Ok, so today was my road day, getting business…out of the 1st 10 stops I made, I landed 3 accounts…and then 2 more should be a yes by the end of the day…so THAT is awesome…I FREAKING LOVE cold calling!..but the BIG opportunity may come my way in about 2 weeks…and here is my newbie question…
I have an opportunity to propose a large regional chain of convenient stores…just your basic convenient store that would normally be service for between $30 to $50 bucks each…but I have an opportunity to land several…and when say several, I’m talking somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 stores!..might not sound like a lot…but it is to me! haha!
In all of your experience here, how in the world do you go about making a proposal that will benefit you and the chain of stores at the same time.DO you just calculate what the average price per store would be and then apply that amount times the total number of stores? What is your formula for a big proposal such as this?..well…big to me…considering if I can land this account, I could possibly go full time in this business a lot sooner than I had planned.
A chain with that many locations they must really be spread out, you’re not likely going to charge the same for each location if the drive time takes longer than the job
These are in my normal work location…it’s pretty spread out anyway as I travel to several small towns within a 30 mile radius of my home. Actually these stores are in a fairly tight radius as well…as a matter of fact, there are about 6 or of them in locations just a few mules from each other …They are a variety of sizes, that’s why I was thinking about averaging out what each location would be…I can get more info when I find out how many will be on the list…I could easily factor in drive time with the bid.
That’s great to hear! Each location will have different price because of different amounts of glass and different window situations (signage, booths), time between (mileage) locations. Terms of payments, take all these thing into consideration when quoting.
Oh yeah…I can easily build routs around them…I’m pretty happy about how things have been going. Since I am doing this part time…2 or 3 days a week depending on my full time work schedule, I have been landing accounts at an above average rate. I had a plan on being in this business full time by spring 2018…I may be full time sooner than I planned, as I am going to find it hard to schedule jobs on my “days off”…good problem to have right?!
Many people hate cold calls…be it in person or on the phone…I LOVE them…and I think prospective clients can see how much I enjoy it when I talk to them…could be a secret to the success I am having.
I felt a little bad today,as I went into a business…wrote an estimate down before I even went in. As I was talking to the Manager, he never mentioned he had someone until after I handed him the quote…20 bucks less than his current guy. I definitely did not over charge him because I thought he would laugh at me…but I ended up landing the account and possibly a second. I felt bad that I may have cost someone a client…but at the same time, It’snot like I went in there to knockoff the competition or talk trash about hos current window cleaner…It’s business I suppose!
I started out Store front because I needed to save money to get the things I want for residential…but suddenly, I am getting calls out of nowhere for residential…so I went and bought a ladder…you should see my 24’…3 section extension ladder stuffed in my Ford Fusion…it rocks!..with my company name on the side with car magnets haha!. I am hoping by end of July, I can manage to get a van…then next on the list is a Pure Water System!..These residential people have found me through word of mouth from my Facebook friends.
But to answer your question…mainly Commercial and Store Front right now
Nice to hear you’re picking up pace quick. I got some one timers and that was it. But it was worth the practice! I have some others that aren’t too happy with their contracts so we shall see with some follow-ups here in the near future. How big you trying to go by the way? One - two trucks? Or just yourself?
The only reason I ask is a lot of times these “opportunities” in Storefront turn out to be nightmares.
4 Reasons To Run Away From This Right NOW
They will pay you as little as possible
They will slow pay you
They will drop you the moment someone cheaper comes along
Opportunity cost. You’re going to miss a big chunk of the busy season running around bidding and servicing.
I had 80 individual routes at one time thousands of accounts. An opportunity like this would be great for us because we would use it to fill in space and make a few extra bucks. BUT it only worked because we had lots of good paying mom and pop store front route accounts around all the locations.
You’ll find in StoreFront, the mom and pop accounts will be your best. They usually pay on time or at the point of service, and they are loyal to you. These big 30 StoreFront deals drive the price down so low. They bid it out to everyone and almost always only award on price.
Oh once they drive the point down to the price where you basically are losing money completing the jobs… You better believe they are going to slow pay you. 30 Days minimum 90 - 120 days highly possible. They don’t care you are just another # to them.
I don’t mean to be a downer, and I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t do this. I’m just letting you in on some of the realities of StoreFront.
I’m definitely not taking it as you being a downer. You speak the truth because you have been there! I think what is beneficial to me, is there are so many people here who give the kind of advice you just did. These are factors I will be going in there with in mind. I have run across a few already that pay invoices too far out to make it worth my while. I actually followed up at an Outback Steakhouse yesterday…which has windows in dire need of cleaning. The manager explained to me the headache involved in getting set up as a vendor and getting paid. So he offered me a trade…I do his windows once a month and he gives me a fee dinner…I’m not interested.
I have considered locking these kind of accounts into a contract…and I will bid them higher because of the reason you stated. As I stated in my last comment, I found myself inadvertently undercutting another Window Cleaner yesterday as well…although I did not under bid the job…I did give a lower estimate than their current guy…I did feel bad…but not as bad as I would have if I pulled a “Bucket Bob” kind of move.
Thanks for the advice…I will apply everything you said and make it worth my time and energy!
I want to grow…But I’m not putting pressure on myself about how big I want to get…My first goal is to obtain a Pure Water System…that will open a lot of doors. My first goal is to become completely full time with just myself…then, when the work I have makes it hard to canvas for new business, I will hire someone to help do the work so I can grow more.
I don’t want to rush myself and make mistakes by growing too fast…I want to build a nice savings and grow one step at a time. Now…the end goal, if I really sat down and put thought into it, would be two trucks in the field. I would ideally like to have one more sales person besides me building business as well. Maybe 4 or 5 total on staff besides me and my Fiance…But like I said, I don’t want to think more than a year down the road at a time…Maybe this is the wrong way to go about it, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself and fail. What are your thoughts on that?
Baby steps is the way to go. I am there myself. It does kind of suck working at night for someone else when working for yourself in the day time. Don’t feel rushed as everyone keeps saying you should do this and that. Just grow as you need and you’ll get there.
Interesting experience @Chris. I’ve actually found that in Storefront we see the opposite of what you saw. Mom & Pop are generally the worst for us, most are barely surviving it seems and cannot even fathom paying for window cleaning or want to pay too little. Yes they usually pay at time of service so that is about the only positive.
If an opportunity like @whitehorse67 stated presents itself you need to price it correctly. Do not give average pricing, each store will have a different amount of glass, different travel time, etc. I would take @Chris advice if I were you and not waste too much time. Visit them all at night so you can do more productive things during the day, that way if the proposal doesn’t pan out… all you lost was some evening TV/reading/sleeping time and not $$$.
I was actually thinking night time would be good…the storefronts are well lit. To your point also, each store seems to have a different variety of windows…very diverse. That’s one reason I was thinking about averaging the price out and then marking it up a certain percentage. Just charge on BIG flat fee…and that will depend on the frequency of service as well.
It never works out that way, price each one separately…
Add to my response: If you just gave a “set price”, what would happen if they canceled all the easy ones and left you with the P.I.T.A jobs, just food for thought @whitehorse67
This is true…but relative to my conversation with the decision maker, It would be the stores in my service area…about a 30 Mile radius… They have well over 100 stores in NY and PA…
