Door-to-Door Sales Anyone...?

 

A generic epitome of door-to-door sales.

While my personal experience of door-to-door sales positions it as a niche domain of marketing, the past week has altered my stance - to direct forms of marketing in general. 

As someone who is predominantly exposed to and since my childhood favour indirect forms of marketing such as television adverts, billboards, and many more, this area of marketing has been heavily neglected from my marketing lexicon.

Since I completed my first year of university over a month ago, I have spent time searching for jobs related to my field to gain experience and hopefully, some money. I came across a marketing agency that contacted me (I won't be disclosing their name for confidentiality purposes) that worked on event-based and residential campaigns for clients in both the private and non-profit sectors. 

When I was provided the position, I was tasked with undertaking residential campaigns by representing their non-profit clients such as Marie Curie, NDCS (National Death Children Society), and Blue Cross. For a week, I gained a wealth of experience and knowledge by learning from my managers, colleagues and simply talking to people on the field. As someone who is 60% introverted, I sure did seek discomfort and allowed my extroverted side to take the reigns. 

Honestly, I had a blast. Who knew talking to people was so much fun. It really built my confidence. Like many, the first few days were filled with reluctance and fear at the notion of knocking on someone's door. Will they be in a good or bad mood? Heck are they even wearing a shirt?! It was a frantic initial experience. But the more doors that I knocked on, the more confidence I gained. I managed to sign-up two supporters to Blue Cross for £10 monthly donations - not bad.

A highlight of this experience was deepening my understanding of the art of communication in sales and the value that is derived from establishing a connection with someone. Simply taking an interest in what they are saying, who they are, who they're with, what they're doing, wearing, making, and eating enables effective and ethical exploitation of the law of averages - in sum, the law of averages is this concept which states the more times an action is repeated, the greater the likelihood of a pattern occurring (more sales being made).

That's enough marketing jargon for today. The real question is, is it sustainable? I can't provide a definite answer but based on the meetings, rep calls, the money I've seen/heard, and the progression people experienced in this line of work, it is sustainable indeed - given that social experiences don't face the wrath of technology and AI. 

But the real question is, is it my type of channel? No. After a week or so I can conclude it isn't. But the skills acquired from this experience are highly transferrable.