(As you read this post, keep in mind that I am just starting to market commercial office buildings, so pardon my ignorance.)


So I went to do a demo and inspection of a 23 story office building today. The property manager was interested enough to have me come out after the initial phone call.

The main lobby area looked pretty bad. The tenant hallways were actually ok, but I have a feeling that the carpet was new.

The funny thing is that in the lobby, there is a custom designed carpeted area that the jan company won't touch because they said they are afraid of damaging it. Thus, it hasn't been cleaned in a year. Lame!

I did a demo in an elevator that was carpeted, and the property manager could tell a big difference in cleaning just from that.

I will be forwarding a proposal to here shortly. She said she was already considering separating the carpet cleaning from the janitorial contract because the carpet never looks clean.

That was just half of my experience. I decided to take a walk around the city to see what the other buildings looked like on the inside. I visited 10 buildings, all in the 30 story or so range.

Should I say that I was shocked? Even though I figured the carpet would look bad in these buildings, I still could not believe my eyes. Spots and traffic lanes, and just an overall dull and muted look. The carpet even smelt bad!

Wow, what an eye opener that was. I'm sure many of you are quite familiar with how carpet is maintained (if you can call it that) by jan companies, but this was the first time I took a look for myself. These jan companies are getting away with murder for charging to clean the carpets.

Of course it's one thing for a carpet cleaner to be disgusted at dirty carpet, but quite another for a property manager. That really will be my challenge.

By the way, would it be proper to take pictures of the carpet and send them to the property manager? Or would it be better to get permission to do so first? I don't think words will do it for most of these guys.

Janitors don't vacuum any more.

Thomas,

Sounds like you're seeing the potential that's all around you. Way to go bro!

I think it is perfectly fine to take pictures. Just introduce it in a cover letter or e-mail, explaining that you wanted them to see first hand what the carpets look like. And then show them how you plan to make their world better and their problems go away.

I hope you land that one you did a demo on. Gently and persistently make return calls on the decision maker.

If you will take a personal interest in helping to solve their problems they will appreciate that you are their ally. And once they recognize that you are there to help them and work with them, they'll be eating out of your hand.





Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

I own a Janitorial Company. We service 310,000 Sq.Ft. of office space per week.I have been cleaning carpets for almost nine years now. Since I hooked up with Rick and bought a Cimex and iCapsol and using releasit it has hurt my business. I DON'T HAVE TO CLEAN THEM AS OFTEN!!!LOL....
Seriously, It's a combination of cleaning companies not training properly or not caring and management looking for the lowest price. Taking pictures is a good idea maybe you'll wake them up.

P.S. Our carpets are beautiful.

Thanks Rick for the encouraging words. For a while there I was thinking that I was running into an impenetrable wall with these office buildings. At least I can see a glimmer of hope. And now I know beyond a doubt that these people absolutely need my service.

Joe,

I totally agree with you. I actually do housekeeping and some small office maintenance as well in my business, so I am aware of the discrepancy in quality.

However, these companies that are doing building maintenance are so huge here, that they just cannot control the quality of what they do. One building here can be 300,000 square feet, and they may be taking care of several of those.

They don't just do janitorial either. Anything that is needed in maintaining the building, they provide. It's almost as if they have no competition, and they know it.

With all that going into maintaining a building so large, well no wonder a property manager will just hire one company to do it all. Can you imagine coordinating each area individually? Then again, they are getting paid to work, aren't they?

Now to just give these property managers a good enough reason to get off of their lazy behinds, and do something about the slum they are running. That's the trick.

Use Ricks CMS quote that has picture areas available when quoting. I take pictures of potential carpet and tile jobs alot and send with intro. letter.
On property mgrs. to get you feet in the door offer to demo using their office. That way their surrounded with clean carpet and anyone stopping by will wonder why their carpet looks so good and the rest looks bad.

I have met Joe, and he is one smart CCer. I never have figured out why more Janitorial Companys have not followed in his footsteps. Talk about leaving money on the table! Over 300000 square feet a week! Way to go Joe.

Thomas

in my city its all about the kickbacks baby. never about how clean the place is.

You would think that these janitorials (not Joe's ) would invest in encap. But apparently, that would require a bit more caring than they can afford.