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| Thursday, July 29, 2010 |
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| [Thursday, November 10, 2005] |
| How do I compete with a mom and pop janitorial companies that way underbid contracts, when they are doing the following; cleaning the property themselves, carrying no insurance, workmans comp, liability insurance, bonds of any type or paying taxes like they should? When I lose a bid I ask the people why and 100% of the time I am told because someone came in a lot cheaper than me. The prices I charge for cleaning reflect everything you need in order to have a legal and successful business in Oklahoma, however, these companies that I am refering to keep driving down the price so much so that when everything is said and done for that specific place the price ranges from five to eight dollars per hour. |
| Bidding & Estimating - Nathan Graham |
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Answer # 1.
You may want to adjust some of your marketing strategies. First off, if you prospect medium size buildings (and larger), most of those owners/managers will require insurance, bonding and workers comp.
Working this market will level the playing field. There are business data base listings available that show the number of employees for each business by zip code. Market to twenty employees and above.
In your bid presentation include a copy of your bonding, liability and workers comp and bring it to the attention of the decision maker. Ask, “You wouldn’t want to risk a lawsuit or have the state investigate your business because your janitors aren’t covered would you?” Begin planting questions regarding liability.
Usually the market comes full circle. Owners/managers eventually get burned on cheap services. Find your market niche with customers who demand quality and then make sure yours is consistent and superior.
Gary Clipperton
National Pro Clean Corp
(719) 598-5112
www.nationalproclean.com
Answer # 2.
Don't compete with them. Focus on selling your services to customers who want, need and are willing to pay for quality service at a fair price. Work to improve the professional level of and type of services you provide to training, certification and excellant references.
There will always be competitors who will do the job for less, that's the nature of the market place. No one said you need to feed from the same plate.
Sell what you do best, go after target markets and forget the rest and you'll do just fine.
Bill Griffin, President
www.cleaningconsultants.com
Cell-206-849-0179 |
| ICAN representative |
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