Hunters, Farmers and a Steady Diet of New Cleaning Accounts

(this is obviously not Ed)

If I can save myself some time, then I figure I am ahead of the game. I have to explain hunting and farming almost every day so now I can just send this post and save some time.

The feast or famine growth strategy in a janitorial company maintains a constant state of panic, confusion, and disarray. In 2012, the only way feasting happens in the janitorial industry is with a “slash and burn” competitor’s pricing strategy. Problem is that it works but a revolving door is created with accounts lost almost as fast as they are signed. Some rapidly growing franchises take this approach, as do some National multi-location cleaning management companies. It is not a new strategy and it never worked to build a profitable, healthy operation.

Janitorial sales famines are customary with inexperienced business owners who have bought into the “just grab a broom and a mop and make a million” touted by business opportunity magazines and the now pervasive internet cleaning gurus who will teach you if you buy their book of secrets. Sales famines also happen to hunters who are subject to hunting seasons or when they get around to it.

What do hunters do? They move from place to place looking for targets to shoot at. The take a shot and hit or miss and then move on to hunt their next target. They may stalk their prey for a little while but as soon as they get tired, they quit and go home empty handed. They got all dressed up, went out, worked hard but sit down and eat what they caught previously. They continue to hunt because they have scored in the past. New ways of doing things is not a big issue with hunters; in fact, some cling to old ways for the sport of it so there are hunters with bows and arrows.

A hunter catches his prey after relatively FEW points of contact.

One time through, smoke stack, (door to door) prospecting all by itself is hunting. Blasting one time through networking meetings is hunting. Purchasing janitorial sales appointments all by themselves is hunting. Going from one prospect to the next, making a presentation and then moving on to the next one, is taking a shot and either hitting or missing.

One of my first questions to janitorial company owners is how many proposals have you done in the last year. What do you do with the contacts you made during the last year AFTER those presentations have been made? It is at this point I know if I have a hunter or a farmer.

What do farmers do? Farmers stake out a piece of ground as their own. They go over that piece of ground, remove rocks and tree stumps and plant seeds. They again cover the same area and water all of their seeds until seedlings appear. They eliminate weeds so the seedlings absorb water. They apply nutrients and fertilizer and continue to remove weeds. They water it regularly. They watch over that ground and are aware of what is happening with a laser beam focus, nothing gets by them. New ways of doing things is a big issue for farmers; they are constantly on the lookout for improvements to increase their yield.

A farmer harvests his yield after MANY points of contact.

A farming system of janitorial selling starts with a map. Removing rocks and trees and then stumps is the sorting out of the types of businesses you will not do business with and identifies the business types you are going after. Seeds are your unique selling proposition and your elevator pitch, backed with an operational structure. Nutrients and fertilizers are your tools, your phone, your personalized direct mail and email templates, your online strategy and presence and your community networking groups.

Water is delivered by way of irrigation systems, timed release of the key growth factor water and delivered regularly. Watching your plot of land is your daily scan of the local business news that may mean new business to you, not the comics, not your horoscope, not the sports pages, the business news about local companies, promotions to new positions and construction (or business failures).

Finally, keeping informed about what is available that may increase your yield of profitable contracts is key. History is a wonderful area of study but how things were done 20 or 10 or even 5 years ago is a study of what used to work. A trip down memory lane.

I will confess here to being city born and raised. I do not own a pair of bib overalls or a straw hat but I did figure out early on that hunters score every so often but farming is the correct approach to build a profitable cleaning company.

UPDATE JUNE 2016

Of all the posts I wrote over a four-year period, this post is foundational for every cleaning service owner who wants more accounts. Last year we released an entire program to set up your own sales program EXACTLY like the global giants and every commercial cleaning franchise has. We take you through the set up, the methodology, tell you EXACTLY what to say, how to make a first approach to a prospect but more importantly HOW TO FOLLOW UP. The key is setting up sales appointments with prospects who will change cleaning services. The program is Janitorial Marketing Pro and you can get yours by clicking this link Janitorial Marketing Pro Appointment Setting Program

Snail Mail (Direct Mail) - Time to dust off a tried and true weapon in your arsenal

This morning I blasted through my first batch of email in 20 minutes. To stay ahead of the curve, I get more email than most people do, about 400 messages a day. The first batch in the morning is the biggest anywhere from 50 to 65 pieces during the week. I can do this because of the magic of two buttons, delete, and archive. I delete 85% of everything that hits my email box after scanning for anything marvelous.

I have been advising my clients to go back to snail mail for marketing and sales in their janitorial business. Yesterday one of my clients reported to me a 5% return on his first snail mail campaign. For the younger crowd snail mail, is an old-fashioned letter sent in an envelope that comes occasionally in that pile of flyers, junk mail and bills.

I am an old direct mail sort of guy. I spent a solid 10 years learning everything I could about how to get people to buy things through the mail. I built my first cleaning business with direct mail all by itself. No cold calls, no phone calls and this was before anyone dreamed of computers or the web. I personally licked 5,000 envelopes after personally signing 5,000 letters in blue ink carefully folding each letter and placing in an envelope along with a brochure and my card.

Just like the law of gravity, there is an immutable law of direct mail that says, “The right letter, to the right person with the right offer at the right time ALWAYS works”. The truth is today a personal letter works better than ever because of the delete button everyone has with just a mouse click away.

To be very clear I am not talking about junk mail but a personal letter from you to your prospect with your signature at the end of the letter arriving in a business sized number 10 envelope with their name correctly spelled and typed on the envelope.

Could direct mail work in your business? Here’s a test for you to try before you jot off some trash can bound advertising with the usual blah, blah, blah, wasting precious first class postage (yes, first class, not the junk mail rates). For the next 6 weeks place EVERY piece of mail you receive into a box. At the end of the 6 weeks go through the box and pull out every single business letter you receive with your name spelled correctly, NOT in a window envelope (which tells you it was done by a machine) from someone that KNOWS you actually use what they are selling.

First count how many there are and then study them carefully to see if it was sent by someone who knows you need what they have to sell. You will be surprised how few you find. In the direct mail advertising world, what you have started is a swipe file. Be on the lookout for really great letters that makes you FEEL something and were written just to and FOR you.

So you know, with everything that I learned about making people buy things through the mail, I might spend 8 to 12 hours to write a good letter. Carefully honing every single word, using a personal voice and reading it through the reader’s eyes in order to make the reader DO something. Will your letter be tossed in the trash? Yes, most of them will but it is the ones that DO NOT that will make a difference in your sales.

The silver bullet you have been searching for, no but a very powerful tool to incorporate into your total marketing program. Once again, what do we do to grow a janitorial company? We do EVERYTHING and old-fashioned business letters is just one piece of ammo in a well-stocked arsenal.