Episode 1170 – Better than Cold Calling? Lead Generation Strategies and MORE for Your Commercial Cleaning Company!
Cold Calling or Something Better? Nina's Lead-Generating Dilemma
In this episode, Mike Campion starts by tackling a common concern from Nina, a listener from the Facebook group, who wants to know if there’s anything outside of cold emails to get more leads. Mike’s advice? The biggest mistake people make is focusing on how to contact people rather than focusing on the message. Before worrying about cold emails, calls, or any specific lead source, it’s crucial to identify your target audience and craft a message that speaks directly to their pain points.
Whether you’re trying to clean restaurants, property management offices, or car dealerships, the key is to know who you’re talking to and what problem you can solve for them. Once you’ve nailed your message, you can put it in any medium—be it cold calls, emails, Facebook ads, or even a skywriting plane—and it will resonate. The right message trumps the medium every time.
Referrals Work, Until They Don’t: Wendy's Challenge
Next up is Wendy, who has relied on referrals for over 20 years to fuel her commercial cleaning business. Now, she’s in a tough spot because a corporate headquarters she worked with for years switched to another company, leaving her with a huge gap in business. Her issue? She has no website, no marketing experience, and no real lead sources outside of referrals. Mike’s advice to Wendy echoes what he told Nina: it’s not about where you get your leads—it’s about who your target customer is and how well you can communicate a solution to their pain.
Mike reminds Wendy (and all business owners) that relying on one lead source, like referrals, is risky. Referrals are great, but they aren’t scalable or reliable. If you don’t have multiple streams bringing in business, you’re setting yourself up for trouble when one dries up.
Should You Hire a Sales Rep?
A listener then asks a question about hiring a sales rep to handle lead generation. Mike takes a clear stance: Absolutely not! He explains that many cleaning company owners think hiring a sales rep will solve their marketing and sales issues, but that’s rarely the case. In fact, it often creates more problems than it solves.
Mike breaks it down: if your commercial cleaning business isn’t already generating consistent leads and closing deals on its own, adding a sales rep won’t fix that. A rep won’t magically figure out your marketing or bring in tons of new business. If you don’t already have a proven sales process and a steady flow of leads, a sales rep will struggle—and you’ll be wasting money.
Instead, Mike recommends focusing on building your marketing funnel, refining your messaging, and creating systems that attract clients. Once you have a solid process in place and you’re confident in your marketing efforts, then—and only then—might a sales rep be a good investment.
The Right Message, Not the Medium, is Key
Test, Tweak, and Gather Data
Finally, Mike closes by discussing how to approach marketing experiments. He advises cleaning business owners not to get discouraged if their initial tests don’t yield big results. It’s all about collecting data and refining your approach. Smaller budgets might mean you’ll need more time to gather actionable insights, while larger budgets allow for quicker testing. But in the end, it’s about constantly tweaking and refining your message until it hits home with the right audience.
In summary, whether you’re just starting with cold outreach like Nina or rebuilding after a major client loss like Wendy, the answer is the same: focus on your message, create multiple lead sources, and build a marketing system that works consistently over time. Don’t wait for disaster to strike—start today, and give your future self a steady stream of leads to rely on.