[JoeMax]

Hi,

Noticed a few window cleaners here are always on the look out for commercial contracts. Read one post a while back from the infamous 'JDMarco' stating that he would spend time going through the Yellow Pages ringing up companies asking if they needed a cleaner - sounds like a good idea on the surface - I'm not so sure if he was telling the truth though.

I was just trying to put myself in a managers shoes - they're most probably looking for a professional, established and fairly large cleaning company to clean there windows. They want official contracts, efficiency and a hassle free process. They're not looking for your local 'Wills Window Cleaning' firm. Would you say that statements correct?

Perhaps some of us desperate for commercial contracts would do ourselves no harm creating a very professional image, and perhaps add a few tweaks to make our companies look nationwide.

Has anyone gone down this route solely for commercial contract winning?

[Rob_Mac]

It doesn't do you any harm to present the most professional image possible. Commercial work is not necessarily better than domestic works!

Rob

[JoeMax]

It can do harm though.. some residential customers do want 'Wills Window Cleaning'.. the local friendly cleaner that will happily let them 'pay next month' without sending an official demand for payment. You know what I mean!

I'm not saying commercial is better either. Just saying everyone starts with residential and then a few WC'ers seem to want commercial work.

[Rob_Mac]

In my experience it pays to stand out and offer all sides of my business something that is not run of the mill.

I don't know what you mean. If you have formed an opinion there is not much point in asking the question!

Do you want the experience of someone who has always worked this way or do you only want to hear what you believe to be right?

Rob

[JoeMax]

I don't think I'm getting my point across!

I'm basically saying that for residential customers portraying a 'professional but local' image is beneficial, but for large commercial contracts it's perhaps beneficial to portray a fairly nationwide company that has employees etc..



So for example if you do leaflet drops on both residential and commercial, the commercial leaflets would be presented completely different.

And for the record I'd like to hear from someone who understands marketing and has won a few large commercial contracts!

[Rob_Mac]

Joe

All of my work is national, for some very big names. I have a small amount of local window cleaning. It is the same van that turns up on both. Never been sign written but tomorrow I am having full sign writing that clearly shows a national business.

I trade locally as M-CLEAN (UK), nationally as M-CLEAN UK, my local customers know because I have told them I will get to them when I can but I have to look after my mainstay business interests.

When I had the majority local works I still presented the business to look like it was more than it was and had fully written vans and uniforms.

It is definately about how you present yourself but more about how you physically get your business message and image across. It is not about the van or the flash.

I could easily convince you that I am a multi van operation, with many men. The reality is that I operate on my own and have only recently sub contracted works to Huw @ Seerclean and another company local to you in Coventry.

Because of I disagreeociation with Huw (I am only sorry he is welsh!!) I can tell my client that I have my own truck mounted access equipment and more men than I have.

Charlie @ JV Price also uses Huws access in his promoting - see how it works!!.

It is not what you have got around you but how you get your message across that is more important

Good luck

Rob

[Rob_Mac]

That should read association with Huw but it wont let me change it

Rob

[Rob_Mac]

And for the record I'd like to hear from someone who understands marketing and has won a few large commercial contracts!


Sorry I don't meet your requirements!!!!

Rob

[JoeMax]

Your company name presents a nationwide image  

Did you start straight away with commercial?

Saying you have truck mounted equipment etc.. It's not technically lying and sounds excellent when trying to win a commercial contract I bet  

[Rob_Mac]

I started with a ladder & bucket and a five pound clean. I never thought it was going to become anything.

Probably like a lot on here I wanted the commercial contracts but didn't know how.

I just wanted to get a bit of cash to get me out of the brown stuff. I got my first commercial about three years in and I believe that if you do something well enough, for long enough people notice.

But you have to stand out

Rob

[Spruce]

Most salesmen use Yellow Pages as a base for cold calling.

I gather that the reason for the question in the first place is that this is something new to you.

If you are wanting to start off in commercial then my suggestion would be to look for work locally rather than nationally. IMO you want to keep mileage and costs to a minimum. (An aquaintance of ours had a good paying commercial window cleaning round 80 miles away. But his overheads and cost of vehicles and maintenance sunk his business.) Then pick a sector of the industry and chew away on it. It takes time to break into commercial.

If you decide to focus on care homes and you have the equipment to clean that particular home (most new homes are over 3 floors ground, 1st and 2nd so an 18' pole probably won't be long enough), phone them up individually and ask them who is responsible for ensuring the cleanliness of the home. Once you have a name then find out who cleans, how often etc.
If they have someone, are they under contract that will come up for renewal at any time in the future? If so then diarise the renewal date a month or so before so you can contact them again. You need to be remembered by them if anything changes. Send a letter to them with your card attached to be put on file. You need to make periodic calls/phone calls to see anything has changed.

A lot of care homes are contracted to large cleaning companies. It may pay you to contact the cleaning company and ask them if they have any subcontract work in your area. Although not money making, it could help you get your 'foot in the door' and to become known in that industry for other work. 

If the business you are contacting seems very eager to talk to you, don't get excited - proceed with caution as it could be their current window cleaner hasn't done them because he hasn't been paid.

For the record, I do have a few local commercial customers but most of our work is residential. The cold calling experience I have is through many years in the Commercial vehicle sales industry. We used Yellow pages as our main reference source for new customers.

Yes, I also think that your business name is important to convey a message. People would preceive 'Bobs Window Cleaning' and 'Trotters Window Cleaning' totally
differently than say M-Clean UK, although all could be one man operations.

Spruce

[JoeMax]

Yeah, just getting started.

Thank you for the advice.

I guess another way to get an 'in' would be contacts inside the company 

[Spruce]

Hi Joe
"I guess another way to get an 'in' would be contacts inside the company." Definitely a help to get your foot in the door.

To add to this, its the perception your potential customer has of you over the telephone initially is also very important. You need to plan a verbal presentation, plan the questions you are going to ask and practise them over and over again. Think of the objections that they will throw at you and practise how you answer them truthfully. You don't want to appear pushy, and you need to listen to their answers and use those.
Even if you have an answer off pat for a question, you need to answer it as though you are thinking about the answer - not just blurt it out.

Prehaps most importantly, who else needs to be involved in any decision making?
As an old boss used to say, "find out what you need to know from the monkey, but the most important person to be involved with is the organ grinder," he/she is the final decision maker.

Spruce

[stevenpaulmatthews]

When i took over our company from my father 7 yrs ago we had and astravan and were trad w/c....i had a 5 yr plan and my aim was to have 1 vivaro van with a thermopure in the back and start winning big contracts but the most important thing was to get a good image with the look of a national company with a fleet of vans

we now have contracts with Mecredes-benz of north wales in Llandudno Audi showroom Llandudno Empire hotel Llandudno

RMBI masonic retirement home in Llandudno

StenaLine port in holyhead


Tai eryri (a housing development agancy) we work all over the north west for them

these contracts along with our domestic customers means we a full programme of work every day

for me i found that our image and un mistakable company logo has worked wonders for us

when we started the Mercedes contract a member of their staff said "i saw one of your vans in bangor last week"

the fact that we only have one van tells me all the hard work we put into our image paid off

[JoeMax]

That's awesome!

The professional image of your company (the van, the name, the logo etc..) helped secure contracts 

[Spruce]

You could also contact your local Chamber of Commerce.

By joining them and getting involved with their weekly/monthly mets, you get involved in a referral system. You are introduced to other business members who may need or know of other collegues who could use your services.

[LBWCS]

excellent post. I agree with everything that is said.  At the end of the day nothing happens over night. Being 'professional'  while cleaning domestic will always gain you more domestic and experience. This can only ever help if you want to break into commercial. We all know window cleaning isnt rocket science, but there are so many cowboys all most contractors are looking for is someone to take care of the window cleaning without giving them any hassle!

[Spruce]

Personally, I think it's good to not have all your eggs in one basket.

We have a Brodex agent down the road from us who also does commercial cleaning. He's 'safe' as he has been doing cleaning for years in the area. But he concentrates in high level stuff that none of us can reach. He is not bothered about the low level stuff so much, because that's where the competition is and pricing is keen.
I recon that my residential has been canvassed by others half a dozen times in the last 5 years, whereas my commercial gets 'hit' on far more regularily.
While the commercial work does make more money, its the cream on the top, and we expect to lose some of it to cheaper pricing. We do a couple of Council jobs which we could also lose or have renegotiated with these future government cuts.

Loosing a large commercial job can have a serious impact on your business, but losing a couple of domestic is not a big deal.

Spruce