In an earlier post a few down, I mentioned a demo I had done for a store but didn't want to say the name for fear of jinxing the account possibility. (I know. When I was in law enforcement we used to hate that "secret squirrel" stuff and laughed at those who used it and then here I was doing it!) Anyway, I did a test area for my local Barnes & Noble to show 'em what encap could do. The manager was impressed and wanted his DM to see it. The DM saw it yesterday and told the manager he wanted me to do the store and wanted to know if I could handle all 8 stores in his district. Of course I said yes. I am supposed to find out the time frame next week. I was told that changing contracts in sometimes like pulling teeth, but after the DM had seen the difference what encap did (especially when the store was just cleaned 2 weeks prior to my demo), he was gonna see that it got done!
I am just right tickled!
Thanks Rick and Excellent-Supply for the extra step you are giving so many of us on our competition!

shhhhh.

Thanxx...
Rafco

Way to go Kevin!

You get top honors for boldly going after a daunting account and nailing it. It can be tough to crack the big corporate accounts. You da man! Keep up the good work.

Hey Raf, don't worry about Kevin sharing his news. It's only a small minority that will ever figure out what we've got going on here.




Rick Gelinas
encapman

very cool Kevin.

8 stores? wow thats huge! i am guessing a district of 8 stores covers at least 2-3 cities.?. that's alotta traveling. have you ever done anything like this before? i don't see myself taking on something like this only for the reason : i can't see myself driving from my city, 1.5 hours to the next large city west of me, then 1.5 hours to the next large city east of me....every couple months. do you factor that in the price? or are you just looking at it as a good extra chunk of income and so what if i have to drive?

thanx --- Derek.

You hit the nail on the head, Derek. I used to do several Wendy's that were actually closer than these stores will be. I was doing them for another cleaner, though and was only getting $65.00 a pop. About 2 months of that and I threw in the towel. I'll get significantly more for these! Although a price hasn't been determined. I hope I ain't counting my chickens before they hatch, but it is looking REAL good right now. I'm also hoping that with encap, we will actually be able to reduce the amount of cleanings per year.

Barns and Noble doing there own contracting now? last year I was contacted by a MMM to do them here. They wanted it all done in one night, I didn't think I could get it all at the time. Now with encap, that wouldn't be a problem.

Brian

No, Brian, they are not. I just went into the store and talked to the manager. He told me it was all nationally handled, but that both he and his DM were not at all happy with the job or the service. I did a demo for the manager on the 15th, DM saw it on the 22nd. They were impressed and the DM advised the manager he had a little room to play on this. I was advised that they want me (using encap) of course to clean the 8 stores in the district and that the DM was gonna make the necessary arrangements. Who knows, I may have blown the horn a little too quick and end up jinxing myself right out of an account. Time will tell. I'll keep ya updated. I'll find out the starting times next week unless their headquarters shoots down the DMs plan. That's the problem with all these major chains. The MMMs have 'em locked up. I figure that it doesn't hurt to bad to bang my head against that wall as long as I'm keeping the other aspects of my business running. Occasionally, with the law of averages, I'll eventually knock a hole in one of those walls. I just hope that by then I haven't knocked to many in my head!!

Hope ya have better luck than I had trying that. The one I did get into, I had for 8 weeks till another MMM came in and blew me out.

Brian

There are ways you can win over MMM in getting chain stores
It can be a little envolved you may need to work with other cleaners if you are small. Many chains are also franchises.These owners are more interested in keeping things clean they have way more of a stake them corperate managers. They also have the local control over who cleans thier stores, they usually have several stores also.

In working with corperate chain you most likey need to deal with a regional manager not a DM. You will also need to be able to handle doing an entire region.
This is where one may need the assistance of others they can trust.

One check needs to be cut for the whole region and you need to distribute the funds where ever they need to go.


Just the basics and how it goes.

David

Thank you again for your advice. It may well change to a Regional Manager. At this point I have been informed I will next need to deal with the District Manager who oversees the 8 stores in my area.
As far as doing more, I have both a plan A and plan B prepared to deal with it. Both can be tweaked as needed. Yes, it is my first attempt at something this size, however, one never gets anywhere without trying. If I fall down? Well, that's just momentum for the rollover prior to getting back up. There are no failures, only setbacks.

That is great Kevin
The only way any one fails is if they give up and throw in the towel.
There is only one way anyone will ever here the word no or we do not need you.
IF you do not get out there and try.

David