[garyj]

I was just wondering where you get a 'good' suit for 150 quid!!!!

[CMS]

To go on further from my last post, I suppose I should say a little about the time you spend when you eventually get in front of the prospective Client.

DON'T for Christs sake bore the pants of him! To illustrate,............ if I was selling rulers would I go in and say ?

"Good morning Mr XXX , I represent xyz Stationery Company and I'm here today because I would like to tell you about our wonderful range of stationery, which includes these rulers". Of course I wouldn't because if I did he would be bored before I got to what I was trying to sell. He'd be thinking about what he's got for tea or his plans for the weekend.

If you're selling rulers tell him that your selling rulers and MOST IMPORTANTLY - (and here's the simple bit) - ASK HIM TO BUY ONE!!!!!

Apply this to our industry. Have you gone to see this guy because you want to quote for his cleaning? (Here's a surprise) OF COURSE YOU HAVEN'T! You've gone to see him because you want to DO his cleaning. So tell him that.

"Good morning Mr xxx. We'd like to do your daily cleaning!

The most important bit of advice I can give you is ASK THEM TO BUY.

Let me illustrate...........

How many of you have sold contracts worth over £1 million? I mean really SOLD them, not filled in a tender form. SOLD from a cold call.

Well, over the years I have sold a few £1 m + contracts and a young colleague once asked me "How the hell do you sell a million pound contract?"

I replied....."How many people in, say, the last six months have you asked to buy £1 million pounds worth of cleaning?"

"None" was the answer..........

"I think we've identified the problem", said I..............

And that's about the long and short of it.

Keep it short and simple. Don't waffle or bu****it.  And ask for the order.

One final comment.............sell the 'sizzle' not the sausage!!!

There is a product that is sold in the UK by the thousands every day. People pay good money for it and yet nobody wants it - any ideas???

It's a drill bit. No one wants a drill bit, they want the hole.

Your Client doesn't want to buy a new Cleaning Contract, he wants to buy a clean building. Remember that - there's a difference.

Good luck.

[Tim Downer]

CMS

Yellow pages worked too well for me as the inevitable happened.....got too big too quick.
Before i knew it, working on my own one minute, 5 months later had 9 cleaning staff.....only took 1 large customer to not pay me for 3 months then "poof" "whoops, now have no money to pay for food on my family table, all going to pay staff wages.
Decided to give up working for myselt 2 years ago, and here i am, now a cleaning Manager working for a company that have given me the trust to make this new venture work.....and I dont have to worry about putting food on my table.

For the other poster
Bought a YSL suit on EBay for £100.00 and went to shops for shirt and tie, thats how I can get it all for £150 and look the Biz

Regards

Tim

[Just a cleaner.]

CMS,

I used yellowpages in my first couple of years in business it helped but cost a lot.

Now I get just as much new business by Word of Mouth and referrals.  I haven't advertised or should I say paid for advertisng in over a year.  The new customers still keep calling.

I think if I used your method as described here I could increase my turnover by 10 times in under two years the sums do add up.

Thanks

[kleeze]

Hello

Are procare a good company to do business with?

[Musicman]

From what I have heard about how they treat their sub-contractors and the service they claim to provide I would have to say NO - from both a sub-contractor's and purchaser's of cleaning services point of view.

Absolutely shocking.

I quote from a post earlier on in this thread.

Never buy business. I used to be a Director of one of these companies (they shall remain nameless) and believe me we didn't care what crap we sold you (that's why I got out, I wanted to sell a good service).

I hope this helps.

Musicman