Selling Your Services

Working Successfully With Property Managers

Jo Anne Corbitt is a property manager with The Mathews Company in the Nashville, TN, area, and has presented a seminar entitled 'Working Successfully with Property Managers' at the National Pavement Exposition. Property managers, like everyone else, have increasingly less time to spend evaluating any service provider. In the following, she offers her insight into the vital area of how you can work more successfully with property managers.

The market for sweeping services is expanding all the time. Although the biggest parking area sweeping marketplace is probably still retail mall areas, there are a host of other possibilities. These include warehouses, industrial properties, homeowners' associations, condominiums, self-service storage facility, churches and just about anyplace else that has appreciable traffic on the parking and other paved areas of the property. Each of these types of properties will have someone in charge of outside maintenance, typically the on-site manager or property manager, and that's primarily who you need to contact. In most cases, there's no sense wasting time with anyone else.

Let's start with the first contact. Most managers will prefer to receive something in writing, and then receive a follow-up phone call. We all get a number of calls from people who want to "come by and tell you what they've got." Quite frankly, we usually just don't have that kind of time. Unless we are truly looking for that exact service right then, we don't have the luxury of sitting down and listening to everybody's pitch. Keep in mind that, generally speaking, the first and last 5 days of the month are the busiest for a property manager. Also, budget preparations typically begin in August or September.

I recommend that you send promotional material that introduces you and your product or service, either via email or through the mail. Then, give them a call to confirm receipt of it and see what the interest level is. Sometimes, the best you can do is to send your material to the company itself, along with a request to please forward it to the property manager. Even better is to call for the name and email address of whoever should receive your information. Sometimes you might get a chance to talk to that person, sometimes you won't. If you do talk to them, still keep it short before telling them that you would like to "send some information on our company so that whenever you are looking for those kind of services you'll think of us."

In your cover letter, request that your brochure be put into the filing category for sweeping services in the event the manager isn't interested at the moment, and also ask that you be contacted the next time the company's sweeping services are bid. When the property manager is interested in changing sweeping providers, you'll probably have an opportunity for a face-to-face meeting. Now, let's talk about how to maximize your time and impact in that situation.

The fact is, first impressions are lasting impressions no matter what you are doing. I would expect people selling services covering sweeping, pavement and similar to come in polo shirts versus shirts and ties. They should dress responsibly and please don't show up straight from a job when you need a shower and a change of clothes. Then, be to the point and professional about what you have to offer. Show you recognize that both of us are busy and need to maximize our time.

Along with any promotional material, if someone really wants to get my attention provide a reference list of at least two or three properties similar to mine. Another option is to show a photo and/or a reference-type letter or two from other managers who have used the company at similar-type properties. I'm typically going to have an affiliation or know about those properties, and usually know who to call to confirm the current level of service. Or, if I happen to be out that way, I might just whip through and take a look.

I don't think many people appreciate being told the contractor they currently have working for them is no good. It's much better to stay positive about what you can provide at a given property that represents an improvement. Or, if you have a critique of the company now on the job, you might let the property manager know in an oblique fashion, by saying something like "I noticed there has been trash at your fenceline for some time, and wanted to see if we could take care of that for you." As opposed to saying "I don't know who you are using to clean your fenceline, but they are not doing a very good job."

Just say, "I notice that there appears to be a need because of 'X,' and we certainly can provide that service. Would you be interested in knowing more about it?" Sometimes the answer might be "yes" because we might not have that covered, or it might be a situation where we thought we had it covered and we didn't. To get a manager interested, just tell them how you are going to make them look better.

Although being low bid is important, most property managers don't make decisions strictly on that basis. First off, it's valuable to have good written specs that everybody is bidding on, so you don't find yourself in an apples and oranges situation. Without good written specs, you can get yourself out on a limb with your bid. Sometimes there are one or more extremely low bids, and most managers have enough experience in the business to know taking them will create a headache from day one. Usually, they end up costing a great deal of time and aggravation in the long term.

We try hard to do business with people that give us fair work for fair pay and that are honest. When somebody comes in and offers to undercut the current sweeping contractor's price, we're not going to just switch without doing some thorough checking of references and service at similar properties. We try hard to deal with people that we know are reputable and that are going to do what they say they are going to do. A reference from a fellow manager, construction company, or whoever has used them recently is by far the best and most dependable reference. It's good planning to carry a proof of insurance, for both workmen's comp and liability, with you to marketing meetings.

As an aside, one of the things to request to have placed into specs is the ability to raise your rate during the term of the contract if costs outside your control, like fuel and insurance, go up. That's not to say that any of us like those surcharges, but we respect the fact that occasionally they have to show up. We're all living in the same world and so it happens to all of us. As long as it is disclosed in our agreement that the possibility exists, we can usually deal with it. This has a bearing on the quality of service that can be provided over time, and property managers want quality maintained over the life of the contract.

When you do bring in a surcharge or cost of living increase, it's usually best to provide some justification for it. Point out that fuel or insurance or whatever has increased a particular percentage since the start of your contract, and that you are simply passing the necessary cost along as a needed increase in your service cost. Often it gets paid without great discussion. However, some owners -- especially institutional owners -- insist on strong documentation for any price increases. For them you'll need to provide more thorough documentation.

Once you have a contract, do your best to prove the property manager made the right decision in awarding you the work. Exude professionalism in all that you do. Today, many properties are in use 24-hours a day, and it's important that access to them isn't restricted and that they look good all the time. Part of that can be the impression you make when you're on the job.

I personally think sweeping service employees need to be in uniform. To be honest, that's more for their protection than mine, since sweeping service personnel are on our properties at night. In today's world, everybody is a little bit more suspicious and I think that the more you uniform your legitimate employees, the easier it makes it for the general public to either feel comfortable around them or to recognize when there is something amiss.

Since property managers aren't usually on the property at night, a great service and relationship builder is for you to communicate to them about anything you find out of the ordinary. Tell them whenever lights are burned out, pavement needs patched, you spot new graffiti, or whatever. Be sure to do whatever you can do to help them out.

Oftentimes, you can get a property layout map from the manager and send a copy of those along in the sweeper. Then, when a particular light is burned out or whatever, it can be marked on the map and faxed in to the office. That makes it easy for all sides to communicate what's needed. Many times, light pole boxes are numbered, so even without a site map you can identify where the burned out light is by the number of the pole.

And, I always tell any nighttime contractor that their personal safety is of utmost important to me. If for some reason a sweeper operator shows up at a property some night and there is something going on at that property that that operator feels very uncomfortable about, they should leave the property without sweeping rather than take chances. I may ask them to go back at 9am the next morning to do it and I may not, but the reality of it is that we all have to be cognizant of people's security and personal safety. If there's a true emergency, most managers want you to call the police.

There are two schools of thought on whether it's best to be a 'do it all' contractor, which is a company that provides a number of other outside maintenance services in addition to sweeping, or a company that specializes in just the one business. When I call a company for sealcoating and striping, for example, I have a higher comfort level that they'll do a good job for me if that's their specialty. Sometimes the 'do it all' contractors are spotty in the quality on some of the services they provide. If that's the case, it can hurt your whole business.

In everything you do, ask yourself how you would view someone else who was doing what you are. In all of your contacts, stay focused and professional, in how you act and react, as well as in how both you and your equipment look. Finally, if there's one thing you can do that will make you stand out from your competition, it is to under-promise and then over-deliver.

Take pride in each property that you service, just as if your name is on the deed.

For more information, email jcorbitt@rcmathews.com.

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