Parking lot cleaning is a service that is required any where there is a parking lot. But who exactly are you trying to reach when you go out, or pick up the phone? And, what kind of facilities are you trying to target?
The obvious one would be large Asphalt retailers. These companies are a bit difficult to work with because they have strict guidelines that vendors must adhere to. Their contracts generally have requirements of 1 million and more in general liability insurance. Also they like to work with vendors who have a large regional, or national reach, for example all of northern California, a whole state, or a whole metropolitan area. To target these facilities you will want to target General Managers and Store Directors. Most corporate retail and grocery chains have a procurement department. A procurement department is a fancy way of saying “the department that manages all the outside vendors.” These departments generally deal with outside janitorial service, outside repair, carpentry, electrician, paint, and plumbing services; anything required to maintain a building. You would want to walk into a large retail or grocery chain and ask the general manager, “do you manage the parking lot sweeping service, do you have a procurement department, or does the property management company manage the service?”
There are also strip malls, shopping centers, office buildings, and office parks. These types of properties often have different retail, grocery, or professional service businesses as tenants on the property. These kinds of facilities are generally managed by property management companies. And, when a property management company is responsible for a property they assign property managers to manage the vendors used to maintain that property. When you’re targeting these kinds of properties you want to go into a business on the property you are targeting, tell one of the business managers that you are trying to figure out what property management company is responsible for maintenance. Go into the business for both retail properties and office properties. You will want be very courteous and respectful when walking into a professional service office, this type of company may never have visitors, and they may be quite surprised by your visit. Be sure to proceed as respectfully, and courteously as possible, explain why you are there and if they would take two minutes to help you out. Take note, I only ask for the name of the company, later I call the company and ask what property manager is directly responsible for the property I’m targeting. In my experience people are reluctant to give you the contact information for the property manager, but asking what company manages the property goes over a lot easier, and you can still find who the actual property manager is. You can also Google a property management company, and by searching the site or calling, determine who the property managers are.
Finally there is such a thing as a parking lot management company. These companies manage large multistory garages on behalf of airports, municipalities, property owners, and business owners associations. These kinds of parking facilities are generally near down town areas, near public transportation hubs, and near office parks. Parking lot management companies are responsible for managing the daily operations of pay for parking garages, this includes sourcing vendors for parking lot sweeping and pressure washing. When targeting these kinds of facilities you want to go directly to the parking garages you will target and ask two questions. If it is not apparent, ask what company manages the parking garage, second ask who the regional manager responsible for the parking lot is. Parking lot managers are generally responsible for multiple parking garages, and you should keep that in mind when speaking with them. You can also Google a parking lot management company, and call in asking who the parking lot managers are.