[lisa123]

any do and don'ts for what to write in the letter?
I haven't wriiten a letter to anyone like this yet, dont want to look a total prat.
Thanks

[preston powerblast]

I find the best approach with these sort of people is to go in and introduce yourself and leave a card or leaflet.
  Best of luck

[mxg]

I think it needs a combination of letters, mailings and face to face visits.

A visit to get the name of the appropriate person to receive the mailing.

In the letter you need to sell the benefits, not the features (or as CMS calls its "selling the sizzle not the sausage"

ie the benefits to the letting agent

the benefits to the landlord so the letting agent can convince him/her

Most people want to get their bond back so they do it themselves but usually not to the standard of a professional cleaning company. The landlord then sometimes finsishes it off

We tend to get called in if the tenant has done a bunk and left the place in a mess and nobody else fancies the job. The problem that sometimes arises then is that the cost of cleaning exceeds the value of the bond so the landlord has to make up the difference.

Remember the letting agent is not usually authorised to spend a penny and has to have everything approved by the landlord and most landlords don't want to spend a penny.

The other thing to remember is that most of these letting agents have managed to survive before you arrived on the scene so you have to hope your timing coincides with the incumbent retiring / doing a crap job or not having sufficient to capacity to cope with a peak in demand.

Although you might not think so from the above, we are still continuing to target this market too and hope to increase the volume of work by being the "preferred" cleaning company for all/most letting agents!

Good luck

Mick

[lisa123]

I had a lovely chat to one of the letting agents today, after she received my letter this morning. Apparently I had sent my letter just at the right time, she will definatly be calling me, as she has no reliable good cleaners at the moment.
 

[CMS]

That's a worry as you operate in my area and I thought I'd hit them all.................lol 

Well done anyway.

[allergease]

Let me think now ..... if these properties are let fully furnished do you detox the mattresses between lets ? If you need a specialist mattress cleaning company to assist just drop me a line .... Shropshire is not too far away from me 

Conrad

[Art]

Well done Lisa that's where my work with letting agents started,hit them at the right time but a word of warning this type of work is very demanding and detailed, usually short notice with tight deadlines, if you do one bad job you never hear from them again, but on a positive note the profit margins are huge. Good luck and keep sending those letters.

Arthur

[The Great One]

Hi

I have been soley letting agents for 2 years now, and it can be tough.

The most important thing is don't see it as a license to print money, if they see you taking the %^*$ you'll be gone.

profit margins are good, but letting agents are very finicky (fussy) one minute you are flavour of the month, next they don't want to know who you are, very competitive market.

If you can show you are good and show attention to detail, go the extra mile, then they will keep using you, price can be a factor but do not sell yourself cheap, the work can be minging
i.e.

faeces in the toilets/carpets
mouldy fridges
carbonated ovens
tea/coffee up the walls
cooked fat all over the kitchen tiles
below the water line in the toilet scaled to high heaven
rubbish everywhere
mouldy food/food stains in the kitchen units
animal faeces
candle wax all over the carpets
solvent squirted in voodoo signs in the carpet
dust an inch thick
sink so limescaled you don't know what colour it is
cooker hood caked in grease
windows so covered in unibond and plaster it take 6 hours to clean 'em
Etc, etc, etc...

But you charge for it, but bear in mind sometimes even a 1 bedroom flat can take 16 hours?

Oh, and don't forget
wrong keys
not enough money left by the tenant to cover it
needs to be done yesterday
disposal of rubbish
etc, etc, etc...

Good luck

Regards

Martin

[AJCleaningServices]

Well done Lisa that's where my work with letting agents started,hit them at the right time but a word of warning this type of work is very demanding and detailed, usually short notice with tight deadlines, if you do one bad job you never hear from them again, but on a positive note the profit margins are huge. Good luck and keep sending those letters.

Arthur

Arthur,

Could you please explain what you mean saying, “the profit margins are huge”.  How much (please indicate in percentage terms) would your charges for letting agents / one-off cleaning jobs be different from your normal hourly rate for regular cleaning on weekly bases?

Thanks,

Arthur

[Art]

What i meant by huge is there's usually more work involved i wouldn't dream of ripping any of my clients off as what was mentioned in an earlier reply if you did you wouldn't last long and i've built my business on reputation as a lot of my work comes from referals. Hourly rates depend on what part of the country your in and what your scope of services are, so it's something you've got to work out for yourself. Sorry i couldn't be more help but what i charge might not work for someone else

[AJCleaningServices]

For one offs we charge 20-25% more of our normal hourly rate. 

I was not intending to ask you about your hourly rate and so on... it just you said: “the profit margins are huge” and I wondered if you got a bigger margin working for the letting agents.

Never mind…

[Art]

Sorry i probably worded it wrong it's more profit as it's usually more hours and there's a fair bit of carpet cleaning involved at times