Parking lot cleaning is a service that is required anywhere there is a parking lot. But who exactly are you trying to reach when you go out or answer the phone? And, what kind of facilities are you trying to target?

The most obvious would be the big box 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. They also like to work with providers that have a large regional or national reach, for example, all of Northern California, an entire state, or an entire metropolitan area. To address these facilities, you will want to address the General Managers and Store Directors. Most corporate retail and supermarket 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, electrical, painting, and plumbing services; everything needed to maintain a building. Would you like to walk into a large retail or supermarket 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 malls, shopping malls, office buildings, and office parks. These types of properties often have different retail, grocery, or professional service businesses as tenants on the property. These types of facilities are usually managed by property management companies. And, when a property management company is responsible for a property, it assigns property managers to manage the vendors used to maintain that property. When you are targeting these types of properties and want to start a business on the property you are targeting, tell one of the business managers that you are trying to find out which property management company is responsible for maintenance. Enter the business for both commercial and office properties. You will want to be very courteous and respectful when entering a professional service office, this type of business may never have visitors and they may be very 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. Take note, I only ask for the name of the company, then call the company and ask which property manager is directly responsible for the property I am addressing. In my experience, people are reluctant to give you the property manager’s contact information, but asking which company manages the property is much easier, and you can still find out 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 a parking management company. These companies operate large multi-story garages on behalf of airports, municipalities, owners and business owner associations. These types of parking facilities are usually located near the city center, near public transportation hubs, and near office parks. Parking management companies are responsible for managing the day-to-day checkout operations of parking lots, this includes vendor vendors for parking lot sweeping and pressure washing. When you head to these types of facilities, you’ll want to go directly to the parking lots you’ll be heading to and ask two questions. If it’s not obvious, ask which company manages the parking lot, secondly, ask who is the regional manager responsible for the parking lot. Parking managers are usually responsible for multiple parking lots, and you should keep that in mind when you talk to them. You can also Google a parking management company and call to ask who the parking managers are.

Finally, there are some unique opportunities to target. You can target farmers markets and flea markets. These types of events usually have a management organization responsible for managing who sells what products at the flea or farmers market. Many organizations responsible for specific markets belong to networks that oversee dozens of markets in the region. Go to a market and ask a vendor who he would talk to for a market stall, the person he is referring to is the person he would offer the service to. You can also contact this person by googling the flea market and determining the organization responsible for the flea or farmers market. There is also post-event cleaning, for example after a concert. To target these opportunities, you want to contact the facilities manager at the event center. I would call the event planning phone number for a particular stadium or event venue, explain the service they offer, and ask who I would talk to about their service offering. They will usually refer you to the facility manager.