Things I Learned from Door-to-Door appointment setting

The first Job that I got on my own accord (no family connections etc.) was working in the roofing sales industry. While looking for jobs on Craigslist.com, I was able to find a pretty enticing job.
By mid June of this year, I had no work experience aside from working for a month at the Texas State Fair and helping my uncle remodel his house. I had just graduated high school and was not even eighteen. So, when a job says “$15 an hour + commission + cash bonuses, no experience required” that’s better than anything I had heard of at the time.
The job was going door-to-door to ask people if they wanted a free roof inspection on behalf of the company. The base pay was 15 dollars an hour, and for every person you got to sign up and it actually went through, you got an extra twenty dollars. And my boss would often have incentives like 100 dollars if you got ten leads in a weak.
To me this job seemed like everything I could of asked for. It was an introduction into sales, I didn’t have to devote extra time to walking outside of work, and I was able to use my argumentative skills to sign people up for a free roof inspection.
I was able to get the 100 dollar bonus the first week of being signed on (despite not working a full week) and was the top lead generator every week I worked there. Outshining the more veteran canvassers as well.
To me, it wasn’t work. It was like a game where you had to outdo the person you’re talking to when they tried to counter you. When people say “Oh, I don’t think I need it”, or other objections I saw them engaging in a battle of wits. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
Being a canvasser (which I still am at a different company), taught me that nothing is free. Even free things are not free. Yes, the service I was offering them was free in that is cost zero dollars. But that’s not all there is to costs.
There is an opportunity costs that people have to deal with too. If they say yes to the no cost roof inspection, then they will have to dedicate their time in the future to talk to the inspector, the salesman, and take time to find their insurance policy.
So while the service is free there are other implied strings attached. And some people rather not deal with that. Some people rather live not knowing if their roof was damaged in the latest hail storm than have to spend some of their time to get a new roof. Unless you can convince them otherwise.
I learned that even though I’m not selling anything (which didn’t prevent me from getting arrested for ‘solicitation without a license’), I still have to sell the idea that a free roof inspection, and the prospect of a new roof is more valuable than the pain of having to talk to a few people and finding your insurance policy.
It taught me that everything is sales. Even though you aren’t asking for money, as humans we are always asking for something. Humans always try to improve their condition, that’s why we have civilization in the first place. So when we try to improve our condition we often have to try and get something from someone else who works under the same axiom.
Thus we trade. It might be a dollar for a pencil or friendship for friendship. We show them that being friends would be beneficial for them, and having to help us with a breakup in the future will be worth it because of all the benefits.
Even when I offer someone a free service, I am still selling. I am selling myself and I am selling the idea of a new roof.
Cage the Elephant was right when he said “There ain’t nothing in this world for free.”