Staying motivated on a bad week
Motivation holds up better when it is attached to inputs you control rather than outcomes you do not. Doors worked and conversations had respond to effort immediately; sales do not, on any given day. A bad week measured only in sales looks like failure even when the work was fine.
Outcome goals punish variance
Sales in door-to-door are lumpy. A rep who does everything right can have a week with nothing, and a goal set on sales tells them they failed. Do that a few times and the goal stops meaning anything.
Evidence beats encouragement
Being told to stay positive does very little on week three. A record showing this week had more conversations than last week does more, because it is an argument rather than a sentiment.
Compare against yourself
Comparison against other reps mostly measures territory. Comparison against your own past controls for that automatically, which is why KnockMode ranks a free rep against their own history and has no leaderboard.
Common questions
- How do I stay motivated after a bad week?
- Look at inputs rather than outcomes. Conversations and doors respond to effort; sales in any single week are largely variance.
- Do leaderboards help?
- For some people, and they mostly rank territory quality. KnockMode does not have one on the free plan for that reason.
- What is the single most useful habit?
- Logging every door, because it is what makes any later comparison possible.
More on the rep
Ramp, rejection, burnout and turnover — the career side of knocking, from a rep’s point of view.