Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Tom White on February 24, 2012, 11:14:37 pm
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Chepstow Racecourse is just up the road from me; it's a big job (apparently) with lots of inside 'n' out type of work, which suits us fine, since Wor Lass is happy to trad insides while I WFP the outsides (or vice versa).
So, how would you suggest I approach them?
They have a 'meet the team' on their website, which makes things really easy:
http://www.chepstow-racecourse.co.uk/about-us/the-team.php
So, what would you suggest? A phone call? A letter? What should I say in either?
I'm not really arsed if I get it or not, I just thought it could be an interesting topic of debate and I may learn something too.
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Pretty easy job. Used to clean it. Takes about a day for a team of four.
Phone call, follow by letter/email, then phone call follow up. What you put in the letter/email is your secret sauce.
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I would probably contact the financial controller bird, but she will expect you to undercut her current cleaner or offer different frequency's that save's them money, someone has already posted what is involved so up to you if you can do it for a price you would be happy with, and a moral dilemma on whether you want to undercut or not, not that it would bother me ;D
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I'm glad I'm not paying for this consultancy advice! ;D
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Dude, why are you asking for advice from 2 bit window cleaners on a forum then?
The big players who already have the contract you are after are defintately not on forums at 12pm at night, if ever. You've got to come up with your own game plan or stick to your semis!
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Dude, why are you asking for advice from 2 bit window cleaners on a forum then?
The big players who already have the contract you are after are defintately not on forums at 12pm at night, if ever. You've got to come up with your own game plan or stick to your semis!
Dude! ;D
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;D
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;D
I hope you're not charging me a fiver per reply!? :o
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I would probably contact the financial controller bird, but she will expect you to undercut her current cleaner or offer different frequency's that save's them money, someone has already posted what is involved so up to you if you can do it for a price you would be happy with, and a moral dilemma on whether you want to undercut or not, not that it would bother me ;D
We were always taught when 'prospecting' (looking for customers) that the first exploritory phone call must be to find the decision maker. So my first call would be the find out from the receptionist who the right person to speak to is. I would think that it would be Steve Young and conjunction with his two site maintenance men, Ted & Steve.
You have to win their approval before anything will happen.
We used to refer to the receptionist as the gatekeeper, as she has the power to block your entry any further. So you start by introducing yourself and ask for the name of the person responsible for clean windows to update your records. (They can't say they don't give that information out over the phone as they have it all over their website.) You may have to prod for an answer, ie would that still be Steve Young's responsibility?
Once you have got the persons name, the receptionist may be happy to put you straight through, although most start to make 'excuses' or finding objections for not doing so.
In that case we put the prospect on hold for a day or so and phoned back once this call had gone cold in the receptionist's mind. "Hi, this is Tosh from the window cleaners. Please may I speak to ................." If you start giving her the name of your company/business you start opening up a hornets nest. (It is easier to say Tosh from the Garage, than to say Tosh from Reg Vardy BMW Croydon, Feet Sales dept.)
She will know that they have a window cleaning service and will most likely relate to or you being associated with their existing service provider.
Once you get through to the responsible person, your next objective is to get a face to face appointment with him/them. But you also need some information. Do they still have an outside cleaner dedicated to cleaning the windows; do they have a contract term, etc. (You already know now that they used to have a cleaner and how long it took a couple of cleaners from this thread). This will help you to decide how to procede.
You still need that face to face meeting, but if the cleaners have an annual contact that still has 8 months left, then it no use you pricing up for the job just yet.
You also need to leave a 'hook' behind to hang your hat up on for later. It's something you've got that no one else has so they won't forget you. You can refer to your Geordie/Japanese heritage - ie they must remember you as the Welsh Geordie Jap (not chap - get it?).
The accountant is only any good for paying the bills, but the first point of call with regards to payment follow up will be your original contact IMHO. (In the motor trade is was important to get accountant approval when getting new capital equipment as they could very easily veto a purchase. So they needed to be included as part of the decision making process.)
Good business exercise.
Spruce
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Thanks, Spruce, that's worth a fiver. As per the 'hook', I tend to do this face-to-face quite naturally; I've a self derogatory sense of humour that I find helps break down barriers, it's not so easy over the phone though. In fact I don't like the phone; I always prefer face-to-face; maybe it's the lack of facial and body language cues?
I'll phone them Monday around 11.00 am. When I worked in an office, if anyone ever phoned me before 11.00 am on a Monday, I got an immediate 'cob on'. Or a Friday afternoon; that was sheer rudeness too. ;D
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Tosh
Drive to said building, ask receptionist that you want to speak to the decision maker (ie person who looks after cleaning) sell "yourself" to them.
Job Done
works for me
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Tosh
Drive to said building, ask receptionist that you want to speak to the decision maker (ie person who looks after cleaning) sell "yourself" to them.
Job Done
works for me
Now that takes some balls. I'm not sure I've got 'em to be honest.
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Tosh
Drive to said building, ask receptionist that you want to speak to the decision maker (ie person who looks after cleaning) sell "yourself" to them.
Job Done
works for me
Actually Dave, I think in Tosh's situation this is probably the way to approach it, especially in view of his last comment - just to wander in. He may even be able to find one of the maintenance team on site to talk to before he gets to reception.
I think that I used the Corporate approach - probably the sort of way that Helen would do it from a phone call in the office to start with.
Spruce
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Hi Spruce
If i was prospecting loads of sites i would maybe do it your way.
If it was something close to home, and had my eye on, i would walk in first, if that did not work i would then phone.
I would try every 6 months until it was mine.
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Tosh
Drive to said building, ask receptionist that you want to speak to the decision maker (ie person who looks after cleaning) sell "yourself" to them.
Job Done
works for me
Now that takes some balls. I'm not sure I've got 'em to be honest.
Tosh,
The biggest 'problem' we all have with face to face door knocking is a fear of rejection - its a basic human issue that we all suffer from. But, what have you to loose? Nothing. They worst they can do is say no. And you aren't bothered either (according to you). (This is not a lecture, because I believe I can learn at lot more from you than you can from me. I started off being your pupil years ago in the 'good old days' when Unger poles and vikan brushes were the bee all and end all of everything.)
We use to have a saleman who worked for us who knew from his statistics that he got 11 no's before he got one yes. So he ticked the no's off enthusiastically knowing a yes was getting closer. He had a totally different approach and attitude to one of the other guys who would get dejected very quickly and make excuses for not 'prospecting'.
Spruce
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Hi Spruce
If i was prospecting loads of sites i would maybe do it your way.
If it was something close to home, and had my eye on, i would walk in first, if that did not work i would then phone.
I would try every 6 months until it was mine.
Sounds right, and being a successful business owner this approach is a successful path to trod. On reflection, I would imagine that the vast majority of new work has come from this 'walk in' approach.
Where most of us 'fall down' is that we don't keep trying at the same potential customer. I enjoyed your experience with the Citroen Saleman that keeps 'hounding' you with his sales stock position while others don't seem interested. A lesson for us? Yes.
Spruce
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A tip I was giving for getting the decision makers name was this, the reception girl is under strict instruction not to allow sales people in to the right person, so walk in and ask her something along the lines of "hi I am toshy from toshy window cleaning" she will immediately be thinking of ways of getting rid of you, so offer her a way out and say "I am just after the name of the decision maker for window cleaning so I can write to the correct person" she will ease of at this point knowing you will leave and give you a name for you to follow up with.
by the way you would be surprised who actually is the decision makers, on a few of my jobs it is the office/ reception manager who will be at the front desk or there abouts, and as mentioned I have a fairly large building where it is the maintenance man,
I got a job I fancied by luck, I was in a mates garage and overheard him being approached by a girl from the office out for quotes on something else, so I got her details walked into the building and asked for her direct and got the monthly clean, all because I knew who to ask
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So what's the consensus here:
1. Just walk in and try to get to speak to the person concerned!
Pros = direct face to face contact, can ask and answer questions, hopefully build rapport.
Cons = could be perceived as overbearing?
2. Just phone the person concerned?
Pros = direct contact
Cons = the person concerned may view the call as a nuisance; especially if he's got other fish on his mind (which he will no doubt have).
3. E-mail and ask for meeting to discuss window cleaning requirements.
Pros = non pushy and can be replied by the person concerned at his lieusure.
Cons = Could just be deleted.
So, are there any other options? And which would you suggest and why? I will do what is suggested; it's pointless asking for advice and then not following it.
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Wash your hair, have a shave, put on a clean shirt, trousers and shoes and go and knock on the door.
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Wash your hair, have a shave, put on a clean shirt, trousers and shoes and go and knock on the door.
I shall do it on Thursday and report back! Thanks.
I knew that's what the reply would be. :'( ;D
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SPRUCE: Use to have a saleman who worked for us who knew from his statistics that he got 11 no's before he got one yes. That is a very South African strategy of selling. ;D ;D
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Wash your hair, have a shave, put on a clean shirt, trousers and shoes and go and knock on the door.
I shall do it on Thursday and report back! Thanks.
I knew that's what the reply would be. :'( ;D
Bath night is a Wednesday at tosh's gaff then and good luck with it.
Art
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Tosh
Drive to said building, ask receptionist that you want to speak to the decision maker (ie person who looks after cleaning) sell "yourself" to them.
Job Done
works for me
Do you often sell yourself to people Dave?
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Hi Tosh,
A local window cleaner cleans them at the moment. Husband and wife team. They have been doing it for years now.
I know they do it for quite cheap as a price per pane.
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Dean
Quite obvious answer really Dean
I am suprised you ask.
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Dean
Quite obvious answer really Dean
I am suprised you ask.
What time are you starting on it today?
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SPRUCE: Use to have a saleman who worked for us who knew from his statistics that he got 11 no's before he got one yes. That is a very South African strategy of selling. ;D ;D
Hi Wiz
That's exactly right. This guy used to live by that statistic. It was what inspired him to keep on with the next phone call - totally different to the depressed guy across the office who would 'throw the towel in' after a few rejections. (He also used that same statistic to pull the birds. He never minced he words - no verbal foreplay - just asked the question straight out. Got his face slapped a few times, but this was also part of his No stastics).
The step by step corporate prospecting and sales training came from my time at Citroen UK on Commercial Sales. I did smile when Dave Morris said that a Citroen salesman had got his teeth in and won't let go. Should get Dave to email Citroen to say that there is at least one saleman that has applied the training that they have given. ;D ;D ;D
Spruce
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When I used to sell a particular suite of computer software we used to use a pyramid.
We knew that if we phoned 85 companies we'd get to speak to the decision maker ten times.
For every ten people we spoke to we'd get an appointment to demonstrate it.
For every three people we demonstrated to, we'd get a sale.
Once you've worked that lot out, you'd know that 255 phone calls led to a sale. As above, knowing that made it easier to deal with people saying "no" as you knew someone would say "yes" soon enough.
You simply cannot expect every visit to result in a sale. Once you realise that, you can deal with it.
And for you, Tosh, with your buddhism, if they say "no" just experience it without judgment and move on to the next opportunity...
Vin
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Hi Tosh,
A local window cleaner cleans them at the moment. Husband and wife team. They have been doing it for years now.
I know they do it for quite cheap as a price per pane.
Hi Richy
Don't tell me Tosh and his Missus clean the place already and just 'rattled our cages' for a bit of excitement.
Spruce