What Prpop managers want

[Farenheit251]

I'm trying to specialize in cleaning vacant rental homes which there are alot of in Orlando. I'm not too good at getting new customers but do real good at keeping those I get. I've been marketing all kinds of different things about my cleaning to try to get in these places. Today one of the best and largest companies called me for an interview. Their first and biggest concern was "do you spot clean?" At first I didn't understand why they wanted spot cleaning but after a little clarification they explained that they were trying to find a company that removed spots when they cleaned. Maybe I need to rethink my marketing?

 

[Shorty]

If they get you to do spot cleaning, remember:

Spotting is a specialized service.

You have a minimum call out fee.

A lot of times, removing a spot is a lot easier and cheaper if YOU clean the carpet BEFORE THEIR cleaner turns that spot into a PERMANENT STAIN.

Ooroo,

:wink:

 

[Ron Werner]

I think they just want to know that someone is going to "clean" the carpet, in their case, just make it look clean.
Probably every cleaner in before just rushed the job and left spots all over the place, telling the PM's they would need a special cleaner which would cost an extra $50! All it would have taken was to actually use a prespray instead of an emulsifier rinse.

 

[Jim Martin]

shorty nailed it.........

I do a lot of Property managements and all I tell them is I don't do any pre spotting at all....

Most the time everything comes out with the cleaning....and it is cheaper for them

But what does not come out ..I carry an arsenal of things to address the problems with and each one will be charged accordingly.red dyes ...urine..plant stains...things like that..

on the same side of the coin..they have to understand that not all stains are removable and it is what it is...

you are only a cleaner and you cannot raise the dead and make old worn out carpet look good as new..

I always make sure that they know that if they give me old worn out dirty carpet to clean...
In return I will give them clean old worn out carpet....

I have found that most of them have been around the tree enough times that they understand that the people who rent these places don't take good care of them and you can only work with what they give you......lot of good money in Property management

 

[sweendogg]

I can imagine a real loser company would market something like," we use a patented counter clockwise rotating brush to re twist the yarns as we clean, We make old carpet looke new!"... and the sad thing is people would pay for it, even if its only one time!

 

[Dolly Llama]

they want;

reliability
quality
red stain/difficult stains removed
a reasonable price
(many want cheap)
VERY few will pay ICS/MB prices


..L.T.A.

 

[cu]

what jim said and to add a bit to it ,
carpet stretching.threshold repair/replacement/ spot dying/ patch/plug carpet. all these repairs are easy and you get good money for doing them...exp for a carpet install company to go out to a prop here in the bay area and do a repair the min charge is 150 bucks ....thats money you should be taking

 

[Heathrow]

Brian the property managers I work for (I have 5 I do work for) expect a consistent level of service. They want nothing left behind (all corners etc need to be vaccumed) and yes, they all want someone who will leave the place looking like it's actually been cleaned, and a good process should remove most spots. Stain removal is extra and charged as such, but often I won't charge for small red stains and the likes. If I get a whole house full of stains in every room, I'll hit them with a bill that covers my extra time. All the managers I work for understand that you get what you pay for, although at the same time, I do cut a pretty good deal for them compared to my regular cleaning fees. $80 an hour is what I aim for when working for managers.

 

[Farenheit251]

I think Larry just wrote 50% of my next marketing piece in 4 words.

I was just surprised that they were having trouble finding a company who could get out stains. I heard the same thing from another management company that switched to me but thought it was a fluke. Lately I have been trying to find a liquid prespray and to cut my chem cost which meant trying a lot of distributor branded chems. I've noticed they leave a lot more stains behind and that seems to be what the great majority of the locals are using.

BTW I guess I was just as confusing as they were. What they meant by spot cleaning was making an attempt to remove spots while cleaning. I was just surprised that spotting was considered something extra. I carry Red Vanish,peroxide and power gel plus a few others but 75% of the houses everything comes out with a good prespray.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I'll also add, they don't want to wait more than a couple/few days to get the carpets cleaned.

generally, the CCing is the last thing they need done before they can get it occupied or show it.

so time is money to them too

..L.T.A.

 

[matt sheppard]

over the past 6 years i have worked for every type of pm co. imaginable. from large national co's like equity, aimco and colonial to smaller local co's. they all want the same thing which is the best clean for the least amount of money, the last factor being the most crucial to the larger companies. what i have found is this if you focus on smaller co's and realtors who also manage prop's you have a better chance of building a loyal customer who can also be profitable. outside of the residential aspect that i started on last year my 2 largest accounts are off campus housing for college props and mid to high end rentals. my pricing is competitive for the college props and .40sf+ for the rentals/realtor props . with that i also offer the general cleaning services as well, i use 3 different (independent subcontractors) for the cleaning and i split the contract price 50/50 with them ( typically .20sf and up) . my realtors love this service because i guarantee excellent service and results for them. because the cleaners are subs i don't have the worries of carrying employees. the college stuff works out very well because the bulk of it comes during turn which is 2 weeks in august, last years we cleanned 105 apts for them this year they want us to do the entire load which is about 200 apts.

hope this helps

matt

 

[Guest]

A lot of cleaners thinks there no money in apartments becasue the average price is around $45 to do a unit,
Spot cleaning is the key for that type of business! thats were the money is the thing that their not that good at
it so they cant keep the accounts!

 

[lance]

Hey Matt great info. How do you market to the smaller prop. mgt. companies that you like to do business with?

 

[lancehollister]

Be the Yes man. They need a clean at 6 o clock after a busy friday. YES. They need spot cleaning YES.

Also to get in the door offer the first clean free.

 

[Curtis Pennington]

they want;

reliability
quality
red stain/difficult stains removed
a reasonable price
(many want cheap)
VERY few will pay ICS/MB prices


..L.T.A.

Meat Nailed it....but actually none pay ICS/MB prices...

 

[ascrubabove]

I once did an add geared to the PM's that said "try us out on your dirtiest room for free"
I had 2 PM's request demos, (one was her own living room) and both recomend me to thier renters now

 

[Guest]

We take care of 5500 apartments for several apartment complexes in out service area; Shorty and meAT nail the reasons; they want to avoid replacing carpet due to excessive spotting problems; but they want this for free. I advertise that I charge for stain removal; normal run of the mill stuff(spots that come out during cleaning) is free of charge.

We want to make a living just as they want too. Why do they seem to expect this for nothing??

 

[juniorc82]

you are definately right ricky. property managers do want somthing for nothing. my favorite was when they tell you at the time of the bid or initial interview that they hav all these units that need done per month, then in reality its like half the amount.

We take care of 5500 apartments for several apartment complexes in out service area; Shorty and meAT nail the reasons; they want to avoid replacing carpet due to excessive spotting problems; but they want this for free. I advertise that I charge for stain removal; normal run of the mill stuff(spots that come out during cleaning) is free of charge.

We want to make a living just as they want too. Why do they seem to expect this for nothing??

 

[Rex Tyus]

We take care of 5500 apartments for several apartment complexes in out service area; Shorty and meAT nail the reasons; they want to avoid replacing carpet due to excessive spotting problems; but they want this for free. I advertise that I charge for stain removal; normal run of the mill stuff(spots that come out during cleaning) is free of charge.

We want to make a living just as they want too. Why do they seem to expect this for nothing??

Because like so many, they don't know the difference between a SPOT and a STAIN. We can't group all PM together. Some are resonable and some are not. Work with the good ones, refer the bad ones to guys you don't like. :mrgreen:

 

[Brian R]

If you are going to get new clients you have to work on market data

Don't start off with what you do, start off with what they can expect

Job finished on time.
Done correctly every time.
Ok to bill.
No worries on their end, you will take care of all aspects of the job.
Can be trusted in an empty home...this is where image comes in.

Speak clearly over the phone and use decent grammer.
Establish a relationship with the person who is making the decisions.
Follow up quickly with Estimates or literature of what to expect.
Helps to have a website you can tell them to check out..unless it sucks then don't promote it.

People want easy...make it easy for them.

Drive down and talk to them, send something to them every month to keep up relations.
Even if you didn't land the account...the other guys might screw up and you will be in there face.
You already contacted them, even if they said no the first time, keep on it (uninvasivly) and they will have someone (this is you) for a back up.
Remember to leave a thank you of some sort after the first job and depending on size of jobs, after every job (apts excluded)...then maybe just every once in a while.
Candy
Gift certificates to something other than carpet cleaning
Movie tickets
whatever it takes.