The SHOCKING Truth About Sales Success in 2024

As contractors, teachers, coaches, and sales leaders, we often make the mistake of focusing solely on achievements—what we do and how we do it—while neglecting the crucial question: why? This video dives into our experiences with door knocking and canvassing. We’ll explore how a fixation on commissions can create barriers between us and potential clients.

Through personal anecdotes, including encounters that challenged our approach, we'll reflect on the deeper motivations behind our actions. Understanding this "why" not only enhances our effectiveness but also transforms interactions into meaningful connections.

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Episode Transcript

Jim Johnson (00:00):
It's one of the biggest mistakes we make as

(00:02):
contractors and teachers andcoaches and sales leaders and
things like that.
We focus so much on theachievement and the how, the
what, the where and the when.
And not the why.
Why are we doing something?
So, like when I first started,like I said, canvassing, door
knocking.
My whole thing was, I wasfocused on making a sale, and

(00:23):
that sale meant a certain amountof dollars in commissions,
approximately.
They told us, like about athousand bucks for each one that
we would sell.
And so what I did is I 000 billon every door I knocked in my
brain thinking that's what I wasafter is that 1, 000 and I kept
getting a lot of pushback.
I didn't really realize what thedeal was.

(00:43):
I knew my script very well.
I had practiced it a lot.
I could say it really good.
Um, I had my own little spin onit, but I was still struggling
through some of it here andthere now.
Don't get me wrong.
I got my inspections.
I got my appointments.
I made a few sales, but therewas also the really rough stuff
in there.
Get the hell off my property.
The I'm not interested.

(01:04):
The hey, you're the 50th guy toknock on my door and I had
objection handling situationsfor each one of those, but it
was still very much a barrierbetween me and the person.
I'll never forget one day.
I knocked on this guy's door andhe opens the door before I can
even get the last knock done.
He's got a Rottweiler on a, um,on a leash and the Rottweiler is
just barking like crazy.

(01:26):
He goes, you got three secondsto get off of my property.
I'm like, Hey man, you don'teven have to count.
I'm out of here.
Sorry to bother you.
And I'm out the door, out thewalkway.
I go, dog's barking.
He's like two.
I'm like, all right, I'm off.
I'm out in the street.
And so he shuts the door and Ikind of looked like.
I had a little bit ofintrospection, like, why did
that just happen?
Well, I mean, obviously theguy's having a bad day.

(01:46):
Maybe he's had some badexperiences.
All that stuff was his problem,not my problem.
So I can't wear that.
But enough of that had happenedfor me to go, why is this
happening?
As often as it is, I sat down onthe sidewalk, made sure I wasn't
on his property and I thoughtabout it.
I'm like, okay, so why am Idoing this door knocking?
Well, I want to make some money,which, hey, there's a lot of

(02:08):
value in that.
And it's important.
But was there something more toit than that?
And as I dug deeper and deeperinto it, What I realized is I
was giving off this energy thatwas really more about me than
them.
It was about me getting aninspection, me signing a deal,
me getting a commission, me, itwas all me and nothing about

(02:29):
them.
I said, well, I wonder whatwould happen if I actually made
it about them.
I had this approach that this isall about you.
And so I considered, hey, howcan I change up my presentation
a little bit?
It's And make it more aboutthem.
And so the first thing I thoughtof is like, Hey, can I do
something for the community?
That was the first thought thatran through my mind, which ended

(02:50):
up becoming this communityservice project.
And I retailored my script tothat, and I went and started
knocking doors.
And I started knocking doors ina way was more about them.
What could I provide them thatwas actually valuable?
Not just a few pictures andsaying you have damage or, you
know, an inspection where theydon't have to go on their roof,
but something more than that.

(03:10):
And I started that very day andit didn't go very well cause I
hadn't practiced.
I hadn't put any kind of realthought to it, but it was
better.
I didn't get a whole bunch ofpeople being really mad at me.
It might not have been realhappy that I was there, but they
weren't mad or angry or anythinglike that.
So at night I went and sat downand said, Hey, how can I give
more value?
How can I give more value?
I said, what is everybody elsedoing?

(03:31):
One of the things I got taughtearly on by a really great
leader was whatever everybodyelse is doing, it's wrong.
So if they're all doing it thisway, do something a little
different.
So I thought about it.
Like what could I give them?
Like people like things to begiven to them as value.
What can I give them?
And I went, Hey, what if I gavethem a report?
Just something simple and easy.

(03:51):
That was like a report.
I could hand to them and betheirs whenever I got done
versus just show them a fewpictures on a phone or something
like that.
So I quickly worked up thislittle report that I could do
and the next day I went out andI started knocking doors and
said, Hey, my name is JimJohnson.
Um, I'm with XYZ Roofing Companyand I'm going around the

(04:13):
neighborhood doing a communityservice project.
I'm going to start inspectingevery house in this neighborhood
and I'm going to give them areport that looks just like this
one.
Would you like one?
Would you have any objection tome providing this report to you
today?
And that's a reverse open endedquestion where you get somebody
to say no, but they really meanyes.
Uh, if you really think aboutwhat that looks like, and they,

(04:34):
they say, no, I don't have anobjection.
Say, great.
I'm going to go grab my ladder.
And then I would perform myinspection.
I found that I was much betterreceived.
I was doing a community serviceproject.
I was giving something of value.
I was alluding to the fact thatI was going to be knocking on
each and every door and givingone of these reports with no
obligation.
If you don't want to go with us,that's fine, but I want you to

(04:54):
have the educational materialthat, for whoever you decide to
go with, You have the knowledgeyou need to make a great
decision.
And the vibe changed.
I mean, literally overnight, Ienjoyed what I was doing because
I was giving something of valuefrom me to them.
And they were much morereceptive.
They were like, Hey, wow, I getsomething.
This sounds different.

(05:16):
And so that was like my firstmajor mind shift.
Once I got into this industry ofnot making it so much about me,
but making it more about themand providing real, genuine,
authentic value.
I didn't feel like a doorknocking salesperson anymore.
Yeah.
I felt more like a communityeducator that was out doing

(05:36):
something right by the otherpeople in my community.
And it completely changed myperspective, gave me a lot more
joy in what I did, and myresults ended up being about
five times what they werebefore.
So I didn't have to knock onmany doors, so I got more
customers, and I had more timeto start to work on what I was
going to do from that stepforward as I continued to grow

(05:58):
in the industry.