16 Jan Measuring Cold Canvas Success
We, very recently received the following question along with our response. As many of you know listing businesses is an important issue and a favorite subject of mine.
“I just wanted to give you a quick question. What would be a conservative number of returns on cold canvass we do? What I mean by the return is # of listings we should get from the cold canvass.”
My response:
Tough question! For example: Over what time period? How many visits to the same business? What kind of follow-up does one do? And so on. My suggestion is that after a personal visit, depending on the response, a note should be sent, emailed, etc. thanking them for taking the time to visit, etc. Obviously, a lot depends on the response of the business owner.
Very seldom does one get a listing on the first visit. However, a “gut feel” for the business’s reaction can depend on the follow-up, if any.
A combination of personal visits, direct mail and telephone follow-up is a good strategy. As I keep saying, listings are the key to success in the business. Some people like a direct mails program (and the key is too maintain it) – about 500 every 3 months – to the same 500. Phone works but is difficult to keep up.
A combination of mail and personal contact seems to work the best.
The key is that no matter what one does – keeping it up is the key.
