[ebbclean]

Ok. I have my cleaning company for over years now as a sub-contractor but now is the time to get my own janitorial contract myself. I am wondering if anyone here that can help me how to get one, I am looking for commercial, industrial and offices or even Restaurant. My company is Licensed and Insured.

I am thinking of going to places and talk to the owner of the business or the manager who maintain the janitorial service but I am not really good at English as you can tell by the way I talk here but I really really want to get this started so I will take anything to get my own contract.

So please anyone can help me or give me advice, I would really really appreciate it.

[sprtrmpcnsltng]

Have you thought of contracting a sales person? Or servicing business' that are owned by those of your native language?

More info may help me help you.

First decide what 1 thing you offer that no-one else is offering. Whether it be service, price, whatever you are offering as a competitive advantage over what service they are currently using.

[excon]

so please anyone can help me or give me advice, i would really really appreciate it.

Hello e:

It doesn't matter how you talk. It matters how well you sell yourself. What matters even more than that, is how many times you call on them to sell yourself. People want to do business with their friends or people they like. It may take a while to establish that relationship, but don't give up...

As I'm telling you this, I'm reminded of a movie I saw about a door to door salesman who suffered from cerebral palsy. He could barely talk AT ALL... But, he stuck with it, and he made a success of himself.

excon

[summer7]

HI,
Your English is great. I completely understand you! I also understand that you want to present yourself in the best way possible. This is what I would do.

1. Write out what you want to say. Have a script with all the most important features of your business. You can say you are fast, efficient, honest, reliable, experienced, insured and licensed (anything else that is special about your service or that you feel is important). This script is for you to practice what you will say. Memorize it.

2. Come up with a flyer. You want to leave this piece of paper behind with the business owner so they remember you and know how to contact you. You want to include the important points of your business. An example of a flyer can be:

Ebb Clean Janitorial
Reliable Friendly Efficient Service
Specializing in Commercial and Industrial
Licensed and Insured
Call 777-7777 for a quote

You can add other things here.

3. Visit potential clients in person and be sure to look very clean and neat. Introduce yourself with a big smile, firm handshake and all the confidence of a person who knows his service is the best. Convince them you are the best! Please do not say, "My English is not very good." You don't want to say anything negative. If you are positive, enthusiastic and nice personality, they won't care about your English!

Ask them if they would mind if you check in with them in a month or so to see how they are doing. Be sure to take a notebook with you and include their business card, the name of the person you spoke with (should be the decision maker), the date and any comments to remind you of the conversation.

4. The other thing you can do is post an add on craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums
I have not done this myself but others have and say it's pretty good.

5. If they are already happy with their cleaning service, remind them to keep your name on file in case the other service cannot show up.

Here are some links for you to look at.

Click Here: How To Start Your Own Janitorial Business

Click Here: How to Start a Cleaning Service - Entrepreneur.com

Click Here: Starting a Janitorial Service or Cleaning Business

Click Here:Starting a Janitorial Service Business Part 2

How to get customers.

Click Here: Finding Customers for Your New Business

Click here: Small business tips: how to get repeat customers

Don't worry about your English. Show them your personality and enthusiasm.
Good luck! :)

[phlanx]

Morning Ebbclean

As I have been a sales rep for... well lets say several decades, I have to remark on one thing

There is and never shall be an ideal sales rep!

People come in all shapes and sizes and the one thing that makes sure everyone can be identified from each other is their personailty

Concentrate on who you are, never hide from this fact as it will promote deceit

You state your english is not so good, simply use this to your advantage - most people are genuine and are wiling to help people who ask for help

So my tips are :

1. Know your features of the product and Service
2. Understand the benefits of the service you offer
3. Explain your experience in the field to promote understanding
4. Be Nice - Try saying no to someone who is nice - not easy
5. Don't be afraid to ask for the order

AND MOST OF ALL!!

Never ever forget that at somepoint every company had to ask for the first order - Coca Cola had to make their first sale, so did Sony and so on, if you are asking restaurants etc the chances are you are speaking to the owner and as such they had to ask for their first order - remind themof that by stating you are asking for your first order - I guarantee you will get a sale from someone very soon following these simple rules

[ebbclean]

summer7 and phlanx thank you very much for advice.

When I go to a place and talk to the potential customer do I gave them what? My flayers, my introduction letters for my company or the Service agreement? I get confuse and don't really know when and which one to give to them first.

[ebbclean]

Oh and guys my first bid went bad because I lost the bidding and this is client emailed me

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Bryan,

Thank you for your time and viewing our facility and providing us with a
Quote. Unfortunately we have decided to go with another cleaning service at
This time. We will keep your information on file for future reference.

Thanks again,
Potential client
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the emailed I got and I was very sad when I read it.

[ebbclean]

Also some office open on Saturday and also the restaurant
You think weekends is the best time for them to visit their place and offer them about my service?

[summer7]

Hi,
It can be disappointing to get an email like that when you had your hopes set on this client. Use this as a learning experience so you are prepared for the next potential customer contact.

I would ask the client to tell you why he chose the other service. You can say something like, "It was my pleasure to meet with you the other day and to tell you about my service. I understand you chose another company. It is my desire to offer the best to my customers so may I ask what you liked about the other company?"

Hopefully they will tell you what they preferred. You can then give them a better offer than your competitor to see if you can win this customer back.

Another thing I would do is say to this customer, "Again, it was a pleasure to meet with you and I would like to call you in a couple of weeks just to check on you and make sure everything is going OK with the new service." Make sure you call because they might not be 100% satisfied with the new service but will just keep them to avoid the hassle of trying to find another company. Don't give up so soon. Really work each contact until you are satisfied you did everything possible to get the business. Never sound desperate but sound confident that you have the best janitorial service out there and you don't want them to miss out.

After about a month, I would leave a flyer with them reminding them about you. A flyer is a piece of paper giving specific info about your company. Company name, address, phone number, email. You can also write something about yourself... a brief description about your business. You can also offer something here like a discount or some special. This paper is used to advertise your business.

A very powerful tool to use is email. When you have met with potential customers and have their business card with email etc. Send out an email to all these people every 2-3 months. When you are sending a mass email to all these potential clients, make sure that they do not get the list of all the people you contact. Set your email so that it hides all the other email addresses and doesn't send them to everyone. Your email can say something like:

Happy Holidays from your friendly Eb Clean Janitorial Service
We would like to offer you a holiday special. You get (make your offer here)
This special is available December 1 2009 to January 30 2010.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ready for that Spring cleaning?
Let Ebb Clean Janitorial take care of the job for you.
We are offering our friends (make your offer her)
This special is available March 1 2010 to April 30 2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You get the idea...

You can post your flyers around. I see them at grocery stores. You can hand them out to people or post them at janitorial supply stores and hardware stores etc.

When you meet a client, you can give them the introduction letter. Later on you can offer the flyer if you have not won them as a client and want to offer a discount or tell them of something new you are doing that is special. You can also use your introduction letter if you want to contact a company by mail. It is more formal. I think face to face contact is best. You give them the service agreement when you have secured them as a customer.

You ask if going on Saturday is a good idea? Yes, great idea... If it is a restaurant be sure it is not during their busy time. Always make sure you are talking with the decision maker if not you are wasting your time.

A very important point, remember, you are an expert in what you do. You are a hard worker and have a wonderful service. You have years of experience in your field... When you are meeting with these potential clients, speak with friendly confidence. Never sound desperate or like you are begging for the job. Your appearance is the most important part. Hair cut and combed, clothes clean and neat, shoes polished, hands and nails clean.

You will get customers. It is a numbers game. Meaning, you need to approach a good number of potential clients in order to get customers.

Please keep asking questions if something is not clear to you.

Good luck!

[phlanx]

Salvo Ebb

No problem, I would like to reiterate what summer has stated as good advice to you

There is a decision you have to consider though, in this country England, and other european countries, where you have a customer/supplier who tries to get the price down by getting two contractors to compete on price - we call this a dutch auction

Basically the only winner is the customer, your decision however is what price you need to get to make a profit - never be a busy fool in this regard, if the job isn't going to pay the bills and have some left over for the company then it isn't worth doing

I have trained many sales reps, and there is one constant, those that call the most customers get the most orders

You will have numerous rejections, sometimes you will find out why, sometimes you will not, but if you contact many customers, one will say yes to you

Never take a no as personal - it never is, when you ask for an order the answer will be yes or no, that is the outcome you are asking for, so when it is a no, don't worry about it, you have to have the no's to get the yes's!

With a new campaign such as yours you may need to change a few things, in terms of paperwork, maybe price, or pointing out what you get for your money, this is where the feedback comes in from customers who say no

Never be afraid to be honest, I have been in plenty of situations where I hadn't got a clue what the answer was to the customers question, by always being honest you will project trustworthiness

And that is primarily the key to sales, does the customer trust the sales rep to deliver on everything he has said, will the product and/or service deliver the features the contract promises

And this last point for new sales people, the first sale will come - keep trying and learning from each contact with a customer, and it will come to you

If you need anything clarifying or require any further information then please do not hesitate to contact me

Steve

[phlanx]

In reference to your question, when is the best time to call -

Well, the only way to find out is to call, and if it is a bad time then don't worry about it, smile at the customer and simply say no problem, which day in the week is a good time to call back?

This question is phrased to ask the customer a day - you are not asking him whether he has a quiet day as this could cause offense, you are not leaving it open by simply asking when can I come back, but automatically getting him to choose a day that is good for him, which is very easy for him to do and without realising it you have then got an day appointment

Next ask him what time would be best for him on that day - reiterate the day he chose to re-enforce the appointment date

Hey presto - you now have an appointment made in seconds at a time that is good for the customer

Don't take offense if the customer just tells you to get out if they are that busy and he is stressed

Make a note and go back to the customer a few days later - try to pick what looks like a quiet day and simply reintroduce yourself, also stating that you didn't mean to disturb him the other day and ask if this is a good time or he would prefer another day

Again your getting the customer to tie himself down to a specific date with a simple question

Don't worry about your english, just be comfortable with what english you have and keep learning the rest

[Stringer]

oh and guys my first bid went bad because i lost the bidding and this is client emailed me

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Bryan,

Thank you for your time and viewing our facility and providing us with a
quote. Unfortunately we have decided to go with another cleaning service at
this time. We will keep your information on file for future reference.

Thanks again,
Potential client
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

this is the emailed i got and i was very sad when i read it.

If you close (sell) one out of three or four of your actual bids you are doing very well.

When you are told that you did not get the bid it is time to do a post interview with the prospect. Time to continue to learn; about your competition, your pricing, your services, yourself, etc.

Call them and thank them for letting you bid. Tell them that you would like to find out why you didn't receive this work. Don't ask in an abrasive manner, but in a quizzical way. Tell them that you want to improve and by them being honest in responding you can 'grow' in a positive way and improve. Pay close attention to what you are being told and use this information.

By being polite and honestly wanting to find out you will find that most will help you.

When I first started in this business I bid on a very large building ($112,000.00 per month), I lost. When I called them and expressed that I was very disappointed and that I didn't know why I lost it he replied; "Sometimes it isn't the price, the service, or how you conducted yourself it is something else that you didn't do..." "You had all the information in your bid but you were just not as professional as I would have liked." " You stapled all this information together without a cover sheet, not boned together, no front cover, etc, this made me question your experience and your professionalism. I need to feel comfortable and trust that you have the ability to do this work."

Yes, I learned a good lesson, but leaning your business is a continual process, it never ends. When you stop trying to learn and improve your business WILL reflect it.

Stringer

[Clough]

Hi, ebbclean!

I'm not going to interrupt the fine advice that you've already been given, but would like to ask you what sort of things that you do to point out to customers that would enable them to realize that they might need your services, please?

Thanks!

[ebbclean]

Wow I really learned a lot here, but I definitely need more help for this cleaning business lol to get my own contract etc.

Clough -i am not really sure if o pointed anything to them because this was my first time bidding and I was really nervous. What I did is, introduce myself and then I gave them my intoduction letter about my company and then I gave them another sheet of paper saying all the service we will do to their office and then they told me that they actually have a sheet of paper of list that needs to be done in their office then after that they walk me through their office and explain everything what exactly they want to be done how they want to be done etc.

And then after all that I ask her if I can give my bid proposal through fax or email then she said yes and I ask for her business card. Then I submit my proposal to them through email..

[ebbclean]

If you close (sell) one out of three or four of your actual bids you are doing very well.

When you are told that you did not get the bid it is time to do a post interview with the prospect. Time to continue to learn; about your competition, your pricing, your services, yourself, etc.

Call them and thank them for letting you bid. Tell them that you would like to find out why you didn't receive this work. Don't ask in an abrasive manner, but in a quizzical way. Tell them that you want to improve and by them being honest in responding you can 'grow' in a positive way and improve. Pay close attention to what you are being told and use this information.

By being polite and honestly wanting to find out you will find that most will help you.

When I first started in this business I bid on a very large building ($112,000.00 per month), I lost. When I called them and expressed that I was very disappointed and that I didn't know why I lost it he replied; "Sometimes it isn't the price, the service, or how you conducted yourself it is something else that you didn't do..." "You had all the information in your bid but you were just not as professional as I would have liked." " You stapled all this information together without a cover sheet, not boned together, no front cover, etc, this made me question your experience and your professionalism. I need to feel comfortable and trust that you have the ability to do this work."

Yes, I learned a good lesson, but leaning your business is a continual process, it never ends. When you stop trying to learn and improve your business WILL reflect it.

Stringer

See the problem with me is I don't know how to ask them in a quizzical way, would you mind giving me a good sentence/ letter that I can use to reply to that email they sent me? Really appreciate it.


Also id like to know if all the paper stuff I have that I gave it to them is good. I want it to show you but I am not sure if I should post it all here.

[Stringer]

wow i really learned a lot here, but i definitely need more help for this cleaning business lol to get my own contract etc.

Clough -i am not really sure if o pointed anything to them because this was my first time bidding and i was really nervous. what i did is, introduce myself and then i gave them my intoduction letter about my company and then i gave them another sheet of paper saying all the service we will do to their office and then they told me that they actually have a sheet of paper of list that needs to be done in their office then after that they walk me through their office and explain everything what exactly they want to be done how they want to be done etc.

and then after all that i ask her if i can give my bid proposal through fax or email then she said yes and i ask for her business card. then i submit my proposal to them through email..

What they gave you is called the specifications (specs). That is what you base your proposal and pricing upon.

Stringer

[Stringer]

see the problem with me is i dont know how to ask them in a quizzical way, would you mind giving me a good sentence/ letter that i can use to reply to that email they sent me? really appreciate it.


Also id like to know if all the paper stuff i have that i gave it to them is good. i want it to show you but i am not sure if i should post it all here.

Eb, I don't presently have the time to do this at the moment, I am also putting together a proposal at this time due tomorrow. I will try tomorrow afternoon to get back to you... k?

Stringer

[ebbclean]

Absolutely man, I really really appreciate your time that you are giving me.

Also id like to learn to how do this bidding in a professional way.

BTW. Are you in a Cleaning business too?

[Stringer]

absolutely man, i really really appreciate your time that you are giving me.

also id like to learn to how do this bidding in a professional way.

BTW. are you in a Cleaning business too?

Yes for over 30 years now. I presently own 3 companies in the Chicago area.

Where are you from?

[ebbclean]

Wow over 30 years? What companies you own?

Im from Calgary, Canada