Business is Slow? Door to Door Strategy

Summary

In this episode, Branden Sewell discusses effective strategies for home service business owners to navigate slow business periods. He emphasizes the importance of grassroots marketing, particularly door-to-door approaches, and shares his personal experiences and insights on how to engage with the community effectively. Branden provides actionable tips on how to create a strategic marketing plan that builds momentum and visibility for businesses in their local areas.

Takeaways

Branden Sewell emphasizes the need for actionable advice during slow business periods.
Understanding seasonal patterns in business can help in planning marketing efforts.
Door-to-door marketing can be an effective way to generate leads.
Personal experiences in door-to-door sales taught valuable lessons in resilience and sales skills.
Strategic door-to-door marketing involves timing and community engagement.
Using door hangers and flyers can enhance visibility in targeted neighborhoods.
Building a recognizable presence in a community can lead to increased business opportunities.
Geo-targeting can help focus marketing efforts in specific areas.
Community engagement is crucial for building momentum in business.
Team collaboration in marketing efforts can lead to better results.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Business Challenges
00:56 The Power of Door-to-Door Marketing
03:45 Strategic Approaches to Door Hangers
07:37 Building Momentum in Slow Seasons

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.496)
Hi everybody, I am Brandon Sewell. I'm the owner of Seal Pro Painting. I'm also the host of the Off the Ladder podcast, and we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off the ladder. If you guys have been listening lately, you'll know that I'm doing a series of episodes called Business is Slow, and kind of just going over 10 different things that you can do.

Some quick actionable advice quick takeaways to help your business if things are slowing down

in those, you know, every business has seasons that are slow. Over eight years of being in business, I can run our numbers and I can see the patterns of what months are, you know, typically slower than others. And we can kind of forecast and understand when we're going to have to really double down on some of these grassroots marketing efforts.

and kind of go back to basics and the foundations of what even just got us started as a business. far we've gone over calling past clients, sending out monthly newsletters, and sending out handwritten thank you cards. On today's episode we are going to talk about hitting the street with door hangers and doing door to door.

Now, kind of my background in the home services industry is that I transitioned from full-time ministry. I was looking for a job. The first job that I came across was

Branden Sewell (01:47.438)
They actually had a job listing and it said entry level sales and I had sales background So I was like, that sounds like that's right up my alley I'll inquire about this job. So they kind of position it as a sales position entry level sales position Turns out it was door-to-door marketing for a roofing siding windows and door company in Baltimore, Maryland now

I was, I needed a job and I was willing to do whatever. I was newly married, so I was like, well, you know, at least have a job. It's going to bring money in the door. It's not ideal, not fun. But I'm going to do this just to kind of, you know, get started with something, you know, and maybe a better opportunity to come along. So I do this door to door thing and it turns out I was actually really good at it.

The whole objective for this roofing company I work for was if you got a lead set with an appointment with a salesperson with the husband and wife there and they went through with the hour estimate, you got paid the commission for setting that lead. So it actually turned out I was making more money.

doing this door-to-door thing than I was in my previous job with a salary. And so, you know, yes, going door-to-door sucked. You know, in the hotter months, was, you know, sweating, walking miles a day, knocking on doors, getting rejected, doors slammed in my face, threatened.

You name it. It wasn't fun. But doing the door-to-door, I really learned how to grind. I learned how to hustle. I learned how to deal with rejection. I learned how to sell. I learned communication skills, people skills. And I think really doing door-to-door laid the foundation for me to be a business owner.

Branden Sewell (03:57.87)
So then when I started my business, know, that's what I did. I went door to door and I printed up flyers and I just went to door to door telling people in my community about this new business I started and there was rejection then. There were doors slammed in my face then and you know, all of that still happened but here I am today and it's still an effective way.

to market your business and get jobs. So now what we do is we're pretty strategic with it and the door-to-door thing is you can kind of temper your approach to it based on your need. If it's like really slow,

you know, you might be really, really aggressive with it. If it's not as slow and you're just kind of doing it as a routine thing, maybe you temper it back a little bit. What I can say is I'm not as aggressive with door to door as I used to be. So now my door to door approach kind of looks different. I'm not necessarily going

and trying to talk to a person at every door. Now some people are listening to this, you might disagree with that. It's just a personal decision as a business owner that door to door can put a negative light on your business as well if you're not careful. And that's just, it depends on the type of owner you are and how you feel about it. For me, I wanna take a less intrusive approach to door to door and just be a little strategic. So basically this

what we do. So let's say we are currently working on a job in a specific neighborhood. We're going to do a couple things. One, my guys who are working on the job, they know that they can put door hangers up at a few of the houses around the job that we're working on. So we might do four houses, two across the street and the houses side by side.

Branden Sewell (06:09.678)
Then myself and my sales guy, we might show up while that job is taking place. You know, the trapped truck is there, yard sign, people are seeing us come in and out of the job for let's say a week or two. And then we show up and we will canvas that entire neighborhood with door hangers. And we'll talk to people if they're outside, if they're walking.

And that creates opportunities as well. But the whole idea with this is like when we're in that

that neighborhood doing the work, we kind of want to strike while the iron's hot. So we want to have those door hangers going up while we're working in the neighborhood. We want to, you our trucks going to be there, our guys are going to be in our company shirts eating out around that neighborhood and going to the gas station around that neighborhood. So we want people to see our company as much as possible while we're in that location.

The other thing that we'll do too, and this is kind of backtracking a little bit, is when we're selling the job, my sales rep, as long as he has time in his schedule, will go do the estimate and then he might hit a few houses around that estimate and put some door hangers up. So really the whole approach to this is to have like a system to it, have a strategy and try and just kind of...

overwhelmed that neighborhood or area that you are working in. The other thing that you can do with this is you can kind of geo target some of your ads. So if you're working in, you know, this neighborhood in this city, you could create a ad that you target that specific address and a five mile radius.

Branden Sewell (08:03.316)
And so then again, you're just adding in another way for those homeowners to see your name, your business, your logo, your brand over and over again within a short period of time. So that's really what our strategy is. again, like going door to door, especially in Florida, like it's not fun. It's really hot.

It's you're gonna be sweating. You're gonna be uncomfortable. You're gonna get rejected. But the reality is is it's just it's something You have to do as a business owner and it helps to build momentum for your business. So anyway, that's my that is my fourth tip on

things to do when business is slow. So I hope you've got some takeaways. Go get some door hangers made, some flyers, and get out there, hit the streets, go with your team, don't do it alone, have a strategy, and you'll see how it just starts to drive business, build momentum, kind of shift things for you. So promise, it'll definitely generate something for you. Anyway, if you're enjoying these episodes, please like, comment,

Subscribe, share it with somebody. If you're listening to this on any major podcast platform, please rate and review the show. And as always, I'll see you next time on the next episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast.