Well I'm finally all set-up with equipment, legal, etc. so I finally started marketing yesterday and today.

I have Rick's CMS, so I made a bunch of flyers and put some together for before and after. My website should be done in a week or two.

Anyway, I decided to follow Rick's process of first just finding out who the man in charge is, then sending something to him.

I first tried property mangers who do commercial management. I had a discouraging call where the manager said he has hundreds of venders all vying for a piece of the pie.

He also said that over 95% of the properties he deals with aleady have a full service jan company doing carpet as well. This will obviously limit who would even be able to consider my services.

I kept going, and soon contacted some who were a lot more positive and said that they are always in need of quality services. I got there names and will send some info to them.

Of course I will be contacting these people again, and hopeful meeting them in person to have a chance to show why they need my services.

I found a lot of names on the company websites. Very easy to locate the guy you need to deal with when they have his picture and title right there.

Next, I compiled a list of the high-end residential high rises here. I found them by going to a real estate website like Remax, and typed in what I was looking for. We have many, many luxury high rises here, with units starting over $700,000 and going over $2 million.

I was able to find the resident manager for many of these either in the phone book, or finding the building's website.

I starting calling the numbers. I came across one manger who says they do the carpet in house and everything is perfect. I'm sure he has no issues at all (sarcasm). Just can't get anywhere with people who think they know it all already.

Most times the managers or their assistants were very nice and agreed to have me send some literature. Of course I always asked who I should attention it to, and got the manager's name. Usually they gave me his first AND last name.

Finally, towards the end of my list, I spoke with a resident manger who was at his wits end with carpet care. He said they have over 7,000 sq YARDS (I guess that would be 63,000 sq ft) of carpet, and one of his in house guys works 80% of the time on the carpet, and he's a full-time employee. That employee costs the owners $20 and hour, so you can imagine how much they are paying right now for carpet maintenance, and a poor job at that.

The amazing thing is that the two major problems he mentioned were exactly what Encap will take care of: recurring spill stains and rapid re-soiling. We set up to meet on Monday, and he wants me to do a demo. He is very exited about the thought of his problems being solved.

And that takes me to the biggest lesson I learned thus far. I know it's mentioned in the CMS, but now I really understand it. That lesson is that you MUST mention that you can solve the 2 biggest problems in commercial carpet care. If you don't mention that problem solving ability, you are just another carpet cleaner. I was getting that "oh you do carpet cleaning, too" vibe, but didn't know how to address it. Now I will mention it right off the bat.

Another thing I realized from this last good experience is that you just know that just about every facility would have these problems, but either they don't want to admit it, or don't realize that there is a solution. Or, they just have very low standards.

With that in mind, the angle on problem solving makes so much sense. Either they will agree that they have those problems, or now will become aware of those problems. Of course, if they don't care, then we don't care either.

Well, back to the phone.

Well done bro!

You learned 3 things from your experience thus far. And honestly, these three components (if that's all you ever learn about selling) will take you far!


1. Problem solving
2. Persistence
3. Learning from experience

Sell them on your ability to solve their problems. That's your number one angle. And you nailed it - wicking and recurring spills are the BIGGEST issue in the commercial carpet cleaning world (and you have the solution).

Persistence is important. Keep working 'em. Stay in touch. It's called "farming". A farmer worked his field all year before he gets a harvest. If you'll continue to make return visits and nurture your seed you WILL see a high yield. Eventually everyone will need carpet care, and if you're the pleasant gent who has been gently perstering them they'll at least want to hear what you have to say.

I can see that you are a thinker. You're learning from your experience - and that will take you far.


Keep up the good work Thomas. You will succeed if you set some goals for yourself and remain consistently focused on your game






Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Great post.

I just got myself some new biz cards with my title as "Chief Problem Solver"

Thanks for the encouraging words. I need a lot of that right now. I'll definitely focus on those things you mentioned.

I think another thing that will come with time is trying not to get too excited, or too disappointed with the results from marketing. It was like a roller coaster ride these past few days. Remembering that this will be on ongoing process, instead of a one-shot attempt certainly takes the pressure off of the initial call.