Commercial carpet cleaning bids strategies

[Bernd]

My question is how is your strategy to get more than a "One time cleaning".

Do you offer 2 - 3 prices for example... one price for the one time cleaning, second for 2 times a year and third for quarterly cleaning?
How vary your prices?

Your prices should be different than mine here in oversea but i am interested in your strategy how to get accounts and how the prices differ when you offer a one time- two time or quarterly cleaning. In percentage terms how is the priced difference?

I want to find a way getting more countinous work and income through more commercial accounts.

In advance...thanks for sharing your experience !

[Lounge Lizards]

Just ask them.

I ask, "Would you like me to email you a reminder in (1,2 3,6 or 12)  months time, depending on each situation.

I have 4, 6 & 12 weekly accounts, as well as 3, 6 & 12 monthly accounts, and others in between.

Each is based on it's merits as to size of premises, quality, traffic & what they can afford as well as how they like their property to be displayed.

Those that don't care to much about the appearance of the carpet, I don't particularly worry about.

Those that want their carpet to look good all the time are the ones that I focus on.

If you don't ask, you never know.

I also ask if they'd like their upholstery cleaned as well. a VERY GOOD add-on.

I do not discount my rates due to the times they want cleaning.

We should all know what it costs to run our own business, I'm not going to reduce my price to make someone happy, & lose money on the deal.

Many times these people will use you once, be full of promises, then get someone cheaper next time.

Hope this helps.

[Bernd]

Just ask them.

I ask, "Would you like me to email you a reminder in (1,2 3,6 or 12)  months time, depending on each situation.

I have 4, 6 & 12 weekly accounts, as well as 3, 6 & 12 monthly accounts, and others in between.

Each is based on it's merits as to size of premises, quality, traffic & what they can afford as well as how they like their property to be displayed.

Those that don't care to much about the appearance of the carpet, I don't particularly worry about.

Those that want their carpet to look good all the time are the ones that I focus on.

If you don't ask, you never know.

I also ask if they'd like their upholstery cleaned as well. a VERY GOOD add-on.

I do not discount my rates due to the times they want cleaning.

We should all know what it costs to run our own business, I'm not going to reduce my price to make someone happy, & lose money on the deal.

Many times these people will use you once, be full of promises, then get someone cheaper next time.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your reply. You gave me some good food for thought.

[steamprony]

Pretty helping discussions, indeed a question to discuss. How to get more of cleaning business. Thanks for starting it.

[HBMville]

I have a somewhat different take on setting up commercial accounts than Lounge Lizards, but I want to be clear I'm not saying he is wrong. Mine is just a different perspective. FYI, my business is 100% commercial maintenance accounts using low-moisture. 

I've found that if I offer too many pricing scenarios, the customer gets confused. I stick to 2; a one-time "as-needed" or "as-requested" fee and a maintenance cleaning fee. For the one-time price, in my market, I usually quote $0.15 per square foot but I'll go a little lower or higher based on many factors such as soil level, size of facility, a wide-open area with no obstacles vs an office with lots of cubicles, etc...

I also estimate prices based on how large the crew is that will be needed to clean the facility. I'm a fan of getting in and out quick. It makes the crew happy to get home sooner, and me happy to get them to the next job, or off the clock! I like to be at $125 per hour for 2 employees, $200 for 3, and $300 for 4. That's not something I share with the customer. I use it internally as a gauge to know if I'm generating the revenue that I want.

For regular maintenance accounts, the pricing becomes much more variable, but I generally do not have to go below $.10/sf in my market no matter how large the facility. I do change my price based on frequency and I personally feel it has nothing to do with lowering the value of my company or my perceived self-worth. It's a numbers and market share game for me. If I can take an account from a competitor and put pressure on them, how do you quantify that value? As long as I'm at the revenue numbers I described above, and taking my competition's business, I'm happy. 

I don't ask the customer how often they want their facility cleaned when it comes to maintenance fee cleaning estimates. I make a suggestion based on what I observe about the particular accounts (what type of business it is, the soil load, the foot traffic, etc...). If I know it's going to get re-soiled quickly, I'll quote a more frequent cleaning, and vice versa. One of my negotiating tools is to break the facility down into high and low traffic areas, or high vs low visibility areas. If the customer pushes back on the price and thinks it's too high, I then discuss cleaning only high-traffic areas for maybe 3 of the quarterly cleanings per year, with only one full cleaning. This often seals the deal.

There is no exact science behind commercial maintenance accounts. There are known principles like the ones I have discussed, and by the way which Rick here at ES uses, that will produce really profitable accounts if you use them. Don't get locked into one strategy, stay creative and you'll be on your way. 

Lastly, I started my business as a side project. I owned a completely different business that had stabilized and I was ready for a new challenge. In only my 2nd year, I generated $62,000 of revenue working only 3 days a month. I just revealed all the secrets of my business that took me a year of research to figure out and gave it to you for free. At the end of the day, success in business is all about execution, and that's the part no one can teach. Good luck.

[encapman]

Wow! Excellent advice!!! There's GOLD in this thread.
Read it, pay attention to the advice given, and reap the rewards!
Thank you for sharing your well thought out and very helpful info.
I hope it helps our audience here on the EncapBoard.

[Bernd]

Thanks a lot for your detailed informations! I think it can help me a lot on my commen bids and will seperate me from other cleaners especially to" break down the facility into high and low traffic areas, or high vs low visibility areas".

Again, thanks a lot for sharing your experience!

[HBMville]

Your welcome! Always happy to help. If you have any other questions or need help with commercial bids, feel free to reach out anytime.

[Bernd]

Thanks Shane. I will let you know and ask if i have any other questions. The problem here is most clients ask on the phone how much i will charge. They want to get a price on the phone or via mail. I offer my new commercial customers a free demo so that i can see the soiling and the different areas they want me to clean. I can find out the expectations of the client anf how long it would take me to clean. But often first they need a price on the phone and if the price is ok they accept a free visit...

Then i normally give them my "worst case scenario price" :-)...the maximum price. If they accept it i will be fine if not i don't go through any bad surprices.