Canvassing is not new at all. We do it quite regularly and it’s all most like a routine. Let’s take a closer look at it, and appreciate the concept and the benefit it delivers if properly used. For canvassing to deliver the expected results/value, it must be strategy led and properly executed.
- It is about the quality of the canvassers
- The Knowledge Base
- The strategy and the ability to manage the execution.
Canvassing typically reminds us of politicians who go door-to-door to pitch their platforms to community members to solicit votes from not-for-profit organizations calling people to raise money to execute a project. People use canvassing to get things done but rarely think of it as an act of selling and talk less of seeing it as a powerful sales strategy to drive adoption.
What is sales canvassing?
“Canvassing in sales is the process of making contact with prospective customers that have zero histories of interaction with a brand or business. These potential customers can be businesses or individuals selected by researching target markets and generating a list of prospects that can benefit from or make use of the product or service being sold”.
Contact with these new leads can occur through four different methods:
- Cold calls,
- Door-to-door visits,
- Email and mail, and networking
- Brand activation,
Canvassing is a powerful sales tool that when properly deploy creates set value for both the audience and the brand deploying it. When Girl Scout knocks on your door and asks you to buy their cookies, they’re using canvassing as a sales strategy. Although they’re also raising money, their main goal is to get you to buy something.
Canvassing is a common practice in sales, howbeit, not used strategically in most cases. Brands need to understand that it is a strategy properly positioned to harvest the benefits by ensuring that salespeople executing it understand some of the basic techniques associated with it.
The five methods stated above are tactics that a brand can adapt depending on what is being promoted and the profile of the market. For us at CPPL working with the MoMo PSB brand, our main focus is on cold calls and door-to-door.
- Cold-calling is typically done as an effort to make direct sales or drive leads and nurture customer relationships. For example, if you don’t close a deal over the phone and convince a customer to purchase your service, maybe you’ve persuaded them enough to sign up for an email list. From there, you can send follow-up emails and further nurture the relationship, and encourage them to become customers.
- Door-To-Door canvassing involves visiting the households and businesses of prospects that you’ve identified as being able to utilize your product or service. You’re only visiting relevant locations, and the homes and businesses aren’t chosen at random. Like cold calls, the customers haven’t asked to receive a visit from you, which classifies the practice as a canvassing strategy.
- Brand activation is also a good platform for leveraging canvassing to drive sales and profits. Brands organize town storms, and mini and major rallies and deploy a number of canvassers to storm the neighborhoods to drive sales. This is extremely useful and effective.
- Another exciting example is mail and email. Canvassing via postal mail and email sending a written sales offer to prospects via postal mail or email. They’re less direct forms of canvassing, but the contacts receiving your pitch are still new. This method is a valuable strategy, as customers have the opportunity to assess your product or service on their own, rather than feeling the pressure to make a decision over the phone or face-to-face.
Common everyday examples of postal mail canvassing are advertisements that you receive in the mail from local businesses. Maybe there’s a new restaurant down the street, and they’ve written compelling copy to convince you to visit their restaurant.
Networking is a form of direct sales canvassing, and it typically occurs at events that salespeople attend because they know prospective customers will be in attendance. This is very common at exhibitions, launch programs, and even religious gatherings. When a sportswear company may have their salesperson go to a volleyball tournament because they know there will be teams there that may sign deals with you to use your clothing as their team uniform. Although networking is a targeted effort, it’s not meant for closing on-the-spot deals but rather to plant seeds for the future. Your prospects may give you their email or phone number that you can use to set up further appointments for sales-focused conversations.
Are there obvious benefits to Sales Canvassing
- As a business whether small, medium, or large organizations there are significant benefits to sales canvassing as there is never a shortage of contacts. Once you’ve outlined your target audience, simply generate a list of prospects that fall into this category, and you can begin calling them, visiting their business, and sending them mail. If your business is experiencing a period of stagnant growth, sales canvassing is a valuable strategy to consider when existing leads are running dry.
- Canvassing is also economical, as it doesn’t require any additional money spent on hiring and training sales consultants or creating new departments. The teams that already exist within your sales department can participate in canvassing, from salespeople to sales managers.
- The salespeople who do take part in canvassing will learn valuable sales skills, like learning how to deal with rejection, the best ways to communicate with customers, and how to create sales pitches that convert customers and drive sales. You’ll learn the strategies that bring you the most success, so you can continue using them as you grow in your role.
- A benefit for both salespeople and the businesses they work for is that there is no limit to canvassing. You can call as many people as you want, send as many emails as you wish, and visit as many houses as you want. There is an unlimited number of actions you can take, which helps businesses expand their clientele and is valuable for salespeople looking to gain experience and perfect their skills.
Sales Canvassing Tips
Effective sales canvassing is a great way to manage your sales territory and learn new skills. Nevertheless, the process may feel daunting, as it’s all about making contact when there’s never been contact before.
Let’s go over a few tips for salespeople to keep in mind when canvassing.
- Identify target markets. Know and understand your market
- Set goals The goals must be clear and broken down into measurable objectives.
- Create a sales pitch. This is extremely important because the message to the audience must be clear, target, and value-driven. The audience must never be in doubt about what you are selling.
- Be understanding. Objection and rejection are a part of selling. Understand that some people just aren’t interested in what you have to offer.
- Use a CRM. Using a Customer Relationship Management tool can be incredibly helpful for sales canvassing. A simple CRM will provide data on your prospect which can be leveraged massive to drive sales.
In sum, sales canvassing helps businesses grow. There’s a never-ending list of potential customers, and companies can expand their customer base by contacting and forming relationships with new prospects. Canvassing is about being able to speak with customers, answer their questions and deliver compelling sales pitches that drive leads and close deals.
Customer Passion Point Limited (CPPL) was recently appointed to recruit and manage canvassers to drive the adoption of MoMo Payment Service Banks (PSB) in the Benin Area. We recruited and are working with a total of 970 canvassers covering the Benin Area which comprises three states – Edo, Ondo, and Ekiti. Two key deliverables are headcount and performance monitoring – real transactions which is the proof of value delivery. We can do the same for you if you are faced with the challenge of driving sales and profitability. Call or WhatsApp Customer Passion Point Limited (CPPL) on 0701 196 2027 or send a mail to [email protected] for inquiries.
