When I can't get a hold of my leads on the telephone, I will I take those leads, knock on their door and when they answer, I say "Mrs. Jones, you or your husband sent this card in."
I hand her the card.
She looks at the card and while she is looking it over, I tell her:
"I'm here to give you that information you requested..." (I have the
attitude of "you sent the card in and I'm here because you asked me to
come...")
If she looks baffled, I ask, "You did send this card in, didn't you?"
She will normally say, "Well, I don't remember but this sure is my handwriting."
I say, "To be honest, most people don't remember sending those
cards in -- that is normal. I'm just here to follow up with you and to
see if today is a good time to meet with me or if sometime tomorrow would be
better?"
Usually they will choose the following day. I take out my business card, write the day and time on the back and I hand it to them.
I hand them the card and repeat the day and time and i ask them to call me if they need to reschedule.
Sometimes they will just invite you right in, giving you the opportunity to make your sales presentation and possibly making a sale.
I suggest making most of your appointments by the phone to save time and gas, but if you find that you have some free time, go knocking on the doors of anyone you can't get on the phone.
I personally don't worry about people not being home or wasting my time.
I just go and knock.
Even if it's an hour drive.
I figure that I usually come out ahead so why worry about it. It's just all in a days work.
Several times, I have spent all day driving around to empty houses and
I find myself at 8pm, at someone's dinner table, eating a nice meal and
receiving a $150 dollar check for their first months premium.
I think a $1700 commission makes it a good days work?!
Don't you?