Joseph Needham knocks on a door in Columbus, Ohio.
Rob Sangster stands back.
I felt a little like an FBI surveillance agent, sitting in the
back seat of a car, camera in hand, as I observed canvassing
consultant http://wwwJoseph Needham.procanvassershow R.com/ob Sangster, working
on contract for
http://feazelroofingcompany
Feazel Roofing, how to knock on doors.
.com/
On a blustery, windy day, just two days before Thanks-
giving, the job seemed thankless. Sangster, a former NHL
Hockey draft pick originally from Ontario, met his wife in
Columbus while on the then-farm team for the Vancouver
Canucks. Now he has a part-time hockey practice business,
but wants something more for his family.
Feazel Roofing president Mike Feazel, following an Inter-
net search, decided to contract with Needham to help set
up an ambitious canvassing-sales program with the goal of
putting 25 reps in the field. Sangster is the first — he may
well lead the team — once advertisements appear in local
newspapers and candidates attend information meetings in
a local hotel.
This is not a ‘typical’ canvassing assignment, but Feazel
Roofing is not a typical roofing company. Feazel says about
Feazel wanted Needham to remake the story, to rebuild
a third of his business comes from local radio ads — he es-
the picture, and to change the model of business. Needham
timates his budget is upwards of $200,000 a year. He roofing
generally trains canvassers to be lead generators — Feazel
company is the most prominent roofing contractor in Ohio
wants them to be sales reps as well. In Feazel’s model, can-
— and is expanding its ‘storm division’ which enters markets
vassers will carry ladders in their cars and if the homeowner
after major wind or hail storms, where roofing services sud-
really wants an on-the-spot inspection, he will be able to get
denly are in demand. (The company does a little commercial
out, go on the roof, and make a proposal. (This certainly
work, about 10 per cent, but avoids new construction —
wouldn’t work in some other markets — unless the roof es-
“there’s no profit in that type of work,” Feazel says.
timator had safety harnesses and other gear, no way would
So when Needham received the call from Feazel, the as-
he be on the roof.)
signment reflected a very different challenge than just fulfill-
We rolled into an upper middle-class neighbourhood of
ing an order for his $350 canvassing training disk, or his more
relatively new houses, recently hit by a hail storm. Needham
simple $10,000 to $15,000 budget canvassing training and
pointed out two roof shingle types; one is definitely better
set up model. (For this amount of money, you would build a
than the other, and the better one can withstand the storm,
system starting with a single canvasser, growing to three to
and thus the homeowners wouldn’t need a new roof.
five, each of which should bring in enough leads to provide
The other type, less expensive to build, had real problems
at least one sale a day — the sale could range in value from
— and many of these are not obviously visible. The damage
$1,200 to $10,000 or more; perhaps averaging about $5,000,
is also covered by insurance, and because it relates to a ca-
Needham says.)
tastrophe, individual homeowners don’t need to worry about
their premiums rising if they file a claim.
So the trick is to drive through the neighbourhood, as-
sess whether the roof is the ‘right’ (cheaper) type, and then
knock on doors, to see if they would like a free inspection,
and if anything is found wrong, to prepare a proposal for re-
pairs that would be covered by the home owner’s insurance.
(And if you agree to put a sign on the lawn, you can have a
$250 credit towards your insurance deductible costs.)
This type of situation, Needham says, is a perfect exam-
ple of where canvassing makes business sense. Homeown-
ers really can use the service — and since they are not
out-of-pocket in any major way — gain real benefit by allow-
ing the canvasser to present the case. (Some homeowners
say they’ve had an insurance adjuster review the property
and say there is no damage: Feazel and Needham show
canvassers the counter-argument — that the insurance ad-
juster represents the insurance company, not the home-
owner, and if they find problems on the inspection, they’ll
go to bat with the insurance company to get approval before
proceeding with the job).
Mark Feazel at http://feazelroofingcompanyFeazel Roofing in Columbus, Ohio..com/
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