Episode 171 Veronica Corona CM CLeaning Solutions Are you sick of chasing customers after you give them your bid for janitorial services? Veronica Corona owner of CM Cleaning Solutions is. She wants to know how to close more janitorial bids and hear less “we’ll think it over” How many janitorial bids do you give where your prospect tells you they love you and what you are offering but they just don’t get started? If the answer is more than zero- read on! What about janitorial bids that you gave months ago and are still following up on them and getting the run around? Want to know how to get them to make the decision quicker? Let’s do it… Close More Janitorial Bids without Begging and Chasing Start leveraging the power of Ground Rules. Before you even think about going on a job walk or preparing a janitorial bid, lay out ground rules. Agree up front on what exactly they want. Why that is important to them. Understand their needs. Be clear on who you will accept as a customer. If they don’t meet your standards (type of building, minimum pricing, etc.) DON’T waste time giving them a bid. Once you are clear on who they are and what they want it’s time to agree on what is going to happen when you are on site. How long will you be there. What they want to make sure gets accomplished. Get a commitment that they will have uninterrupted time to discuss their needs. Remember- they are inviting you out. They want you to take charge of the process and walk them through it. The worst time to attempt to fix your janitorial bidding process is AFTER you have given them the bid. KEY POINT: Don’t try to fix your janitorial bidding process after they have your proposal and they are already in hide and seek mode. Agree upfront that if either of you don’t think it is a good fit, you will be honest and up front with one another. Get clarity on what they would like to see happen next if you both DO think it is a good fit. This is where the magic happens. One of 2 things is going to happen: They are going to tell you they want to get started (sounds good to me) They are going to give you important information on how and when they will make a decision For example, have you ever heard “We need to take it to the board” or “I’ll have to discuss it with X”? When you hear that- it’s time for a story… “Thanks so much for sharing that, I totally understand. As a matter of fact, I remember helping a company similar to you. We did a job walk. We both invested quite a bit of time. They took it to their board- and the board had a bunch of questions. So many questions that we started the whole process again with the board involved. I remember my contact at that company being so frustrated that she didn’t invite me to present to the board at the very beginning. Maybe something like that would make sense in our situation now…” KEY POINT: Stories are powerful ways to communicate ideas without getting resistance The final way to supercharge your janitorial bids is to understand their real pain. They will almost always say something like “My pain is, I want the best cleaning at the cheapest price”. Price isn’t it. It is your job to get to the truth. You do this by asking high quality questions and listening carefully. Ask them about why they want to replace their current cleaning company. They might share a story about how the VP came down and the place was a mess.. ask them how that made them feel. They might tell you they were embarrassed and the company is downsizing and they don’t want to lose their job because their kids are going to college etc.. now you’re having a REAL conversation and getting to their TRUE pain. KEY POINT FOR JANITORIAL BIDS: No pain- no sale If they are looking for a new cleaner and your bid is competitive and they still aren’t making the switch, often the real pain is around making the switch. Maybe they think of their old cleaner as a friend. Maybe the pain of having to call them and have a difficult conversation is greater than the pain of poor cleaning. Once you discover their REAL pain, create a real solution. Instead of competing on price, create a “Easy Transition” service that removes the pain of changing cleaners. You can make the call firing the old company for your customer. Change the locks for them. Think through how you can solve that pain better than anyone else. THAT is how you close more janitorial bids! Before we end- Mike gives Veronica the opportunity to share her experience with Cleaning Nation in the…