It Seems More and More People Not Answering the Phone.Door Knocking Might Be the Wave of the Future

[Ron Van D]

I door knocked at the home of a non-responder (I was sent the mailing list) and the couple inside were arguing over who should get the door. "It's not my subpoena! You get it!"

 

[Newby]

When that happens you just yell real loud over your shoulder "No Jack. Just leave it in the truck. This is the third time they haven't been home. We need to move on to the 2nd place winner. "

 

[shonceman]

My favorite "no show" happens more in the summer. One of the kids answers the door. I say, "Hi, I'm here to see Ms. So-and-so." They disappear for a minute, then come back and say, "My mama says she ain't here!"

 

[HoosierLife]

I rarely have any that tie the two together.

That used to be true with me as well. I could call today and get shot down and visit them the next day and they'd be none the wiser. But since I switched to an appt setter, they seem to remember 10x better.

 

[RookieYankee]

I have door knocked exclusively at times and set appointments over the phone at other times exclusively. When I door knock, I did a lot of driving only to knock on doors of empty houses. When I only set appointments without any door knocking then I missed a lot of people that simply wont answer their phones or set appointments. What I do now is kind of a hybrid...I set appointments and go see those people. If I finish early or get porched, then I will find all the leads that are within my immediate vicinity (gps) and pull out those leads from my stack. Then I will sit in my car and call the phone number on each lead. When I call them, Im not looking to set an appointment...Im just checking to see if they are home. If they answer, I usually say "hello is Bob there?" They usually say "you have the wrong number". I apologize and hang up...then navigate over to that house because they answered the phone...likely home. If they don't answer the phone...they are not likely at home...I dial the next lead and repeat. I realize that lots of people these days have cell phones and they could be answering their cell phone while they are away from home...but I have found that this gives me a better chance of success than blindly driving to the house and finding out the hard way. I actually got this idea from a recording of Dan Rungee...so I cannot take the credit for this. I have been doing this with pretty good success. It aint perfect, but it puts the odds in my favor a little bit more than blind door knocking without calling first. Incidentally, I did have one lady ask me..."hey did you call me about 20 minutes ago?" Ooops. "Uh yes ma'am I think I dialed your number by mistake...so about that card you mailed us..."

I do this method with pretty good success. Some people don't answer numbers they don't recognize. In fact I'm gonna go out on a limb and say most are like this so I normally do like Birdman and do a hybrid.

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That used to be true with me as well. I could call today and get shot down and visit them the next day and they'd be none the wiser. But since I switched to an appt setter, they seem to remember 10x better.

Where can you recommend I look for an appointment setter? I'm about to put one up on craigslist but don't know how to tell if they're good or not. Also how many days have you waited to go see them after trying to make an appointment and them shooting you down?

 

[John Galt]

That used to be true with me as well. I could call today and get shot down and visit them the next day and they'd be none the wiser. But since I switched to an appt setter, they seem to remember 10x better.

I love it when they try to blame the appt setter for a wrong date or time LOL. Yea right lady, my appt setter is in the same office with me and sits beside me, I am SURE she got this wrong, lol, thats why I think they are all liars to a degree

 

[MDPirate]

Birdman , that makes a lot of sense !

 

[mudhound]

I have door knocked exclusively at times and set appointments over the phone at other times exclusively. When I door knock, I did a lot of driving only to knock on doors of empty houses. When I only set appointments without any door knocking then I missed a lot of people that simply wont answer their phones or set appointments. What I do now is kind of a hybrid...I set appointments and go see those people. If I finish early or get porched, then I will find all the leads that are within my immediate vicinity (gps) and pull out those leads from my stack. Then I will sit in my car and call the phone number on each lead. When I call them, Im not looking to set an appointment...Im just checking to see if they are home. If they answer, I usually say "hello is Bob there?" They usually say "you have the wrong number". I apologize and hang up...then navigate over to that house because they answered the phone...likely home. If they don't answer the phone...they are not likely at home...I dial the next lead and repeat. I realize that lots of people these days have cell phones and they could be answering their cell phone while they are away from home...but I have found that this gives me a better chance of success than blindly driving to the house and finding out the hard way. I actually got this idea from a recording of Dan Rungee...so I cannot take the credit for this. I have been doing this with pretty good success. It aint perfect, but it puts the odds in my favor a little bit more than blind door knocking without calling first. Incidentally, I did have one lady ask me..."hey did you call me about 20 minutes ago?" Ooops. "Uh yes ma'am I think I dialed your number by mistake...so about that card you mailed us..."

I have done this a few times. If the drive is WAY out of the way.

 

[Birdman300]

I have done this a few times. If the drive is WAY out of the way.

I'd agree with that. If I'm working a tight zip code where all of the leads are no more than about 5 min drive...I'll sometimes just go see 'em regardless. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

 

[louiefrias]

We had that major issue with the advent of the DNC list in the real estate and mortgage industry. The post card mailer appears to be a front runner in securing better leads...IMHO.