Well I've been a technician in the low voltage business for 12yrs now and recently decided to try it on my own. I'm prepared for unsteady work and a possible loss in pay, but I've wanted to do it for so long I know I would regret it if I never tried. Now seemed to be as good a time as any to try it.

Long story short, I have my first opportunity for a potential account. It's a brand new complex of luxury condos. There are 3 large buildings that have fitness centers, pools, cafes, and restaurants. I had a meeting with the building manager which went really well, and he asked me to email him a proposal that he could forward to his bosses. I have plenty of experience installing and bidding, but not much in terms of a business proposal. This place seems very upscale and professional. I'm wondering what are some good ideas to really sell myself in a proposal? Any help is greatly appreciated!
-Thanks

Do you have the financial capital, resources, and management experience to take on such a large commercial project? If you're already asking for basic business advice I would assume probably not. I always support people going out on their own--I've done it twice now--but be careful not to take on too much too soon. A project of the scope you've described can ruin you before you've even gotten your feet wet.

I should be more clear, I'm not installing anything, the complex was finished a year ago. Everything is already up and running, they are just looking for a new company to take over service.

As long as you charge for all your time this could be a gold mine. What i would worry about is how well the existing systems were planned/installed/programmed. You want to be the guy who services working systems not the guy they want to hire to finish a nightmare and be responsible for everything even though you didnt supply it.

^^This^^

if the existing systems sux, you could be the hero by fixing them.

are the existing systems something that you are familiar with?

I dunno about this kind of agreement... If it's an automatic recurring charge you can bill every month and still be covered on excess t&m then maybe I could get behind it, but I've long said that I couldn't be profitable if I was only doing labor. Product sales make up to much of my business so invoices that are all labor and no product sales just slowly sink the ship.

I'd take a good hard look at what are the most profitable aspects of your business and capitalize on those. If it is indeed labor then taking advantage of this service agreement would be a good thing, but if it's something like half product sales and half labor I'd be a little hesitant because you'll start to push it more in the direction of labor.

Something to consider.
Are the systems well documented?
If not are they willing to pay you for your time to document and test everything before you even get started with a monthly service contract?
You have to understand that once you take over, everything becomes your problem.
You find something is broken or not installed correctly (or to your standards) it is too easy for them to just say "well it worked fine before, you must have done something" and now it's on you and your dime to fix.
By going in and going through everything first you may have recommendations that will make things work better or be better for service.
This initial step will help you take ownership of what is there and know ahead of time where the weak links might be.

Think like Heisenberg, not like Jesse.

LMAO

Brilliant!!

I've done many of these and done very well with it. Especially if you are starting out it can give you a little bit of a base so you aren't completely broke. That is how I got started.

Absolutely require a recertification. Either charge for your time or build it into the contract. Require all system documentation and source code by made available to you. The first active visit is an audit to make sure that they got everything they paid for, it was installed correctly and was actively working. Anything minor, fix as you go. Anything major gets documented and excluded (billable above and beyond the contract cost).

Build in periodic maintenance visits. That is good for you and them as it cuts down on emergency calls. Clean everything, dust everything, check connections, replace any patch cables that look iffy, check and document projector lamp hours, clean filters, vacuum vents, etc. anything can think of to prevent an emergency call between then and the next visit. How often will depend on usage/budget. Most I do quarterly, some once a month.

Start building a loaner fleet of critical parts. Might be hard to include on the first one, but as you grow.

Monthly invoicing is fine, but try to get paid for a year up front. I've had very little push back on that. It is less work for both of you. Some will, some won't, but always worth a shot.

Guarantee an SLA and meet it every time; guaranteed callback with X time and onsite response within X time.

If you don't have a relationship and a clear understanding of what they want, offer multiple levels. The first being maintenance visits and kind of a retainer, with break/fix T&M, next level cover break/fix with a guaranteed SLA, next level better SLA, something to that effect. Build in an an annual price increase as equipment ages and your liability increases. Reset that as they refresh equipment.

Some of my contracts are very active, some I do very little on. Very few aren't profitable and those aren't as profitable as you need, you renew at a higher rate, or figure out why and fix the problems (equipment problems, usability problems).

Use the maintenance visits as soft sales visits. If nothing else it maintains a relationship and you can find out when the next upgrade, next refresh, etc. will be, but also ask how things are going, what they like and don't like about the system. "Hey, have you seen this cool new..." etc.

Get yourself to the point where you have enough recurring revenue to pay a salary and then your new install work becomes gravy or you can hire another tech to take over will you focus on building new accounts. Recurring revenue is a very good thing. Maintenance visits require someone reliable and personable, but not necessarily all that technical/skilled. They can always call you if something is really broken.

P.S. Most of my service contracts are corporate. I have one client that is a luxury apartment complex, so not tons of experience there, but condo associations get fees for common maintenance, so they should have a budget for this somewhere. Present it like paying someone to maintain the grounds, the pool service, HVAC maintenance contract, etc. and likely they'll get it, but there are probably more folks on here with more experience in that vertical than me.