Why Clean for Realtors?

[rhino1]

I keep hearing about marketing to realtors, and I have to wonder why? I did work for 5 realtors this summer and this is what I got...

1. Tried to get me down on price, then took off during the middle of the job before paying. I had to go to the open house to make her pay me.

2. Did 3 rat nasties for cheap, then didn't get paid for the 4th one. Still waiting.....

3. Calls me at the last minute expects me to drop everything and take care of her.

4. Referred him to 3 new clients and got nothing back.

5. Cleaned her mom's air ducts, waited 2 months to get paid. Took 3 phone calls to get them to send the check.

To hell with a bunch of realtors, I don't even want to talk to them anymore.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Mine are good!!!

 

[ruff]

Dito!
Though they vehemently deny it, I suspect that they all hang out in the same bar with the used car sales people.
Though I have some good ones as clients, they are definitely the exception.

 

[hogjowl]

I've had problem customers over the years. Some have been realtors, some have been apartment managers and some have been hotel managers. I don't target any of those three cleaning venues, but I have one, or two in each category that shine. What I have learned to do, or how I have evolved into thinking, is that I don't want to go into any new business relationship with anyone in these type accounts being played. If I give on price, or being paid at the time of service, then I always end up screwed. So, I have learned to be firm in the beginning and let them earn my trust. If they balk, I walk.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I work with various agents in my area and never had a problem. 90% of the time they are there to pay me or they mail me a check. I do offer them special pricing but never get taken.

Just get paid at time of service and use the higher end agents. I did 3 jobs last week that were linked to the one agent and made $726 and spent nothing to get the work. 2 of them had urine issues in some areas, but other than that they were good jobs.

 

[Bjorn]

some are good some are bad just like anything else

I have a few that give me work but not worth going all over town doing a Hawad Partrege doughnut thing on them all

but nothing like making 10s of thousands a month of them like on ICS

 

[renegade_cowboy]

some are good some are bad just like anything else

I have a few that give me work but not worth going all over town doing a Hawad Partrege doughnut thing on them all

but nothing like making 10s of thousands a month of them like on ICS

I thought everyone on the BB make at least 10 grand a month and looks like a model?

 

[hogjowl]

No, that's just me.

 

[Jim Martin]

you have to go after the high end Realtor....not the slum lords.....I get great business from the reality market.........

 

[Ryan]

some are good some are bad just like anything else

I have a few that give me work but not worth going all over town doing a Hawad Partrege doughnut thing on them all

but nothing like making 10s of thousands a month of them like on ICS

I thought everyone on the BB make at least 10 grand a month and looks like a model?

20k...... but I'm uGlY as siN :!: :shock:

 

[truckmount girl]

Holy crap, realtors are the bomb, gold, the key to building a great resi-focused business!!! At least they were for me.

I built my residential business with Realtors. They paid well and they paid promptly, and their clients and their clients' neighbors all became clients as well. Here's how you do it:

Choose the areas you most want to work in, look for upscale neighborhoods. Spend a weekend afternoon driving through the target neighborhoods and note the "for sale" signs. You will notice that one or two agents seem to have the majority of listings in that neighborhood. Write down their phone number and office location(s). Phone that agent telling them you've noticed that they are a top agent and that you would like to establish a relationship with like-minded quality conscious professionals, ask for an opportunity to do a move out or pre-listing clean they may have coming up to show them your work. DON'T talk price!! Stress your experience and reliability. Do not offer a discount, do not offer to do anything free!!! Quality agents don't work for free and they don't expect you to either!!! If they give you a home to demo, wow the crap out of them. Answer your phone when they call, be available when they need you, save them on a few carpets they thought were going to have to be replaced and they will be loyal forever.

When you do these houses, if empty, leave a stack of your cards on the counter where agents leave their cards. The selling agents will pick up your cards and you'll get calls from those if the home looks good. If the house is occupied, leave five or six business cards with the owner. You can bet if they are happy with your work those cards will get around the neighborhood quickly.

On move outs, I ask the homeowner to please leave a couple cards for the new owners. Most quality move-out cleans are coordinated by their listing Real Estate agent, so if you are in with the top agents, you get the best jobs, move-in's, move-out's and pre-listing cleans.

When I made the switch from Repo's to Residential, I had no money or time for marketing. I basically built my entire customer list from the base that a few quality Realtors provided me. I couldn't have done it without them.

(I copied the above from a post I made previously to save me from writing it out again)

Take care,
Lisa

 

[hogjowl]

I've noticed a trend amoung ex-cleaners turned suppliers. The businesses they so willingly left get better, in hind sight, the longer they are away from it.

Scott Warrington is now offering business advice all the time on some of the other boards.

 

[randy]

In my experience the realtor with the puffy hairdo, lots of jewelry & make up , photo on their business card that is 15 years old, and driving the Lexus is the one to avoid. Same deal with the guys wearing the $1,500 custom suits. SLOW PAY, CHEAP and a real PAIN in the butt.

The realtor that works it part time and looks like everyone else on the subway wearing off the rack clothes, they can be golden. There are some great folks in real estate and then there are the slicksters, here today & gone tomorrow usually with your money.

 

[truckmount girl]

Marty, it kept me and my kids fed for many years. I left because we couldn't do GreenGlides and cleaning both and do them well...


....and Greenie was losing all my clients!!!

Take care,
Lisa

 

[Willy P]

5 jobs last week from 2 different real estate agents all paid on completion. Although I will admit picking them is like picking fly shit out of pepper with boxing gloves on.

 

[randy]

5 jobs last week from 2 different real estate agents all paid on completion. Although I will admit picking them is like picking fly shit out of pepper with boxing gloves on.

Bill that is a great one, LOL.

 

[steve g]

I've noticed a trend amoung ex-cleaners turned suppliers. The businesses they so willingly left get better, in hind sight, the longer they are away from it.

Scott Warrington is now offering business advice all the time on some of the other boards.

kinda like the people that advertised how to get rich buying property, made me think if they knew so much about how to do that, why were they not out doing it instead of teaching how to do it. same goes for a lot of other broke dick schemes

 

[Bob Foster]

I'll clean for anyone that will pay me fairly and on time. However, I've found that many realtors are long on promises, short on cash and their memory is immediately erased at escrow.

 

[BLewis]

I tried making realtor connections for awhile but I felt like I was pisssing in the wind. This bunch is much harder than making a commercial call.
However, when I joined my BNI group there was a realtor member that had only been a realtor for a little over a year and she is on fire! It still took about 2 months to get a referral from her but when I did and the showing agents started calling here asking who did the work (believe it or not I was a dumbars and forgot to leave a stack of cards) she is sending me plenty now. The good thing about it is I am a easy referral for her and she has an unlimited supply of new prospects, she is starting to promote me in her organization which I believe will lead to many more jobs.

 

[Brad_Smith]

ON the realtor board they had a thread "why use carpet cleaners". Then went on about how we are all chem dry wannabe hacks. Don't use carpet cleaners they don't show up, they are either too cheap and don't do a good job or they charge as much as new carpet. They leak oil in the million dollar homes drive way and flirt with the teenage daughters.

If you are not smart enough to keep the good relationships and dump the bad ones then get a job at walmart!

 

[Spots2Stop]

I found if they start talking up on how many people they can refer to you before you give them a price chances are they are not worth the time. However if they tell you that after you show them your work and rates they are well worth the time.

Just my 2 cents