Property Managers

[lust1kiddo]

Hey Guys,
This year I am going to try and focus on building a commercial side to my business. I celebrated a year in November and my residential side is pretty good. I just was wondering on the best way to approach mgmnt companies. I'm in NYC and there are plenty of buildings so I know I can get some of the work. I just need a slice. Anyway, I appreciate the help.
Jarred
www.jlcarpetandupholstery.com
!dork!

 

[Contemporary Carpet Clean]

What we do for apartment complexes and or property managers is go and talk to them and do a free sample. Thats right clean one whole apartment(preferably one that might need to be replaced, or one that was cleaned by their normal carpet cleaning company) and show them what you can do. Its worked for us. Most of the companies that we have done that for are still customers today! You will lose these customers for no good reason....some apt complexes are the biggest bait and switchers ever! We have been thrown out of apt complexes only to be called back in 6 months when XYZ comp couldnt hang like we did! You can always talk the talk....but show them you can walk the walk! Once you get in with one, most likely that PM comp. has other properties that they own/manage. Ask them to refer you to the other locations. 1 acct can turn into 10.

Doing office/other commercial work is tougher to get. You will need to actually do to professional bldgs strip malls/industrial areas and go door to door. Give free estimates. Really big bldgs usually have a janitorial comp. do all of the cleaning including carpets. Those will be tougher to get. However, janitorial comps. suck at cleaning carpets. Sometimes you can get a big bldg that the carpets are trashed b/c they are never cleaned properly! Then you look like a hero.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Property managers have been contacting me more and more. I think my web presents is the culprit. However, this is an area of sales that I fail at regularly. Several sales appointments already this year have prompted me to calmly reflect on why I’m not doing more empty residential for prop managers.

#1 reason is MY attitude. I’m always getting cranked up before meeting them that it will “always” get down to price. And when it usually does (because I’m not steering the sales process effectively) it’s so easy to walk away thinking they’re a bunch of unprofessional cheap son’s a bitches that have no respect for me or my work.

#2 is MY ability to ease out of them their true buying motive. And #3 is MY ability to communicate the value I bring to the table there by raising the value above the price (my price), cause their price isn’t going to cut it with me. Generally, communicating value (think perception) above price will move to closing a sale.

So why is it I have 5 Realtors and 2 Prop Mangers who don’t even question my prices? And 3 or those Realtors leave me blank checks in a secret spot at the property. Duh, relationship. I built it over time. Anyone new to my business whom didn’t come by referral doesn’t know me from adam and has ABSOLUTELY NO reason to trust me that my value and my prices are fair and reasonable.

Ya I know, enough of this b.s. Well there’s no magic bullet answer to your question. As a sole proprietor mobile carpet cleaner it comes down to you and your salesmanship; your attitude. Folks will see your attitude, energy and sincerity right away. You can’t hide it if you tried.

You need to interview them WITHOUT boring them. Don’t find yourself dancing around your pricing and hoping they’re either going to purchase or not. Practice being a good listener. Your attitude about them being cheap unprofessional bastards will get in the way of extracting from them what it is they are looking for. For instance you’ll likely find they could care less about cleaning method and it might take a few questions (minutes) of conversation to get that out of them.

Oh and good luck.

 

[Jeremy]

First thing is shave a cut your fingernails before you go talk to the property manager... LOL Seriously set a couple mornings a week aside for cold calling & demos. Sales letters/flyers and basic community cable advertisements can also be effective. Hey give me a call... I may be able to help. 812-754-1447

 

[juniorc82]

If you learn how to repair carpet that puts you ahead of the pack. I took the repair and reinstallation class at jondon and it really helped. If you can re stretch do minor patchwork and so on it really ups your value. Plus if you can repair you can market for true pet odor removal which often involves replacement of portions of the pad and cleaning the carpet backing. The best thing about doing repairs in a vacant is that you are alone without a house wife over your shoulder and if you make a mistake its not as big of a deal as in occupied home. Plus you can get online and get a starter set up of used repair tools and a stretcher for less than 500 bucks shiteatinggrin