commercial accounts

[Skiter]

I AM STILL FAIRLY NEW TO THE BUSINESS AND WAS WONDERING HOW YOU GUYS GOT YOUR FRIST COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS. (BESIDES WORD OF MONTH) ANY INFO WILL BE GREAT HELP!

[gmcarn]

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Talk to real estate companies and ask for property maintance. They manage apartments. I call the ones that look like they need work done to them. Go into the properties you would like to work and introduce your self.
Read the legal section of your local newspaper and look for bid anouncements.

[Scaper-S2k]

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Make up a well designed flyer. Not the ones that say "we mow lawns, here's our number". Make it look nice.

Do the same thing you would do with residential. Pass them out door to door to all businesses. You may want to write in a "close" price range on that flyer for each location. That way they will instantly see if you are cheaper than the last company. If they don't know that info, they may not worry about calling you over last years guy.

Anyway, definately hit the small 'one location' type businesses. Those are the easiest to pick up. Ya know, the ones that only have one location and owned and opertated by the same people. Nothing makes them different than a residential account.

If you pass out enough flyers, you will get calls. Once you snatch up a few, you begin to get a reference list. Then look into larger accounts.

You will want to get more insurance (at least one million $$). They may ask for a copy of your workers comp # if you have employees.

Good luck, if you need any other info, let me know, we do 98.5% commercial any more.

<<Don't Fear the Green!>>

[Leone Lawn]

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see that sounds easy right but i live in bloomfield hills michigan and these people are stuck up i dont know how to convince business owners to switch to me

Leone Lawn

[Bryan]

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Hey leone, just keep at it. I work in the same area and have landed some commercial accounts. I will admit it takes time to get to know the right people. I was just introduced to a guy that manages commercial props. He is so fed up with the "big" company he is using now, that he wants to dump them. I just completed a small Landscape/clean-up for him ($1,200). After showing him what I could do he told me I will be getting first dibs on bids as they become available. In which case I may need some help next season. Let me know if you are interested and send me your e-mail. We talked about getting together in the past. This might be an opportunity for both of us.

Green is good !!

[TomQuartz]

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<font color=red></font id=red>Hi <font color=black></font id=black>if you could dont write in caps some people find it rude.

[Leone Lawn]

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hey sounds good i sent u an email

Leone Lawn

[Jeffhancock]

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We have terrorist killing Americans as fast as they can and Tom thinks it is rude to type in all caps, Mmmmmmm? Must be nice to have time to be so thin skinned! Sorry Tom, your comment just got to me.

[Phil Nilsson]

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<center><b><font color="red">How to get commercial accounts ...</font id="red"></b><font size="4"></font id="size4"></center>

When I was in the bizz, I was mostly commercial which is a completely different ball game compared to residential. Monthly invoices sent to commercial customers are usually in terms of thousands, not hundreds ... so big numbers are possible with a relatively low number of clients ... but loyalty is always on the front burner. You need a special strategy to be in, stay in, and compete for commercial. All different size properties ranging from a few thousand a year in billings up to hundreds of thousands (some are million dollar contracts) so you can see that there are different "levels" of being in the game.

For anybody contemplating entering medium to large scale commercial I offer this advice:

1. Know your job costs (100%)or stay away because it's a numbers game and "they" know the numbers (better) than you do, even before you walk in the door. If you don't know what you're talking about, you can easily become "fair game" for hunters! Learn the ropes "before" you go sailing.

2. Know your payroll and hours invested in each account .. working capital needs, at risk dollars, equip carrying debt capacity.

3. Have dependable employees because you don't want to look at 50 or 100 acre sites with nobody around to mow them. If you haven't solved the employee problem, stick with "tiny" commercial accounts.

4. Be prepared to bid a brand new 50% to 100% of existing gross sales each and every season and don't ever think that you're still in business at any point in time. Assume that with each contract expiration, you're gone, out of business in a way ... unrealistic but "safe" because yes, you'll have a retention rate .. or "rotation" of accounts. Be prepared.

5. Basically (large) commercial puts you at risk of non-performance and if you can't handle it, you're in trouble. Be ready for six figure balances in accounts receivable. Be ready to borrow working capital at a moments notice, have a line of credit on standby.

6. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Start with small sites, build up from there, maybe even limit commercial to a certain % of total sales.

7. Look for well known "brand names" to work for. This will help your work reference list. Instead of having an account such as Mr. Fixits Transmission Repair (consisting of one acre) ... better to have a local Marriott Courtyard facility of the same size. Pick your customer targets wisely.

8. Balance the year around workload. Ask yourself in advance of choosing targets how well the work "balances out". Winter work versus in season work. Sometimes commercial is "heavy" on winter, light on summer or the other way around. Sometimes commercial lends itself to a 12 month full season account (paid snow or no snow) which in itself may be an advantage.

<font color="blue"><b>Getting your foot in the door? ... </b></font id="blue">

First find out (who) is in charge of awarding the contract ... Contact that person by phone and try this ...

"Mr. Smith, my name is Joe Brown of Brown Landscaping and I'd like to visit your company to perform a Grounds Maintenance Audit."

"I think we can reduce your maintenance costs." "It wouldn't require any of your time away from your schedule."

"All I need is your okay to come out, have a look around to determine what your maintenance needs are." "It's quite possible we can reduce your costs by 10% of more, and I'd like to give it a try." "Would you be interested in having me do that? "

"No, Mr. Smith, we don't need a copy of your grounds specifications, and you don't have to do a walkaround with us." "It's better if I do an independent assessment of your basic needs."

"When I have completed my findings I'll get back to you and see how our program compares to your own." "If you like what you see, we can schedule an appointment to go over the details."

<i>All rights reserved - Copyright 1995, 1998, 2002 by Nilsson Associates</i>

[cooperman]

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OMG Phil!! I need u here in Mississippi!! Thinking about submitting a proposal for new Nissan plant starting up here in 2004. Not the install but routine maintenance. I know I know probably be bidded to the Big Dog company doing the landscape install, but, still wanna give it a shot. This place is gonna be huge. Over 100 acres. Calling Monday to attempt to find out just who I need to contact. By the way, would they submit to me a blueprint of their landscape layout i/e square footage of lawn/ beds etc... or just give me x square foot of lawn x square ft of beds etc?

I own and operate a small local residential lawn care business. My equipment consists of grasshopper 61 inch mower, exmark 48 inch wb, Kubota 30 hp tractor 6 ft finishing mower and another exmark lazer z 60 inch.

[rkbrown]

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Just another idea to get exposure and meet people who can point you in the right direction for commercial work would be to join your local Chamber of Commerce and attend their monthly luncheons. I live in a small town outside of Houston and our local chamber is growing and active. Many, if not most, in town businesses are members as well as some from other surrounding small towns and even some from Houston. Networking with these people and finding out when their commercial properties come up for bid would be a big help. Many Chamber members prefer to do business with other Chamber members.

[Phil Nilsson]

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"OMG Phil!! I need u here in Mississippi!! Thinking about submitting a proposal for new Nissan plant starting up here in 2004."

My answer? LOL ... Don't sweat it!

You'll be up against the majors but that's okay ... if you need to form an alliance with other locals, no problem ... share the work if you can't handle it alone ... but consider the subcontract route not "partnership" as such. All you want to accomplish is OWNING THE CONTRACT ... don't worry about how you'll get the work done. Act big, be big, have your bid come in the "center" batching of pricing. Ability to perform and moderate price seems likely. Play the "locally owned and operated" bizz card.

When you get to the bid stage give me a call I'll walk you thru it sounds like fun [8D] ... and I enjoy beating "crap" [B)] out of the contracts otherwise reserved for the big guys. It has a tendency to put them in their place? LOL

P.S. I'm serious about working that bid with you ... (we'll submit 3 or 4 bids for the same work to improve your odds)(footnote below) you'll also need to take some digital photos and email me (before) we do a cost/price workup.

Footnote ... no ... this is not price fixing and don't ask me to explain!