Going out on a bid is an exciting time. You get a chance to show why YOU should get the job. It can also be a opportunity to make more than you thought possible.
Sometimes you may across an account that has been neglected, and needs some more comprehensive cleaning in order to get the account up to speed.
In cases like these, when you are doing the walk through with the customer, it can be an opportunity to “suggest” a one time cleaning to get the facility in good shape going forward. This would allow you to earn extra performing a heavy duty cleaning in addition to the monthly cleaning you are seeking (this can also work in the residential market).
I can’t say that I do this often, but given all the jobs we’ve had over the years it is something that happens every now and again. To put this in perspective, I’ll make mention of one account in particular where this option worked really well for both me and the customer.
I was called to take a look at a decent size facility where they had a bunch of executive offices to go along with a large manufacturing space. The place was really neglected and needed a lot of work to look presentable. Normally I try to avoid aiming for the one time heavy duty cleaning because I don’t want the potential customer thinking I’m out to empty their bank account.
I almost always tell the potential customer I’ll throw a little extra effort in over the course of the first few weeks to get the account looking good. I do this to both curry favor in hopes of landing the account, and quite frankly I like making a difference once hired. It starts the customer relationship out on the right foot when done correctly.
There are times however where I can sense that the manager wants more of an “immediate” return on hiring a new cleaning company. In a nutshell they want it to look good tomorrow, or within the first visit or two. Sometimes they just want to see results fast while other times it can be because they have an important meeting coming up or some big boss is about to visit the facility.
When something like this happens I’ll throw out the idea of doing a big clean. In the case of this account I suggested a one time clean, carpet cleaning and window cleaning. They were very open to the idea so I said I would bid that separate when I submitted the regular cleaning bid. If they had given me a negative vibe once I brought that up, I would have just dropped the topic all together.
But because they said OK, I wound up submitting the bid for that extra work too. This little suggestion was quite profitable, as the one time cleaning was $270.00, the windows were $80.00 and the carpets were nearly $800.00. All in all it totaled over $1,100.00. Just by paying attention to the situation and being willing to experiment with my approach, I profited nicely.
I’ll wrap this up by suggesting you experiment from time to time with trying to get the one time cleaning charge on the front end (provided the situation warrants it). It can be a win-win situation for both the individual needs of the customer and your bank account.