Cold outreach for painting referrals? Tried the door-knock script and got laughed at

So I'm trying to build a referral program for my painting business, but cold outreach is kicking my ass. Last week I went door to door in a neighborhood we just finished an exterior job on, handing out flyers with our Benjamin Moore color samples attached. Script went something like, 'Hey, saw you eyeing our work next door, wanna 10% off your next interior refresh?' One lady straight up said she thought I was selling vacuum cleaners and slammed the door. Me and my apprentice were cracking up after, but damn, how do you pros make this work without feeling like a used car salesman? Watched that Idaho Painter video on YouTube about neighborhood marketing, he made it look easy. Anyone got a better script or way to warm up those cold calls? Saw a post on r/paintingbusiness where someone swore by the 'helper neighbor' approach.

those homeowners are the worst, always thinking we're scamming them even when we're legit pros with ladders and drop cloths everywhere.

tried cold emailing a bunch of realtors last month for painting leads, spent hours customizing each one and got zero responses. feels like shouting into the void.

door knocking worked back in the 90s, now everyone has a ring camera and thinks you're casing the joint.

i hate cold outreach, did a batch of postcards for interior repaint referrals and the return rate was trash, wasted a whole afternoon sorting mailers.

cold calls to past clients for referrals? forget it, they all say they'll refer but never do, total BS in this industry.