Rule #2 in selling janitorial services is to ask good questions.

(here's Rule #1: Sell Consultatively in case you missed it).

But all sales training says to ask good questions. So what are good questions?

Good questions are ones that:

1. Help you understand customers' pain points
2. Define customers' desired benefits
3. Enable you to customize your service solution for that customer
4. Allow you to calculate your price
5. Prepare you to communicate your customized solution

The above group of questions is listed in order. The thinking you need to do is based on the order you get the information. Let's explain by working backwards.

In the end, you'll need to present a proposal to a customer.

Otherwise customers have nothing to sign and you don't get a contract.

Your proposal must have a price for the customer to agree to. And your price is based on what you're offering that customer - that's your service offering. And sometimes you'll be offering different levels of service, frequencies or tasks. Makes sense that your price will change based on that.

Now comes the reason for asking good questions.

Although the customer determines their level of service in their specifications, specifications alone don't tell you everything the customer wants.

And specs don't tell you what will persuade the customer to choose you. Other contractors will be submitting proposals based on the same specifications.

Your proposal must stand out, and the way it stands out is by proposing the little things that are important to the customer. The little things you do in your service that set you apart from the other contractors.

What's important to the customer? Which brings us back to the beginning.

Good questions to ask each customer.

TIP: When talking to customers, use your own words for these questions. They have to come out of your mouth naturally, not like you're reading from a script.

1. Help you understand customers' pain points

The following are good questions to ask customers:

• "Is the janitorial service helping, or getting in the way of your employees doing their work? If so, how? When?  What would you do differently?"
• "Where does the janitorial service impact (or touch) what your business produces (or does) here? How important is that to your business?"
• "What do you worry about that keeps you up at night? Is janitorial a part of that? How, where?"

2. Define customers' desired benefits

• "If this part of your janitorial service is not working as well as you'd like (fill in this from what you've learned), why is it important to fix? What will you get out of it? What benefits to you? To your company?"
• "How will you feel when your janitorial service is working the way you want it ? What would you do with that extra time? With that extra budget?"

3. Enable you to customize your service solution for that customer

• "How will you know when your janitorial service is working the way you want it to? What will you see? Where and when?"
• "What frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) of communication and in what form (visit, call, email, written report) works best for you?"
• "How and when do you like your vendors to notify you of problems they face in performing their service?"

4. Allow you to calculate your price

• Ask whatever you need to understand the specs
• "Are there any services not on the specifications that you expect us to perform? What, when and how often?"

5. Prepare you to communicate your customized solution

• "When can I come in to present our proposal?"
• "What information are you looking for in the proposal?"
• "What kinds of information would be helpful to you in making your best decision?"

TIP: Follow on questions are golden. Your first question may be off the mark. But listen to the customer's answer closely. That will often give you an insight to ask the next, better question.

TIP: If you want to learn more about good questions, read Socrates & Sales Presentations.

That's it for Rule #2: Good Questions. As you can see, you'll always be working on better and better questions.

Here's the series we're covering in the Rules of Selling Janitorial Services. In our next post we'll take a look at how to Be a better listener. In the meantime, feel free to visit Revenue-IQ for more insights to sell more janitorial contracts.

• Sell consultatively (Rule #1)
• Ask good questions (Rule #2)
• Be a better listener
• Understand the sales process
• Present your proposal simply, concisely & persuasively

Regards,
Chris Arlen
President
Revenue-IQ :::: raising contractor revenue

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