Commercial accounts

[Clean County]

What is the most common commercial accounts that most people have? Is it drive thru banks; Mcdonalds;Restaurants;store fronts? And how many times a year are these jobs done on average? My business is purely residential and one day I would like to get some commercial accounts. IF one does a Mcdonalds what exactly does one do for them? And how do you get a Mcdonalds or lets say a 7-11 store for a client? Do you go in to those places and try to sell them your sevices or do they mostly call you thru a yellow page add you may have? Residential seems so much easier to me but Commercial seems very appealing for any business to be involved in. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

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[Mike Hughes]

Commercial is good money, but, I believe it is harder to get and keep the jobs.

All of the McDonalds around me do their own cleaning......including windows and pressure wasshing.

If you bid on any 7-11's and the like.....bid a little higher then usual because they almost always have alot of gum on the walks......and most of them haven't been cleaned in years....

Good luck

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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA

 

[rvagnoni]

John,

Sounds like Mike has been doing your homework. Just stay away from my commercial accounts... buddy!!!

Just kidding Mike...I know you wouldn't step on my toes.

Yes, I have checked in to the McDonalds and similar accounts. What Mike says is true. They usually have do their own cleaning. And like he said also if the property looks pretty dirty with lots of gum...like it hasn't been cleaned in years...there is a reason...They don't want to pay contractor's prices to clean it!

Maybe you will have better luck in your area with these types of accounts. Just going by my experiences.

Good luck!

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Rick - Deck Care Plus

 

[David Saulque]

Books can be written on this subject. You must examine what you do best not what all of us do. The nice thing about our service is that everything is open & everything needs to be cleaned. Therefore one must pick a niche that fits his desire, equipment, background and so on. My market is food service and I know my market and that should be everyone's goal. This is not to say that I know all I know my limitations and strengths.

David

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[Jim&Shirley]

WE AGREE WITH THE OTER POST HERE,COMMEREICAL ACCOUNTS ARE GREAT, BUT USUALLY VERY HARD TO GET,AND IT WILL SURPRISE MOST HOW TIGHT THEY ARE WITH THERE MONEY, AND IF IT EASY TO GET WATCH OUT,THERE WANTING ALOT FOR TOO LITTLE,AND IF THEY HAVNT, BEEN CLEANED IN YEARS, THEY WANT IT DONE FOR VERY LITTLE,AND IF YOU DO FIND A GOOD ONE YOU BETTER BE NOT ONLY THE BEST, BUT VERY COMPETIVE,THERES ALWAYS WILL BE SOMEONE ELSE WANTING THAT ACCOUNT, WE HAVE A FEW AND DONT WORRY BECAUSE WE RUN 2- MACHINES AND OUR MONEY STAYS IN OUR HOUSE,BUT THAT IS THE EXCEPTION, OTHERWISE YOU WORRY. JUST OUR THOUGHTS, BEST OF LUCK. JIM&SHIRLEY

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[David Saulque]

The last post is one side of the coin. The other side is commersial accounts are no harder to get than small ones. It comes down to WHAT you are looking to service and how well you plan. All good commersial accouts need service and as a rule are as loyal as the next guy. The difference is that they demand service in a timely manner at a market price. All my account are commersial and I would have it no other way.

In dealing with "commersial accounts" I keep two rules in mind. KISS and ABC-Keep It Simple Stupid & Always Be Closing. In short keep everything at a basic level and look for other opportunitys to sell my service.

DavidText

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[This message has been edited by David Saulque (edited January 01, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by David Saulque (edited January 01, 2001).]

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Well David I’m writing a book, don’t worry I have and edit team. My writing skills are not my strongest attribute. Commercial accounts what a subject!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I believe that if I didn’t have commercial accounts I would be broke. Waiting for that next phone call to come in for that deck that someone gets cleaned once a year or maybe twice. I cant live on that. A steady line up of commercial accounts every month week & scheduled maintenance programs that I can count on to keep crews busy every day & night. Commercial accounts are hard to get? Maybe, commercial accounts hard to keep? Not really.


Ok competitors and comrades here's a 101 in commercial accounts.

1. As David said get a market and plan of attack.
2. You will have better success with corporate franchise operation rather than franchisee themselves. (Remember franchisee the money come from there pockets}
3. Get on vendor lists.
4. get on approved vendor list if possible. Then you will be on there internal phone books. This is a huge task; once you have hurdled this you are set. Think about it they don’t go to the yellow pages to pick strangers they go to their own directory of approved vendor. Vendor with contract pricing, they make a phone call and you come and clean. Why does anyone not mention this? Huge secret!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rookies are you having trouble getting in because they say they have some already. Prove you are better not cheaper.
5. payment- are you on their vendor list? This is a question they will ask. They cannot hire you unless they pay you cash if you’re not on the vendor list.
6. payment problem #2- managers have problems approving large invoice amounts. They will not offer you this info you need to ask. Remedy offer to make two invoices or even three if necessary.
7. When they tell you they have their own pressure washers they are talking about their approved vendors. Rarely will a corporate McDonalds do there own pressure washing. I hate to be controversial again but the only people that I have run into doing their own pressure washing where isolated incidents. When you’re on the approved vendor list the managers refer to you as part of there team. This is why some pressure washing companies believe they have their own units. Also the managers have been bombarded by solicitations and are tired of talking to pressure washing people. They often will use this tactic to blow you off for good. Some have bought into this as I read the previous post. I simply tell the manager that if they have and in house pressure washer he should be fired. Give me you r managers name and number so I can contact someone who I can show this too. All of a sudden they are interested that I can show them they are not getting anything for their money. Remember if pressure washings is truly out of their hands then they will give you the number. Believe me they are solely responsible for that location and know they will either throw you off the property or listen because they know you know they are full of shit. If I’ am soliciting a property I already assumed it was nasty. You may think my tactics are aggressive you are right. Remember I could buy the line we have and in house service. Then the customer would think I’m and idiot when I left, my way he will respect me even if he does not like it. He will say this guys no sucker maybe I will give him a break.

8. When you have hurdled all these obstacles you are ready to attack this corporation full swing. It is very important to break in with one location. Once you have this location ask that manager if you can use his name as a reference.
9. District manager- offers a seminar on pressure washing talking about the many methods and techniques. Corporations are big on presentations & educational material. Put together a packet to give each manager at this meeting. You might have a brief presentation for the district manager to see so you get his blessing. Remember these are steps to win the upper managements approval.
a. Chemicals used
b. Type of equipment you use.
c. Demonstrate your cleaning techniques.
d. Tell them what to look for when hiring a pressure washing company.
e. Tell them how you differ from your competitors.
f. Never talk bad about competitors to group. Talk only about your strengths.
g. Make eye contact and shake everyone’s hand.
h. Give them a mug, calendar, pen, pencils, pads, business card and brochure to every person in attendance.
10. Visit everyone you see about five times or until they throw you off the property. I recently sold and account that said Ron if you promise not to come see me I will hire you to clean my store. Of course they where joking. They said that they knew I was serious about what I was doing and they felt confident in my patients and persistency. Remember I pressure no one. I visit customer after my education process reminding them I stand ready to serve them.

Just notes as how valuable commercial account are.

Example of and account I’m going after in the next couple of weeks.

Restaurant weekly service

Locations 2 total

Estimated time weekly 4.0 hours

Gross revenue 19,500 annually.

I have been working on this account for two months and have visited the customer about eight times since they opened about a year ago. Last time I was in I pined the guy down to a meeting to discuss issues I have with the current service he is using. First thing that got his attention was pointing the damage the current company was doing to the sidewalks. Second showing him that they are not cleaning the areas they actually say they are. He has talked with them and conveyed that he was not happy with there response on the issues and informed me that he would be replacing them after the first of the year and to contact him then. If you had several commercial account like these you would not need many. Some of you might want to know how I know what he was paying. He gave and invoice from the other company and told me to bid on the job. I have yet talked figures with the customer. I will probably charge more money than the other company simply because I can refute that the job requires more time than he was spending and this is why the other company damaged his concrete.


As far as the book I’ am writing. Two heads are better than one and five are better than two. Listen to your customers they will tell you what they need. Although it is fun to sell some folks things they don’t need. I guess I like the kill, if you don’t enjoy selling get out of business and get a government job with good benefits and retirement.

Ps if my posts are to long for you don’t read them.


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Ron Marshal Phoenix AZ
1-888-fleetwash

[This message has been edited by Ron Marshal (edited January 02, 2001).]

 

[Ron Musgraves]

John,


Almost forgot to answer your ?’s


All these location are great commercial accounts.

Question #1“ And how do you get a McDonald’s or lets say a 7-11 store for a client?â€
Knock on their door {talk with the gm and ask him how you can pressure wash his store}


Question #2“Do you go in to those places and try to sell them your services or do they mostly call you thru a yellow page adds you may have?†if you wait for the yellow page ad to kick in you will wait a long time for a McDonalds to call you.

Question #3“Residential seems so much easier to me but Commercial seems very appealing for any business to be involved in. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciatedâ€
You’re right residential maybe easier but I have commercial account that pay each and every month. Example a McDonalds that I have had for over ten years I have made to date exactly 21,000 on monthly service. Lets not talk about additional services and inspections washes that come up over night. 10,000 over the last ten years in just extras. Tell me a residential customer on average that anyone has made that kind of revenue. I myself have struggled with residential market. I don’t like the residential market simply because there’s no residual income. I feel like a used car salesman selling residential. Although I have friend that make more money than I do some days selling residential. I do think my annual gross is higher.


John, hope this helps this time, you need to knock on doors and meet with potential customers. Go to the marketing board everyone that knows this business has posted ideas to use. You need to just implement them. Do you like to eat out? this is a great way to meet the gms. Impose that they allow you to demonstrate your services, they will not turn you down you’re a customer. If they do don’t eat there anymore.


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Ron Marshal Phoenix AZ
1-888-fleetwash

 

[EDROCK]

<FONT COLOR="Red">Text</FONT c>some comm accounts are ok,but you better have all info on billing.I currently have McDonalds account (14 of them,)i was 125 days before 1st payment.u have to have store #,signed work sheet,(which is hard at times because we wash at night,)and my 1st mistake was......that i billed for all 14 on one billing .thought it would save time...DONT DO IT...
each store has to approve the cleaning and if u have one manager slow at doing that the payment is delayed...bill for each store seperate...don't worry that they do it theirself because the day i talked to GM they has just received new power washers for each store..u have to prove that u can do them a good job.. most mcdonald employees do a quicky to get done..as for what i do for them......i do the whole parking lot once a month but the concrete work such as --drivethru,sidewalks,and dumpster area gets done bi-weeklyGOOD LUCK AND GO AFTER THEM..

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[Ron Musgraves]

edrock,

You raise a good point, although I’ve never had a problem like that I could imagine that would be a nightmare. Hey, I guess you have not read my post. If you become and approved vendor this process will become smoother.


Mcdonalds corporate not franchise operations will pay invoice on and approved vendor without the manager approval under a certain dollar amount. If you ever get caught submitting a false invoice deliberately you will be terminated and prosecuted.

1. Always put your vendor number on invoices with their store number and address. The address means nothing to them. They go by store number and your vendor number.
2. Send a copy of invoice directly to this addr. mcdonald corporate headquarters account payable the name of your representative. Some companies have reps. some you just get who ever they give you. Remember this is for mcdonalds corporate stores only. Each franchise operation will have different guidelines. The addr. For corp. is PO box 1721 oak brook IL 60522-1721 I fax a statement to my rep. she prefers that rather than dealing with the invoices. I would imagine that if you are doing work for the first time and they are setting you up as a new vendor it would take longer than normal. I love mcdonalds payment process, other operations such as tricon stinks. You need to jump through hoops to get paid. Each and every invoice needs not only be hand approved but stamped by the manager and approved by the district office. some invoices over certain dollar amounts need approval even higher up.
3. I personally in my contracts state we will obtain no signature for payment approval. Some out there may think that this is and impossible thing to do. I just tell my customers if we cant build a relationship of trust and respect then maybe we are not the company you should hire. Don’t get me wrong if they insist we will get signatures. Currently the signature I am required to get is low.
4. obtain a list of store number and manager names from head office. if you are a vendor they will send it.

remember this just because you do work for a company does not mean you are a vendor.
Most large companies have three different types of vendor requirements.

1. Temporary cash vendor. You have done work occasionally.
2. A regular vendor. This means they have some info such as your tax id and maybe have tagged you first name in a database. If and when they update they may purge your info from their system and make you fill it out again at a later date. They will send you a letter that they are updating their files. When in reality they threw you off because they where cleaning house.
3. Approved vendor. This is when you have filled out all paper work in triplicate giving all financial and personal info about your company. This is where you are establishing a common trust and legitimacy about your business to either purchasing agents and or area maintenance personnel. Predetermined pricing will be required. This protects them at later time so the vendor does not over charge them. This usually means someone important knows you personally.




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Ron Marshal Phoenix AZ
1-888-fleetwash

 

[Clean County]

Ron, You the man. 6 yrs ago when I started my pw business I had a problem finding out information pertaining towards powerwashing. I use to go to the libraries but they had very little information if any at all on this topic. So basically I learned from trial and error. A tough way to learn when your knowledge is limited but a way to learn never the less. 2+ yrs ago I snapped the lock off my wallet and I bought a computer. I remember a quote Bill Gates said back then which was " If you don't have a computer now, in three years you will be left behind".
How right he was.
Your post was very informative and if I was a college professor who taught powerwashing you would get an a+. Keep up the good work Ron. If anyone thinks your post are to long then its there loss because your post usually are very informative from begining to end.



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[Ron Musgraves]

John,

Thanks for the complement. Most guys don’t even thank you when you have given them advice. I do run long sometimes on my posts. Oh well, they will get over it I’m sure.

Thanks again, John.


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Ron Marshal Phoenix AZ
1-888-fleetwash

 

[Two Guys Enterprise]

Ron,
Some in here cry for the lack of information that's dispensed. Others value the awareness and resulting thoughts that a well worded nugget of information can create.
They say divorce is like barbed wire, it's easier to get over it than get through it.
Thank you for showing me a hole in the barbed wire, now I can see what those woods beyond look like without getting stuck.
I'm betting your book is gonna be a killer! Provoke thought, you never know what you'll learn from the questions you inspire.

Dave

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Two Guys' Enterprise
"Superior Results at a Sensible Price"

 

[Cody]

<FONT COLOR="e87400">Heh!!! and here I always thought you were just supposed to go to the cashier,,they are the ones that handle the money right

</FONT c>

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<FONT COLOR="orange">This Busienss is Great

Hydro-Emulsification Surface Preparation Specialist </FONT c>

 

[Mike Hughes]

Guys,

On my way to the airport to go to the last PWNA seminar in Cleveland, I stopped at a McDonalds for breakfast.

Employee was out in the parking lot washing concrete with the store's own hot water washer (see pic). A prime example of what we're up against out here. I presume it was not a corporate store.

I just came accross this pic and figured I'd share it....

Mike



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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Mike,

Holy cow, what a nightmare of a safety issue. No barricades, cones or wet floors or hot equipment signs.
I would not have stop for coffee someone already settled that lawsuit for a few million. How about you play dumb and stick your hand in the burner opening and really collect. No warning signs, I find it hard to believe someone could be this stupid. How hot is a burner, does anyone know? I would imagine hotter than a cup of coffee times ten. A small child could easily reach right in that machine. It would only take a few seconds and the child would be burned. I would guess this would have to be a franchise to be this stupid. I know the safety team from corporate Mcdonalds would flip. The legal department would cry. Mike I would contact the owner or corporate witch ever one and tell them about this. This is a great selling point, no safety even being taken into consideration at all. Hose running every where with out any precautions. Looks like they where doing it in the middle of the day. If you do not to report this to the owner I would love to send it to some safety people I know from Mcdonald’s and get their response. Of course if you approach the people involved they will appreciate the professionalism of you pointing this out. Please remember you could piss someone off, someone could also loose his or her job. I would approach them a raise it to someone’s attention that matters. Hey nothing to loose except they may contract instead of doing it themselves.


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Ron Marshal Phoenix AZ
1-888-fleetwash

 

[Mike Hughes]

Ron,

Do whatever you want with the picture.........the McDonalds in question is not in my market. I was on vacation in Wildwood, New Jersey at the time......that is where the store is located. It was about ten in the morning, and like you said, no safety at all........

Mike

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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA

 

[Jim&Shirley]

DAVID I THINK YOU ARE VERY WRONG,THRE IS A TRICK TO IT YOU HAVE TO KNOW EXACTLY WHO THE RIGHT PERSON IN A COMPANY IS TO TALK TO. SOMETIMES YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW AND THEN IT TURNS OUT THAT IT ISN'T THAT GUYS DECISION AT ALL. SO NO IT IS NOT THAT EASY THE SMALLER COMPANIES AND HOUSES ARE A LOT EASIER THAN THE BIG CORPORATIONS, AT LEAST YOU KNOW WHEN YOU TALK TO THE MANAGER OR THE OWNER (WHICH ARE A LOT EASIER TO GET TO SEE) YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE PERSON WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS. THAT IS THE ONLY PERSON I AM REALLY LOOKING FOR ANYWAY.

RON
THANKS FOR THE INPUT,OF THE IN-OUTS THIS WILL HELP ALOT OF PEOPLE, AND I ALSO APPRECIATE THE WAY YOU EXPLAIN THINGS SO ALMOST EVERYONE CAN UNDERSTAND, ALSO THANKS MIKE FOR THE PHOTO,YOU AND RON YOU HAD A VERY GOOD POINT.

JIM&SHIRLEY

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[This message has been edited by Jim&Shirley (edited January 12, 2001).]

 

[David Saulque]

The first key to selling is to know who can buy what you are selling. The term for that is "decision maker". My response was based on this fact being developed before. Selling is like anything the more you do it the better you are. Practice, Practice and more Practice. The big guys are just as easy as the little guys-YOU MUST THINK THAT WAY-IF NOT you will never get the big accounts.


David

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[Jim&Shirley]

David,
Just wanted to know, for the new guys out there, Just who is the person you talk to at every company.

What I was getting at is that at some companies I have found that the purchasing department handles our service, when you go to another company it maybe a store manager, DM, maintance or who knows. You can get the run around for days on end because alot of times the person you are talking with don't even know.
That is why I said that there is a trick to it and that trick may take you a week or more to find for each individual company.

We have been doing companies, most of our business is larger companies, but it does take time to find the right person to talk to. You have to be persistant just to get your foot in the door. That is the trick in sell anything.

Jim & Shirley

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