Commercial Restoration Sales Kit

You can copy this playbook and run commercial sales yourself. The free core is already public on GitHub. Clone it. Customize the emails. Work the list. Buy Now is the packaged kit: the complete Notion workspace, extra outreach sequences, proposal outlines, and ongoing updates, delivered by email after checkout.

Commercial restoration sales is a long game. The property manager you meet in March may not call until October, when a pipe bursts and your card is the one in the drawer. Owners who expect this to work like residential ads-and-calls quit early. Owners who treat it as 6–18 months of relationship development build pipelines that outperform marketing spend.

Free core: github.com/TygartMedia/commercial-restoration-sales-kit. Condensed from ARTICLE 35, Commercial Sales Strategy for Restoration Companies.

How commercial sales actually works

It is relationship-first, not inbound. You need a named list, a simple CRM habit, a value-first first contact, a cadence, and a first job you treat as an audition. That is the whole system.

Step 1: Build a Target Account List

Not “commercial accounts in general.” Specific companies and specific people. For each category, list 20–30 named prospects.

• Property management companies. Director of Facilities or Property Manager, by name. LinkedIn is the research tool.
• Large commercial facilities: hospitals, school districts, universities, municipal, industrial. Facilities Manager or Director of Operations.
• Commercial insurance agencies: commercial lines account manager or producer.
• Independent claims adjusters: firms handling commercial claims for multiple carriers.
• Commercial GCs. GCs doing build-outs / TIs who hit restoration needs on active sites.

Account criteria before you add a name:

• Properties large enough to generate restoration-eligible losses regularly
• Decision-makers, not admin staff
• At least one path: mutual connection, association (BOMA is the main one for commercial PMs), LinkedIn, or an event
• Inside your service radius / response commitment

Pull your best 20 into a focus list. Those 20 get the cadence. Everyone else waits.

Step 2: Organize a simple CRM

Managing 100+ prospects in your head fails. Track at minimum:

• Company, contact, title, email, phone
• Last contact date and method
• Next planned contact and action
• Notes on situation, challenges, interests
• Jobs referred, when work starts

ServiceTitan, JobNimbus, HubSpot free, or a disciplined spreadsheet. The tool matters less than updating it after every contact.

Step 3: Value-first contact (never a pitch)

First contact is a value offer that earns a meeting.

• Property managers: complimentary water/mold vulnerability assessment on their highest-risk property. About two hours on site, then a short written report. No cost, no obligation, no hard sell.
• Commercial adjusters: 15 minutes to learn the claims they handle and what they want in a preferred contractor. Questions, not a brochure.
• Facility managers: share a relevant industry update (regulation, IICRC, insurance trend) with why it matters to their facility. No ask attached.
• GCs: ask onto the bid list for restoration/remediation subs. Offer a mold survey on the next gut reno as the intro.

Property manager email (customize before you send)

Subject options: “Quick offer for [Building / Portfolio Name]” / “No-cost water & mold risk walkthrough. [Your Market]” / “Something useful for [Property Management Co] (not a sales deck)”

Hi [First Name],

I work with commercial property teams in [Market] on water, fire, and mold risk before losses escalate. I’m not writing to pitch a preferred-vendor slot.

I’d like to offer a complimentary vulnerability assessment on the one building in your portfolio that keeps you up at night — highest flood/leak exposure, oldest systems, or toughest after-hours logistics. About two hours on site, then a short written report with concrete recommendations. No cost, no obligation, no hard sell.

If useful, reply with a building name and a window that works, or a time for a 10-minute call to scope it.

Best,
[Your Name]
[Company]
[Phone] · [IICRC / response commitment, e.g. “IICRC-certified · 2-hour emergency response”]

Commercial adjuster email

Subject options: “15 minutes to learn how you work commercial losses” / “Question for preferred restoration partners” / “Learning call (not a capabilities deck)”

Hi [First Name],

I support commercial property claims in [Market] and I’m trying to get better at how independent adjusters actually evaluate restoration partners — documentation, response, communication under pressure.

Would you have 15 minutes in the next couple of weeks for me to ask questions (not run a sales pitch)? I come prepared; I’ll take notes and leave you alone unless you want a follow-up.

Happy to work around claim season. Coffee, Zoom, or phone — your call.

Thank you,
[Your Name]
[Company]
[Phone] · [Certifications / commercial experience one-liner]

Facility manager email (no ask)

Subject options: “Quick note on [regulation / IICRC / insurance trend] for [Facility Type]” / “Sharing this because it affects [Campus / Hospital / Plant] ops” / “No ask. just a relevant update”

Hi [First Name],

Saw [specific update] and thought of [Facility / Portfolio] because of [one concrete reason tied to their systems or occupancy].

Here’s the short version:
- [What changed]
- [Why it matters for facilities like yours]
- [One practical action: inspection, documentation, vendor protocol]

No ask attached — just sharing in case it’s useful for your team. If you ever want a second set of eyes on a water or mold scenario after hours, you already have my number.

Respectfully,
[Your Name]
[Company]
[Phone]

When you customize with Claude, give it your market, services, certifications, guaranteed response time, and one real differentiator. Keep emails under about 150 words. Remove leftover pitch language. Do not spam generic templates.

Step 4: Outreach cadence (top 20)

• Monthly: low-friction: article share, LinkedIn comment, short check-in if appropriate
• Quarterly: substantive: coffee, lunch, site visit, longer call
• Annually: formal value presentation: capabilities, certifications, documentation standards, response commitment. Ask onto the preferred vendor / emergency protocol list.
• Event-driven: storm, regulation, job near their facilities. Same-day if it is relevant.

Log after every touch: last date, method, next date, next action, owner, status (New, Cultivating, Warm, First job, Active account, Preferred vendor, Parked).

Event triggers worth a same-day note: major storm / freeze / flood in market; new regulation or IICRC update affecting their buildings; you completed a job near their portfolio; they posted a facility or hiring update; a mutual-connection intro.

Claude prompt you can use on the tracker: “Given my Top 20 list and last-touch dates, propose next week’s outreach calendar with one monthly touch per A-tier contact and flag anyone overdue for a quarterly meeting.”

Step 5: Convert the first job (the audition)

The first commercial job is the audition. Overdeliver. Every later job and referral traces back to that execution.

Before you roll

• Confirm decision-maker and day-to-day site contact
• Confirm response commitment in writing (hours to on-site)
• Pre-stage equipment for the loss type
• Assign a named PM, not “whoever is free”
• Create the job folder: photos, moisture map template, daily log, COI packet ready

Response and presence

• On site faster than committed. Record actual arrival time.
• PM introduces self to client and any adjuster/GC on site
• Same-day written scope outline or stabilization plan
• PM on site daily while active, not only technicians

Documentation (make it visibly better)

• Date-stamped photo set: arrival, progress, completion
• Moisture readings mapped by room/zone on water losses
• Daily summary emailed to the client before they ask
• Equipment log: what’s on site, why, pull dates
• Change-order path explained before work expands

Communication and close-out

• Client hears from you proactively at least once per day while active
• Adjuster / GC included when they are in the loop
• After-hours path confirmed (who answers at 2 a.m.)
• Walk-through before demob. Final photos plus summary. Invoice clean, itemized, no surprises.
• Personal follow-up from owner/BD by name within 48 hours
• Ask once, lightly, about preferred-vendor / emergency protocol inclusion
• Log the job as a reference case in the CRM, with permission notes

48-hour post-job note:

Hi [First Name],

Thank you for trusting us on [Site / Loss type]. We aimed to be early, clear, and boring on paperwork.

Attached/linked: final photo set + summary. If anything needs a second look, call me directly.

If useful, we’re glad to be added to your after-hours protocol for [portfolio / region].

[Your Name]
[Direct phone]

Score the audition internally, 1–5, on speed vs commitment, PM presence, documentation quality, proactive communication, invoice clarity, and likelihood of next call. If any dimension is 3 or below, debrief before the next commercial opportunity.

FAQ from the playbook

How long does it take? Usually 12–18 months from first contact to first job. Some are faster when timing meets a loss.

Why BOMA? Building Owners and Managers Association. Primary association for commercial property managers. Local chapter membership and events are efficient relationship builders.

Preferred vendor lists? Typically IICRC certs, GL/WC certificates, commercial references, sometimes a formal application. Adjuster relationships accelerate entry.

What PMs care about most? 24/7 emergency response with real times, IICRC techs, documentation quality, proactive communication. Vendors who need managing lose to vendors who manage themselves.

How to use the free core with Claude

1. Clone or download the public repo.
2. Open the files in Claude or Cursor.
3. Ask Claude to customize the templates for your market, certifications, and response times.

Example prompt from the README: “Using PLAYBOOK.md and templates/outreach-emails.md, rewrite the property manager email for a mid-size metro, IICRC-certified water/fire/mold contractor with 2-hour emergency response.”

If you want the packaged kit

The free core is enough to start. Buy Now is the polished version: complete Notion workspace, extra outreach sequences, target account list templates, cadence tracker, proposal outlines, and ongoing updates. Delivered by email after checkout. Same Square button at the top of this page.