Seeking new customers is a constant process for building service contractors (BSCs), even those with a healthy client base.
“Even though we have a good retention rate, our goal is to grow each year, so we are constantly looking for new clients and leads,” said Kennedy Moreno, chief marketing officer for Moreno & Associates Inc. in San Jose, California. “Although a lot of our growth has been organic through word of mouth, we also want to go out and get clients, instead of relying on them to come to us.”
To attract clients among all generations, BSCs generally highlight how their businesses stand out from the competition.
“Janitorial is a grudge buy; it’s something you have to spend money on,” said Channing Johnson, president of KB Building Services in Omaha, Nebraska. “The trick to attracting new clients in a flooded market is to not look like everyone else.”
However, when dealing with millennial or Generation Z clients, be sensitive to their challenges and preferences.
“You don’t want to be discrediting the buyer based on their age or expertise or just talking too much and not listening when they tell you their needs,” said Dan Harris, business development executive at Janitronics Inc. in Albany, New York.
Make it mobile-friendly
As a self-described “old millennial,” Dave Bonnemort, regional director of Anago Cleaning Systems of Utah, speaks for his younger clients when he lists mobile-friendly websites as a necessity for BSCs. “They have grown up with mobile phones, with technology all around them, so they are looking for websites that are mobile-friendly and fast to respond,” he said.
“A joke we have at home is if we need to buy a flight or pay our taxes, it’s a laptop job; everything else we do on our phone,” Harris added.
Younger clients also want to use their phones to read reviews on cleaning services before they choose one. Bonnemort recommended having a business profile on Google, Yelp, Angie’s List, and similar platforms. “You need to get on those platforms, and once you get there, you need authenticity,” he said. “If a testimonial looks too polished, if it looks too good, then it looks like you paid for it or maybe your brother wrote it.”
Instead of relying on generic reviews for these platforms, Bonnemort relies on testimonials from actual clients and short-form videos he records with his phone. “Introduce yourself; people want to know your story, what makes you different,” he said. “People don’t want to hear a hired voice. They want to know the real you.”
Tell your story on social media
Another way to showcase your business is through social media. Kassidy Moreno, marketing and operations associate with Moreno & Associates and a recent college graduate, assumed social media responsibilities as she is in the age group Moreno Clean is targeting for new clients.
“It was important for me to take a hold of what we’re doing on social media as most people my age have no idea what a BSC is,” she explained. “They think we just do one thing—cleaning. We’re put into a box.”
To reach these potential clients, Moreno Clean posts interviews and Q&As featuring company staff on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok. “I noticed my generation responds to storytelling; they want to get to know our frontend employees,” Kennedy Moreno said. “We are posting reels, short clips, and fun videos that show our company’s values and culture. We focus the most on LinkedIn, and that’s not normally what people are used to seeing there,
so we get a lot of engagement.”
In your quest to stay relevant through social media, the Morenos warned not to make the mistake of relying on artificial intelligence (AI) for your posts.
“There is a misconception that the younger generation wants AI-generated content, but we only use AI to make life easier, not to tell a story because it is not genuine, and we can spot it a mile away,” Kassidy Moreno said.
“More people are catching on to what AI-content looks like,” Kennedy Moreno added. “I’ve seen many LinkedIn posts copied and pasted right from ChatGPT. Even though you might be able to get content out faster, it is
going to fall flat with the majority of your audience if you don’t spend time making it look or sound like it’s genuinely coming from you or your brand. So, I would say don’t even bother with social media if you don’t want to
utilize it in an authentic way.”
Johnson also has found that LinkedIn is the best social media platform to reach potential clients. “Our younger clients have been using it since college, and they are used to connecting through technology before connecting in person,” she said. But she cautioned BSCs to start slow, especially when using the platform to contact people they have not met yet. “Nobody wants to be pitch slapped on LinkedIn,” she said.
Johnson recommended liking and engaging with potential clients’ posts before requesting to follow them online and meet them in person.
Don’t neglect face time
Screens are not the only way to connect with the younger generation. Businesses that move beyond social media to see people face-to-face also resonate with millennial and Gen Z clients.
After forming a connection through LinkedIn and feeling comfortable to reach out, Johnson will determine whether they have a mutual acquaintance who can introduce them via email. “They might feel more comfortable meeting me if they know somebody who knows me,” she said.
Johnson offers to meet potential clients for coffee or at a restaurant or bar with a happy hour. “We can meet at 7 a.m. for coffee or at 3 p.m. for a glass of wine, but it has to be short and sweet,” she explained. “People are rarely
willing to spend more than 30 minutes with someone they don’t know or don’t already work with. When we get those meetings, we focus the conversation on what we can do to help you save time, help solve your problems, and help make you and your role more valuable to your company.”
Reconsider marketing materials
When you can’t meet people in person, emails and other mass marketing forms still have their place, but they need to be personalized. “I think it’s more important to advertise yourself first before advertising your company, especially with the younger generation,” Kassidy Moreno said. “We are getting bombarded with digital advertising, and it doesn’t feel genuine.”
Although Moreno & Associates does use emails for marketing, Kennedy Moreno said they found a way to keep them short and to the point. “People don’t want to read paragraph upon paragraph,” she said. “We try to keep it to four concise sentences.”
“It’s also important that an email reads like it was written by a human and explains how your company will meet your needs, rather than make you read three long paragraphs,” Kassidy Moreno said. “By the end of the email, you are going to forget what the first paragraph said.”
Moreno & Associates generally avoids sending marketing texts, unless it’s to customers who have subscribed to receive text messages. “I personally don’t like getting random text messages; it’s hard to determine what is spam and whether you’re going to get hacked,” Kennedy Moreno explained. “If you are sending out mass text messages thinking it will help you with the younger generation, it won’t. You are more likely to get deleted and reported to the spam police.”
Kennedy Moreno is also skeptical about paper mailers. “It would have to be highly personalized,” she said. “Otherwise, it would most likely get thrown away.”
Instead, she recommended creative deliveries to facilities you are looking to service. “We purchased boxes of cookies, wrote the message, ‘don’t let your facility crumble,’ and dropped them off at offices,” she explained. “It is not really a sales pitch, but it’s getting your name in front of them and your foot in the door. I’d much rather spend money on that than sending out flyers that will get thrown away.”
Keep it transparent
When you gain new clients, remember you can easily lose them if you don’t provide the services they expect. Younger generations value not only a company that provides excellent cleaning, but one that proves its cleaning efficacy.
“I think the No. 1 thing they want is data transparency,” Johnson said. In her pitch to new clients, she promises to send them regular quality control statements that include safety reports, employee retention information, and average response times to complete tasks. Johnson added that she doesn’t sugarcoat information because “bad news is bad, but surprise news is worse.”
Millennial and Gen Z clients are also looking for providers who work independently and communicate frequently. “They want someone they can trust to take care of issues,” Johnson explained. “They are busy and have many things going on at once, so they want to be able to text you and get a quick response, so the issue can be out of sight and out of mind.”
To instill trust in these customers, Johnson said KB team members often document their work and send it to the clients. “As a janitorial team, we are often in our clients’ buildings more than they are. So, if we are walking around and see a lightbulb that is out, we will take a picture highlighting the maintenance issue and text it to the customer,” she said. “If there has been concern about debris in the corner of the elevators, we will shoot a video
to show it is gone. We are the eyes and ears of your building.”
Harris finds that his younger clients appreciate providers that not only offer cleaning services but also educate them on the latest cleaning techniques and make recommendations for improving their buildings. “They like to know that there are experts taking care of their space who are looking out for their best interests, not trying to sell them all the bells and whistles that are not really relevant,” he explained.
Bonnemort concurred on the importance of providers serving as educators. “If they’re new to their career, one of the challenges they will have is floor care,” he said. “By teaching them about all the different types of flooring, bringing in local manufacturer reps, and offering demos on floor care procedures, especially for problem areas their tenants have been complaining about, you can help them look like a hero while educating them along the way and helping them feel confident in their job.”
Finally, Harris advised BSCs to be upfront about the process involved for hiring your company. “The new generation of buyers is looking for anyone selling to them to up their game, but they are still expecting the typical aspects of the buying process,” he said. “Is the process going to take three steps or five? How many phone calls should they expect? They want to know what the buying journey looks like.”
