When canvassing it really is all about the way you present yourself to the prospective customer.
How confident you appear, how natural your spiel, the way in which you are dressed.
There are little tricks you can do that help to dissarm your potential customer, one is that when you ring the bell, be starting back down the path when they answer the door, they will at least talk to you while you walk back to them.
Have a leaflet with you, pass it to them as you are talking.
Make sure you smile (not just a rictus like baring of the teeth either, be sure you can make your eyes smile too)
make eye contact.
Ask any door to door salesman, it is an artform.
You have just a few seconds to impress, the customer will have made his or her miind up about you in mere moments.
I really hate knocking on doors, the first hour or two is the worst.
But after that I would be.....well, 'In character' I suppose, and my success rate always rose far higher from that point on.
If you also hand them a leaflet, they can always have a think and get back to you if they change their mind.
for all the places that no one is at home you post the leaflet and call back on another occasion.
If you have a skinhead haircut, ear rings and a nose ring, tattoo's all over the place, and if instead of saying ....say..'nothing', you say 'nuffink' or tend to call every woman who answers the door 'love' and every guy 'mate'
Don't bother knocking doors, get someone else to do it for you.
you might be a fantastic guy, do anything for anyone, but you'll suck as a door to door salesman, and that's what you have to be, you are selling yourself!!
Unless I have just described you above, door to door will be by far the most effective way of gaining new customers, leaflets by and large have a low success rate in comparison.
Regards,
Ian