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Great Job Greg!
Thank you for your example and persistence.
Isn’t it great to be Heaven’s Best!
Keep us informed.
This last week I started pushing the lease renwal program hard. I joined the CAA which is the California Apartment Association. I was able to get a list of all of the local management companies in my area. This was very important to me. When I go out to market appartments I start at the top. I leave all of the info with the person in charge of the properties, either a VP or regional manager. I then send a follow up letter within two days and ask for an appointment.
On Friday I picked up two great accounts. The first one has two appartments (248 total), and a lot of commercial buildings. The second has over two thousand appartments in my area. The name of the company is BRE properties. They are a very large company with properties throught the west. Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, California.
I was told to go to the individual properties for a follow up They can make there own choices in house. I am trying to get a meeting with there top executive next week. An endorcment from them goes a long way. If you goto there website http://www.breproperies.com and look to see if you have any of there properties it might be a foot in the door.I am now leaving a price list along with my packet at the offices along with a small spotter and a large one so they are encouraged to try it out. My cost is around six dollars for every account. When you look at advertising $6 to pick up a large account is the cheapest way of advertising I have found yet.
Hi Greg,
What great effort you are taking and sharing with everbody about your lease Idea. I wanted to comment on BRE Properties, They are listed on the NYSE with the symbol of BRE. They have over 80 multi family communities with over 23,000 units. I have owned the company in my IRA for a long time. If you can work for companies like this you will be “Golden” They have been a steady grower and presently yield 3.5%. Some of my people are looking at your leasing plan and think it looks attractive, unfortunaly the BRE people have not moved into Florida yet, but there are many others we can go after.
Thanks Again
RonGreg,
Great stuff. It really looks like a great plan of attack. I have not been able to get any apartments here due to they already use a carpet cleaner that does their work for really cheap.How do you get them to buy in this if they already have someone they can call to do the job cheaper? Do you think it is the fact that you are going to them with the understanding of their concerns of retention rates along with the overall professionalism that you present things with?
I would like to try to tackle some of the property managers here, but would like to have a better understanding of why they would be willing to shift gears from just using their carpet cleaners and save a few bucks vs. bring us on board.
In your experience, what do you see as being the big difference maker in why they have let you in? I am just trying to get as much info as possible before I tackle this here.
Thanks a bunch…
Danbo 8)Appartment management companies almost always look at the price first. With this said I give them what they want to hear. Our prices are very competitive with the cheap carpet cleaners that you are speaking of. This is where it becomes important to know how the game is played. My price list for a 1 bedroom arpartment is $55, a 2 bed $60, 3 bed is $70, townhome 2 bed is $80, townhome 3 bed $90. Sounds real cheap I am sure, ths is a standard price for all apartments no matter sq feet. Where I make up for it as well as all cleaners is the add ons. I charge for red stains, wax, gum, and any repairs. It is not uncommon to have invoices ranging in the $120-200 range also pet damage. It is a numbers game. We do anywhere from 12-22 apartments a day.
The lease renewal is different. I am still charging the same rate as before, but with no add on services and I am giving a small spotter away. THis is a great way to get your foot in the door. Tell them that it is ok to have you only do the leases renewals. Sell them on the spotter bottle, customer service, Dry in one hour, uniformed emplyees, and deodorizer. This is something that they can not get any where else. A lease renewal should not take more than a half hour. It is a once over clean only. I try to have them book multiple jobs at the same time. The comment cards really work well also. Even at $60 a day if you do 6 jobs a day it comes out to $360. That is $7200 a month or $86400 a year. Alll this and it takes three to four easy hours a day and less than six dollars a day in spotters.
I hope this helps if not I can send a copy of our entire packat by fax that might help.
Greg Miller
Dave we run 2 vans full time and a third part time. I have three full time and one part time carpet cleaning emplyees. Also I have one office emplyee to answer phones and run the office. This does not include myself. I am right now looking to add two more full time positions.
It has been awhile since I gave an update. We are still going strong with the program. I hope that some of the other operators are starting to get calls from the promotion. I just met with a company today that said that they are going to pick up Heavens Best in other locations. It has been an easy way to get our foot in the door of many management companies. I have found that it does take a couple of follow up trips to close the deal. As of right now we picked up a solid ten accounts from this.
Greg,
It is a great idea. I have recently sent out over 200 intro packets to the listed property management companies in San Antonio. I have received one call so far. How do you handle the initial contact and follow-up? Thanks.
I do two things. I go to the corperate office, and the onsite manager. I give them it in person so that they have a face behind the name. I always leave a small spotter at every stop. I like to call a week later and try to set up a time to meet with the manager or reginal. By this time they have had a chance to try out the spot remover.
You might find it easier to look up an apartment association in your area. It is well worth joining. I belong to the RHA in sacramento. In san Antonio it is the SAAA (San Antonio Apartment Association) They will usually have a trade show and other oppertunities to get your info out to the masses. I can do more marketing in the RHA EXPO in one day then I can all year long. The nice part is that they come to me for info at the trade show.
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