First off, thank you for such an awesome marketing system! (The CMS Package) Ive been using the flyers to approach new clients and they look VERY professional!

Here's my questions:

1) On the maintenance strategy sheet there are areas to type in the square footage and the cost per foot...I have a gut feeling with my own personal dealings with some companies that they will use the dimensions (that I spent time measuring) to call around and get competitive quotes...I know this because one custy used the measurements from another bidder on the job to get pricing from me!...Would it be better to just give them JUST the price of cleaning each room and leave out the details?

2) I'm going to bid on a 7,000ish sqft job; they only clean once a year now (HWE only), but they want me to bid for a contract cleaning every 6 months...I probably may have to HWE it every other cleaning (thats what they want)...

the question is...If, lets say currently the one time cleaning would be $1,000 (once a year), like they are doing now, do I price the every-other 6 month cleaning at $500 and the yearly one at $500 also (for a total of $1,000 per year)? OR do I charge them the same $1000 once a year, and the interim 6 month cleaning at $500?...(so, $1500 / yr) ...I'm a little confused about that...

Thanks for helping me!!! I'm ready to prepare the bid but I want to make sure I'm doing it right!

Joe DeSouza

PS Advice from others would be appreciated too!

1) The maintenance strategy worksheet is intended for working with an established client to establish a two way dialogue regarding maintenance. You e-mail it to the client, the client tweaks it on their end and they e-mail it back to you. This back and forth discussion enables the client to feel like their in control and part of the decision making process relating to the service their building will receive. It gives the client the ability to shop from their desktop, kind of like shopping for computer configurations on Dell.com. But if you want to hide the room sizes and just give them the end costs, that is an option too. You can hide columns in Excel.

2) Once a year at $1,000 for HWE, and they now want to add one extra encap maintenance service per year?... There are a couple of ideas you might consider... 1. You could discount the HWE to $900 and then add the encap cleaning at $630 (their total yearly cost for service $1530). Or... 2. You could set up a monthly maintenance contract for $217 a month. That would include 1 HWE cleaning per year, one full encap cleaning per year, and monthly spot cleaning and lobby cleaning---(approx 1 hour). Option 2 gives them a much higher level of service, and would be the better option to recommend to the client IMHO. And it keeps the money flowing into your account all year round.











Rick Gelinas

Joe,

You've mentioned the client wants a HWE cleaning...are they in the business or were in the business prior to contacting you? Reason I ask is because it seems as if the client knows how to clean and maintain the carpets as if they are telling you what needs to be done. Typically when this comes up it's either "we" the cleaners gave them too much information about our cleaning process that the client feels confused and wants the "steam" done as well as a matter of protection since they are not used or have not heard of Encap before.

Deep down all they are telling us is they want the place cleaned, but can only refer to HWE or "Steam" as that's all they know or been used to till now...they must be judging the cleaner they currently or were using by the disadvantages of skills/chems/equipment that has done vs HWE in general. What i mean is that clients sometimes don't look at what we do as far as our experience and knowledge on how to maintain a floor but what the method or machinery that we use. They can't be thought that there are other ways to do things which can still yield great results, only till they've touched and seen it themselves.

This thread is not about this...but it's just something i've wanted to point it out, you might already know all this as well...I personally don't tell my mechanic which wrench to use on my vehicle, I trust him that's why he does what he does. Kinda like what's happening with this client. I would take charge and tell them if it does need hwe and if so when exactly(3/6/8/12 months etc), make them depend on you, after all who really is the floor care professional?

Rick is the man for Encap and Commercial bidding, so i can't say anything else...but I could say that if you are bidding on a job that someone else is cleaning, they are probably not happy...if you bid the same price(total) or less, the client might save some $ but they also might think your cleaning is not the best since it is cheaper on paper, going just a tad bit higher, might boost up your presentation and give you more credibility.

We buy Releasit because it works and it's a quality product, same thing should be said about conveying to client about you and your business(the method is irrelavent if they like and trust you).

Hope you get the job.

Take care,

Bill