Cold Calling ???

jlpressure

jlpressure

JL Pressure Washing
I'm looking for some ideas on cold calling techniques. When I started my biz I did residential, now since late 2003 I mainly do Propertty Managers work with 75% of the work being condo complexes.

Well most of my work Ive gotten is by calling, writing & faxing these property management companies. Also I have a freind that put in a good name for me to some PM's

I really hardly ever or ever have done cold calling. Some of it is because I didnt really know how to , some was my own insecurities, I definitly cant talk to large group (Crappy fear of public speaking). Now with the experience and really good growth of my company I have no problem talking with PM's, ones Ive worked for before or who I have never worked for. I feel confident much more now.

I have a few parking garages that I do regularly, BUT theres HUNDREDS of parking garages in my area from 25K to 500K sq ft. Alot of the properties around here dont keep them up well, some do some dont. Also around here the GM's of the properties make all the decisions and quite often dont even go through the PM's for the maintenance stuff

I want this parking garage work!!!!!!! How do some of the larger companies and or Pros of cold calling do it. How do you get to these GM's that usually dont even want to be bothered. I have sent generic letters to some just addressed to GM. Im looking for ideas and help. We do a ton of condo complexes, I want to do a ton of Parking garages. We can handle any amount of work that comes our way. I have good crew and can always build more crews now I just have to get up the B's and get the knowledge of how to get the work

Any Help would be great!! HOW DO YOU ALL COLD CALL ??


ALSO how do some companies do flat work up and down the coast. I know of some that work from the Northeast to the South or get a lot of out of state work. How is this done


JL Pressure Washing The Future Pressure Washing KING of Myrtle Beach & Beyond :)
 
jlpressure said:
I'm looking for some ideas on cold calling techniques. When I started my biz I did residential, now since late 2003 I mainly do Propertty Managers work with 75% of the work being condo complexes.

Well most of my work Ive gotten is by calling, writing & faxing these property management companies. Also I have a freind that put in a good name for me to some PM's

I really hardly ever or ever have done cold calling. Some of it is because I didnt really know how to , some was my own insecurities, I definitly cant talk to large group (Crappy fear of public speaking). Now with the experience and really good growth of my company I have no problem talking with PM's, ones Ive worked for before or who I have never worked for. I feel confident much more now.

I have a few parking garages that I do regularly, BUT theres HUNDREDS of parking garages in my area from 25K to 500K sq ft. Alot of the properties around here dont keep them up well, some do some dont. Also around here the GM's of the properties make all the decisions and quite often dont even go through the PM's for the maintenance stuff

I want this parking garage work!!!!!!! How do some of the larger companies and or Pros of cold calling do it. How do you get to these GM's that usually dont even want to be bothered. I have sent generic letters to some just addressed to GM. Im looking for ideas and help. We do a ton of condo complexes, I want to do a ton of Parking garages. We can handle any amount of work that comes our way. I have good crew and can always build more crews now I just have to get up the B's and get the knowledge of how to get the work

Any Help would be great!! HOW DO YOU ALL COLD CALL ??


ALSO how do some companies do flat work up and down the coast. I know of some that work from the Northeast to the South or get a lot of out of state work. How is this done


JL Pressure Washing The Future Pressure Washing KING of Myrtle Beach & Beyond :)
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Jeff, there are two ways to cold call, but only one way to do it, IF you are not a born salesman.

Remember these words Jeff "Can you help me" ?

When you go into a property managers office, you MUST get past the secretary.
To do this, you must first make her like you.
People LIKE to help people, so ASK her to help you.

Say something like this ?
"Hi, my name is Jeff, can you help me" ?
"I am trying to find out who is the person I need to speak to about cleaning the parking garages at Myrtle is"
Then SHUT UP

When she tells you who the person is, ask her IF you might be able to speak to him ?
If not, ask her IF she will have him contact you, and ask for HER name, and his name.
Thank her PROFUSELY for her help, be humble, and leave.
Wait a week or so, and then call back if no luck the first time, and talk to her.
The secretary is the first line of defense, make her like you, and you will be in.
 
Apple Roof Cleaning said:
Jeff, there are two ways to cold call, but only one way to do it, IF you are not a born salesman.

Remember these words Jeff "Can you help me" ?

When you go into a property managers office, you MUST get past the secretary.
To do this, you must first make her like you.
People LIKE to help people, so ASK her to help you.

Say something like this ?
"Hi, my name is Jeff, can you help me" ?
"I am trying to find out who is the person I need to speak to about cleaning the parking garages at Myrtle is"
Then SHUT UP
When she tells you who the person is, ask her IF you might be able to speak to him ?
If not, ask her IF she will have him contact you, and ask for HER name, and his name.
Thank her PROFUSELY for her help, be humble, and leave.
Wait a week or so, and then call back if no luck the first time, and talk to her.
The secretary is the first line of defense, make her like you, and you will be in.
Click to expand...

just like a car man !!!!!
 
Jeff.. When you get into the PM office look around. There will be a lot of stuff that will tell you about him/her. Golf trophys, "are you able to get out and play as offten as you like", "whats your favorite course" etc, a picture of kids in some sort of uniform," any of those children yours"," are you coaching ". People love to talk about what their passion is. All you have to do is observe. It may be racing cars, antique furniture,pictures of airplanes, or just beautiful pictures. Some momento on his desk. Believe me there is something to run with. Try it. Dan Cosgrove
 
DAN COSGROVE said:
Jeff.. When you get into the PM office look around. There will be a lot of stuff that will tell you about him/her. Golf trophys, "are you able to get out and play as offten as you like", "whats your favorite course" etc, a picture of kids in some sort of uniform," any of those children yours"," are you coaching ". People love to talk about what their passion is. All you have to do is observe. It may be racing cars, antique furniture,pictures of airplanes, or just beautiful pictures. Some momento on his desk. Believe me there is something to run with. Try it. Dan Cosgrove
Click to expand...

did you dell cars too ??? haha or insurance ???? i did both
 
Hi jb

ive done quite a bit of cold calling.

the first thing and most important thing is to plan your day and no matter what happens our how many no our yes's you get WORK YOUR PLAN !!!!!

what i used to do is quite simple but i found fairly effective

on the weekend saturday afternoon start on my week ahead plan

i would send out twenty five letters to my choosen business stating that i would be calling on them the following monday to give them a free quote
and a quick chat about there cleaning needs. At the bottom of the letter i would put if this is dose not suite them please call this number to arange a better time and date.

Nobody ever called to cancel the so called apoinment but some did call to book on work.

If you star with 25 letters each week it will soon snowball


The following monday was just a matter of going and seeing them face to
face.

Face to face sales our some might call direct sale's

Be confident and know what your talking about dont talk any BS they will suss you out and you will crash and burn, but worst of all you wont be abile to go back to them. Another important point to remenber is if they say no there and then is to always leave the gate open for a future visit. You may have just cought them on a bad day.
Basacily what i was always trying to achive on the first call was

1, let them know that you exsist.

2, Find out there cleaning needs if any.

3, tell them in a simple way that they can understand how you can solve these needs for them.

4, Never talk about price unless they ask first and then only talk about price when they have shown you work that they need doing right away our need doing in the near future.

5,Your not there to start under cutting some body else in my opion its just unprofessional. try and get the work of them by always being professional and showing them that you can do a better job than the other guy If it comes down to price then its up to the indavidual. But i always try to stick to my guns for what i need for the job in hand.

6, ALWAYS KEEP SMILEING AND ALWAYS BE PROFESSIONALL EVEN IF THERE NOT,

Never take a no as an personal attack on your good self, they just dont want your services

I could go on but i will stop here. as i find for self that the above was a good starting ground.

The hardest thing is to get past the gate keepers. but personality will shine through in the end.

I hope this helps you in some way.

Davy.
 
I consider myself a salesmen before a pw. Let it come natural.. relaxe. Some good stuff in this thread..should set you up well. You make your money with your selling power, not your pw imo. I know folks that are better equiped than I am and have more xp but they cast a shade darker than vader himself. Remember you are selling your image. Hate to say it but no matter how much wip cream you pile on top of ****..nobody is going to eat it. Be honest. Cold calling works, I do it when I am slow. Plus its cheaper than another worthless addy. I had zero ads my first 2 years and I made more MONEY than some of the time I have had ads all over the place. Now its repeats that are good clients that I want to service.

I have folks around here that flat out lie to customers about me when they hear we are on the same bid. I cant believe some of the crap they make up. Then I show up with my honest baby face and honest service and they get owned 99% of the time, unless its a gullable fool price shopping. Then in that case they can deal with that moron. You dont want that customer.

I find my selling power is streaky like in basketball. I get a hot hand and the vibe is flowin, I make it a point to go do some cold sales. Dont do it when you
are in a valley. You will get frustrated and look like an idiot. just my .02
 
Jeff...pick up the book "How to Master the art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins

I've been selling something since I'z 16 and have become pretty good at it, I have read all of his stuff and apply it. Number 9 in the state of California for insurance when I was 18...number 4 salesman in my company when I was in the food industry at 24 years old...

You can do it..but it is a skill that has to be learned, don't wing it.
 
Hi Hot shot

I totally agree with you as selling being a skill that has to learnt.
and the best way to learn is to just go and do it,
and plan plan plan. if you know some skilled sales people Jeff as them about how they go about making a sale.I always find good professional sales people like to talk and give out good helpfull advice.

Iwas lucky enough to have worked in a direct sales invirement for 4 &years
before starting a cleaning business. So i got some real good free training and plenty of field exsperence before i left.
Its just a pity they didnt teach me how to spell correctly.
But they did teach me how to use a calculater real well.

Have fun Jeff.

Davy
 
my advice would be to start with the most undesirable prospects first.
any stuttering or nervousness will be used on them. after a few of these you will have your sch-peal(sp?) and script a Lil more together.
 
How would you go about finding a salesman? Just run an ad in the paper, word of mouth?
 
R L S said:
How would you go about finding a salesman? Just run an ad in the paper, word of mouth?
Click to expand...

I would say just like any other company would. Craigslist, Monster Jobs, Paper, Worth of Mouth. Getting someone to work on commision may be harder.
 
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