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EZDAYMAN

New Member
Ok tell me what are your ways of going about talking to people about doing a job i go to taco bell's kfc's burger king's. where there driveways are just nasty.... and there dumpster areas too are just gross.. i tell them i can make it look great and it will make the customers think you care about the look of the outside..... well i never get phone calls back i have underbid over charger and i never get phone calls back... this one manger told me he would give me 100 buck for a 350' drive thru and the dumpster area.... i told him nope can you guys tell me what i need to do..... also do you guys ever call up places and tell them what you can do or are you more about in your face selling?

p.s. im sorry if the spelling is bad on here i just had 5 cups of coffie and im on my laptop thanks for understanding and i hope someone gets back to me...
thanks again
Jayson
 
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RogerG

New Member
Bring your rig one day, walk up the manager and offer to do a small demo - be prepared to give him a figure. Let him know that maintenance is less expensive than a full clean - but don't crank your price down for the initial clean with the promise of repeat business - they will lie, unfortunately. If you are practicing recovery, point out that you comply with EPA regulations regarding water run-off (it's very likely that the employee that they have hosing the place down every so often ISN'T, which could open them up to large fines from the EPA if it ever was enforced in your area).

What kind of set-up do you have? If you're going to be doing flatwork at these type places - a surface cleaner is almost going to be a must and hot water will be pretty important as well. Gum is a booger to get up with cold water and drivethrough pads are covered most of the time.

We have a monthly contract with Applebees and we get paid in food with them (I would never consider this with a fast food place) but the nicer restaurant gigs work out pretty well. It comes off the manager's promo budget, we don't show income - we have great exposure - we eat good, everyone's happy :) I told Roger that if he'd work out the same deal with IHOP, Outback and a seafood place - I could permanently close down my kitchen LOL :D

Celeste

P.S. We have always used the "in your face" method - gives you a chance to show what you know and what you can do. That's hard to do over the phone.
 
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EZDAYMAN

New Member
hmmmmmmmmm

yeah i have a 15 foot trailer with 1-- 200 gallon tank and 1 --150 tank . i have a surface cleaner hot and cold equit. 195 degress to just cold water. have the turbo. my equit looks good bought it new and built the trailer my self... i have to reals with 100 feet each on them... have a dimond metal box on the back to give it a nice touch to keep the odd and ends in... but even with all that i get no takers..... this is what makes me mad is i saw some guy pressure washing the local medical center by my home with just a 3 foot trailer and a cold p/w bolted to it... what i cant get is how he got that job ... hmmm i think people in minnesota are scared of new things... we only have 4 or 5 biz's that do this kinda of work up here and they really dont put there name out there.. im getting door hanger printed up to see if that work's im going to drive around looking for houses that are forsale and see if any of them bit....
 
Dave Olson

Dave Olson

New Member
"this one manger told me he would give me 100 buck for a 350' drive thru and the dumpster area.... i told him nope"

You missed a good opportunity! He was going to pay you to demo and you turned it down!

We use a two man crew and do a Taco Bell (Drive-thru, dumpster area, & sidewalks) in an hour and a half (monthly).

We use QuickBooks.

Dave Olson
 
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RogerG

New Member
Quick Books Pro here - great all around program for estimates, billing, payroll - I like that you can email estimates & invoices straight from the program.

Celeste
 
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DrWhipIt

New Member
Say there EZDAYMAN, I'm suprised you feel Minnesotans are "scared of new things". I grew up there and have two very good friends that do window cleaning and one of them does power washing and charges through the nose. (up to $750 to PW a home without using chems, although now he knows better since I set him straight)
But about your post, cold calling is tough so have a "sales pitch" pre written with answers to common questions. And this may sound corny but you should actually "rehearse" your lines and answers. I sold knife sharpeners up ta da State Fair dere an, boy howdy, a good pitch sure does move product, I tell ya!
 
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Sonlight

New Member
I guess I will jump in here and offer this advice. I don't really think the equipment gets the customers as excited as it does us. I am not really in the full time PW business but I do have a window cleaning business and we also do PW. I have a 5X8 single axle trailer with a 275 tank, a diamond plate box and two portable pressure washers mounted on the back. Most customers really don't care that my trailer doesn't have any hubcaps. They just want their structure clean. I found it helps to take some before and after pictures, put them in a photo album and show the prospects the results of your work. Give them a satisfaction guarantee, then price your service reasonably and you'll win a lot of business. With my little homemade rig I pull in 300-500 wk in PW work and it's just a side line for us. Windows are the bread and butter. Hope that helps.

Steve
 
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