Office Cleaning Contracts – How to Win Them

Read this blog for a stronger understanding of office cleaning contracts

Office cleaning contracts are as important as ever. With this blog, you’ll have a deeper understanding of how to locate and win them.

The sheer number of areas within the cleaning sector is vast, covering:

• Private/domestic
• Commercial
• Corporate
• Education
• Culture and heritage sites
• Hospitality
• Industrial
• Local Government.

With this in mind, let’s look at 11 tips to win those office cleaning contracts.

1.    Collate evidence

If you’re going to impress your buyer, you’ll need to include links to your credibility Generally, your buyer would be looking for:

• Case studies
• Contract examples
• References

All these components would be a boon to your bids.

Following on from this, increase your visibility by taking part in networking/business events. Ultimately it helps to be visible online when considering office cleaning contracts.

2.    Understand your cleaning capabilities

Consider what you’re capable of. A bank might not require detailed cleaning services, whereas a doctor’s surgery would need a high level of information. Whatever contract you’re awarded, make sure that you’re ready to answer the questions.

3.    Consider the reason for the contract

Bidders never tend to consider why the contract has been posted out to tender. More specifically, they never seem to ask what the buyer’s thought process is behind the tender. Are they looking for more green methods? Are they trying to look for cheaper alternatives than their current cleaning services? Consider this in your bid and think strategically about your services. What would they require the most? The more information you have around office cleaning contracts, the better equipped you’ll be to meet the buyer’s needs.

4.    Define your service area

Once you’ve been awarded a contract, you or your employees will need to deliver the contract when they’re needed. If your service area is too large, transport could start becoming a problem. Perhaps it’s bad weather, or perhaps it’s traffic that makes your employees late. This won’t look well on your reputation as a cleaning business. Consistency is key when you’re supplying a cleaning contract, and it’s imperative that you keep up the quality of work. Ultimately, if you don’t understand the scope of work that’s required for the contract, it’ll be difficult to fulfil it.

5.    The credibility that proofreading offers

When you’re writing a bid, one aspect generally spells success or failure. Proofreading. If the buyer notices grammatical errors, it won’t look well on your business’s professionalism. This can be easily remedied by having a colleague look over it, or perhaps outsourcing for a writing service.

Following on from this, stick to your word count. It shows the buyer that you understood the parameters of the contract and ensures what you have said is concise.

Another thing to consider is your use of jargon. Ultimately, it’s the buyer you’re attempting to win over. If they’re outsourcing to you, it’s likely they won’t know the field-specific terms so don’t overload them with it. Instead, reduce the amount to an acceptable quality so you assure the buyer of your validity without confusing them. Whether its office cleaning contracts, or any sector, it’s important to ensure grammatical proficiency.

6.    Customer service

Most people don’t think of customer service when considering bidding, but it couldn’t be more important.

• Being polite when corresponding
• The speed at which you respond to queries,
• Even after the process when you’re offering post-contract support.

All these components work to increase your reputation.

7.     Request a site visit

If you’re cleaning for large offices, you’ll need to know the floorplan. For some tenders, they offer a site visit prior to your tender submission. This gives you a clearer idea of what to expect when delivering, as you’re able to visualise the workplace. Once you have a good idea of the area, you can then provide a comprehensive quote for the client. Office cleaning contracts can require a great deal of work. So, visiting the space prior to your submission is highly advantageous. They could even provide a clearer scope for pricing as you know exactly what you’re working with.

8.     Feedback

You may be wondering why the client has gone with another company. Ask for feedback, and if the opportunity arises, provide it. It helps to:

• Give you the advice you need to improve
• Streamline the client’s future bidding processes.

Either way, it shows that you were an invested contractor in the whole experience.

9.     Your added value

What makes your company stand out from the rest? Is it your sustainable method? Is it your commitment to reducing wastage? Find your unique selling point (USP) and present it in your bid. Office cleaning contractsaren’t immune from the move towards a greener planet, so you need to factor this in. This is also known as social value. Some of the following points may be required:

• Creating new jobs and promoting skills
• Encouraging economic growth
• Supporting COVID-19 recovery
• Tackling climate change
• Levelling up the UK.

10.  Do you meet the economic and financial threshold?

Office cleaning contracts tend to be larger in their awards, and your annual turnover needs to reflect this. If your annual turnover is worth less than half of the contract, then you’ll be less likely to win.

11.  Time management skills

One could argue that time management skills are imperative in office cleaning contracts. If you’re not able to keep up with the flood of documents, then you’ll be less likely to win. Once you’re delivering the contract, time management skills gain an even higher level of importance.

Conclusion

Now that we’ve reached the end of our blog, lets recap on some of the tips we covered:

• Time Management Skills
• Meeting Your Economic Threshold
• Your Added Value
• Feedback
• Customer Service
• Understanding Your Capabilities
• Attending Site Visits
• Proofreading
• Websites
• Considering he Reason Behind the Contract
• Defining Service Area.

Bidding for office cleaning contracts is an excellent way to grow your business. The best way to see success is to ensure you are well-prepared and well-supported for the tendering process! We offer a range of support to carry you through, from finding the tendering opportunity to becoming the successful bidder.

Where to find office cleaning contracts?

A subscription to Facilities Tenders offers your business:

• Access to all exclusive, public, and private sector opportunities within the cleaning industry.
• An on-hand Account Manager is available to answer any questions you may have about office cleaning tenders. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
• A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new, sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
• Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
• 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants each month.

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

• Property Maintenance Contracts
• Solar Energy Contracts
• Electrical Testing Contracts
• Cemetery Contracts
• Grounds Maintenance Contracts
• Cleaning Contracts
• Facilities Management Tenders
• Window Cleaning Contracts
• Manned Security Tenders
• Landscape Design Tenders
• Grass Cutting Contracts.

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tender opportunities – even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for office cleaning contracts.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

• An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
• A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
• Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
• Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
• Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities

Contact us for further help and support for growing your business.

Need assistance with how to bid for office cleaning contracts?

You may not have the time or resources in house to write a winning tender response in house. Outsourcing to tender writing specialists can help you secure your next contract.

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, provide four levels of bid writing support services. Our Bid Writers have over 60 years of collective bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re new to tendering or need your response proofread – we can help.

Tender Ready

Tender Ready is the perfect programme for those who are completely new to tendering. You’ll have access to an expert Bid Consultant to answer any questions that you may have.

Tender Improvement

If you have already been applying for tenders but aren’t seeing success our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Writers will go over your previous submissions and provide feedback and guidance.

Tender Writing

Have you found the perfect courier delivery contract for your business but are struggling to start? Send it over to our Bid Writing team and they can write the whole response for you. If you use our Tender Writing service, they’ll even submit it on your behalf!

Tender Mentor  

Our Bid Writers can look over a bid response you’ve already written, checking it for errors before you submit. Sometimes you just need another pair of eyes to go over your response and our Tender Mentor service can help.