[Daria Taylor]

This year we are expanding our company and really need regular commercial contract or with estate agents, i know it's best way to cold call cumtomers, but i have never done this and dont feel comfortable doing this.Is there any ways round it, any other tried and tested methods which work well?

P.S i get the feeling that not many people like me on this forum as everytime i post something i hardly ever get a reply, i dont know why, as i always try and help people and give advice.

regards
dash t

[Pristine Clean]

Hi Dash,

Is there a way round it? No! Not if you want to expand at a fast rate.

You will generate enquiries through advertising in various forms and locations. The internet being the Bigest and widest used at present.

If you have not cold called before then get your information correct. I would suggest some role play with some people. Sounds daft I know. But you will get to understand how to talk to people that you are interupting.

Firstly though where are you going to get the details of the companies you are going to call?

Out of YP?

A sorted List that you pay for? If so you will already get the name of the person to speak to.

When you call, you will be introduced to the gate keeper. This is the person you get who answers the phone that rarely can say yes. They will be a member of stff, receptionist. They rarely wont be the Yes, the decision maker.

Thedecision maker is the one that you need to get to. This is the hardest part. So be polite.

Oh and make sure they are not part of TPS you can get fined upto £5000 for being a pest. If they ask you not to call again dont. Respect them.

If you call, and talk to the receptionist ask them if you can send over info, make an appointment, find out if it is outsourced, are they happy with the service, also when does the current contract finish. and always ask if you can call back.

Keep this information saved on a database. Set alerts so you can call back at certain times, say in 3 months before the contract is up for renewal. Give them something to think about.

Apart from that, you need to spend days, months on the phone or cold calling in person. Be prepared for a lot of rejection.

Dave


 

[derek west]

is there a way round it? yes

employ someone to do it on a commision basis only.

[Daria Taylor]

Hi Dash,

Is there a way round it? No! Not if you want to expand at a fast rate.

You will generate enquiries through advertising in various forms and locations. The internet being the Bigest and widest used at present.

If you have not cold called before then get your information correct. I would suggest some role play with some people. Sounds daft I know. But you will get to understand how to talk to people that you are interupting.

Firstly though where are you going to get the details of the companies you are going to call?

Out of YP?

A sorted List that you pay for? If so you will already get the name of the person to speak to.

When you call, you will be introduced to the gate keeper. This is the person you get who answers the phone that rarely can say yes. They will be a member of stff, receptionist. They rarely wont be the Yes, the decision maker.

Thedecision maker is the one that you need to get to. This is the hardest part. So be polite.

Oh and make sure they are not part of TPS you can get fined upto £5000 for being a pest. If they ask you not to call again dont. Respect them.

If you call, and talk to the receptionist ask them if you can send over info, make an appointment, find out if it is outsourced, are they happy with the service, also when does the current contract finish. and always ask if you can call back.

Keep this information saved on a database. Set alerts so you can call back at certain times, say in 3 months before the contract is up for renewal. Give them something to think about.

Apart from that, you need to spend days, months on the phone or cold calling in person. Be prepared for a lot of rejection.

Dave

Dave,

thank for your advise, you always very helpfull and give a well constructed answer. can i ask how long you have been in the business for? you also mentioned that the internet is one of the best forms of advertising and it will generate some enquiries, do you get alot of office cleaning work from your website?

As regards to cold calling, i am in a way a self consious person and find it almost impossible to cold call customers, although if i'm on a networking event and i know i need to go over and speak to a customer then i have no problem with that at all, but when it comes to ringing people i find it extremly hard. how did you first start and whats the success rate you get now from cold calling?

I was thinking of targeting newly build offices and monitor those which are up for let and as soon as we notice they have been let then approach them at that stage with a hope that they will not have found anybody at that stage. Do you think this may work?

another question do you work with any estate agents and if yes, what's the best way you have found to approch them?

regards
dash t

[martin19842]

hi there

ok cold calling, you havd said that you can network face to face, therefore i would suggest that you actually call on potential clients, especially if you are focussing on estae agents, they are a shop front so very easy to approach.

depending on what you want from the estate agent either their office cleaning or end of tenancy cleans, may guage your success. if you know what you are talking about then meeting people an telling about your company and your services will become easier and easier as time goes on.

with regard to monitoring empty offices, some small companies starting out in business at the present time are trying to keep expenditure to a minimum, but it is a good way to get your foot in the door.

then once you have one client, then door knock the neighbours, as you can then say "we clean in  an office next door would you like a quote ? "


good luck and be tenacious.

regards

martin

[Daria Taylor]

is there a way round it? yes

employ someone to do it on a commision basis only.

i though about that but it's something I need to learn my selaf to do, otherwise i will never do it. as you know Derek we all have to do something we dont like at some stage and this is one of the things i am very determined to overcome.employing some one is easy way out.

regards
dash t

[Daria Taylor]

hi there

ok cold calling, you havd said that you can network face to face, therefore i would suggest that you actually call on potential clients, especially if you are focussing on estae agents, they are a shop front so very easy to approach.

depending on what you want from the estate agent either their office cleaning or end of tenancy cleans, may guage your success. if you know what you are talking about then meeting people an telling about your company and your services will become easier and easier as time goes on.

with regard to monitoring empty offices, some small companies starting out in business at the present time are trying to keep expenditure to a minimum, but it is a good way to get your foot in the door.

then once you have one client, then door knock the neighbours, as you can then say "we clean in  an office next door would you like a quote ? "


good luck and be tenacious.

regards

martin

martin thanks for the advise,

estate agents are our target market for student cleans and we want to gain some contracts with them before busy period this summer. We have done some work for few but not big once and I'm wanting to target those estate agents who can give us a big bulk of houses to clean this summer, and as regards to office cleaning we currenlty do alot of one off cleans etc and it has been our prime market untill now, but we are now wanting to take on few more people and taeon regular office contracts etc.

regards
dash t

[derek west]

disagree with it being the easy way out. do you do all your own accounts, all your own servicing on your vehicles, may look the easy way out but it might be the best move you ever make. the right person could bring in ten fold what you could wich would leave you to do what you do best, build your business.

sorry if it sounded a bit blunt, wasn't meant to be.

admire your determination though, you go girl or guy.

[Daria Taylor]

disagree with it being the easy way out. do you do all your own accounts, all your own servicing on your vehicles, may look the easy way out but it might be the best move you ever make. the right person could bring in ten fold what you could wich would leave you to do what you do best, build your business.

sorry if it sounded a bit blunt, wasn't meant to be.

admire your determination though, you go girl or guy.

Derek,

i am a girl by the way lol, as regards to accounting i do it my self yes, and simple answer to that is because i am an accountant and so i desighn my leaflets and website etc because it's my hobby.

but yes you are right we cant be good at everything, and sometimes it's best to get people to help you. however as i mentioned before, being able to have that skill of going out there and not be scared to talk to anyone will certainly build my self confidence etc,

and no your answer didnt come across blunt at all, it was a very logical answer and there is no other way to put it.

dash t

[Pristine Clean]

Hi Dash,

I have now been in business for 12 years or so. I originally worked for large blue chip companies as a Programme Analyst. MCSE and many more.

With regards to Estate Agents yes we do work for estate agents in EOTS, Landlords and we even clean estate agents on regular contracts daily.

Do I think working for estate agents is the way forward? Mmmm No. Not if you are doing New builds, EOTS. If you were cleaning their offices on a contractual basis then Yes I think its the way forward.

Any place that is commercialy run and if you are cleaning it you are earning. There is a difference in earning a wage and running a business.

Understand your market. residential work is great and can pay well. But ask yourself the big question. Is it regular?

Also research your prices. Not just asking on here. I mean real research. Find out what companies are charging. Again not on this forum. Get out there a research even if it means get someone to get quotes for you.

Also consider where you want to go with your business. In most cases people want to grow a business. Once you have a plan, you put it into action. Over time it will either grow, have flat spots, gain customers and grow if priced correctly. Or disaster. Fail.

Commercially you enter into a world of regular work. Continuous regular work. Thats is worth something. So if you have contracts that are say tied in for 12 months, 3 years, or are rolling contracts, you have something of worth.

Eventually you need staff, you also need to pay them on a regular basis. This is where commercial work really pays off.

I a few months ago purchased a cheap CC machine to do the odd CC for domestic work. It does not pay enough. But commercially we add it on as a service. It works well.

Our website generates about 70 - 130 enquires a month. Both via email and telephone. How do we know this? We ask. Its that simple.

Cold calling.

We started out using YP. Not a bad idea. But not great. Consider paying for leads. They get sent to you in an xcel spread sheet. has all the details on. You can even select areas, company size etc.

As Derek says you could get a company to do it for you. If you cannot spend the time doing it, dont bother. Its is a good few days possibly of No, and No oh and more No.

As for the success rate. I would say its a 25 to 1 ratio. By that I mean you call 25 companies. You perform 5 presentations and get 1 sale.

You could go as calling 1000 companies all say No. As for targeting new companies. Not bad either. But consider this. They are new, do they require your sevice just yet. Yes I agree with get in there first.

You will recieve alot of No's. Also you must understand especially if you are competing with large companies some work you will not get. Why you ask? back handers take place. Thats the truth of it. Not many if any admit it.

Be prepared to be an employer. Otherwise there is no point in cold calling. Better than cold calling on the phone is in person.

Aslo you have to get the person to think about what you say or have said. Once you are in. Pitching the sale its about convincing them. Its about getting past the "I need to think about it" If they need to think about it they have doubts wether you can deliver.

Dave



 

[BDCS]

If you need to practice cold calling, being told no and selling a service then ring round the local window cleaners and ask if they want a canvasser. You can call a hundred houses in an evening and get to practice a pitch, and in most cases get told no, I like building a round but hate cleaning windows

[Daria Taylor]

Dave,

thanks alot for your great answer, i have read it and have already learned something new. I have done the reserch in the area office cleaning,eot's carpet cleaning etc. many have come back very different, but i also fully understand that it's ok asking for prices but if you cant comppete with tose prices, what do you do then? Thats why we have a pricing strategy in place, i use it to price all jobs. I broke down all our expences etc and included profit margin. I understand figures very well, but i also understand that they have to be realistic to get the work in.

At this stage we are still in the process of organising everything, getting to know prices etc, but soon enough we will be approaching number of commercial customers. So thanks again for your kind advice.


regards
dash t

[Daria Taylor]

If you need to practice cold calling, being told no and selling a service then ring round the local window cleaners and ask if they want a canvasser. You can call a hundred houses in an evening and get to practice a pitch, and in most cases get told no, I like building a round but hate cleaning windows

I dont think I would be able to do that, anything to do with knocking on someone's door gives me nightmares. I would rather clean windows if i have to.I even hate delivering leaflets, never mind knocking on someones door.

regards
dash t

[martin19842]

hi there

offer potential clients a free quote,

then ask them what they currently have done, even better if the current clenaing company have a specification that they work to. then ask if they are happy with the service.

ask them to rate the standard out of 10 ie 5 out of 10, or 10 out of 10, you will use the score later , because if they are happy with the service as you walk round the property point out the dirty areas.

you may even ask what the budget is for their cleaning, that will give you an idea of what they are paying, some clients will tell you some wont.

then you can build your quote around that info, also offer them alternatives if you can


regards

martin

[BDCS]

Then I assume your not a JW    They are the cold calling experts  : :

[cleaner-exteriors]

is there a way round it? yes

employ someone to do it on a commision basis only.

i though about that but it's something I need to learn my selaf to do, otherwise i will never do it. as you know Derek we all have to do something we dont like at some stage and this is one of the things i am very determined to overcome.employing some one is easy way out.

regards
dash t

why not employ someone to do this??? i agree with derek, ok you may want to do this yourself and build up confidence but you must remember that you cant do everything yourself and if you know someone better than you then employ them to do it, it can only help your business

[Pristine Clean]

Dash I sent you an email,

Did you get it?


Dave

[Daria Taylor]

Dash I sent you an email,

Did you get it?


Dave

I have just replied to your e-mail, sorry it has taken a while.

regards
dash t

[Colin Stokes]

Sorry if its a bit late joining this discussion but I was suprised no-one mentioned email marketing as a viable and less time consuming alternative.

Once a quarter we have a campaign via email  (if you do your own website you could do it yourself but our website/IT guys do ours) to target our required audience be it Estate Agents, Managing Agents or offices.

The reason I mention it is that the response is almost equal to the 1 in 25 that has been mentioned here especially if each campaign has special offer (free month/10% off etc). Personally I think it works because more visible than regular fliers and because its less intrusive than cold calling as long as you remember to include an unsubscribe option if people do not want subsequent emails.

I do think the only way to do this (again is personal preference) is to build and maintain your own list and that is just a matter of googling or using directory such as YP to find your targets even if its just all office based business in a certain area that might need cleaning. Then check their websites for contact details - we even get responses from generic (info@ type) addresses.

It costs us £150 per quarter in time and design (as I said less if you did it yourself) and always seems to bring around 3 to 5% response and takes so little time.

[Adam P]

colin strokes: would i be able to see an example of what you'd send to these companies? i'm getting desperate for some new decent sized office contracts and think emailing is a great option for reason you've already explained.

also when you say focus on getting the details for your target audience, can you explain a little more on this? do you mean something like say i wanted to target accountants in guildford, just simple google them and get contact details? or is there more to it? how would you go further then that and contact just general companies in local area as targeting just accountants etc would be missing out on loads but i don't know how i'd find them?

many thanks