Jackson Buettner sold 1,000 pest control accounts in a single year. That is the golden door. He is our fourth golden door rep, but he is the first one to do it on fresh sales. The other guys did it off reloads, which is a lot easier. I wanted to hear how he pulled it off, and here’s what stood out.
This conversation is part of the PCM Podcast. For more on selling at the door, read why Lenny Gray says door to door is not dead and how to do it right.
Jackson used to work at Best Buy, and he was good at it. He sold 2.7 million in revenue one year, but there was no commission, so he felt like he got scammed. Then James found him at a YMCA basketball game, and Jackson sat on the offer for a while. One night he finally did the math. He wanted to save 10 grand, so he figured out how many sales it would take. The next day he went to shadow James for 45 minutes, and James made about $1,000 in that time. Right after, Jackson called his Best Buy boss and quit on the spot.
His old boss tried to keep him and offered more money, but Jackson would not budge. As he put it, “if I’m good at this and I do a good job there’s not a number you can pay me per hour to not try this.”
That is the part most people get wrong, because they keep a backup plan. Jackson burned his backup plan on day one. His advice for new reps is short. Commit, and do not give yourself an out, because if you have one you will feel like you do not need to make it work.
Give it a real shot before you quit
A lot of guys quit too early, knocking 30 doors and deciding it is not for them. Jackson has a rule for that. As he told me, “you have to knock at least a thousand doors before you can tell me yes or no you can’t do this.”
His first two weeks were rough, and he did not even have a pitch yet. He called James about 10 times a day just for backup. He thinks his first customers bought because of him, not the service. He did not really know what he was selling. He was just likable.
Drop your ego and follow the pitch
Here is the number that grabbed me. Jackson’s best week early on was 14 accounts. Then he watched the actual service and started running the same pitch the other guys used. That next week he dropped 40. He could have leaned on his Best Buy sales background, but he chose not to. The other guys were clearly selling, so he decided to just follow the pitch. That is the whole thing. The reps ahead of you already figured it out, so trust them and do not try to reinvent it.
A real “why” beats a fake one
Jackson did not keep a poster on his wall, but he ran a digital vision board. The format did not matter much. The why did. He said it best. “if you really have a good why and you wrote it down and you believe in it that’s what separates a 300 account rep from a golden door rep.”
He made real trades for that why. He skipped family stuff, and friends asked him to hang out almost every day. He said no a lot. He loves to skateboard and play ball, but the goal still came first.
Protect your time on the door
This one is small, but it added up fast. Last year Jackson sat in his car about 15 minutes before he knocked, and this year he got out right away. He knew the math. Knocking doors makes money, and sitting in the car does not.
He kept his day simple too. He did not split it into quarters like some guys do. He just aimed for three sales before lunch. He found that one sale in the morning turns into three times that amount after lunch. So he hunted hard for that first one, because once you get one name in an area the rest come easier.
One bad day means nothing
Jackson bageled once, which means zero sales for a whole day. It was the first time it ever happened to him. He said he got in his own head and started blaming the area and the people. But he knew the truth. The problem was him. The next day he came back fired up and dropped 12. His read on it is right. One bad day does not define your summer. A good afternoon fixes a bad morning, and a good day fixes a bad week.
Finish what you said you would finish
This is my favorite part. By November, Jackson had sold over 1,000 accounts, but about 40 were not serviced yet. Some were mosquito or fertilizer jobs that could not run until spring, so they did not count for the golden door.
He could have called it right there, and his mom was already proud of him. But it did not sit right with him. Here is what he said, and it stuck with me. “I didn’t really hit the golden door if I didn’t get him serviced… that sort of dishonest is going to bleed into your whole life.”
So he drove 14 hours to our Tulsa location to knock the last 40. The last time he was there, it was his worst week ever, with four sales and one of them canceled. This time he dropped his ego and learned the market. He was fine with four or five sales a day there, even though back home he was used to 10. He got it done in a week and a half, and he drove home the day before Thanksgiving with the golden door locked.
It’s discipline, not talent
I asked Jackson what made the difference, and he did not say talent. He said the opposite. “I’m almost less talented than a lot of people I just follow the discipline.”
I believe him, and I think that is good news for everybody. You do not need to be the best closer alive. You need to be likable, keep your hygiene up, and do the same right things every day.
Here is a habit I loved. After a long day of knocking, Jackson did not crash on the couch. He went and played basketball instead. His logic is sharp. If you are already tired after work, then you start getting tired during work. So he built his tolerance up instead of feeding it.
The takeaway
Jackson is 20, and he has already made well over 100 grand. At Best Buy they told him he could maybe hit 100k if he locked in for 15 years.
When I asked him to sum up the year in one line, he kept it honest. “long but worth it.” The hard part for him was patience, because he is young and wanted it fast. But he learned to stay patient and stay aggressive at the same time.
Most people want the 100 grand, but almost nobody wants to lock in long enough to get it. Jackson locked in, and that is the whole story.
