Networking Landed a $500K Cleaning Contract

Episode 39

 

Ray

Joel, we’re back and we’re talking about building your business through networking. Now, this is a topic we’ve touched on before that was specifically about finding your target customer. This is really a deeper dive into some of those topics and how to develop business.

 

Joel

Okay, I appreciate that. At first, I thought that you might have said “not working”. And I was gonna say, you know, that’s the joke in the networking world. If you’re not networking, you’re probably not working.

 

Ray

Yeah, it’s not a coffee club.

 

Joel

It is not a coffee club. With networking, it is so important to get to know the other people that you’re around. Whether you’re in a Chamber (of Commerce) in the Rotary, in a strong contact group, like, I’m in a BNI (chapter), Business Network International, there’s things like that out there. A lot of people will go and they just think, like you said, it’s a coffee club. Hey, I show up, I’m going to get work. Showing up is only half the battle, maybe only a third of the battle.

 

Ray

I might even put it lower than that. But yes.

 

Joel

And it’s because you have to build relationships with people. I had a meeting with a prospect the other day. And during the interviewing process they were doing with me and my company, they asked me how I get my business. I said, what do you mean? He goes, well, don’t you have brochures? Nope. Don’t you have cut sheets? Nope. Well, how do you get business? I said, “I have owned my business nearly twelve years now, my cleaning business. And I have not cold called once in the twelve years that I’ve been in business.” And he was like, taking aghast. What do you mean? You gotta. It’s a numbers game. You gotta keep calling. Well, there’s programs that can do that for you. My friend Adon Rigg. Hey, Aidan has that type of program.

 

02:06 Ray

And that’s a strong program!

 

Joel

It is a strong program. All of my calls go to my warm markets, or my hot markets. And in the twelve years I’ve been in business, and even before that, as a salesperson for other companies, people knew who I was. Now, is that because I’ve been in the industry, 42 years? That might have something to do with it. But it also goes to that I have been in the business for 42 years. So, I’m seen as somebody who has knowledge and respect, and my business is still around. And it didn’t go (defunct) things that could happen to businesses when they first open. But then again, it’s. How do you grow that from networking? Well, you got to get to know the other people, not just their name. Not just the business. Not just what they do. People are more than that. Think of the best friends that you have that you’ve maybe known since grade school, high school, your college days, frat days, sports programs that you participated in. Anything like that. You know, and like and trust that individual and you would do anything for them. And that’s what I’ve been able to do with clients & prospects.

 

Joel

They may say, “Oh, I’m not ready”. I didn’t ask you for a sale. I don’t press for it. People call me when they’re ready. They know what I do. I just let them know what I do.

 

Ray

But it seems to me that what you’re describing Joel, is genuinely being, once again, a good neighbor, good business neighbor, and knowing your craft. Part of the good business neighbor is you’re not always looking for the sale. You’re genuinely engaged either in conversation, in activity, might be volunteering. I mean, you know, there are certain things that surround the networking functions. And you’re really paying attention to people. And part of that, this is probably in a for a future podcast on business interactions, is you’re listening not to answer. You’re listening to understand.

 

Joel

To understand. And because people know what I do, they ask questions. A lot of people ask me, “Well, I know you don’t do residential. But I have this problem at home.” And then you educate them on what to do, and that starts building trust. And now maybe somebody sitting next to them hears you explaining this, and they may ask some questions, because this potential client actually came out of a group that I’ve been a part of for almost a year. I knew what the woman did for a living, but we’ve never been able to really connect and sit down and talk business. But she called me out of the blue one day and said, “I need your help. I’m looking for a janitorial company. And I know that’s what you guys do.” Again, it’s just being aware of your surroundings. It’s being informative and interesting, and networking is work. And sometimes it doesn’t come as quick as people want. They want that low hanging fruit. You need to go after low hanging fruit at times. But the true business relationships that are worth it and the contracts that come in that are worth it. Nobody’s going to sign on a million-dollar (commercial cleaning) deal because you cold called them on the telephone.

That’s going to come from hard work of getting to know people, their situations, their needs. And even when I worked for another company. I went in, and the guy said, “I don’t even know why I’m sitting down with you today.”

 

Ray

Did he really say that to you?

 

Joel

He was having a bad day. It was something where it was kind of a warm thing. And he says, “I don’t need cleaning services. What I need is…”. And I said, well, what is it that you need? And he says, “Look, I spent $18,000 on this light, and the paint’s chipping off of it, and it’s falling into our clients.” It was an animal hospital. And I said, “Okay. I said, if I can fix that problem, can I come back and tell you what I can do for you, for your facilities?” And he laughed, and he says, “You’re not going to be helping me. I got to buy a whole ‘nother light system.”

 

Ray

I know where this is going.

 

Joel

I know we’ve had this conversation. So, I called a painting specialist at painted autos. I asked them, I said, look, I know this is not in your wheelhouse, but this is what a client of mine has a need. And they said, can you get a picture of it? And I’ll let you know if I can do anything with it. So, the guy forwarded a picture, and I showed the guy, and he says, oh, my God, I could fix that for a fraction of the cost. It was like a few hundred bucks. Not only did I fix that potential client at that time’s biggest problem to them, he gave me the time of day. In addition to giving me the time of day, it resulted in a half a million dollar a year contract, which they gave us their entire book of business.

Ray

But, Joel, the only reason you even had that opportunity is because you’re an active networker. You heard his problem, and you knew someone else in the business community who could deal with that.

 

Joel

Absolutely. And in my opinion, so many salespeople today don’t do enough networking to understand what other people do and what their capabilities are. Or even seeing something like that and saying, “All right, well, this guy’s an auto body guy. It’s a metal surface. It might work.” It’s not gonna, you know, what, am I out by calling them now?

 

Ray

Joel, we’re about to wrap up with this one, but there’s one thing I want to tease our listeners with. There’s a point in there where you were starting to give away information. Someone on the other end of this is going, “You’re giving away all your info. You’re giving away your, you know, your knowledge!” Folks, if that’s you, the next one I want you to listen for is how much to give away. Gonna be our next podcast, so come back for that one, Joel. Thank you.

 

Joel

You’re welcome.