One way to use Local Lead Finder. Local Lead Finder is a $10 Google Sheets template I built that turns any Google Maps search into a lead list: every business, with phone, website, rating and reviews. This post is one use case for it: getting commercial cleaning contracts. I’m not a commercial cleaner; this is the playbook I’d follow if I were, run for real with the template. Other ways to use it are listed at the end, or see all 18 lead generation ideas.
You already know how to clean. The hard part is getting commercial cleaning contracts: the apartment buildings, condo lobbies, offices and plazas that need someone every week. Search for how to get them and page 1 is a Facebook group, a Reddit thread, an insurance blog, a couple of bid sites and an old forum. They all say the same thing: go door to door, or bid on posted jobs. Nobody tells you which doors. The other options cost money: bid sites that charge a subscription to see open bids, or lead sellers who charge you for every lead.
So here’s exactly what I’d do this week if I were starting a commercial cleaning business in Minneapolis. I ran it for real with Local Lead Finder, a $10 Google Sheet I built that pulls every business on Google Maps into a spreadsheet. I’d start with the people who hire cleaners for many buildings at once. By the end you’ll have 255 property management companies and 153 shopping centers, the companies behind several of those plazas, and the message I’d send them.
TL;DR
- 87 Minneapolis areas gave me 255 property management companies and 153 real plazas, malls and centers in one sheet.
- 63 of those 153 plazas have no phone number on Google, so their property manager is who you message.
- Clean the shopping center results first: 25 of 326 were Minneapolis park buildings, not plazas.
Who this is for
- Commercial cleaning company owner: you get the people who sign cleaning contracts for many buildings at once, not one tenant at a time.
- Janitorial contractor: small office buildings and plazas are usually run by a property manager, and this gives you 255 of them in one sheet.
- Residential cleaner moving into commercial work: small property managers with under 50 reviews are the most likely to try a new cleaner, and 160 of these qualify.
- Move-out and turnover cleaner: property managers hire someone every time a unit turns over, and this list tells you who they are.
- Window cleaning business owner: strip malls need common-area and window cleaning, and this finds the company behind each plaza.
Before you start
- A Google Places API (New) key
- Local Lead Finder set up in your Google Drive
- Local Lead Finder itself
- Your region, like Minneapolis, Minnesota
- A short outreach message that says what you do and asks one question
- A column or notebook for contract end dates
Don’t have a Places API key yet? How to get one free. Haven’t set up the sheet? Setup takes 5 minutes.
Who signs commercial cleaning contracts
Not the tenants. In an apartment building, the property manager hires whoever cleans the hallways, lobby and laundry room, and whoever turns over units when someone moves out. In a strip mall, the landlord’s manager hires for the common areas, and often recommends cleaners to tenants.
So you want two lists:
- Property management companies. They manage apartments, HOAs and small office buildings.
- Shopping centers. Each one has an owner or manager behind it.
The property manager list
Region: Minneapolis, Minnesota. I searched “property management company” across 87 areas from Find Areas. (It kept adding areas in the background up to 150 after I’d started searching, so wait for Find Areas to finish before you search. This list covers most of the metro, not all of it.)
255 property management companies. The median one has 25 Google reviews, and 160 have fewer than 50. Most of this list is small companies.
The top of the list is the big rental managers. They probably already have a cleaning vendor and a bid process. That’s not a reason to skip them, but I’d start with the small ones. A company with 15 reviews and 20 buildings is often one person who would love to stop dealing with unreliable cleaners.
“What’s the worst they can say?” (Noah Kagan, How to Earn More Money: By Asking)
The worst they can say is “we already have someone.” Ask when their contract is up, and write it down.
HOA managers: common areas and clubhouses
8 of the 255 are HOA, condo or community managers (matched by name). Condo buildings have lobbies, hallways, gyms and party rooms that need cleaning every week. Those are recurring commercial cleaning contracts, not one-off jobs.
The shopping center list
“Shopping center” across the same 87 areas came back with 326 results. 25 were Minneapolis park buildings (several neighborhoods share a name with a park), and some were single stores. Filtering to names that sound like a plaza, mall or center left 153.
=SUMPRODUCT(REGEXMATCH('shopping center (AREAS)'!A2:A327,"(?i)center|centre|plaza|mall|square|shoppes|shops|commons|crossing|marketplace|galleria|promenade|court|village")*NOT(REGEXMATCH('shopping center (AREAS)'!I2:I327&'shopping center (AREAS)'!A2:A327,"(?i)minneapolisparks|stlouisparkmn|recreation")))
90 of them have a phone number. 63 don’t. A strip mall doesn’t have a front desk. Somebody manages it, though, and that’s who signs the common-area and window cleaning.
Find the company behind several plazas
I counted which websites show up on more than one shopping center:
Ignore the noise (the park board, Facebook, a couple of chain stores). Brixmor shows up on 3 centers. Kraus-Anderson and Wellington Management show up on 2 each. Wellington is also in the property manager list. Those are the companies to pitch, because one contract with them can cover several properties.
The message
Set this in SETTINGS as the WhatsApp message:
Hi! I run a commercial cleaning company in the Twin Cities. Who handles cleaning for your common areas and unit turnovers right now? If you’re ever between cleaners, I’d love to quote one property.
It asks a question they can answer in five seconds (“we use X”) and leaves the door open. When your contract with someone ends, you want to be the name they already have.
“Reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself” (Seth Godin, Seth’s Blog)
Bid sites wait for someone to post a job. A list lets you go first.
Step by step
- Get a Places API key and set up Local Lead Finder.
- Put your city in SETTINGS > Region and run Find Areas. Wait until it finishes.
- Search “property management company” in all areas.
- Search “shopping center” in all areas.
- Clean the shopping center list: drop parks, single stores and anything that isn’t a plaza or building.
- Find the management companies that show up behind more than one plaza and pitch them first.
- Message the small property managers and HOA managers next. Mark each one Outreached.
- Write down when each “we already have someone” contract ends, and follow up then.
Common pitfalls
- Searching before Find Areas finishes: it keeps adding areas in the background. Mine grew from 87 to 150 after I’d started searching, so wait for it to finish.
- Trusting the shopping center results as they come: several Minneapolis neighborhoods share a name with a park, and 25 of my 326 results were park buildings. Filter them out by website or name.
- Pitching single stores: a store that happens to sit inside a center doesn’t sign the common-area cleaning. Keep names that sound like a plaza, mall or center.
- Treating no phone number as a dead end: 63 of the 153 plazas had none. A strip mall doesn’t have a front desk; find the company that manages it.
- Starting with the biggest property managers: the most-reviewed ones probably already have a cleaning vendor and a bid process. Start with the 160 that have under 50 reviews.
- Not writing down contract end dates: “we already have someone” isn’t a no. Ask when their contract is up, write it down, and follow up then.
- Forgetting to mark Outreached: marked rows turn green and stay green in every future search, so you never message the same company twice.
Learn the Google Sheets formulas in this post
- 3 Ways to Count in Google Sheets: the counting behind the summary tab, like 43 property managers with no website and 63 plazas with no phone.
- How to Find Duplicates: the idea behind spotting one website on several shopping centers, which is how Brixmor turned up.
- How To Sort A Filter: sorting the property managers by reviews so you can see the big ones and start at the small end.
- 200 REGEXMATCH Examples in Google Sheets: the pattern matching inside the SUMPRODUCT above that kept plaza, mall and center names and dropped the park buildings.
- Make a Quick Pipeline (For Sales and More): a next step for tracking who you messaged, who already has a cleaner, and when their contract ends.
Better Sheets has hundreds more tutorials like these. If you want to get better at Google Sheets, join Better Sheets.
Other ways to use Local Lead Finder
- How to Get Junk Removal Jobs: Minneapolis rental managers: for junk haulers who want move-out cleanouts every month.
- Property Management Companies in Minneapolis: all 255, ranked by reviews: for landlords, HOA boards and vendors who want the whole list.
- How to Get Snow Removal Contracts in Minneapolis: for snow plow and salting contractors going after commercial lots.
- How to Sell to Coffee Shops: 83 independent cafes in Boise: for roasters, commercial bakeries and suppliers pitching local cafes.
All 18, grouped by who they’re for: Lead generation ideas: 18 local businesses to sell to.
FAQ
How do I get commercial cleaning contracts with no experience?
Start small: one HOA common area, one small office building, one strip mall’s windows. Small property managers (under 50 reviews) are more likely to try a new cleaner. Do one property well, then ask about their other properties.
Where do I find commercial cleaning leads?
Property management companies, HOA managers and shopping center owners hire for many buildings at once. Search for them on Google Maps with Local Lead Finder and you get every one in your city in a sheet, with phone numbers and websites.
What about janitorial contracts for offices?
Same approach. Small office buildings are usually run by a property manager, so start with this list. You can also run “office building” or “medical office” as its own search.
Should I pitch the plaza or the property manager?
The property manager first. 63 of the 153 plazas had no phone number on Google, and a few companies (Brixmor on 3 centers, Kraus-Anderson and Wellington Management on 2 each) showed up behind more than one. One yes from them can cover several properties.
Why did my shopping center search return parks?
Several Minneapolis neighborhoods share a name with a park, so the search pulled in park buildings. 25 of my 326 results linked to minneapolisparks.org. Filter them out by website or name before you message anyone.
How much does a search cost?
Each area is one Google Places request per results page, so 87 areas is up to 87 requests per search, on your own Places API key. Google gives up to 1,000 searches a month free, and the sheet shows the most a search could cost before it runs.
Is Local Lead Finder a scraper?
No. It uses Google’s official Places API with your own key, and writes the results into your own Google Sheet.
Get the sheet
Local Lead Finder is $10, and free for Better Sheets lifetime members.
