explain a Little bit more about what's going on. And now usually I'll ask a question. Is that similar?

Yeah. If they go that route, if they say, you know, I'm really sick and tired of you, because then I could sit there and go, I know. I totally understand it. You know, the circuses came to your town. Nobody enjoys getting that doorbell ringing every minute. Let me ask you this while I'm here. Which one of the companies did you sign up with that's worked in the neighborhood? I'm just curious because I'm actually friends with most all of them. So I've taken what they've said, I've now addressed it, and I've spun it back again to now asking you another question that. Because now if you come back and say, well, we haven't done anything, now I have to question you, because that doesn't make sense to me because no one enjoys telling. You've already acknowledged that I'm the 15th person there. You've already told me I've asked a question. You haven't made a commitment. You haven't signed up. What are you scared of? What is going on? We're going to get to the bottom of this right now, and I'm going to address it to make this where you can understand it.

That's a brilliant question, by the way. I haven't heard that one before. Like, okay, so you've had all these people at your door. Which ones you sign up with? That's. That's awesome, Sean. Because then they have to answer.

They have to answer it.

There's no sign or yard. Likely they haven't signed up with anybody. Well, I haven't signed, and so then, boom, it's automatic. Next question. Right?

Yeah.

And they're scared.

They don't know because no one's digging in to find out where the problem is. And that's something I'm going to do, is dig in to be hopeful, but not to be sounding like I'm trying to sell you.

Yeah, so. So we talked about this a little bit before we brought you on, you and I talking, getting ready for the show and this idea of selling versus educating. And it seems like you take this approach that. That's the thing. I'm here to educate, which is a lot different from what you were doing before with me or Kirby or power equipment you were there to sell. Do you like this better, this format?

Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I mean, this drives. I mean, door to door. I mean, you know, anybody that's knocking, you should always look at his expectation is how many people are you going to help a day? I mean, that's really what it boils down to. You know, so many people are like, well, how many doors should I knock on? It doesn't matter. You're not being paid on effort. You're getting paid, you know, to solve problems. You know, you knock as many doors as it takes to solve that problem. You know, so it's always fun. I never look at it as being work in this industry. Truly out there, just trying to help people answer the questions and bring my client together with that homeowner to hopefully they can do business.

So you, you follow the same format every single time?

Every single time. I don't care where I'm at in this country. I'm not. Now, let's say, for example, you know, and I did this with Tom when I was training with him a couple years ago. Tom self pro alliance. You know, Tom had us in the neighborhood during training where a lot of people were denied. So once I started having that in my head, and I knew the insurance company as we know it can be common in a lot of different markets, Right. So I would approach you, hey, you know, sorry to bother you. I missed you guys last week when I was in the neighborhood. I'm glad I had a chance to catch you today. I just want to stop and see if you folks have filed a claim yet. Then I would pause. Or more importantly, did you guys already get denied? And if they sit there and go, and I know this, you know, I'll sometimes throw that out there. If I've already talked to multiple people in a neighborhood that were denied, right. And use that as part of the opener. And if they go, yeah, we were denied. And if I see a Trend, say, with AmFam, I'll throw it out there. Let me guess, you with, you know, you're with AmFam, aren't you? Now all of a sudden, I'm a hero. Yeah, now I'm a hero. Like, how would this guy know this?

So you mentioned that you, you, you know, you step back, give them room. Whenever you do that, they almost have to come out of the door, right? Which is always kind of cool to get them outside with you and you hand them a flyer. Is that flyer important?

Not at all. It's just since I won't wear a work shirt, you know, or any of that, it gives me a reason of why I'm there, you know, because again, if we're working Chicago, Dallas, Houston, you know, very competitive markets, you know, I want to have. Me and my guys need to have an advantage over everyone else. If I know the eight seconds is the most critical part of the door, the last thing I want you to see is roofing, construction, remodeling, exteriors, or anything on my shirt, I might as well turn my hand up and, you know, I'm a roofing salesman as soon as they open.

So, yeah, you're the guy next door that I just.

Do flip flops and on my Segway doing 360s. If you look out your side window and go, the hell's that out there on a Segway? And I'm like, you know, it's not a roofing salesman.

That's. That's. That's actually key. And we. You see that as an approach in a lot of different places. Not necessarily the just looking like the guy next door, but you'll see people with, like, high vis vests on and things like that. They tend to look more like somebody official that may be working on the gas lines or wire lines or something. We get them to answer the door. And while that may feel a little bit, I don't know, sneaky kind of, it's for the right reason. It's for the right reason that we need to help you. We need to engage with you. You need to have this education because we're not here to just sell you a roof. We're here to do things the right way. Right.

It's. I mean, it's a psychological game. You know, the whole door to door is so.

So what's the toughest. What's the toughest one you've ever had that you actually got him to say.

Yes, like an individual person.

Yeah. Like, you were like, man, there's no way I'm gonna get this person. All of a sudden, you did.

It would probably. It would probably be this guy in 2014, when I lived in Denver, and he was having a really off day, apparently, and it was an old three tab, and the area had been pretty good. And this guy would not talk to no one. Just old grumpy, you know, dude coming outside, beating on his chest. And I go through it, and I do this with a lot of homeowners now, and he's like, we don't have any damage and this and that. And I said, yeah, not enough damage. You guys come through here every day. I've already been up there and I've already checked it out, and there's no damage. So I decided to put him on the spot. That's the first time I started using this, and I said, okay, when you were up there, how many hits did you find? And it paused him. And at that point, I looked dead in his eyes. I said, look. I said, look, man. I said, you and I both know that you have no clue whatsoever what you're looking for of how many hits there. That's. That the insurance company is looking for to get this paid, you know, today. You know, we're gonna get this done. We're gonna hop up there, take some pictures, come back down, and let you know where you stand. Whether they're is enough damage, whether there's not enough damage, but we're gonna hop up there and look at it. And, yeah, he agreed to that. A week. A week goes by. The salesperson texts Cami and says, hey, just to let you know, we just got the asshole bought. Also let Sean know that the said he really appreciates the way that he talked to him on his front doorstep that day. And when it was all said and done, the guy got paid and got a new roof.

That's awesome. That's really good. So, you know, sometimes people actually. I'll. I'll rephrase this. Why don't people want to knock doors?

I think. I think a lot of it has to do. They don't really know what to say, you know, or some people have done it so many times, and you don't know what you don't know. Right. And if you're not taught a different way and you're just trying to, you know, go through it, it's like a squirrel trying to find a nut. I mean, you're going to work yourself to death, you know, and, you know, that's a whole lot of effort that you're putting in because you. You don't really know how to go about asking the right questions and setting people up, if that makes sense. I don't think it's that people that's lazy at all. I just think they get a little scared because they just don't know what to say. And that's normal.

Yes, Fear, right? That's fear. You don't know what's behind that door. That's a bit of it. I may not be well trained. I may not know exactly what to say, and I have no idea what's behind that door. So fear step in. And when fear steps in, we tend to make excuses and go, I think I'm gonna go hang out at the bar. Right. Instead. And the hardest door to get open is yours. You get that door open, you go knock that first door, and then the rest become a little bit easier. Would you agree with that?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, even with training, you know, you know, joked around, you know, just laughing, you know, I'm like, you know, don't be the sales guy. You know, in the summertime, in the spring that's riding around, you know, with the window up, blasting the air conditioner. Listen to Hank Williams Jr. You know, and then doing that all day long, going back home and telling your wife that night. Boy, that sure was a tough day. No, it wasn't. You spend more time driving around than you did anything. Getting comfortable with that air conditioning on. One of the best things I ever seen was working Denver, and I pulled up in a neighborhood during a storm. I think it was 2013. I literally see this sales guy with one of those extendable ladders, right? Literally going door to door, carrying it. And I said, that right there, that's a hustler.

Oh, yeah, that's it. I got my ladder. I'm ready.

Yeah. Knock it, sit it right there next to the door. And it was game on. And he would take that ladder all the way down the street door to door.

So one of the problems I see in door knocking is we knock on a door and you've got these ring doorbells. You've got all that stuff, right, going on and, and you know, the person's home, but they don't answer the door. You have any tricks to share with people on how to get people to answer that door?

We have our host. We. We have our entire house with ring, you know, alarms and everything. Even though that vibrates, you know, they know that you're at the door. I'm still that person. I'm never going to ring it. Like, if you have nest or egg or whatever, I'm not ringing that thing, you know, I'm not having a conversation with you through that in any means. You know, even if you activate it. What do you want? I'm probably just gonna walk away, you know, old school doorbell. I'll ring it, knock the door, and go from there. But they don't really usually come on intercom, you know, through rain. You know what?

This, I don't think they do either. So. Have you ever had somebody that you knew is in the house but they didn't answer the door on you?

Oh, God. Don't work Denver one season. Go work in Denver one season and you will see that all day long.

Any, any tactics that you might use to actually get that person to open the door?

No, not really. I Wish they had an answer for that, but not really.

No. You know, and that's cool. Like, not everybody knows everything, right? I was just trying to see if there was something out there. I know one of the things that one of my clients does is they. They'll have one of the apps, right? Like, whatever it is, Spotio, Sales Rabbit, those guys, and they'll be carrying that around with them because part of what they're supposed to do, and a lot of those people have phone numbers, so they'll actually walk away from the door. They know the person's home. They'll kind of walk down the sidewalk a little bit. They'll pick up their phone and dial. They'll dial the person, and when they dial and say, hey, yeah, you know, I kind of thought you might be there. I just want to make sure that I didn't scare you and that type of thing. I want you to know that I was just here to give you some information, educate you about something going on with your home. And I just wanted to make you feel comfortable, because I know sometimes opening a door for a stranger is very uncomfortable. And sure enough, they'll invite them back up. And so that's kind of this little thing that those guys do that works out pretty slick.

Taught me something.

Well, that's what we do, man. That's why these podcasts and this information that's free and accessible to everybody out there is so valuable. It's why we should listen to it. There might be that one golden nugget that you get that makes a difference in 10, 20, 30 new sales next year. And if I make 10, 20, 30 new sales Next year, what does that do to change my life? Like, that's. That's amazing what that can do. And each. And this is just part of learning, part of knowledge, part of getting educated is gathering all the information you can, making good notes, practicing a little bit, and getting a little bit better at what we do. All right, I got another question for you have mentors in your life, people that taught you stuff back in the day, even?

Yeah, I mean, every. You know, every industry I've learned, you know. You know, like, if, you know, to get to where I'm at, you know, with the lead generation, you know, here it's. Back then, in 09, when I got started in this industry, I surrounded myself with some really big closers, you know, that I would work with companies, you know, over dinner, whatever it was, and was picking their brain to learn everything that I possibly could, you know, to perfect the best style with my personality at the door.

What's the best thing that you've learned from one of those mentors that you still apply today?

Oh, it would probably just be a combination of various. I don't think there's one thing in particular. It's just how to lead down, lead those people down the path from all kinds of. There's so many people I've talked to, you know, over the years to the, to develop just the way I, I do it. So I can't really contribute to really any one person.

I couldn't say, okay, from, from all those people. Is there something that, whether it's persistency, you know, you just keep going. Is it. There's this step by step thing that you follow. Was there anything like that you learned from folks creating value, any of that kind of stuff?

Yeah, I mean, the value definitely, you know, most importantly was understanding what all happens. You know, what, you know, to be able to talk to a person at a door that may have a 9 to 5 job, whether they've been through it or whether they haven't been through it. For me, to be able to earn their trust and to, you know, explain how that process works, that, you know, if, you know, if they haven't, you know, filed a claim or even if they have, is how important it is to have a contractor there on the property at the time the adjustment, you know, and setting them up to know what's expected the entire time from front end to back. That some people probably don't go that deep into a conversation at a door, but I certainly do.

So one of the things I see a lot out there in this industry is this concept of how fast can I do it? Like, how fast can I go from knocking on a door to getting somebody signed? And normally when I see that type of thing, the closing percentages come down a little bit because they don't spend enough time educating, providing and that. Would you agree with that?

And yeah, so, I mean, it's, you know, fresh storm hits, right? You know, you run around the neighborhood like a, you know, chicken head cut off. You know, when you're hopping ropes here, just sign, sign, sign, sign, you know, and then you wonder, there's obviously going to be other salespeople that's out there, everybody's in it, they're going to cut each other's throat, whatever the case is. You know, the next thing you know, homeowners are calling you up and they're canceling. And the reason they're canceling is because that value, that expectation, that Trust the rapport. Everything wasn't there. And that's why you're losing deals 100%.

Yeah, I think it's the difference is that guy, whoever got it from you, provided it.

And I'm a huge believer, you know, and I tell people this, even on the phone. I am there to interview you. I'm not there for you to interview me. Set to have when you're knocking doors.

Well, I'm here to interview you. You're not here to interview me today.

You know, I tell reps, you know, like, when I'm doing the trainings and stuff, I'm like, you know, just because you get on someone's roof doesn't mean you have to come down and sign them up. I mean, plain and simple, if your goal is to sell, say, a hundred roofs, have the mindset that you can literally go out and hand pick a hundred people that you're going to do business with if you come off that roof and they're like, hey, so, you know, can you eat my deductible? You know, can you give me this? Can you give me that? Run, run, run, run. You know, because if you sit there and give in to what people want and it's time now to collect your money and get them to pay you, you're going to be having a very bad day. So pick and choose who you want to do business with.

I learned a long time ago, you know, people ask me this question, what's the most valuable thing you ever learned about sales? The most valuable thing I ever learned about sales is knowing what the word no means. Being able to say no and no. We don't need deductibles. We're too good for that. Our clients understand that we're going to really deliver, and we don't have to do stuff like that to work with our customers. We provide value far beyond your deductible. And being able to say that professionally without rubbing people the wrong way. And it's human nature. It is human nature for us as individuals to get the best possible deal we can. If we go into the equation knowing that, all we know then is we just have to say no. We have to be able to say that in a way that makes sense to people. And I think too many people are just too weak at being able to say no.

Right?

And when you do say no and they're adamant about it, then they're not your customer. Then you know that. Not my customer. That's not my person. Because if they want something now, they're gonna Want something more before the whole thing is all over with and be okay with that, because the person that you do get that's like, that is gonna take five times the amount of time of anybody else that you work with. Yeah, that's great advice. Great advice. Last question. We all only have so much time on this planet, and there's going to come this day for all of us, right? And so a bunch of people gonna come, they're gonna celebrate. What do you want them to say about you, you know, on that day that we. We leave this world of ours? What do you want people to remember you for or say about you?

He definitely spoke his mind, you know, very opinionated, wasn't scared to say what's on his mind. Very trustworthy, very direct. Definitely would argue if need be. Those would be, you know, pretty big things. If I believe that I'm in the right, I will argue until the sun goes down. I'm not a sugar coater, never have been. And I think anyone that knows me, you know, would know that as well. I will tell you exactly how things are, you know, not even in business. I'm the same way. You know, contractors call up inquiring. I will not sugarcoat. Anybody that might be listening to this will know that I'll tell you exactly how it, how it goes. And that's it. That you get the straight truth from me that.

That tells me a couple of things about you. Number one, you're. You're comfortable in your skin with who you are. To be able to say that is, you know, most people are scared to say something like that. You're transparent with the people that you work with. So that allows you to set expectations correctly. And if expectations are set correctly, most of the time, things go pretty well. So that's cool. This idea of my legacy being what I said I meant and you'll. And I am who I am. That's pretty cool. Sean, great interview today. Thanks for sharing with us. Any last parting words of advice to these guys that are out knocking doors, doing what they do, maybe thinking about adding knocking doors, maybe even in retail, some of the stuff that you may have had from there. Any last piece of advice?

You know, just keep practicing them. I mean, door to door is all about being consistent and persistent, you know, and surround yourself with people, you know, to where you want to get to as far as knowledge goes, and learn how to place that, you know, in a structure when you're knocking. Because at the end of the day, for anyone that believes door to door doesn't work, it will always be here. You know, if it wasn't Kirby, you know, Kirby back and Warren Buffett wouldn't be owning the Kirby Company for the last 50 years or so. And a lot of people don't know Warren Buffett owns Kirby and he does. You know, they're still going strong at 60 plus. So when I put a post up last week, you know, imagine going out selling $2,000 vacuum cleaners every day. All you gotta do is go out and get some ink. There's much harder things to sell door to door. So go out and help as many people as you possibly can. You don't have to sell $2,000 vacuum cleaners.

People pay for something that's worth it. And that's really what it comes down to. If you can generate the value in something that is truly worth the amount of money that you're paying for it, people will pay for it. I'm going to go out and buy $1,000 set of knives. It's only five knives today. And it's something that my wife and I have talked about for years. And she's a chef. She really likes to cook. She's great at it. And I want to make sure that she has the right tools and the best tools. I don't ever want to buy another knife again the rest of my life. I've spent way more than $1,000 in knives over the last 28 years with her where if I would have just spent it up front and I learned kind of the hard way, but I never had anybody come to my door and try to sell me cut coat knives. I think if they would have, I probably would have bought them because they can create that value. Sean, awesome job today. Well done. And if nobody knows, this is Sean's very first podcast. Is that correct, Sean?

Yeah.

You did a great job and you did a great job. Feel comfortable with it. Just be you like you said, and these things go great. It's good having you on board. If anybody wants to connect with you, how do they do?

So you can give us a call at 844-hell-yeah. H a I L Y E A and then the website. Hire a canvasser.com and you can acquire through there or send me a messenger and we can hop on a call.

Love the phone number, man. That's really good. I said I love the phone number. You know, I got one more question. I do have one more question about door knocking because I have a. I have what I call a worst experience that I've ever had. What's the worst experience you've ever had. Something. Yeah.

I wouldn't say it was at the door. I would say it was probably, it was in the house. And I was about 19, 20 years old, working eastern Kentucky and anybody that's ever been eastern Kentucky knows those haulers are pretty long and it can be a little scary. And I was in there with a woman with, with, with the wife and it was getting pretty late, it was probably about 9, 10 o'. Clock. And he comes in for he was a coal miner and he had come in from work. He looks at me, I'm there, young, 19, 20 year old kid with his wife while he's at work. I've got the Kirby vacuum all over, you know, all over the living room floor, you know. And I was pretty new. And he told me when he walked in, he said you got five minutes to pack that thing up before I go in here and get the gun and shoot you. And anybody that knows anything about Kirby back knows for a fact that thing can come out very easy. But it only goes back in that box one way in one way only. So you're talking about being scared. Oh, trying to make sure I put that thing so I could get the heck out of there. With a five minute time limit. I wasn't taking no chances with that guy.

That's awesome. I actually had somewhat of a similar experience at a door. A guy met me and in his left hand he had a rottweiler with one of those short leash, you know, handle type deals on it and on his right hip he had his gun. He said, if you don't get off my property in the next 30 seconds, I don't know which one I'm going to use. And I was off his property immediately. As soon as I got off of his property I said, are we good to talk now? And he was still paying attention and it actually came back around and we were able to get things worked out. But that was the scariest moment. It didn't stop me though. And that's why I wanted to bring that. Like you didn't get stopped by that. I didn't get stopped by the other. Usually the only way you really get in trouble is because of you, not them.

Yeah, I mean you don't know what's going on in someone's life. You know, you can't take door to door personally. You don't know what's going on with them. You know, don't wear your heart on your sleeve. You do not pay their mortgage, you do not pay their Insurance company. Bottom line, you know, you're just there to help X amount of people every day.

Yeah. You can't take it personal because it isn't. You don't know. Did that. Did that wife just tell the husband that she wants a divorce? Did he just lose his job? You have a crappy day at work, you know, you never know. And just be cool with that and move on to the next one.

Yeah.

Sean, great job. Thanks for being here today. If. If people want to get a hold of you, that's hirecamuser.com and then eight. Four, four. Hell, yeah.

Hell, yeah.

All right.

I stole that when the 844 area code or whatever came out back in 2013. And as soon as it came out that day, I went in there and snatched it up. I'm like, I want 844. Hell yeah.

Nice. That's really good. And people can connect with you on Facebook. All they gotta do is look up Sean Meredith. M E R E D I T H and look for a higher camera so you can find him that way. Thanks for being on the show today. I'm sure we'll talk to you again in the future.

Thanks, Jim. I appreciate you having me.

Hey, no problem. All right, everybody. That is today's episode of Contractor Radio. I hope you learned something today. I hope you learned a few things. And so I want to kind of wrap this up into a. A neat little bow. Number one is educate yourself. Go learn from some of the best. Be willing to invest either time or money to go and find those people that are great at what they do and go follow them. Go listen to them, Go learn from them. And then thing number two, practice. That was one of the last things he said was making sure you have time to practice and making sure you get better at it. Some of the ways we do that would suggest to do that practice on your own first. But one of the keys to that practice is to make sure you practice out loud. Whether it's in front of a mirror, in front of a video camera, with your dog, your wife, whoever it may be. Get those words out of your mouth out loud. You'll get more comfortable with them. You'll get more confident with them, and your approach at the door, when it really matters, will get better. The other thing that I want to mention is being active. Get out there, open your door, and get to work. One of the great things about door knocking is it is the cheapest form of marketing and advertising. It brings the fastest results that you can possibly have. So don't disregard it. Don't look down on it. Look at it as something that you want to master and be great at and look at it as an opportunity to educate people, not sell people. And you have a rock star time out there knocking a few doors. You get to meet a bunch of great people and create a bunch of great relationships. As a matter of fact, the 10th door I ever knocked, I am still friends with that guy to this day. And that was 22 three years ago. And so you never know who you're going to meet behind that door. I look at it as an opportunity to create a friend, not necessarily sell somebody. So thanks for joining us on Contractor Radio. Make sure that if you are looking for education for for as a salesperson or in marketing, you check us out at contractortrainingroom. Com. If you're looking to get better at what you do, get control of your business, grow your business so that you can find that financial and personal freedom that you're chasing as a business person, check us out at your.