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| Knock-Knock “Who’s
there?”
“Oorah.”
“Oorah who?”
“We have a gift for you.”
“A what?”
“A gift.”
“No, thank you.”
“Do you have a minute?”
“Who’s there?”
“Oorah.”
“Who?”
“We’re from a Jewish educational organization.”
“I’ve got a dog here.”
“Is this a bad time?”
“I’m calling the cops.”
“So…OK…don’t trip over the
serving platter we’re leaving in front of your
security door.”
Do I Need This?
You’re volunteering your precious time for the
cause of kiruv. You’re taking it upon yourself
to travel around on strange streets, knock on strange
doors and try to make a connection to your fellow Jews.
You don’t want it to dissolve into a bad knock-knock
joke. You want to see some results.
This handbook will help you succeed. You may not realize
it as you set out to do this mitzvah, but what you’re
really doing is “cold-call selling.” It’s
true that what you’re “selling” is
the Torah, and that your commission checks are a little
hard to cash in this world. But if you look at the psychology
of what goes on between you and the person behind the
door, you’ll see that it isn’t much different
from what happens when the Fuller Brush man comes to
call.
Once you develop the techniques you need to get past
that first “cold call,” the value of your
“merchandise” and power of your personal
connection comes more into play. But to start, you’re
a man with something to sell, and you can learn plenty
from the professional salesmen about how to sell it.
Through the information we’ve compiled in this
handbook, we’re hoping to give you a little encouragement
and a lot of practical ideas. Our goals are:
•To give you a realistic idea of what it takes
to score even one success
• To give you confidence in the appeal of what
you’re “selling,” even for non-religious
Jews
• To give you some ideas of how to get the conversation
started and keep it going.
Most of all, we want you to understand that you’re
doing LIFE-SAVING WORK for Klal Yisrael. It warrants
some training, some preparation and some persistence.
You’re like an EMT arriving on the scene of a
disaster; you can’t just wing it and then, when
the patient doesn’t respond, walk away saying,
“This CPR stuff doesn’t really work.”
The essential element of course is siyata d’Sh’maya.
In the z’chus of putting in this effort to learn
and develop a successful approach to kiruv, may HaKodosh
Boruch Hu make you matzliach in every way.
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| You can be a gambler or
you can be a statistician. How do you kiruv Atlantic
City style? You bet your whole bankroll on picking a
winner. You say to yourself, “If it’s barshert,
it’s barshert. If I’m meant to succeed tonight,
I’ll succeed with the two or three calls I make
and if not, I could call on a dozen people and get nowhere.”
Successful salespeople look at the statistics and derive
from them what they have to do to have the best chance
at making a sale. Here are the statistics for cold-calls:
• It takes 300 calls to get 150 “completed
calls,” which are calls that actually reach the
person you’re looking for. In kiruv terms, that
would mean getting the man or lady of the house instead
of a child, a cleaning lady, the guy putting up the
new vinyl siding or, worst of all, the German shepherd.
• From 150 completed calls, a salesman gets 50
appointments. Translated into kiruv terms, this means
someone is willing to give you a hearing. Even if the
prospect shouts a few meaningful sentence fragments
through the door, that counts as an “appointment”
here.
Some of those “appointments,” will turn
into sales and some will not. That depends on a number
of factors, many of which are not in your control. But
a salesman who tracks his efforts from dialing the phone
to appointment to visit to sale will be able to see
from the statistics EXACTLY WHAT IT TAKES FOR
HIM TO REACH A CERTAIN LEVEL OF SALES.
Imagine if you knew that by visiting 30 houses you
would be successful in turning 5 families Shomer Shabbos
and mitzvos. You’d keep on plodding, making those
30 calls no matter what kind of response you got, because
you would know that by the end of the list, you will
have brought Torah to 5 families.
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If you want to know what
kind of “numbers” you can expect doing door-to-door
kiruv, you might look at the statistics of Lev L’Achim.
For that group, which operates in Israel, largely among
Sephardim, two out of ten contacts result in getting
someone to start learning. But this isn’t Israel,
and there are additional obstacles here that make people
less receptive. We can expect a success rate in America
of about 1 out of 10. Why the lower rate?
• Middle and upper-class American Jews tend to
be more committed to their secular beliefs. They can
be religious about non-observance. In Israel, by contrast,
many of the Sephardim have a place in their hearts for
Torah, even if they don’t express it in observance.
That means that Americans are a tougher (but not impossible)
sell.
• If you visit seven families listed as Jewish
(the usual maximum for one night), our experience has
been that on the average, one will be completely non-Jewish
and three will be intermarried couples. That leaves
three real prospects.
Now do the math. If you visit seven houses a night
and only three of them are real prospects, you have
to go out three nights to get nine real prospects. Based
on a one-out-of-ten success rate, you need three nights
to have a decent chance at one success. And that’s
just an average.
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| You make your calls; you
make your contacts. That’s what you’re supposed
to do to give yourself even a chance of success. Now
you want to know how to optimize your chances of turning
a prospect into a “customer.” Here are six
factors professional salespeople pinpoint as the keys
to success:
- Look and feel good. The first part – all
right, it’s partly up to fate, but certainly
whatever is in your power to do, do. Clean clothing
and shoes, pleasant breath, neat, tucked in shirt
– without these basics, you might as well take
a ride around Howell and go home.
Feeling good is a little more difficult to achieve
by sheer will. It will come much more easily if you
remember that you are doing vital work for Klal Yisrael.
If you’re tired or nervous, try to overcome
it. You want to come across positive, friendly and
energetic.
- If the person at the door is a man, reach out right
away and offer a firm handshake. This conveys a sense
of confidence. If it is a woman, be sure to smile
and acknowledge her in a manner that comes across
as a sincere greeting.
- Be confident in your “product.” The
Torah hardly needs an endorsement, but it may seem
to you that non-religious people will have a hard
time appreciating it. Yet if you know how to present
it, even they can see that you’re offering highly
valuable merchandise. (See later section on Marketing
101). Never come to the door “hat in hand”
with the sense that you’re asking people to
do something unpleasant or difficult. Remember that
every Jew wants and needs what your have.
- Don’t slouch and don’t be stiff. Body
language is universal and it’s chattering away
at your prospect even if you stand there mute. Try
to keep your body language natural and relaxed, and
that will put those around you at ease as well.
- Slow down. Have you ever heard of the “fast-talking
salesman?” Well, they’ve heard of him
too. It won’t help you get your message across
if you try to spit it all out in 30 seconds. If they’re
not willing to listen, fast talk won’t help.
If they are willing, fast talk will turn them off.
Speak in a measured, clear and enthusiastic way that
conveys your confidence in your message.
- Here’s the surprise ending. The least important
factor in “closing” a sale is the actual
presentation. Of course you have to come in with an
understanding of what you want to impart to people,
but remember this all-important fact: They’re
more likely to respond to you because they feel good
about you than because they want what you’re
offering.
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| Your opening
line is key. It’s important to think in advance
about what you’re going to say, but don’t
be so stuck on your script that you miss cues from the
other person and lose a chance to make a genuine connection.
If you ask him about his Jewish education and he starts
talking about his grandmother’s chicken soup –
talk chicken soup! Once you get some chemistry going,
it’s much easier to bring the conversation around
to your real agenda.
• Identify Yourself
You’re a stranger at the door. The first thing
you have to do is put the other person at ease by letting
him know who you are.
Simple is best – something such as:
“Hi, I’m here from an organization called
Oorah. We offer free Jewish education.”
• Don’t Jump the Gun
The next line should definitely not be, “So,
would you like to learn Torah?” At this point,
it’s usually more effective to ask general questions
such as, “What kind of Jewish education did you
have as a kid? Did you go to Hebrew school? How did
you like it?”
If the person seems resistant to talking about Jewish
education, look around for something to comment upon.
Admire his lawn. Tell him what a nice neighborhood he
lives in. Ask him if he’s a native of New Jersey.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH AT THIS
POINT IS TO BE SEEN AS A PLEASANT, TRUSTWORTHY PERSON
IN THIS INDIVIDUAL’S EYES. If you achieve this
much, you can always come back to do the rest.
• Closing the Deal
Once you’ve gotten the person in a relaxed and
friendly mood, it’s time to make your offer. Ask
him if there are any areas of Judaism that he would
like to know more about. Suggest a few areas –
the Holocaust, history, Hebrew, a more in-depth understanding
of an upcoming holiday – and offer to set up a
class for free in that subject whenever it’s convenient
for him. If he wants time to think about it, make sure
to follow up.
• Second Chance
As we noted before, the ideal scenario that ends in
a non-religious family learning Torah is a one-out-of-ten
occurrence. The other nine times, you’ll be hearing
“not now,” or “no” or “never!”
As long as you keep your approach friendly and casual,
you should be able to at least leave open the possibility
of a follow-up call or visit. Even if the homeowner
doesn’t open the door, let him know that you are
leaving a gift and a number he can contact if he is
interested in learning more about Judaism.
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| People don’t buy
something unless it offers them a benefit they want.
It’s up to the salesman to convince his prospects
that they need what he’s selling.
Torah, obviously, is something that the entire world
needs, and a Jew absolutely needs. But how do you express
that to someone who believes he’s led a pretty
good life so far without all those rules and restrictions?
What’s important about Torah in the eyes of a
non-religious Jew?
You can tell a person with full confidence that Torah
is the source of every value the civilized world treasures.
Greece brought the world philosophy and art. Rome brought
the world democracy and military know-how. But moral
values were absent from ancient cultures.
Aish HaTorah did a survey to discover what values people
believe are essential to making the world a better place.
It came out with six:
• the intrinsic value of life;
• world peace;
• justice and equality;
• education;
• family;
• social responsibility.
THESE VALUES WERE ALL INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD BY THE
TORAH AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE.
The Torah was the first body of law in the ancient
world that prohibited random killing. It was a novel
idea in a world where child sacrifice was accepted,
where servants were forced to go to the grave with their
masters, and where newborns who were sick or deformed
were left outside to die.
Against this gruesome backdrop, there’s the Torah,
declaring that one person’s life is equivalent
to an entire world.
And what about education? Didn’t the Greeks and
Romans produce great philosophers and writers? They
did, but it was the cream of the elite that got a chance
to become literate. The Torah introduced the idea that
every person has an obligation to make sure his children
learn.
You could go through each of the values listed above
and you will discover that the ancient world was untouched
by any of them. Only the Jews, through the Torah, conducted
their lives morally. And little by little, as the other
monotheistic religions developed and adopted the Torah
to their own use, these ideas of morality began spreading
throughout the world.
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You should know that the Torah contains the “secret
formula” for a world built upon the values that
most people claim are important to them. What good does
that do you? It can help you
• pique someone’s interest in learning
• boost your own confidence in the popular appeal
what you’re “selling.”
• answer the objection that Torah isn’t
relevant nowadays.
These are values that everyone recognizes as important.
You don’t have to sell someone on Shabbos or kashrus
to get them interested in Torah. Sell them on subjects
they already recognize as worthwhile.
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| Avraham Ovinu had to do
his kiruv equipped with nothing more than the North
Star and a four-doored tent. You get the benefits of
GPS and a four- (or two-) doored car. But technology
is only half the answer to logistical problems that
can send you off in fruitless directions. Here’s
the other half:
• Pick up your route a day or two in advance.
Why? So you can…
• Review the route to make sure you understand
where you are going. Why? So you won’t get lost!
Even if you know this area like you know the back of
your hand, believe us, there are new frontiers out there.
• Start your night on time so you can hit the
maximum number of houses.
• Make sure you have everything you need. If there’s
a gift to give, stock up. Take along business cards
with a contact number. Bring along your documentation
to record where you’ve been, what you’ve
found and what follow up can be done.
If you go prepared, you go on time and you go with
a positive attitude and a willingness to keep plugging,
you’ve done all you can do – AND THERE WILL
BE, IY”H, PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES ARE CHANGED BECAUSE
OF YOU.
That’s the bottom line.
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