One of the biggest mistakes owners are making is bidding too low! Follow Mikes step by step guide on how to bid, and you will be sure to succeed! Everything good that happens in your business comes from your margin. If there is not enough margin you can’t do things like buying new equipment, surprise and delight your customer or pay your employees well. Everything right for your client comes from the margin, so it is vital that you get your customers to understand the importance and in return they will want to pay for a great experience and service.
As an owner, you will want to conduct a yearly review of your accounts and overview which ones will need price raises. You will want to send out an email or letter explaining why you have raised prices, what the price will now be and utilize the excellent opportunity to thank the customer for continuing their business with you and let them know you are thankful for their continued loyalty. As you analyze your account, you will notice that maybe some of them do not need price raises. For those who don’t you can still take the time to send out a thank you letter explaining that you had a price rise within the company but that they are such a valued customer that you are rewarding their loyalty and business with not raising their rates.
RESOURCE ALERT: How to go about doing the bidding
A popular question amongst cleaning nation followers is whether or not you should bid in person, and most of the time the answer is Yes! We break it down according to residential and commercial accounts below.
Residential – You must decide what kind of business you want to be if you want to be a brick and mortar cleaning business especially if you do not have a lot of online traffic you want to bid in person. The reason being is that you can have a conversation with the potential clients and target their particular pain. During the bid, you can ask questions like; why they are reaching out to you, how you can best serve them and make their life better. You are going to close a lot more bids when you go out in person. When going to meet potential clients have it in your mind that you are planning to leave that appointment with a signed credit card authorization form and the first date scheduled or a no. The worst mistake you can make is to go to an appointment look over the property and not give a bid right then and there! In the initial phone consultation, set the tone that you are coming out expecting to be able to hear of their troubles and that at the end of the appointment you are either going to come to the agreement that you can and will solve their pain or that you are not right for the job and leave.
Commercial – You always bid in person! No matter the size of the account you will still want to expect to leave with a signed credit card authorization form and a signed service agreement with the first appointment scheduled. Again, at no point do you email the bid! If you need to go back to the office and figure out some numbers, make a second appointment.
While some companies such as franchises like to do everything
RESOURCE ALERT: What to charge and how to calculate cost of goods sold
How do you know how much to charge?
For residential clients be sure to figure out what they want. The customers do not need you to sell them what you think they need; they want you to listen and explain how you can best solve their pain.
For Commercial clients, you may need to customize your services for them dependent upon the type of building, how often they need cleaning, and what kind of service they want. After you have received that information, you will then be able to come up with a bid keeping those things in mind.
1.Calculate man hours, how many man hours it’s going to take per month to clean. Remember to not talk about dollars per hour when selling, never have those types of conversations with external customers.
2. Determine average hourly pay for employees and add the other cost associated with having employees (social security, workman’s comp, etc.)
3. Once you have the total cost, divide that by the cost of goods sold that you want.
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