17 Insightful Door Knocking Tips [How Top Producers Do It]

1. Convert Missed Opportunities Into Leads

Marc Prosser, Co-Founder, Fit Small Business

Knock knock, anybody home? If the answer is no, don’t just walk away and miss a potential lead—leave a snazzy door hanger that will catch the attention of the absent resident when they return. ProspectsPLUS!® offers a large number of templates specifically for real estate agents and brokers, so you don’t even need any design skills. Click here to create your personalized door hanger.

2. Write a Great Script, Then Practice it

Julie Nelson, Austin Realtor

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. You’re going to be nervous and reading a script is going to make you more nervous. You don’t want to come off sounding like a cheesy vacuum salesman.

Sure, you can (and should) improvise, but you need a basic blueprint of what you’re going to say to be effective. That means you need to come up with a script and practice it.

3. Always Get to Your 4 W’s Right Away

Greg Mcdaniel, East Bay Realtor and Co-host of Real Estate Uncensored

When someone stops whatever they’re doing in order to answer the door for a total stranger, they want to know four things right away: Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing on my porch? And when will you leave?

4. Become Your Neighborhood’s Expert

Nicholas Thomas, Fit Small Business

Become a local real estate expert by focusing on community building, and people will look to you as a resource for all things real estate. While door knocking is one way of building facetime with potential clients, you can use social media tools and networking coaching to help you become the go-to source for real estate advice in your farm area. Parkbench is a community networking platform that creates hyperlocal websites, allowing agents to build rapport with local businesses and influencers to generate new clients and referrals. Best of all, each area is exclusive, which means there is only one real estate agent per area. Click here to claim your neighborhood.

5. Get 5 Invaluable Sales Tips From a Former Door-to-Door Salesman

Timo Rein, Co-founder, Pipedrive

People are often caught off-guard when they see a salesman at their door these days. Door knocking is often considered a relic of the past, but—as will be clear by the end of these tips—it can still be a valuable tool for drumming up business. Get these 5 tips by Timo Rein, president of sales CRM Pipedrive, to see how he went from door-to-door salesman to leader of his own company.

6. Always Offer Something of Value

Rachel Adams, Roseville California Realtor

Like all real estate marketing, your core message should answer one question for your audience. WIIFM? (What’s in it for me?). In other words, why should they take the time to listen to you, let alone hire you?

In order to answer that question when you’re out door knocking, you should plan to offer something of value for your audience. For home owners, that value is generally going to be a professional opinion of the value of their home.

7. Let Them “Pick” Their New Neighbors

Chase Michels, Hinsdale Illinois Realtor

Who isn’t curious about what the inside of their neighbor’s house looks like? Take advantage of that curiosity by talking up your local listing when you’re door knocking. You can invite them to a neighbor’s only open house, or ask if they know anyone that is thinking of moving to the area. People will at least think about it. Who would say no to picking their new neighbors?

8. Standing Right in the Door Can Come Across as Intimidating

Bryan Casella, Los Angeles Realtor and Coach

Let’s face it, some people are going to be a little bit leery of a stranger standing on their porch. If you have the wrong body language, they may not even open the door for you.

In order to send the right message, you need to use non-threatening and open body language. Don’t cross your arms, pace, or stand directly in front of someone. This can be seen as slightly intimidating.

Instead, Los Angeles realtor and coach Bryan Casella, recommends standing off slightly to the side, and also standing a few feet back instead of standing right in the door.

Whatever you do, always remember to smile and keep your mindset positive. This will naturally reflect in your body language and demeanor.

9. Do Your Homework to be Prepared for Questions

Loida Vasquez, Los Angeles Realtor

Even if you master everything else, you’ll never get any leads if you can’t answer people’s questions confidently. That means doing your homework before heading out to knock on door is essential. Spend a few hours in your MLS system the night before you go out to see how many homes sold in the neighborhood in the last 30 days, how many sold under or over list price, as well as general trends about the market.

If you want to get really serious, you can even print out quick market reports on a few dozen addresses on RPR before you head out.

10. Dress for Success

Josh Snyder, Scottsdale Arizona Realtor

Even if it’s extremely hot, snowing, raining, or freezing, you still need to dress professionally. After all, your end goal here is to get someone to trust you with a possibly multi million dollar transaction. If you don’t take your appearance seriously, why should anyone take you seriously?

Just keep in mind that “professional” means different things in different places. A navy Brooks Brothers suit may be par for the course in Chicago, but a nice Hawaiian shirt, slacks, and nice shoes would work 100x better on Maui.

11. Always Bring the Right Marketing Materials With You

Tom Mitchell, Ontario Realtor

Let’s face it, not everyone is going to be home when you go door knocking. In order to salvage your time, always a marketing piece to leave behind. Business cards with handwritten notes, door hangers, flyers, or postcards can all work well. Canadian Keller Williams Mega Agent Tom Mitchell brought in $38 million sales volume his first year door knocking and always brings marketing materials to leave behind if the homeowner doesn’t answer the door.

12. Keep Your Energy Up

Even if you’re in great shape, walking and standing for a few hours in the elements combined with the sting of rejection can really drag your energy levels down. Since you need to stay positive to generate leads, you need to keep your energy up. Drink plenty of water and make sure you have a healthy breakfast before starting your day. Caffeine can be a diuretic, and may make some people more nervous, but if you’re a coffee drinker, make sure to fuel up before going out.

13. Plan Your Door Knocking Routes Strategically Around “Turbo Doors”

Kevin Ward, Yesmasters

Knocking on random doors probably won’t do you much good for lead generation. Instead, you need to pick your doors and route strategically. Real estate coach Kevin Ward of Yesmasters recommends picking a few FSBO, expired, or old expired listings (what he calls “turbo doors”).

Since you are much more likely to get a result from a “turbo door”, then it makes sense to start with them. The problem is that the turbo doors will inevitably be spread thin which means more driving than door knocking. The solution according to Kevin, is to start with one turbo door than fan out and hit a few dozen non-turbo doors surrounding it. Then move on to the next turbo door and use the same strategy.

14. Go Over the Top and Provide RPR Reports for FSBO/Expired etc.

Jickson Chacko, Colorado Realtor

Let’s face it. No matter what lead gen strategy you choose, chances are you’re not the only one using it. That means you need to stand out. If you’re a new or newer agent, then you can’t rely on a stellar track record or nine digit sales volumes. Instead, you need to step up your game and provide more value.

One way to do that is to go the extra mile researching the local market. While you can certainly use your MLS to gather data for your door knocking session, Real Property Resource (RPR) let’s you go deeper and provide more value. If you really want to go the extra mile, you can print up branded mini reports (like a brief CMA) for properties you’re especially interested in. RPR even tracks home improvements that have the best ROI for homeowners. If you want to stand out, dig a little deeper.

15. Most People Will Respect the Hustle

Here’s the thing, while many agents are afraid of sounding nervous or stumbling with their conversations, the fact is that you’re working, hard, and people respect that. Even if you’re nervous or awkward or don’t have great responses for their objections, the very fact that you’re out there hustling counts a lot for many people.

16. Tell Them You Only Have a Minute

Bryan Casella, Los Angeles Realtor and Coach

Here’s another great tip from Bryan Casella. One of the biggest reservations people have with getting trapped in a conversation with a stranger is that they don’t know how long it will last. Worse, they may be worried about being able to get out of the conversation once they’re in it. That’s no fun for anyone!

In order to put your homeowner at ease, Bryan Casella recommends imposing an artificial time constraint on the conversation right away. “I only have a minute until my next appointment, but I wanted to tell you…” or “We’re really busy today so I’ll be out of your hair quick,” are great ways to put your homeowner at ease by telling them at worst they’ll only be stuck listening to you for a minute.

17. Keep a Win/Win Mindset

Remember that if you do your job right you will always end up with a win/win result. Think about it. You want to close a deal and get a commission check, and your client wants their home sold for a great price with minimum hassles. That’s not an adversarial relationship. Everyone is happy.

BONUS: Even if You Get Zero Leads, Door Knocking Will Help Build Sales Skills

Michael Marsh, JD, MBA Associate, Lee & Associates

Like all lead generation strategies, your door knocking efforts may never get you leads, even down the road. Don’t worry though, even if you don’t get any leads you’re building your confidence, market knowledge, and the ability to handle objections. All key skills to get ahead in real estate.

1. Remember that the Next Door You Knock Could Change Your Life

Okay, I know this sounds a little bit silly, but when you think about it for a second you’ll realize it’s true. The law of averages says that someone behind one of the doors you knock on is going to need your services. Even better, they might need them right away.

Need some social proof? Honolulu Realtor and door knocking evangelist Patricia M. McClellan regularly gets amazing listing on her door knocking trips. In Lanikai, Hawaii (yes, it’s as pretty as you think) she landed a $1,150,000 single family home which was in escrow in under 49 hours.

While Patricia’s success alone should be encouraging enough to keep you going, you also need to remember that the listing or buyer you get from that door will snowball into better things down the road. Think about it. You get the listing, you pick up another few buyers at your open house, and eventually the homeowner might recommend you to a friend or relative looking to sell in a few months. So in reality, that one good door could be enough to get you a few five figure paychecks, and even more business down the road. Not a bad payoff for having a few doors slammed in your face.