Congratulations on getting the contract!
Steve
http://www.SFS.JonDon.com
PS This may devastate Fred but I don't have a link to shill on how to build an encapsulation route. Yet. But I'll paste in a bit from a soon-to-be-published Report on how to price and write a commercial contract proposal:
NOTE: On edit I see the formatting in the table didn't come through and I am too much of a klutz to do it. If you want a pdf of the below with the table legible just e-mail me at
stoburen@StrategiesForSuccess.com
"it is essential to focus yourself on selling maintenance programs, not just “one-shot” cleanings. As we analyzed above you would have made money on the initial 700.00 cleaning. But where you can really clean up is a regular contract maintenance program! If you set up your accounts up on weekly, monthly, quarterly or semi-annual maintenance programs both you and your customers will benefit. The advantages of a maintenance program are numerous.
Remember that with regular maintenance the carpet always looks good. If you do a one-time cleaning sure enough (especially factoring in Murphy’s Law) by the time they’ve paid the bill 30 days later there will already be a few unsightly spills on the carpet. This is inevitable even with a quarterly cleaning frequency and so now the customer starts thinking the carpet is ‘getting dirty too soon”! (And of course it is always the fault of the carpet cleaner!)
But let’s say you now provide a “carpet consultation” by interviewing your contact using the Commercial Carpet Analysis form. This form not only structures your presentation it also will give you the data you need to structure a win-win maintenance proposal.
For example, to continue with the hypothetical 10,000 square foot example profiled above. Imagine now giving the property manager the option of:
1. Cleaning all the carpet once per year and then …
2. Quarterly cleaning all of his or her “problem areas” including main hallways, the kitchen/dining room and the traffic lanes in the offices. (This “open area” cleaning is where the Cyclone shines!) Plus, even better …
3. On a monthly basis you will go in and “hit” the main traffic hallway area and “touch-up” the kitchen/dining area where you both jointly determine most of the ugly spots are coming from.
So let’s see how to price this scenario which is going to give your customer a much higher appearance level for only a little more money. Instead of winging it you will use a logical approach to pricing with a spreadsheet like this for your internal financial calculations:
Month Area Crew size Crew time Total time required Hourly amount Total Running total
January All carpet 2 3.5 7 hours total 100.00 700.00 700.00
February Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 850.00
March Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 1000.00
April Main traffic areas, offices & dining 2 2 4 100.00 400.00 1400.00
May Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 1550.00
June Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 1700.00
July Main traffic areas, offices & dining 2 2 4 100.00 400.00 2100.00
August Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 2250.00
September Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 2250.00
October Main traffic areas, offices & dining 2 2 4 100.00 400.00 2650.00
November Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 2800.00
December Main traffic areas & dining room 1 1.5 1.5 100.00 150.00 2950.00
So now you are providing a much higher level of service for about the same investment per year by the business plus you have the nucleus of a “encap route” started! So now lets divide the 2950.00 by 12 months and come up with an easily digestible amount for your client of 245.83. However, this is not all about spreadsheets. So let’s factor in something for “Murphy” (and your retirement fund) and price the above service at 290.00 per month. A great deal for the client giving them the maximum bang for their buck, a regular account for your “route employee” and an even better deal for you! (Plus don’t forget that if you keep this account long term you will be adding $5800.00 to the eventual purchase price of your business!)
HINT: You may be fretting about how to clearly communicate exactly how you are going to be maintaining the prospect’s facility. During your initial walk-through just ask your contact for copies of their “Fire Escape Egress” maps. By law every commercial building has to keep these visible. (You’ve seen them many times posted by the elevator.) Make copies of these scale drawings and then use different colored Hi-Liters to outline each area and it’s cleaning frequency. Voila! A very clear, impressive and professional proposal that is super easy for you to produce!
REMINDER: Of course, you are not going to include all the hourly pricing details in the spreadsheet above in your proposal. Instead, you are explaining what areas you are proposing to clean with the frequency detailed out. In fact, we normally don’t even include HOW the carpets will be cleaned. All the customer is interested in is “Will may carpets always look great?” Now with the data gleaned from your Commercial Carpet Analysis form and the initial walk-through you can give a resounding “Yes”!"
