Getting Commercial Cleaning Contracts
As I said yesterday nothing improves curb appeal more than a clean appearance and that applies to a business as much as a home, maybe more.
Businesses rely on public perception to keep and improve their business. A run-down dirty outward appearance of a business location can mean the difference for a new customer not to stop by or from even going into a business. For this reason, businesses are more likely to want regular routinely scheduled cleaning done to their property and that means possible business for you.
Repeat business should be 75-90% of any business’s income. If you do not have good repeat business along with a plan to find new customers you will soon have no work to do and be out of business!
Even if a business owner or manager that you go to speak with already has someone doing work for them, leave a business card with a quote, making sure it has a time limit on it. You never know when something will come up, the other company may not be able to meet their obligation or may do something to anger the owner enough to try someone else. If you had never stopped by and left them your information you may miss that next opportunity.
Since most jobs come from word of mouth or prior contacts, not putting in the time to scout out new prospects can mean death to the growth of your business. As I have mentioned before you should spend at least 20% of your effort (time and money) on finding new business.
The only difference between commercial work vs. homeowners is many times they want this work to be done during off hours, meaning when they are closed in the evenings, overnight, or on the weekends. Since many businesses are now open nearly 24 hours a day you usually can find a time that is slow enough to allow you to work or where you can block off areas to clean so as not to restrict your clients’ own business while you do yours. Of course, special care must be taken when working close to the public with proper signage, that all proper safety measures are taken and to be sure you carry enough liability insurance.
It is also good business practice to have prepared information packs for the prospective business customer that include; copies of your business license for the area you are working in, certifications, insurance binders, bonds, references, and any other information that will make the client feel comfortable going into a contract with you and allowing you to do business with them. Many chain locations have corporate restrictions regarding hiring local companies. If you want to do business in this area it may also be good for you to contact the company at the corporate level first to see if they have their own certification process you must apply to before you can be considered to do work for them at the local level.
Good luck in finding these contract jobs.
