Today, we’re chatting with Harry Manbeck!

Property managers and gatekeepers in general can be incredibly frustrating when it comes to getting your cleaning proposals into their hands.  The good news is that typically there is one decision maker for any property management group, your job is finding out who that is simply by asking the gatekeeper who is the person that usually makes the decisions on their cleaning company they use.

When you do get ahold of that decision maker, whether it be the property manager or a member of the board, it is time to set some ground rules.

Typically, people get on the phone say what their cleaning company does and sets up an appointment with the manager. On the surface, this looks like a really big win from your perspective. However, it is a ticking landmine because you literally have created zero expectations or ground rules.

That is why winning starts BEFORE meeting face to face with the decision maker. It starts right on the phone.

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When you start talking to them about setting up an appointment, you want to ask them a series of questions. Ask them if that is alright and it won’t take long. Usually, most of them are going to agree and say go ahead.

The first question you ask is if they’re just looking for the lowest bids versus quality? Then tell them if they are, you won’t be a good fit. Usually people will say they’re looking for quality but of course price comes into play. If they’re adamant about looking just  for the lowest bid, tell them flat out they are not the right client for your services and move on. You just saved an hour of your precious time just by asking this question alone!

The next question is to ask them what’s their real reason why they are looking for a cleaning company for their business. We want to drill down and get them to tell us what their pain is, because ultimately our proposal will be used as a piece of marketing material to get them to say yes to us. That means we want to include the solution to their pain INSIDE our actual bid proposal.

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Next, you want to set it in their mind that when you come over it will be at least 30 minutes of you asking them questions about the property, what previous cleaners did etc. Make sure they’re okay with that. Tell them you will be shutting off your phone for 30 minutes to give them your undivided attention and get them to agree that they equally will not be distracted during those 30 minutes so they can hear you out.

Now comes the final portion.

Ask them if they would be okay if for ANY reason you feel it isn’t the right fit for the both of you, that you can tell them that. This will disarm them, what kind of salesperson actively tells you they might choose not to allow you to be their client?

The second part to this last question is to also get them to agree that if THEY feel it isn’t the right fit for any reason that they will let you know right away.

This can save you a massive amount of time and is just good business practice.

Now with proper ground rules set to help you win over those decision makers, let’s dive into the Lightning Round!