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What Do Customers REALLY Want?

February 4th, 2012 | Add a Comment

ShareWith customers and prospects in today’s marketplace cutting budgets and slashing costs, contractors are faced with ever shrinking profits, lower margins and higher cleaning requirements from customers. It is across the nation and not going away anytime soon. So what do customers really want from you?  Here are a few tips that will help you be on the winning side every time: Respect and Recognition. Nothing sounds better to a customer than his or her own name.  Use it throughout your conversations and communications with customers. They love to hear it. To be listened to with empathy and understanding. Hear what the customer is saying to you. Don’t assume you know what they want. Listen and HEAR, then act. Satisfaction (find a solution to their problem). Even if you don’t have the solution to … Read entire article »

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Flip This Business!

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Turning A Prospect’s Pain Into Your Gain!

Share The easy of sealing the deal when closing a sale can be summed up in one or 2 words; ”stop the pain”!  Every prospect you meet has some kind of stress or pain associated with the cleaning of their office space. Otherwise they would not have called you. The cleaning crew did not show up, they missed several trash bins, they forgot to refill the dispensers, they don’t dust, they don’t sweep the entry doors, they bring their children, and my all time favorite ” they just don’t clean”. You’ve heard it all, I’m sure. So how can you turn their “pain” into your gain?  Simple. First identify that pain with questions and a good listening ear. Listen carefully to what your … Read entire article »

The prospect said to “fax back the proposal”. What’s wrong with that?

ShareHow easy is it to do a walkthrough, prepare a winning price and say “ok” when the prospect asks you to ”just fax it back to me”? Very easy! Especially if the prospect is a distance from your office AND if you are tired, worn out, burned out etc. Realize that 2 things are happening when you respond: 1. The prospect is gauging your sincere interest in getting his/her business. 2.  The prospect is gauging exactly how much attention he/she may get from you should you win the account. When accounts are mid to large size obviously you would not consider a faxed proposal.  When they are smaller, it’s often very easy to dismiss them as not being worth your time to make another trip to the client to … Read entire article »

Do You Have a Business or a J-O-B?

ShareWow, this is a great question! The way  you answer can mean the difference between your success and failure. If you have to think long and hard about your answer, then sit back, grab a cup of coffee and uncover some secrets to your future success. If you started in this business as many did, cleaning for a living, you probably know the technical side of this business better than most business owners who did not start that way.  Now that you see your business struggling to keep up with the pace of new business, not enough help, employees whose work ethic may be be the same as yours, you find yourself continuing to clean on a regular basis just to … Read entire article »

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