Finally, after all the work you have done the prospect allows you the opportunity to provide a "bid". Hopefully you have responded by indicating you provide proposals, not bids.
Let me also clarify that the comments that follow are based on the fact that you were able to secure a walk through on a proposal opportunity and not a "cattle call" where you have 25 people from 20 companies walking with you and the "low bid" gets the job.
With that in mind our purpose here is to provide you some information of things to do and look for which many times create difficulty once you have secured the account.
Let's start with what may appear elementary but accounts for many lost opportunities in our industry. BE ON TIME FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT. If you are stuck in traffic, call the prospect and explain the situation. Better yet, be an hour early and wait in the lobby
Before starting the tour, ask the prospect for a copy of the current specifications being performed. This will help you determine if the frequencies are adequate and also provides a basis for fact finding discussions with the prospect as you are walking. It provides a great opportunity to ask questions about the specifications that you probably already know the answer to but it draws the prospect out with their perspective of the type of service they would like to have. Well placed questions on the walk through will often times give you the answers as to what REALLY is the reason why they are considering a change.
Even though you are presenting a proposal and not a bid, price, most likely, will be a major factor in your prospects decision making. During the walk through I found it helpful to ask questions such as "Does the current vendor have some employees that you think would be good for me to consider keeping"? "What hours do you have them working? Are they coming in at 6 PM or does the supervisor come in at 5:30 and the rest come in at 6? Do you have a time they have to be out of the building? Oh, so you have a crew of of 5 people working 4 hours per night"? If you couch the questions correctly, many times you can elicit the answers you are wanting.
Sometimes the prospect will say to you that they are not going to give you any information. They will tell you it is your job to determine how many hours to be working and you can interview the old crew if awarded the contract and decide for yourself if you want any of them.
My response to that was, " I am happy to hear you say that because in our efforts to provide you with a proposal that will fit the needs you are expressing and cover the specifications you provided to us, I would not want my analysis to be clouded by trying to make my recommendations fit into a predetermined budget. I realize you still must have financial considerations in your decision making, but it is best for us to present our suggestions based on the needs you have expressed first and then, if need be, we can discuss alternatives".
What that response says to them is that we are going to present a proposal for their review, BUT, we expect to negotiate if need be and not just present a bid and that's it.
Here are some things I found down through the years to be important, not only in endearing yourself to the prospect as being thorough in your analysis, but also assisting your company in performing the work once you have secured the account.
1. As you do your walk through, do not make negative comments about your competitor. Your prospect already has their opinion of them or you wouldn't be there. I do, however, recommend you ask questions of the prospect as you are walking as to what their concerns are and then have general positive comments on your policies and procedures in handling those situations.
2. I try to find out from them if they know the amount of hours currently being expended every day. I always found it helpful to ask to see the janitor's closet to "review the types of products needed and to see the amount of space I will have to store my equipment". Oh my goodness, lookie here, the time sheets are posted in the closet. Let's see, 5 people, 4 hours per night---hmmm! You still need to put your own thoughts and pricing together, but as we stated earlier, it is nice to gather as much information as possible.
3. This is also the time to gather all the information needed for the actual operation of the account that often times is overlooked but creates all kinds of budgeting havoc once you have started the account. Here are some of the things I wanted to know,
A. Determine where all the janitor's closets are, how big are they and do they have water and a sink. Is there space to store equipment and supplies etc.
B. Where are all the light switches. More importantly, where are all the breaker boxes so when you are burnishing the lobby floor the first night and you blow a breaker you don't have to call you new customer at home? This is experience speaking.
C. Where are the outside trash dumpsters? Trying to put an accurate labor budget to an account can be adversely affected if you failed to notice that the trash had to be taken 100 yards to the nearest dumpster which adds 15 minutes each time you have to make the trip.
D. Determine who is responsible for restroom consumables. Does the customer purchase and you install etc.?
I always found it helpful to talk about keys during the walk through process. Remind them that you need one set for the technicians, one set for the supervisor, and one set in your locked, secure safe/vault at the office. A good reason to ask this question now is it begins the sales close process. When you ask for 3 sets of keys and they say that maybe you can have only 2, you know they have started the process of considering you as their service provider. You are always looking to ask questions that indicate a buying signal from the prospect.
We created a form that was filled out that detailed all the things we needed. I outline it in my book--Selling Contract Cleaning Services 101.
As you complete your tour with the prospect there are some important information points to cover before leaving:
1. Request permission to call for clarification on any points left unanswered.
2. Ask for the opportunity to tour the facility on your own or with you operational staff if you so desire.
3. ALWAYS SET THE APPOINTMENT AT THE WALK THROUGH FOR DELIVERY OF THE PROPOSAL.
4. Ask for 1 hour to make your sales presentation when you return with the completed proposal.
5. Request names of all those that will be attending the presentation so you can have a full proposal for each of them.
The information gathering process of the sales process is critical to assure that you are able to price the service competitively and as completely as possible. Don't be bashful or afraid to ask the questions for which you need answers.
Remember to tune into our free weekly pod cast at www.tripodcast.com. If you are a subscriber and want to attend the BSCAI convention in October you qualify for a 30% discount on your registration fee. Tune in next Monday to hear the details.
Opportunities are usually disguised by hard work, so most people don't recognize them----Ann Landers.
Till next time.
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