From Tuesday Tea Time with Chala, featuring my client Lillian Radke of New Life Facility Services
Every week someone asks me: “Chala, how do I look bigger so I can sell to large corporations?”
This week, I brought in someone who lived the answer.
Lillian Radke owns New Life Facility Services, a commercial janitorial company in Orlando, Florida, with about 180 employees. She recently landed an ongoing contract with one of the largest companies in the world. (Sorry, I can’t say which one.)
Here’s how she did it.
The Problem: Selling a Commodity
Janitorial services is about as commoditized as it gets.
In Massachusetts, Lillian’s old company got clients through referrals. After she moved to Florida in 2021 and bought a new company, that stopped working:
- 20 to 25 companies were bidding on every job
- Her old methods didn’t work anymore
- Her numbers weren’t growing
We met at the Go for the Greens conference. She was six months pregnant, bought a bigger shirt at Dick’s ten minutes before it started, and then outgolfed everyone while insisting she’d never golfed before. She heard me speak, we talked over lunch, and she hired me.
Her Biggest Fear: “Why Would They Trust Me?”
The RFP was for a service related to cleaning, but it wasn’t her core business. Lillian worried about:
- Capability: Could she deliver something outside her core service?
- Credibility: Was she financially and organizationally solid enough?
- Trust: Would a company that size actually give her the work?
That’s the number one fear I hear from small businesses.
What the Buyer Actually Cared About
This company had been burned before by vendors who walked away from the program partway through. So the real question wasn’t “Can you clean?” It was “Can we count on you?”
The Strategy: Answer Every Question With a Video
My advice was this: every time they asked a question or asked her to prove something, answer with a video.
Using AI, Lillian made a video showing what it would look like if they were already working together:
- Her branded van pulling up to their facility
- Her uniformed staff shaking hands with their uniformed employees
- Her team collecting the materials, cleaning them, and bringing them back
It cost her $800 and about an hour of her own time. She had never made an AI video before. She just found someone who could.
One tip: we sent it in two or three formats, because corporate IT systems can be picky about what opens.
At their next meeting, the first thing the buyer said was: “We loved your video.”
Here’s the bottom line: People trust what they can see.
AI made the video cheap. But AI didn’t come up with the strategy. Use AI to deliver your strategy, not to replace it.
Speak to Their Corporate Pain Point
This corporation was under pressure, including from government, to reuse and recycle PPE instead of sending it to landfill. Lillian’s program does exactly that, and returns thousands of items that would otherwise be thrown away.
It’s a triple win: New Life wins, the client wins, and the environment wins.
Don’t Let Silence Stop You
Big corporations are busy. Lillian went weeks without hearing back and got discouraged.
So we kept changing the approach: a different message, a different email, a different subject line. She worried she was being a pest. My answer was no. As long as each touch point adds value, you’re being persistent, not annoying.
Then came the yes. Then the PO. Then the payments.
It took eight months from first meeting to first PO. I’ve met women business enterprises (WBEs) who took eight years. The difference? Lillian implemented everything I suggested.
After the Win: Make Yourself Indispensable
Knock on Doors
After the contract was signed, the client was slow to send contact names. My advice: don’t wait for them, go get them.Her contact was impressed. Large corporations love vendors who take work off their plate.
Sell the Program From the Inside
Lillian came up with ideas to get more buildings involved:
- Flyers educating employees about the program
- Pizza parties to encourage participation
- Messaging about what each employee gets out of it, not what the corporation gets
Do people care more about the environment 30 years from now, or pizza today? Some of them care about the pizza. So give them both.
A cleaning company that just cleans is replaceable. One that helps the client hit its corporate goals is not.
What About the Fear?
Lillian’s answer: “There’s still fear. It’s never over.”
The contract has now led to talks about a deal in Brazil, where she’s from but has no company yet. That scares her too. But her view is that after this one, why not the next one?
She had every excuse to quit. She was a new mom, she was sick, and she took meetings while breastfeeding. She kept going anyway.
When you’re in the discouraged stretch, you need someone behind you saying “press on.” I have a coach for my own doubts. If you want to grow fast, get the right kind of coach, one who actually moves you forward.
Want to reposition your messaging to grow your leads? Follow me on X, friend me on Facebook,watch my Podcast onYouTube or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk.
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