To build your business, potential customers have to know you, like you, and trust you. We call this the KLT factor, and developing your KLT skills is core to developing a successful contract cleaning business.
While it is true that some customers may come knocking on your door, most often it is just the opposite. You will be knocking on their doors in one of many different ways. However, once those doors have opened, turning meetings into a sale and acquiring new clients are much dependent on your KLT abilities. Here are some of the key principles of the KLT factor and ways to apply them to your business marketing program:
Complete Transparency. A building manager reported that once she was asked to meet a salesperson for coffee to learn about a software program that could help streamline her business management operations. When she met with the salesperson, it turns out he was really trying to enroll her in an affiliate program so that she could sell the program to other building managers. When she became aware of this, she remained polite and thanked the man for his time, but quickly walked out of the coffee shop.
I advise my clients to be 100 percent open and transparent at every stage of the sales process. If it is just an initial “get-to-know-you” meeting with a building manager, then that is just what it should be and nothing more. Keep selling to a minimum. This is the first and a very crucial step in the KLT process.
Listening and Kindness. Most people we meet in business today are busy. It’s refreshing, even a gift, when they meet with someone who takes the time to listen to them talk about their work challenges. Be curious. Ask questions. People love to talk about themselves.
Furthermore, kindness goes a long way. Always treat a potential client like a close friend. Compliment them throughout the meeting. Now, not only does a prospect know us, the prospect is starting to like us as well.
Generosity. During the course of a get-to-know-you meeting with a cleaning contractor, a building manager indicated she was having various challenges in her facility, most of which had little to do with cleaning. However, the contractor had a suggestion that addressed one of the manager’s challenges, and it helped considerably.
That was just the beginning. Slowly, over six months, he offered the manager other suggestions regarding issues discussed at the initial meeting. Again, few of these suggestions had anything to do with cleaning, and some ideas did not prove all that helpful.
However, it was the interest and generosity displayed by the contractor—the willingness to find and offer suggestions and keep in touch—that the manager most admired. She now knew the contractor; liked him; and as a result of his suggestions, trusted him.
About six months after their initial meeting, the manager hired the contractor to take over the cleaning of the facility. This is the value of the KLT factor and why it is so important that cleaning contractors build their KLT skills.
For more information on marketing and building a contract cleaning company, contact Ron at contact@seguraassociates.com
