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this is Ricky Regalado CEO and Founder
reliable services welcome to cleaning
and cocktails
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hi I'm mark Batista president of
citywide building maintenance we're a 37
year old company located in Itasca
Illinois we clean about 15 million
square feet at night and we are a total
facility solution provider my name is
Juan I'm the owner of spotless clean in
Chicago so we have a little bit of 170
employees currently and I think the
biggest thing that we love about the
company is the technology that we use
that allows us to stay in communication
with everyone hello everyone my name is
Sawa Marshawn I'm the founder and CEO of
blue commercial cleaning here in Chicago
our goal is basically to find solutions
for every client and our mission is
really truly enhanced the image of every
facility we touch thanks guys enjoy the
show
alright guys welcome to clean evening
cocktails episode number two I'm back
here again and the janitor's closet as
you can see we got a nice little mop
heads you know I sell every where it's a
great backdrop but yeah so I just want
to take a second to introduce everybody
again I got some wolf and blue cleaning
wand for a spotless cleaning and Mark
from citywide maintenance again Chicago
boys you know the show is based here in
the Chicago area but I just want to talk
about sales today right bidding and
estimating it's the number one thing
that buses cleaning companies we gotta
worry about sales and we got to worry
about the staff so today we're talking
sales right so my first question mark
I'll start with you is what are you
doing in this in this day and age to
help you drive sale so I think one of
the keys that we're focusing on today is
really going back and every year that
we're planting seeds and we're going out
there and we're prospecting on foot and
hand picking our business the businesses
that we bid on that we do not get we
have a follow up plan in place for those
businesses because we put out so many
bids a year that we can't afford the
opportunity if we don't get the bid now
it just doesn't mean we stop trying now
so we have a process in place to follow
up with them down the line thank them
for the forbidding okay even if we don't
get the bid because one of the things
that people are gonna remember the most
is how we ended things everyone else
might kind of fade away they might make
their choice they might be happy with
their choice they might not be happy
with their choice but if they're not
happy with their choice it gives you an
opportunity to reopen the door let's say
if you sent a thank-you letter for for
the opportunity to bid but someone so
you're talking about really work to
follow up on the process
laughter and I mean the majority the
majority of our business is coming from
going out there and knocking on doors
okay we're hand picking our business
because we know that there's people out
there that are serious about cleaning
and there's people out there that are
really shopping for price so selling
based on value is something that we want
to focus on rather than selling for a
low price
okay know why before so same question to
you but so you guys don't know or if you
you may not know but in the Chicago area
this guy's website is the first website
that pops up on my head
ha you know that's interesting because I
I think I'm probably the worst person to
answer that question you know I always
like to say that I don't sell because a
lot of these do comes loss so we're
really more so closing right so we take
the leave it in and we're gonna work
qualifying make sure that they fit our
business model and what I mean by that
is you know we don't we can't service
everyone right and so we just want to
focus on the markets and the segments
that we excel in right so and you know
once you do get qualified then we get
you know we jump on the leads right away
so you know within our case and I wasn't
joking around fifty dollars a quick is
it you know it's you know sometimes I
might take five quicks ten quits before
we have a call so that call you know is
costing us somewhere between $250 to
$500 so with that said I have you know
someone always has to answer the phone
at the office you know you know they
know that some of those if that phone's
ringing no one's answering that phone
there's gonna be
price to pay yeah because every single
call a little know is 250 to 500 dollars
and that's a big part I think is you
know every now and then I have called it
a businesses for whatever reason like
hey you know what we don't service this
area like you know they asked me if I
know anyone else that want to take this
need and honestly it's to me it's just
crazy that I'll cost on these businesses
and they don't call back they don't a
snap boom sure in its license as they
call it back three days later and it's
like it's too late like how do you bring
your business yeah so I you know I'd say
the biggest thing is you know being
proactive make make sure picking up that
phone if you miss a call make sure you
calling back right away and certain
things a lot of times when they're
calling their client from the general
number so if you try climbing back
you're kind of screwed anyway yeah you
know cuz they're not gonna know who try
calling you so biggest thing is pick up
the phone okay so so really for you is
you're vetting more so than even driving
because the website is driving sales
right right right and we'll get into
that a little bit later as far as you
know SEO and ad campaign and stuff like
that cuz for a lot of people that don't
do it you might add some value one you
know giving us some just some tips later
but now so another and there's a reason
why I booked all three of these guys
together in the same room with my Sophos
so Saul's company blue cleaning is
probably one of the most following
companies on social media so obviously
that drives sales and helps with sales
but what same question is in addition to
that or if you want to touch on that
what how are you driving says so we're
we're focusing our brand is more kind of
talking about social medias we're really
trying to bring a brand presence to up
to the market because it's obviously now
social media is taking on such a big
role right and getting the name
they're kind of understanding the
company that you are and what you're
really about so for us it's really
emphasizing a lot about culture keeping
a face out there so that customers can
relate to us so once they call us for
for services they've seen plenty of our
team members our splash technicians
outfit including our management so don't
know who our social media coordinator is
and so once those calls come in they
feel like they already know us so for us
it's always making sure that we present
ourselves in a manner where we're
approachable relatable and ensuring that
we do put out some great content not
only showing you know our services but
also look about our culture and I think
that's what attracts you know our client
base but aside from that a lot of
referrals we ask for referrals which is
a huge thing for us as well so our
clients really speak you know highly of
us for those that you work with it so we
feel like that client base really brings
that certain client that we're looking
for as well and so for us it's more
keeping that tight-knit community and
ensuring that you know kind of what you
guys talk about it out here is that
making sure it's the right client for
you so you touched on the website part
and that's something again you know for
the audience I know I get a lot of
questions all the time about you know do
I need a website it's my Facebook page
good enough what do I put on the website
so there's a lot of different things you
can do
does it just because you have the best
website does that mean you have the best
company you may just have the best
resources right but let's say the lead
comes in through the website what you
know you hear the term I'm sure you guys
all use one I'm actually just starting
to to figure which which system you use
with CRM whatever you know we'll go back
to markets what what CRM are you using
right now what is a CRM that people
don't know in a is it important
so contact relationship management
system CRM is is crucial to a business
that's trying to scale okay we for many
many years to use the base baseline CRM
and we got away with it because we we
housed our contacts our prospects in
there none of our business
was managed inside of it okay
none of our actual customers we just
recently switched to Salesforce so we're
really stepping it up a notch because
one of the things that really hurt us
with the old CRM we were using was
customer service we were getting
terrible customer service from the
service we were using and I was kind of
afraid to make the step okay but one
thing you have to understand about CRM
is if you are a scaling business you
want to automate as much as you can when
it comes to the menial tasks of the
day-to-day grind so what I'm talking
about is things like quotes okay things
like follow-ups things like renewals I
never thought we were gonna be able to
do as much as we are right now with with
using Salesforce but man we're really
going to we're really going to crank it
out in
really gonna be beneficial we're gonna
be able to do quotes from like templates
there's no more typing out things
anymore because all of your information
is stored in a system right and
everything is insert fields so an insert
field is basically where you're picking
from a drop list and you have let's say
you know your suffix mister or your
prefix mister customer first name
customer last name and you're filling
all that information in it for us I mean
being a 37 year old company we come from
the time when there were no computers
and we were writing things okay not me
personally but you know I'm not that old
but that it's you know CRM is huge if
you're going to scale automation what do
you have in place mark Salesforce we'll
talk later yeah more about that I mean
you know so we're a hub spy user so you
know same thing you know for me it's
what what did CRM and so I see a lot of
companies that are starting off and
they're so focused on CRM and this stuff
and I would almost say don't even worry
about sharing when you're first starting
off because it's actually pretty time
consuming it is not only that but the
business that when you're starting off
your business you're looking
significantly different a year to be
from now right so you're in the voice a
lot of space heading and we do so much
stuff and you're just gonna drive
yourself crazy but you know at some
point you will need it and so the way I
think of CRM is I remember one time and
this was like seven eight years ago I
want to have
something was wrong with my phone or
uneven America for you don't know it was
an iPod I almost forgot those existed
right and so I remember the technicians
like asking questions you know or the
genius bars asking all these questions
and went to it's very specific process
and bow like that training is
unbelievable how these person how these
people know so much from one that's an
act so consistent and then one time you
know you know who's usually sponsored
diagnostic you know for Diagnostics and
you know can I see your phone is hood
it's like step by step but you know the
questions that they are asking you which
is the seamless experience and they fix
the thing and it was just amazing right
so I kind of think it's here in that way
right so you know for us is you know
HubSpot three the reason why we use that
is because as Mark said is the
automation right so you know two on
board someone proposal generating like
you know leave comes in we create the
deals so we don't forget about it and
then once we schedule a walkthrough or
sends a reminder when we actually do
create the proposal it takes me like 30
seconds to do it right because all that
information is already there you know
from there I can see if they view the
balls over how much time what pages they
looked at you know so all that stuff
gives me a lot of intelligence around
are they concerned with the service
check this or any concern with price too
did not even look at the service check
this we're just focused on price so you
just gave so much intelligence but then
going back to you know artificial
intelligence you know there's so many
things that we just automate so we could
do a lot more with less and that's
important right because the reality is
labor could seem really expensive and
so if I could do the task of three
people with one person through a is you
know that's a huge time savings so for
me if you know hot spots not cheap right
because you know you could get the free
version but that's you know you're
wasting your time you're not absolutely
now or paying like probably fifteen
hundred bucks a month or something like
that right okay but to me it's like it
it cuts down once the two people so do
the math right you know returns in I
mean like that automation is great to to
touch on what you said but there's some
things that you don't want to automate
so people have become accustomed to
automation to it and they ate it and in
they hate it they hate mass emails they
you know we think we're gonna touch 700
customers in one blast email well one
one someone emails you dear Ricky do you
think that person knows Ricky probably
not so there's certain things that
automation is great for and there's
certain things that you definitely want
to keep a hands-on experience for it
absolutely you know and going back to
that Suez you know with with HubSpot or
Salesforce because it's really all the
same stuff right is what's nice about it
is you know managing like a group inbox
right so for example in our case our in
for sales inbox if you will you know if
we send out an email to a customer about
an issue at the account you know
you can create a ticket from it if it's
important or if it's just regular email
it stays open until they respond or you
can mark it as closed but it's like it's
there as a reminder like hey they
haven't responded to you make sure you
follow up right you know and it'll send
your nods like hey you know make sure
you follow up because they haven't
responded it's been two days or same
thing if you got an email that has a
question mark because they have the VI
there knows that you're supposed to
respond to that email that you got it
will send you a nudge saying like hey
don't forget to take care of this or you
or if it's not if it's dumb deal you
could dismiss it right but again it's
like that back in the system so there's
so much you could do there's you know
they have a marketplace you can do
integrations with you name it right you
can integrate with LinkedIn so if
they're sending an email you can already
see the LinkedIn information so again
it's really not as Marc said you know
you can use it and go too far on one end
where it becomes too too automated right
now so it's really about finding not
impersonal and again kinda like there's
room for non personal there's room right
and from you again it's going back to
that example with that point it's about
trying to create a good consistent
experience where you're really providing
value to the customer that's really so
you know what I mean we were using
HubSpot for free version but we I've had
Salesforce for like 60 years five years
but I like the Salesforce aspect because
it's everything I mean at the end of day
when you're ready to close the business
sent out the contract right away they
sign it you know I love the aspect of it
really reminding you but what the action
steps are but I still feel like that CRM
is still that client relationship
management or you should still go out
there and visit these accounts kind of
going off of what Marcus mentioned is
that that personalization is something
that we're getting away from and it's
just becoming way too transactional
where everything is just being said via
email
as everything is follow-up is via email
everything you know there's no phone
call anymore you know there isn't hey
let me stop by your shop real quick
right let's just talk shop and you know
it's just that that relationship
building is kind of we're losing a
little bit of that it's customer service
should be ritual absolutely right
Eustace there should be a face out there
and not just send out reminder emails
right every month every week for a year
and expect to get business so for us is
we keep it really tight me to try to
keep it personalized to the best of our
abilities and using you know Salesforce
we're going actually a little deeper
with that okay cuz I I love the platform
so I'm pretty used to it so that's
pretty it's pretty awesome to hear like
you know again people you know let's
talk about the industry right cleaning
industry not not all the time well well
somebody say when they request a service
you know they always beat us up on price
but you hearing a professionalism right
that we're talking about here as far as
we've got technology that helps automate
we've got technology there's artificial
intelligence we're talking about
technology here for the cleaning
industry which is that really synonymous
but it's the it's the future of how we
operate as business owners and you just
heard kind of both sides to we need it
to be forward-thinking
to automate stuff but we can't forget
about the personal touch you know we
can't forget about you're right I'm not
big on I don't have to hand deliver a
contract anymore
I know I used to be big on that but the
need is not there as much in my opinion
but the follow-up is right the stopping
by
so maybe using these alerts and
reminders to stop by right to toe let's
use technology to its capabilities but
then let's not forget we're an industry
of service services hospitality
hospitality is showing your face right
so now as we know there's so many things
we could talk about on the sales side
but again I feel like bringing together
a group like you guys it's so good for
the estimating bidding type of knowledge
base that's out there because mark your
you're walking through and you're doing
bids at school is that million square
feet 500,000 square feet right why
you're just you're you're doing luxury
high-rise buildings you're doing big big
facilities and have multi-site buildings
right me and so we'll do a lot of
project work to at the same time we're
growing businesses at the same time but
we have a lot of different elements here
because sales is a segment that we could
talk on for your next six episodes but I
just want to throw some tidbits on you
know CRMs are important how are we
getting leads right so let's go back to
some of that where let's talk about you
know Google ad campaigns let's talk
about SEO let's talk about you know
where should a new beginning cleaning
business order that's like let's say
five to ten employees and then the other
side is if you're at two 300 plus
employees and you need to spend your
money wisely right both should spend
money wisely but where should somebody
put money in in your opinions and
depending on the target market right now
in what's out there with with Google
AdWords with Facebook marketing with
mailers like where do you guys stake in
wat we'll start with us where do you
think people should should be you know
money's important work what are some
tips or tricks on that part of you think
yeah I think I'd say having a mix is
really important because you never know
where the business can come from right
so you know I think a perfect example is
you know split significant differences
between mark and I right so mark is
sales
he's on doing any you know so again it's
like there's no right way to do it
because we're going at it completely
different to do it our fees you know big
party I mean some what are apiece but a
lot of our business comes from honestly
pounding the pavement in managing the
relationship because whoever's happy
today
is possibly not happening tomorrow
morning the president's garbage got
missed big problem right Rome is burning
so here we come in I mean you know here
we come in and you're the front-runner
all of a sudden you know we are doing
RFPs and that's you know for schools and
and most of them are bids they don't
calm RFPs if they were smart they call
my office but they don't so they tend to
try to go with lowest bidder and in
situations where you have relationships
where you're managing your relationship
with let's call these business managers
and CS POS for four school districts you
know they wouldn't know you the hardest
thing to do is to come in on one of
those bids and have it be cold and the
first crack they're getting at you is
here's the bid so you know relationship
is still King Thursday maybe spend some
money on taking care of the clients you
have right now right that would be one
for you I mean taking care of the
clients you have right now but also not
forgetting about the prospects that are
in your pipeline pipeline is everything
when it comes to a growing business
whether you're five employees 10
employees 200 employers what you do
today is not going to affect you today
it's going to affect you 30 60 90 days
from now so you always want to be
planting seeds because over time those
seeds grow into trees and you're gonna
reap the benefits eventually you know
every year we're we're working today not
necessarily for tomorrow but you know
for six months from now we just don't
know what's gonna happen all right
what no I mean then it's you know mark
it on the head because it's you know at
the end of day you know you're dealing
with people it's relationships and even
like for us right when you know they're
calling us and sometimes there's another
bitter presence or two other bidders you
know walk through and you know sometimes
I I notice that they're walking rushing
to the space because they're trying to
get to the next appointment or whatever
it's like you know what listen if you've
got
the opportunity make the time to not
have to rush to talk to the you know
potential prospect and you know you have
to get a space because if you're rushing
through a space you know the signal
you're saying to them is they're gonna
come in here and now you just rush
through my space and not Karadzic kinda
gets the next you know quitting right so
at the end of day you're dealing with
people and it's just build relationships
do things that diligently and you know I
always say is you know we're really not
selling right we're providing value
right because you know they have a
problem and it's they needed their
facility Queen and if you can take care
of that and take care of it well and for
them to not have components you make
their life easy you know you need to
make them the hero because they hired
you right so you know really think of it
like how do I add value absolutely no
that's really you know and at the end of
the day what that said you always have
to think about like how can I serve as
my clients better what technology is
that out there that can allow me to be
more competitive to provide a better
service and you know it's like even
going back to the CRM stuff like you
know what was some of this technology
like you know we might set you know
inspections to be every two weeks or
every month right and so what technology
now it'll tell us okay you haven't
performed you know your inspection on
schedule you're supposed to do it
yesterday so now it'll send us an alert
right and if week passes by they'll send
us another why because if you're missing
your inspections you know that means
that the chances of there being an issue
science increase right soon and those
alerts are very important so again you
know don't use CRM the news technology
to span people use them to add value
right I think you know I think what
you're talking about really is you know
make a friend make a sale that's exactly
we're out there to help we're not out
there to solve so when we're out there
we're out there to solve people's
problems we're out there to help so if
we can make a friend today maybe not
tomorrow maybe not six months from now
maybe not a year from now but maybe in a
year and a half from now they're going
to come back to you for something
that someone else can't solve for them
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