The Final Step To Scaling Up Your Cleaning Company

The previous three articles of this series discussed steps to scaling up your janitorial company: casting a vision, building a team, and creating a scalable infrastructure. The last component of scaling your company is implementing a strategic sales plan. Once the foundation has been laid, a sales plan makes it possible to leave the launching pad and soar to success. But what does an effective sales plan look like? 

A common failure in BSC sales efforts is chasing too much business rather than focusing only on ideal prospects. This “shotgun” approach to sales spreads your efforts thin, making you less successful in the long term. When everyone is your customer, no one is your customer. A “rifle” approach to sales is much more effective. By homing in on the right customer, you can increase your chances of landing ideal clients. 

Before building your ideal client list, you must first define your ideal prospect. What is the DNA of a perfect customer? Look internally at your best customer or imagine what the perfect customer would look like, then identify the criteria they possess. Key factors may include: industry, employee count, owner-occupied vs. leased space, geography, frequency of bidding out work, etc. Once you identify the characteristics of the ideal prospect, you are now ready to build a list of those targets. 

Building a prospect list is easier now than ever before. In fact, you can do the entire project without leaving the office. List builder sites such as InfoUSA  and Dunn & Bradstreet allow you to build a list using preset criteria. With the additional help of Google Maps, economic development sites, and specialty lists, you can build a nearly comprehensive list for less than $500. Once the list is built, you want to use phone calls to find critical data to help focus your efforts. At a bare minimum, you want the following: decision maker name and email, contract status, bid date and rough size of the account. With this information in place, you are ready to put together a marketing plan to fill the sales funnel.

The last stage in the strategic sales plan is developing a marketing program that places you “next in line.” A professional, consistent approach will help you build credibility and trust in the eyes of the prospect. When time comes to bid, you want to be a viable option. To accomplish this, you need a combination of phone calls, email campaigns and direct mailers, all sequenced and spaced out appropriately. Staying in front of the prospect without annoying them — always offering valuable content — will position you at the top of the heap when the RFP comes around. 

By following the plan above, you can reasonably hit between $300,000 and $1.5 million in new sales each year. The level of success depends upon your effort and operational capacity. But one thing is true, solid growth comes with intentionality, never by accident. 

Jordan Tong is a BSC consultant and founder of Elite Business Coaching, in addition to being a third-generation owner of Frantz Building Services based in Owensboro, Kentucky. For more information on his coaching services, visit www.elitebusinesscoaching.net.