System sorted.. How to target commercial work

So as the title suggests following a post months ago I have finally committed to a system and van thanks to those who gave me the advise and information on water usage etc. 
 

I manage a number of commercial contracts for grounds maintenance so I am tapping them up for work, however I am struggling for ideas to push the new business marketing wise I really only want commercial. My question is which method is the best for commercial.. 

1. door knocking 

2. email marketing 

3. website 

4. Leaflets 

5. tendering 

6. any other ideas...

look forward to your help as always. 

Depends what you mean by commercial? Shops ? Or blocks of flats ? Hotels ? Nursing homes ? 

Shops go in and see the owner 

blocks of flats ,are usually run by a management company ,or a group of residents , try and find out which then contact the appropriate person 

hotels ,see the manager or maintenance manager have a chat and go from there some hotels nursing homes etc are run by a large head office with regional or area managers ,try and get there details and again go from there that’s how we got all our commercial jobs existing customers now recommend us to other similar buisness once you get a foot in the door you are home and dry , just bare in mind large companies may want some sort of health and safety training from you ,or at least two people so you arnt loan working, they should be asking for copies of your insurance and rams  , it’s always useful to be prepared if having a meeting with them to know what they might want to see 

I personally think if you can get an in on a Property Management company it can generate a lot of business, at good margins and usually payment well within 30 days.

The last thing the Managers want are complaints from residents so if you get a good reputation more Managers will use you.

The hard part is finding a large one that will entertain you.

Small independent Care Homes tend to be slowish payers and forget the large group ones.

Unfortunately there is no set way to get commercial work and quite a lot of it could well be luck, seen working or in the right place at the right time.

Good luck and let me know if you find the magic formula.

Thanks guys. Currently my operations supervisor is running a telesales campaign for the grounds which is successful. I have all RAMS set up and hoping to work towards ISO accreditation as well as CHAS so I am not so concerned about that side. I think I’ll just keep banging the drum and hope we get someone. Had a brand new van and ionic thermowash and static v4 system plus all the trimmings which is due to arrive end of the month so hoping to get some work ASAP to pay for it! 

KGEC said:

Had a brand new van and ionic thermowash and static v4 system plus all the trimmings which is due to arrive end of the month so hoping to get some work ASAP to pay for it! 

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Cancel that if you can, cheaper and fat more reliable equipment out there

KGEC said:

I have all RAMS set up and hoping to work towards ISO accreditation as well as CHAS so

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I assume this is in your current business or are they just generic cut and paste internet ones. Hard to do risk assessments  and have them in place when you've never cleaned a window.

KGEC said:

So as the title suggests following a post months ago I have finally committed to a system and van thanks to those who gave me the advise and information on water usage etc. 
 

I manage a number of commercial contracts for grounds maintenance so I am tapping them up for work, however I am struggling for ideas to push the new business marketing wise I really only want commercial. My question is which method is the best for commercial.. 

1. door knocking 

2. email marketing 

3. website 

4. Leaflets 

5. tendering 

6. any other ideas...

look forward to your help as always. 

Click to expand...

Email marketing could work. It's a matter of getting a company to do this for you who have a reliable email source, you don't want this going out to a 10 year old email list of generic business types (that may not all suit what we do) 

Websites don't bring a lot of commercial window cleaning, compared to residential or gutters ie I have commercial specific pages that rank but get little off them, my extra service pages do better infact (even possibly my solar panel pages!)

Going direct in some way is probs your best bet. Cold calling could be a fast way to get through a lot of contacts...there is a woman on fb who will do this for you. PM if you want her details 

Part Timer said:

Cancel that if you can, cheaper and fat more reliable equipment out there

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I can’t cancel and wouldn’t if I am honest so far ionics have been the most helpful out there, and one of the only companies willing to spend the time to go through everything with me. I am sure there are cheaper options, but a company doesn’t grow in to an international market without some level of consistency and quality. I might be proven wrong but it seems that people dislike them due to price.  

Part Timer said:

I assume this is in your current business or are they just generic cut and paste internet ones. Hard to do risk assessments  and have them in place when you've never cleaned a window.

Click to expand...

No mate I have a professional health and safety consultant who manages all my RAMS so they are working with us to put together the generic RAMS and then they will come out on site with us to do SSRA and we have quarterly team health and safety meetings as well as monthly toolbox talks. So it’s all just an add on its one thing I am pretty good at. 

Chris33 said:

Email marketing could work. It's a matter of getting a company to do this for you who have a reliable email source, you don't want this going out to a 10 year old email list of generic business types (that may not all suit what we do) 

Websites don't bring a lot of commercial window cleaning, compared to residential or gutters ie I have commercial specific pages that rank but get little off them, my extra service pages do better infact (even possibly my solar panel pages!)

Going direct in some way is probs your best bet. Cold calling could be a fast way to get through a lot of contacts...there is a woman on fb who will do this for you. PM if you want her details 

Click to expand...

Thank you for your help Chris. Our uniforms came in this week so it sound like I need to get some brochures printed off and get out there and see how we go. My website is basic put covers what we do so hopefully we might get one or two off there. I have had a few of my current customers interested which would give us a kick start and they know it’s a new venture so they will give me time to get it right. We have been on a water fed pole course so my team have a basic understanding of the way it works so hopefully we won’t make too many mistakes... watch this space 

KGEC said:

So as the title suggests following a post months ago I have finally committed to a system and van thanks to those who gave me the advise and information on water usage etc. 
 

I manage a number of commercial contracts for grounds maintenance so I am tapping them up for work, however I am struggling for ideas to push the new business marketing wise I really only want commercial. My question is which method is the best for commercial.. 

1. door knocking 

2. email marketing 

3. website 

4. Leaflets 

5. tendering 

6. any other ideas...

look forward to your help as always. 

Click to expand...

I would send a business letter...then follow up several days later with phone call to hopefully arrange a business meet with respect to the letter.

Chris33 said:

Email marketing could work. It's a matter of getting a company to do this for you who have a reliable email source, you don't want this going out to a 10 year old email list of generic business types (that may not all suit what we do) 

Websites don't bring a lot of commercial window cleaning, compared to residential or gutters ie I have commercial specific pages that rank but get little off them, my extra service pages do better infact (even possibly my solar panel pages!)

Going direct in some way is probs your best bet. Cold calling could be a fast way to get through a lot of contacts...there is a woman on fb who will do this for you. PM if you want her details 

Click to expand...

Yep. Cold calling is probably the only way.

First phone call to find out the name of the person responsible and then speak directly to that person.

Ask existing customers for referrals. Business owners associate with other business owners and talk to each other about business related topics.

KGEC said:

can’t cancel and wouldn’t if I am honest so far ionics have been the most helpful out there, and one of the only companies willing to spend the time to go through everything with me. I am sure there are cheaper options, but a company doesn’t grow in to an international market without some level of consistency and quality. I might be proven wrong but it seems that people dislike them due to price.  

Click to expand...

I have no personal experience with them but they are well known for their sales pitch and renown for their lack of after sales service. I hope in your case I'm proven wrong.

Part Timer said:

I have no personal experience with them but they are well known for their sales pitch and renown for their lack of after sales service. I hope in your case I'm proven wrong.

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As do I mate. We are having a good service so far I’ll keep you posted. I hope with the money I am spending they will keep us going.