If I built my business using Door Knocking as my main prospecting tool, how can I meet people and prospect with everything that is going on? It’s a good question. Most likely answered with “Cold Calling” as the response. Now is a perfect time, as you head into next year, to look into an alternative to door knocking and other approaches that you may not be able to utilize anymore. It’s imperative that you find something that is both unique and future proof.
2020 has brought on massive change for almost every agent. Some have thrived in this new environment, others have had the worst period in their business.
“The last six months of your business is likely to repeat for the next six months. That’ll either make you want to jump for joy or scream out in pain…”
Tom Ferry, Success Summit 2020
You’re likely in a position, as we enter December, where you’re reflecting on what you’ve experienced this year and what you want to do about it in 2021.
Well, the good news is that you don’t have to adopt a “Dialing for Dollars” approach to prospecting. You should be investing your time is by providing the most value to homeowners and renters in your community while having more than a 2-minute conversation with them.
The best alternative to door knocking in 2021? Interviewing Business Owners Remotely
This strategy, you’ve likely heard before. You may have even tried it once or twice prior to the pandemic. My guess is that you really enjoyed the process and had fun. How often have you said that about cold calling or door knocking?
It is truly the very best alternative as we move into next year. You have the opportunity to help businesses that are struggling right now as well as create content for yourself and the business owner. You also get time to speak with them before, right after, and following the interview as you’ve built a relationship with them.
But you might be asking “How can I do this if I can’t meet with the person face to face? Isn’t meeting them going to have the same safety issues as door knocking?” The simple answer to that question is you can – interview remotely.
Now for a lot of people, the immediate thought is, “No, it has to be in-person, otherwise no one will watch it.” If this is your immediate response, you should be asking yourself “Why do I think this?”
This is a limiting belief. A limiting belief is when we place a reason behind why we absolutely cannot do something, but the basis of this belief stems down typically to one of two things (sometimes both!):
- I’m not good enough
- I won’t be loved
As an agent, you’re dealing with these two things every day. Often, we substitute these for a buzz word “Rejection”.
So, when you catch yourself saying or thinking something like “Remote Interviews won’t work because only in-person interviews are interesting”, it’s worthwhile to ask why you are thinking this. After all, if content creating influencers like Gary Vee are doing it, why not you?
Limiting Beliefs and what they’re doing to you
We are all shaped by our experiences. It could be that you had attempted to create a remote interview in the past and assessed the effectiveness of it from a small sample size. Deciding that it doesn’t work based on one or two interviews that you did previously. You might have had someone comment on a Facebook Live story you did that made you feel like you should never be on video again. It could be that you feel that you’re the “perfectionist type” and will only do something if you can do it perfectly.
These are limiting beliefs. And they’re holding you back from finding your alternative to door knocking which can position your business to be successful in 2021.
So let’s look at the benefits of interviewing business owners remotely and see if we can crush those limiting beliefs.
Interviewing Businesses: What are the benefits?
The interview serves as an opportunity to both build a relationship and provide value to the business owner. If we consider the impact of 2020 on many local businesses in your community, my bet is that they’re struggling. Small businesses, particularly those that rely on face to face interaction need assistance right now. In many cases, they aren’t sure how to adapt to become a more digital business.
Consider this, by doing the interview you are building a relationship, helping others and creating content for the both of you. Who do you think they are going to refer business to if a friend or family member of theirs is wanting to move?
What are the downsides?
- Using a video conferencing tool is likely a new application for you. But not necessarily new technology. Video conferencing has been around for years and you’ve likely used it through Apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Video Chat, and Skype.
- For those of you who hate being on video, this will bring with it an opportunity to grow. Like it or not, how we look on video is how we look when we’re knocking on someone’s door! The big difference is that we are more cognizant of how we look when we can see ourselves on camera.
- Door knocking in the past has allowed you to show up and get started. Interviewing business owners remotely will require a little more scheduling ahead of time, but will save you time in the long run!
How to use Remote Interviews as an Alternative to Door Knocking
1) Pick a video Conferencing Platform
To start interviewing remotely, you first will need to become familiar with a video-conferencing application. This is what you will host the meeting on, and be able to record audio and/or video footage from.
There are a variety of tools that you will be able to pick from. Searching “Video Conferencing App” on Google or the App Store will come up with thousands of applicable options. So to narrow your search down, let’s focus on what is widely seen as the best option, Zoom.
Zoom is a free video-conferencing tool that you can use to conduct interviews remotely. Fortunately, it’s super simple to use!
2) Signup and Download the App
First signup for a free or paid account on Zoom’s website here. Once you sign up, you’ll be prompted to download the Zoom App. This is how you will start, schedule, and join meetings.
PRO TIP: Integrate Zoom with your calendar so that you can see your upcoming meetings in the App! This makes it very easy to quickly start or join an existing meeting in your calendar.
3) Start a meeting
Once you have the Zoom App installed and opened, sign in with your login credentials.
Once you’re signed in you’ll see the option to start a New Meeting, Join a meeting that’s already running, and Schedule a meeting to take place in the future.
When you’re hosting your own meetings you’ll either be clicking on Schedule or New Meeting. Schedule will prompt you to fill out the details of your meeting. This will also give you the ability to add the meeting to your calendar
New Meeting will give you the option to begin your meeting right away. When you click on this button, you’ll be brought the following screen:
At this screen, you can connect your audio so that you can hear and be heard. Record your screen, invite your interviewee and of course, start your video.
4) Inviting your Interviewee
Your next step, is to invite your interviewee to the meeting. To do this, click on Invite People.
This will bring up the option to invite from your email contacts, send out an email invitation, or to simply copy the invitation link to send to any participants.
What do you need to interview a business owner remotely?
- A reasonable internet connection
- A laptop or desktop with a webcam
- An interested business owner!
- An awesome attitude
- Set appointments through Facebook, Instagram, Calling, or Email. Ask for 15-30 minutes of the business owners’ time to create a FREE feature of their business through the interview.
Really, that’s it!
How to Conduct Interviews
This interview can be as detailed and specific or as fun and energetic as you want it to be. Whether you’re simply recording the audio for a podcast or capturing the video to put on YouTube, this is going to be the fun part.
There is no one way to conduct an interview, it really depends on what you’re looking to do! Although every interview must consist of an Intro and Outro, as well as questions about the business and what they do. What you ask is up to you! But always remember, the interview should serve as a way to get to know them, learn more about what the business offers, and promotes their business to the local area. This is truly an alternative to door knocking that you will enjoy!
There is a platform that will help you not only learn how to conduct interviews but provide a hyper-local community website to go with it. Parkbench.com helps agents become the most recognized agents in their communities by promoting shopping locally and branding the agent on an exclusive neighborhood website.
Their focus is on building their agents’ network, increasing their agent’s relationships and referrals. But be warned, as Parkbench provides exclusive sites that are dedicated to one agent or team per area, once the area has been sponsored, no other agent can take it.
If you’re interested in finding out more about community-minded real estate marketing, learn how with this free resource:
