Door-to-door fiber sales, term by term.

A knock is a single attempt at a single door — the base unit of door-to-door sales work. Reps track knocks the way other jobs track hours, because contact rate and close rate are both measured against them. A shift is counted in knocks first and sales second.

Turf is the specific geographic area a rep or team is assigned to work — usually a set of streets, a neighborhood, or a city zone. Assigning turf prevents two reps from hitting the same doors and matches reps to areas where the product can actually be ordered. In fiber sales, turf is only as good as the serviceable addresses inside it.

An install is the appointment where a technician physically connects the customer's home to the network and activates service. In most fiber sales pay structures, commission is earned on completed installs, not on signed orders. A sale that never installs usually pays nothing.

A chargeback is a commission the company takes back after paying it, usually because the customer cancelled within a defined window or the install never completed. The window length and the triggers are set in the rep's contractor or employment agreement. Reps should read those terms before signing, because chargebacks directly reduce take-home pay.

Self-gen, short for self-generated, describes a sale the rep sourced entirely on their own — through knocking, referrals, or personal network — rather than from a company-provided lead. Many pay plans pay a different rate on self-gen sales than on company leads. The distinction matters most in industries like fiber and solar where both lead types exist.

A badge is the identification a rep carries or wears at the door showing who they are and which company's product they represent. Many cities also require door-to-door solicitors to register for a permit, and homeowners are entitled to ask for both. Presenting yourself honestly at the door — including who actually engages you — is a legal requirement in many jurisdictions, not a courtesy.

D2D is shorthand for door-to-door — the sales channel where reps make in-person contact at a customer's home without an appointment. It remains a primary channel for products like fiber internet, solar, pest control, and alarms because the buying decision is tied to a physical address. D2D roles are commonly commission-based and often 1099 independent-contractor positions.

A serviceable address is a home the network already reaches, where service can actually be ordered today — as opposed to an address in a planned or under-construction footprint. The drop is the final line run from the street to the individual house at install time. Checking serviceability before pitching is basic discipline in fiber D2D, because coverage can change street by street.

Take rate is the percentage of serviceable homes in an area that actually subscribe to the service. Fiber builders watch it closely because the cost of building past a home is only recovered when that home signs up. For a rep, an area's current take rate signals how much untapped opportunity — or saturation — the turf holds.

The door pitch is the short, structured opening a rep delivers when the door opens — typically who they are, why they are on this street, and one concrete reason to keep listening. Most pitches run under thirty seconds, because that is roughly the attention a stranger grants at their own door. Teams standardize the pitch and then train reps on handling everything that comes after it.

A ride-along pairs a new rep with an experienced one for a real shift on the doors — first watching pitches, then delivering them with feedback. It is the standard training method in D2D because the skills are conversational and hard to teach in a classroom. Many teams also use a ride-along as a working interview before committing to a new rep.

A W-2 employee earns a wage or salary with taxes withheld by the employer; a 1099 independent contractor is paid gross — commonly commission-only in D2D — and handles their own taxes, including self-employment tax. Contractors typically also cover their own vehicle, phone, and expenses, and are not covered by minimum-wage or overtime rules. Which classification applies is a legal question about the working relationship, not a label either side simply picks.

Speed-to-lead is the time between a lead expressing interest and the first contact attempt from the company. Contact within the first minutes consistently outperforms contact hours later, which is why sales organizations track it as a core metric. It applies to recruiting as well as sales: applicants, like customers, go cold fast.