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Commercial Cleaning Birmingham? HELP

by talkuk
12 replies
Hi People

I have joined the forum today, specifically to listen to ideas in this section, the offline part. I was recommended to the forum by a relative actually.

So, here I go fishing for ideas.

I run my own marketing business though we specifically organise events nowadays for them. But one of my clients is a commercial cleaning company in Birmingham.

They want to generate enquiries online and build a email list. The only thing is, they are targeting people who own buildings such as office blocks and apartment blocks.

Also, it is only in this city, Birmingham in the UK

We have done this before for small retailers who have a bigger market.

So, how would you go about this?

Thanks Guys

Ian
#birmingham #cleaning #commercial
  • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
    What did your marketing company do for the small retailers?
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  • Profile picture of the author talkuk
    We have done lead generation using SEO, Social Media and email via opt in.

    But the market is bigger with a mens clothing company.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Foster
    So you want to build an email list of office and apartment owners.

    OK, but to what end?

    It sounds like this company wants to build a list just to have one.

    And in a lot of cases many office and apartment building are owned by one person or a small group of people.

    So it might be idea to get their phone number, arrange a meeting, and start a relationship.

    People deal with people.
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    • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
      Originally Posted by James Foster View Post

      So you want to build an email list of office and apartment owners.

      OK, but to what end?

      It sounds like this company wants to build a list just to have one.

      And in a lot of cases many office and apartment building are owned by one person or a small group of people.

      So it might be idea to get their phone number, arrange a meeting, and start a relationship.

      People deal with people.
      That's what I was thinking.

      What they might want is to grow their business.
      If they do, someone needs to cold call other businesses.

      For apartments, they usually have a management company.
      Call the management company and see who handles to move-in/move-out cleans.

      Then make a list of businesses that normally need to be cleaned.
      Medical offices (doctor, dentist, etc), Lawyers, Accountants... almost all professional services. Cold call them and ask if they would be open to a competitive cleaning bid to keep on file.

      It works. I got appointments with everyone I pitched.
      Then, it's their/your job to close the deal.
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  • Profile picture of the author talkuk
    Ok, I was actually thinking this.

    Do you think it is worth forgetting the email marketing and starting a face to face campaign for them?
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      The majority of the buildings are leased out to tenants
      who are responsible for their own cleaning,
      therefore you are off target to start with.

      Best,
      Ewen
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      • Profile picture of the author talkuk
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        The majority of the buildings are leased out to tenants
        who are responsible for their own cleaning,
        therefore you are off target to start with.

        Best,
        Ewen
        Ok, well companies in buildings are targets as well may be.

        We only have a £500 budget per month so what would you do?
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        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Originally Posted by talkuk View Post

          Ok, well companies in buildings are targets as well may be.

          We only have a £500 budget per month so what would you do?
          Would need to know if the cleaners offer something that is desired
          by tenants, who are the only one offering it.

          Best,
          Ewen
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          • Profile picture of the author umc
            In the cleaning industry, a lot comes down to timing. Most places already have cleaners when it comes to commercial property, so you have to hit them up on that day when they're fed up with the cleaning company that didn't show up the night before or that did a terrible job. Cold calling is where we started years ago when we went after apartment communities. I called 5, landed appointments with 3, and got 2 deals. Once you get in with a specific management company, they may let you bid their other properties as well. I'm sure that some find their commercial cleaners online, but most is probably just the right message at the right time and it may take consistent effort to achieve the level of business desired.

            Joining some networking groups locally might help, as your client would be in front of others that have businesses.

            I understand that they want to generate a list, but I don't know what they're going to give away in order to do so. I really wonder how many searches are going on for their services locally, and even if so, they need to have something on their site to give away that will set them apart.

            Commercial cleaning can become highly commoditized. It is a tough business because so much comes down to price (that's why we serve residential customers) and they are often the first to go when business gets tight. It is hard to stand out. So some sort of a free cleaning audit might do well and position them as the go-to expert locally, or some sort of special pricing structure might attract businesses. There's only so much you can do in that environment.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Rosmer
    I do a lot of offline marketing in various businesses ranging from B2B to B2C, I wonder what your response was to them at this request? Here's the thing, are their clients looking online? If they aren't generating online inquiries might be the wrong strategy. I'd say this is a case where direct marketing probably makes the most sense, hire someone to call every one of their potential clients (there won't be a lot so this is very feasible) focus on gathering data such as who they need to be contacting and that person's contact info. This can be a method of building an email list which they can use to send highly targeted marketing to. Since you're talking about fairly high average $ sales and in theory long term relationships you can probably justify a fairly high client acquisition fee.

    I'd start with the phone to build the list and then start engaging the clients every two weeks with creative marketing probably via email, mail, phone, etc. to keep your client top of mind as well as educate them on their advantages. To further collect email addresses I'd probably offer some sort of free education in exchange for an opt-in.

    The exact details of how this campaign progresses, the blend of media, etc. is going to depend in large part of the clients, the competition, etc. but I'd definitely start with phone.
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  • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
    Hi there,

    It sounds like you'd do better to fire off a postcard campaign offering something a 10-point inspection (for free) for the tenants of these commercial buildings. That way you'd get the actual decision maker and personal contact with the office tenants.

    Or run a competition or event that is free to enter and get your data that way.

    All the best

    Sasha.
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    • Profile picture of the author talkuk
      Originally Posted by SashaLee View Post

      Hi there,

      It sounds like you'd do better to fire off a postcard campaign offering something a 10-point inspection (for free) for the tenants of these commercial buildings. That way you'd get the actual decision maker and personal contact with the office tenants.

      Or run a competition or event that is free to enter and get your data that way.

      All the best

      Sasha.
      A competition or event is a good idea, thanks Sasha
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