Sam Taggart’s Ultimate Guide to Starting a Door to Door Sales Business

• First Step Towards Your Door To Door Sales Business

When I was 11 years old, I started my first door to door sales company. When I say it’s not that hard, I mean it.  I didn’t even know what an LLC was. I didn’t know that I had to pay taxes or anything. I did everything under the radar because it was all cash or cheque. I didn’t even take credit cards. I was painting the addresses on the curbs. I charged 15 to 20 bucks. I’d knock on the door. I would tell them I had my stencils and would finish it. I gave a basic pitch, and I’d collect. I’d collect cheques, and I started making good money. So, I wondered, what if I got my buddies to do this with me? I had 11 of my friends. They were all going out doing the same thing. I’d have them bring the cash home, and we’d divvy their cut. I kept my cut and had a legit business, not for the IRS, so never tell them about it. But, it was my first door to door business.

I realized you could take any widget and solicit it door to door. To prove my point, I did a sprint where I did a channel called “Will it Sell?”.  I was just out in North Carolina. I was trying to pitch bounce houses. I was like, what if I could sell bounce houses, door to door? I had somebody biting to the point where I had to, like, I don’t have bounce houses to sell you. I don’t know where to go with this anymore. I was showing him pictures on Google. I was like, we have this red one, we have this blue one. It dawned on me right then that you could sell anything door to door there. To the point where I did an experiment where we host big sales events, train many sales professionals, and go out and get no soliciting signs.

I thought we couldn’t do this. But we did. We took a hundred salespeople. We gave them a bunch of no-promising signs, and they went out, and we made about 900 bucks in an hour and a half amongst all the sales guys. Right? So I was like, look, in an hour and a half. I made a $900 profit, selling no soliciting signs door to door. 

Fast forward to today, and through The League, we’re offering a door to door sales community that encapsulates all these learnings into a comprehensive support system. The League isn’t just about networking; it’s about accessing value-driven resources, from expert guidance to continuous education, designed to help you navigate the complexities of starting and scaling your D2D sales business. Whether you’re stuck on forming an LLC or choosing the right product to sell, you can find a way out with the tools and community support to transform your entrepreneurial dream into reality. Anyone can succeed in the D2D space with the right approach, and that’s how we have envisioned The League. 

• Choose What Products To Sell Door To Door

First, solar pest control, alarms, satellite, home improvement, roofing and insurance restoration, windows, sidings, doors, gutters, etc. You have insurance, you have energy, you have water filtration and softeners. You’ve got all the meat, you have knives and products like vacuums. You have all these major industries, but I believe there are still some breakthroughs in new industries. Many people ask me, what do you see over the next 10 to 15 years for door to door sales? I seem to be the ear-to-the-ground guy. Right? There are many markets we don’t even know will be markets. Cellular is a big emerging market like the T-Mobile Sprint and satellite industries. It’s a dying market, in my opinion, meaning who will be paying 150 bucks for a direct TV when you have Disney Plus and Netflix?

You’ve got all these other streaming services. And so, maybe there’s a bundle package with ESPN. You go door to door with them and make commissions that way. Innovations are happening all around us.

• Set Up An LLC

So, starting a door-to-door business is very simple. You form an LLC, and if you want to pay an accountant or an attorney to set that up, you can or usually pay under a hundred bucks in your state. It’s really simple, Google, how to set up an LLC. Then, you pick your product to sell door to door. And most people spend too much time trying to create business cards and websites and all that stuff. I had a business where I didn’t even know the website and was outselling other guys. You don’t need to have a huge marketing brand necessarily and all this other stuff to go sell

• Don’t Go Overboard With Details

I’ve sold in a normal white T-shirt no brand, no logo, no nothing. And I’ve closed deals and made thousands of dollars in a polo with no company name. I think you don’t even need to get into the details. Prove this concept; prove that you can go collect money. You can go collect checks; you can deliver a product or service. You don’t need to get too fancy.

• Figure Out The Terms

Then you figure out the terms, you know, usually there’s partnerships. You can create with these companies, whether it’s pest control, and you’re like, hey, I’m gonna be a dealer of them. And have somebody take over the account or alarms. There are a lot of companies that’ll be your dealer, mother company. And then you be the sales and marketing arm, very common solar. Sometimes, you might say, what’s the product, and do I have enough margin to build a pay scale and commission structure for leadership overrides?

Yes? Then, build your team.

• Build A Team

Sell yourself, build a team, and grow. It’s that simple. I have a formula; it sounds so elementary. We have a monthly boot camp where we train in leadership, sales, and recruiting. I have a formula that I teach. It’s more reps, times doors knocked, or more people you talk to, times closing percentage equals more money. It is so simple. Sometimes, we overcomplicate the process of starting a door to door sales business. We haven’t even discussed if you can be good at building teams, closing, and having the operation side on point.

It’s not as complicated as you think.