How To Find the Lucrative Commercial Jobs
by Wayne Tracy, Operations Manager

There are several approaches you can take to reach out to commercial property owners/managers to earn their business.  In this issue of our newsletter I’ll discuss a few of them and follow up with other methods over the next few months.

PRINT ADS:
You have to be careful using this type of media, an ad in the local weekly or daily newspaper probably would not make a lot of sense in attracting commercial accounts.  You need to invest your dollars carefully and be in publications that the local business person is going to be looking at.  The larger the city you’re located in, the more choices you’ll have.

Listed below are publications that may be good sources to advertise in:

• Chamber of Commerce Magazines or Newsletters
• Chamber of Commerce Business Directories
• Trade Organization Magazines or Newsletters (i.e. local building contractors, building engineers, Restaurant Owners Association, etc.)
• Civic Organizations – Business Owners and Managers tend to belong to these organizations (i.e. Rotary Club, Lions Club, Elks Club, etc.).

By advertising in these publications you may also be given the opportunity to speak at events about your company and services.  If they don’t ask you – ask them for the opportunity to introduce your company and services.

MEMBERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS:
Belonging to the organizations I talked about above is also a great means of meeting and talking to business people in your community.  Not only are business meetings held within these organizations, there are also social activities that let you interact with other business professionals.

Having the ability to network with other business professionals can lead to jobs directly for them or referrals from them for other opportunities.  Membership costs will vary, but generally can be written off each year (check with your accountant).

Many organizations, especially business organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, will also have events that let you set up a booth or display to showcase your business (often at little or no cost).

YELLOW PAGES:
While it’s important to have a presence in the yellow pages, people are not looking here as often as they did in the past.  The cost of advertising in the yellow pages has come down, but is still quite expensive for the amount of calls it may produce.

If you are going to have a yellow page ad, be sure your ad is very concise and use as few words as possible to get your message out.  When your potential customer is looking for your service in the Yellow Pages, he usually will not take a lot of time to “read” your ad, they want to see what you’re offering with a quick glance.  He may bypass your ad if it’s too wordy.

Be sure you use the words Commercial Duct Cleaning in your ad, otherwise the commercial prospect may overlook your ad.

It’s doing the little things that make a big difference
by Nate Hollembaek, Service Manager

Working off referral is the most desirable way to gain business, hands down. It also feels great when you go out to a customer’s home and they tell you that you’re highly recommended by their friends or family.

It’s also great because it’s no longer hard for the customer to justify your higher price for the service you provide. There are so many ways to gain referrals. I have always been taught that it’s not the one big thing you do that earns you referrals, it’s the 1,000 little things you do.

And out of the 1,000 little things you do the customer will find a few things about you that you do differently that they love about your company. For instance, the other day I was out on a job and I don’t think the homeowner could really understand the concept of what we were doing during the cleaning process.

But after we were done we vacuumed her entire house to make sure there were no messes left behind. She loved it! She told me we did a great job and she will use us again and tell all her friends and neighbors. Giving the customer a great memorable experience while you’re in their home is extremely valuable and can take your company to the next level. Be referrable!

This way you won’t have to rely on so much advertising and you can dominate your market and blow away the competition.