Prospecting/Acquiring new commercial clients

[mikeb]

I am new to the lawn and landscaping industry but have a strong background in sales and marketing. My company has a strong residential clientle base (85%) but in 3 years we would like to be 75%-85% commercial. In our area we have 3-5 major companies who deal strictly with commercial accounts. I have been using my networking skills from previous employment to obtain a handfull of commercial accounts, but the bidding season is here in full force. I have been cold-calling many apartment and condo complexes and have joined a networking group, and have seen a little success. Any ideas on how to obtain these commercial leads would be great. Also once I have obtained the lead, how should I got about closing the deal. Should I set up an appointment with the property manager, have her walk me around and explain to me the problem area. Any ideas of how the chain-of-events should unfold would be great.

Mike Borch

[jschlenker]

I have some of the same questions and many were answered by searching this forum's archive, give it a try. To add to your questions: when is the best time of year to seek commercial accounts for lawn care?