Some Great Door-Knocking and Walking Techniques - Ongoing

[claireokc]

There will probably be a lot more added to this post, but here are some of my top fav door-knocking and walking techniques.

Door-Knocking

• When you first knock on the door - take a few steps back. (I like to back up at least 6 feet from the door) This does a number of things.
  • It lets the homeowner know that I'm not going to run in and try and intimidate with being too close.
  • It causes the homeowner to come outside,
  • Once the homeowner is outside, you can have his/her complete attention and have a more coherent and complete conversation
  • You can then step closer and hand them information, pamphlets
  • Stepping away from the door, allows those cameras on the doorbell to see you better and of course, that's way less threatening
• I wear a hat most of the time I'm outside for any length of time to protect my head, but when I knock on the door I take my hat off so that any camera or homeowner can see me more clearly
• In my introduction to the homeowner, I immediately, clearly, and slowly say "I'm a volunteer" and might even reiterate with "I'm not here to sell you anything" so that the homeowner knows that I'm not soliciting
• You should be aware of your city's soliciting rules. You can usually check online for these
• Not really door knocking, but do not leave anything in the mailbox. The mailbox is USPS property. Anything but mail in the mailbox will receive a $10,000 fine per item - YIKES!!! I like to tape the document, pamphlet or card to the door so the homeowner will see there's something on the door

Walking

• Wear comfy shoes so you're feet don't get sore. (Cotton socks for summer or winter are wonderful - they wick the sweat away and stay warm in the winter
• I wear a hat to protect my head from the sun, but when I go up to knock on the door I take the hat off so that folks can see who it is and I'm not hidden
• If I'm dividing my list up into segments, I love using the map feature on the Voter Gravity mobile app. I pop that map up, and see who's next in the direction I want to go, and tap on the next place to visit and toggle the map/list at the bottom of the screen and up pops that person I just tapped on! This is great if I'm dividing my list into parts. I often will choose a list and then do 1/3 tonite, 1/3 tomorrow night and the last third on the weekend or something like that, and using this list feature makes this soooo much easier

[claireokc]

Here's a great app that actually gives more information about the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Senate than you can find on the Legislature's website. I'm sure it's all there "someplace" but it takes forever to find it, but with this app, it's easy peasy. Information like assistants contact info, emails, phone numbers, district boundaries, Legislative Leadership, Statewide Officials, Judiciary and much, much more. Plus it's a cinch to find information with this app. You can get it on Google Play or the App Store.