Hello from Natasha, Alfa Facilities Management Services Ltd

[mypostroom]

Hello

I'm Natasha, I just registered a new company as limited, I have vat number and bank account etc. My business is commercial, industrial and retail cleaning, (offices, shops, factories, laboratories, leisure), but I am strugling in finding contracts. I'm on the streets giving out letters and business cards together with an advert on Google search engines but no luck.

Is there any business outhere in London in need of a cleaning company?
I really need help to get started.

Thank you very much in advance

Natasha Christine
info@alfafacilitiesmanagementservices.co.uk

[barry.hynd]

:D

Welcome Natasha i'm sure you'll find the forums useful. I happen to run a contract cleaning business up in Scotland. For what it's worth pretty much all of my clients are acquired through direct marketing, word of mouth or networking. Contract Cleaning is a business that doesn't really benefit from google etc so while I have a website I tend to get all my business from the methods above. I hope this helps.

[mypostroom]

Thanks for your reply Barry
I am doing direct markting... walking the streets sending out business letters and business cards.

about networking, what do you mean networking?
Word of mouth is out of question since I haven't got any contracts yet, but direct markting and networking could you explain/reveal more what tactics do you use.

Regards
Natasha

[americatelefon.com]

Welcome to the forum, Natasha!
Wish you luck in your business!

Regards

[Jayne]

Hi Natasha,

Have you tried visiting bakeries and sandwich shops, stainless steel canopies are murder to keep clean. Maybe hospital contracts, they could do with some good cleaners there. :D

Best Wishes

Jayne

Good luck with your new business!

[SmallBizSoftware]

Hi Natasha

Buisness networking for contracts is not something that I have experience of, but a good friend sells door entry systems in the South East and he has picked up a lot of work through his local BNI club

Link below for my local branch who I am sure could put you in touch with yoru local lot, note that I can not reccomend and am not in any way affiliated with these guys

http://www.miwebs.com/bni/home.html

cheers
Graham (http://www.smallbizsoftware.co.uk)

[mumper]

Hi Natasha,

Welcome to the forums. Unfortunately, start-up businesses can tend to be very slow to get going as I'm sure most of the members here will tell you.

Keep at it - you will get there :D

[mypostroom]

Welcome to the forum, Natasha!
Wish you luck in your business!

Regards

Thank you

[mypostroom]

Hi Natasha,

Have you tried visiting bakeries and sandwich shops, stainless steel canopies are murder to keep clean. Maybe hospital contracts, they could do with some good cleaners there. :D

Best Wishes

Jayne

Good luck with your new business!

Thanks Jayne

Hospitals only deal with major companies like Mediclean, I have been trying all kinds of shops, plus accountant buildings, churches, schools, factories etc

I had no luck so far.

Thanks again for your reply

Regards

Natasha

[mypostroom]

Hi Natasha

Buisness networking for contracts is not something that I have experience of, but a good friend sells door entry systems in the South East and he has picked up a lot of work through his local BNI club

Link below for my local branch who I am sure could put you in touch with yoru local lot, note that I can not reccomend and am not in any way affiliated with these guys

http://www.miwebs.com/bni/home.html

cheers
Graham (http://www.smallbizsoftware.co.uk)

Thanks Graham for your help

I didn't know about this BNI thing. I am looking as we speak for the closest to London BNI site, as your link is from Brighton.

Regards
Natasha

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi Natasha

I've heard that the cleaning business is a great one to be in, that it has high margins and, at any moment, a sizable percentage of businesses (15-20%) are dissatisfied with their cleaning companies.

It may be that you're experiencing the "slow startup" factor. Or it may be that what you're doing isn't effective.

That's for you to figure out.

If it's not effective, it is going to be one of 3 things:

(1) The proposition
(2) How you deliver it
(3) Who you deliver it to

The proposition is what you offer your market, and how it differs from your competitors.

What is the headline on your leaflets and how does it positively differentiate you from your competitors?

How you deliver it is the method you use to communicate. I'm not sure, and Barry might have something to say about this, that leaflets are something your propects will respond to.

I've heard of people growing cleaning cleaning business from scratch by phoning businesses on a regular basis and just playing the numbers.

And who you deliver it to is whether your message (eg leaflets) ever get in front of the decision maker or whether they get binned by the gatekeeper.

I hope this helps

Steve

[directmarketingadvice]

I forgot to mention this in my previous post.

The other part of "the proposition" is what you ask the prospects to commit to initially.

Are you asking for a contract or offering them a chance to try out your services?

If they pay money for the initial experience with you, do you guarantee a
specific level of performance or their money back?

Steve

[jools]

Hi Natasha

Welcome to the Forums.



Julia Fecitt
_______________________________
www.secretarialservices4u.co.uk
Business Support for the 21st Century

[mypostroom]

I forgot to mention this in my previous post.

The other part of "the proposition" is what you ask the prospects to commit to initially.

Are you asking for a contract or offering them a chance to try out your services?

If they pay money for the initial experience with you, do you guarantee a
specific level of performance or their money back?

Steve

Hi Steve

Many thanks for your reply

You asked me what was the headline in my flyers,
it is not a flyer it's a company letter with the headline " Welcome to Alfa we deliver premium gold quality cleaning services" and it's true, i am in the cleaning business for 20 years and I have a family run business, if/when I got my first job/contract I or a member of my family will be doing it and I can guarantee a premium cleaning service.

in the letter I send I'm not asking for their contract, I am offering them a change to try out my family run cleaning services. and I do guarantee a excellent service according to their specification.

best regards

Natasha

[barry.hynd]

Hi Natasha,

Leaflets in the street wont work. You've got to get to the key decision makers. I use a database of contacts whom i letter to on a quarterly basis. I keep in contact with everyone where there is any chance of getting a contract. It's good to keep them thinking about you.

Sending a letter is only the first part, you then have to follow this up with a telephone call. You've got to be careful not to be too greedy, sometimes just getting the right persons name is good enough.

I'd also not try to portray yourself as a small family business as most clients of any real size will find this offputting. We found this out early and found that we could only attract a certain size of client. Thankfully this has now been rectified.

Cleaning is a strange industry that has a great deal of apathy attached to it. Alot of companies just wont change. I would say though just keep hanging in there because it will come.

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi Natasha

Sorry for calling them flyers.

The problem with using the phrases "premium quality" and "gold quality" is that they're vague and don't denominate what the clients should expect to experience as a result of using you rather than your competitors.

Words like "quality", "excellent" and "reliable" are so over-used that, unless they are combined with an explanation of what that means to the end user, they've lost their power.

Also, "premium" and "gold", if they mean anything to the reader, could suggest a level of service that is beyond the needs of your prospects (and a price to match).

The things Barry said about prospecting reflect what I've heard about the industry - a lot of getting started is just building a list of names and contacting everyone regularly.

At some point someone is going to be brassed off with their current cleaners and, when you call, they'll decide to reward your polite persistence and give you a try.

And try to focus on the "when I get my first job" rather than "if".

As long as you are willing to plug on and vary your behaviour where necessary, you'll get that first job.

Steve

[ebonybailey]

The problem with handing out flyers is that its very shotgun, you never know if its getting to the right people. If your any good on the phone use it to your advantage. Telemarketing gives you the opportunity to speak directly with decision makers. You can also ask the question " When is your contract up? or when do you plan to review?" This gives you a pipeline of opportunity for the short,meduim and long term future as well as picking up contracts now.

Welcome to what Im sure you already know is a very helpful forum.

Michael

[Julie]

Hi Natasha

Welcome to the forum.

Just to add to Steve's excellent post, perhaps it might be worth asking all those shops, accountant buildings, churches, schools and factories what they find frustrating about their existing cleaners, what drives them mad, or what they hate about cleaning for themselves.

Then, in your leaflets (and also when you talk about your business) you can say clearly and simply how you can solve those problems.

It is often said in marketing that you should think 'benefit' not 'feature'. In other words, 'premium gold quality cleaning service' is a feature (and not a very clear one, really) -- what does that mean to the client? How will you make his or her life easier?

You want the reader of your flyer to get a 'prickle' of clear understanding how their business and their life can be improved by taking you on and using your service....

I also think that BNI might be a good idea for you. If you go along to one of their meetings (you can visit as a guest, to see if it's right for you) you will be invited to stand up and talk about your business for a couple of minutes (in American parlance: an 'elevator speech'). When you do that, keep thinking 'benefits' -- for instance:

''We clean your premises in the evenings'' (feature)
= No vacuuming noise as you're trying to talk on the phone. (benefit)

''We take extensive references for all our cleaners'' (feature)
= You have peace of mind about having outside people on your premises. (benefit)...

... and so on. You get the picture.

And if something doesn't work, just view it as one step closer towards finding out what does.

Good luck,
Julie

[ebonybailey]

great post julie.

very informative.

Michael

[Julie]

Thanks, Michael... I was just smiling to myself, thinking about how long it took me to learn all this!

Julie :wink: