That Wonderful Hidden Account
Posted on April 25th, 2008 in General, Grow Your Sales, Competitive Advantage |
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You get a request for Bid or Proposal. It’s for a Mall, Hotel, or Public Lobby. Lots of plants, lots of big, specimen type plants. You are…over the Moon. Well, not so fast. Let’s stop long enough to look at the "other" side.
Malls are full of pitfalls. The plant material has probably been there for some time and may have "conditions", mealey bug, spider mite, etc, that will require Herculean attention. And, Public venues, Lobbies and Malls are notorious for vandalism, trash and cleaning crew abuse. Add to that special times for maintenance and you have a drean that quickly becomes a nightmare. Lastly, just to add insult to injury, because these jobs are so highly visible, every plantscaping company for an hundred mile radius will be asking to bid and offering low prices. My question is, Are you sure this is what you want?
Instead, what about what I call the "hidden" accounts? These are the 25 floors of offices high above the Lobby. These are the spaces with 8′ and change ceiling heights so smaller, more maintenance friendly plant material gets used. These are the perfect places for plants, long term client/company relationships that your competition seldom sees. Hmmm. Sounds pretty good to me. And, on top of all that, they pay a monthly fee just like the Shopping Mall, usually are more profitable and always, less headaches. The only difference I can see is that the name on the check you get isn’t as impressive. Tough. It still spends the same.
So, as you go out there knocking on doors and making calls, may I suggest you visit those lobbies but make it a visit to read the Signage and find out who the tenants are on those 25 floors. That’s where you want to concentrate your efforts. Then, up the road, when the Mall calls for a bid, you can give them a realistic figure and, here’s the best part, if you don’t get it, just smile.
Go Back To Get Ahead