The majority of contractor lists contain only a company name and phone number. That will only tell you who is out there but not when you should call. We will talk about 5 steps of prospect list building in this blog.
What Should a Fire Protection Prospect List Include?
A good list has four layers. Those layers are the building, the systems in it, inspection due dates and who signs the service agreement. Without the date layer, you just have a directory. It is not a prospect list.
- The building – address, type of occupancy, square footage and year constructed.
- The systems – sprinkler, fire alarm, kitchen suppression, extinguishers and anything else you service.
- The due dates – when each system is next due for inspection, testing and maintenance (ITM).
- The decision-maker – the property manager, chief engineer or facility manager who chooses the vendor.
Here, the building is the unit, because a management company handles multiple buildings some companies run dozens. There is one for each, with its own systems and inspection calendar. They often list fire protection businesses rather than the buildings they service. To generate qualified fire protection leads, you must target specific decision makers based on facility types and requirements.
Step 1: Start With Buildings, Not Companies
Select your serviceable occupancy types. Next, scrape county property records to find every building in your area that matches them. Organize the buildings by their owner and management. So, with one conversation, an entire portfolio is opened.
Choose the Occupancy Types You Can Service
Align the list against what your techs are licensed to do. The following occupancy groups encompass a majority of the commercial work.
- Business: offices, clinics, banks
- Mercantile: retail stores and shopping centers
- Assembly: restaurants, churches, venues
- Institutional: hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living
- Factory and Storage: plants, warehouses, distribution centers
- Residential: apartments, condos, hotels
Pull Building Data From Property Records
These are the data from the county assessor records.
- Parcel ID and address
- Land use code (occupancy type)
- Square footage and year built
- Mailing address and owner of record
Keep the year built. It helps you identify the long-cycle sprinkler milestones.
Roll Buildings Up to the Portfolio
- The owner of the asset on record is usually an LLC.
- The recipient of the tax bill (the mailing address) is typically cited for a management company.
- That company is the real account. When you win it, every building it oversees opens.
Step 2: Tag Each Building by Its Installed Systems
You have to tag each building with the systems your service covers. So each system has its own inspection clock. Often, it has its own vendor as well. If you have a building with a sprinkler system, a fire alarm panel and also to your commercial kitchen that gives you three different openings.
It specifically works like a technographic prospect list. You just track different things. Instead of software, you track sprinkler risers and alarm panels.
Systems to Tag
- Sprinklers – Wet, dry, and preaction systems, standpipes and fire pumps for large buildings.
- Fire alarm – the fire alarm control panel (FACP) and how it connects to central station monitoring. Some buildings are still using copper phone lines to send alarm signals. Keep those directed on a different business fire alarm leads list. Communicator is a replacement sale all on its own.
- Kitchen hood suppression – restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and school cafeterias
- Clean agent systems – server rooms and data rooms
- Life safety extras – portable extinguishers, emergency and exit lighting, fire doors
Where System Data Comes From
- Building permits – Fire sprinkler installation and fire alarm installation show the install date. This is usually the name of the contractor that installed it. That suggests the incumbent vendor.
- The street view – A fire department connection (FDC) on the front wall indicates the building is equipped with a sprinkler or standpipe system.
- Health department food permits – Every licensed commercial kitchen is a hood suppression prospect.
- The front desk – Call and ask, “Who does your sprinkler inspections?” You receive an answer, really straight to the point.
Step 3: Attach an Inspection Due Date to Every Building
The due date turns a building into a call list. Find out fixed NFPA inspection times. Simply count forward from the last known inspection, permit or install date to determine the next due date.
The Inspection Clocks That Matter
Start with NFPA 25. It includes the testing, inspection and maintenance of water-based fire protection systems.
- Sprinklers (NFPA 25) – quarterly valve and waterflow tests, one full inspection annually, five-year internal pipe assessment and sample testing after 20 years for fast-response sprinklers & 50 years for standard-response sprinklers.
- Fire alarm (NFPA 72) – You should focus on ensuring that the devices are inspected & tested every year. Also check the sensitivity tests of smoke detectors on a multi-year cycle.
- Kitchen hood suppression (NFPA 96) – every six months
- Extinguishers (NFPA 10) – maintenance annually, also every six years and hydrostatic testing
- Fire doors ( NFPA 80) – Focus on annual testing. Emergency lighting undergoes a 90-minute test every year.
Be on the lookout for buildings that either have a 5-year internal assessment or a 50-year sample test scheduled. They are the warmest fire sprinkler inspection leads on your list. It is work that needs to be done and it is bigger than a routine annual visit.
How to Estimate a Date You Cannot See
- The date from the last inspection tag or report, if shared by the prospect
- The last date on the fire sprinkler or alarm permit and the time period
- The month your local fire prevention bureau has its annual fire marshal inspection
- Year built, for five-year and 50-year sprinkler milestones.
Label all the dates you compute as “approximate”. Change it when someone at the building confirms it.
Public Records That Show Inspection History
- City records – There are some cities that post fire inspection and violation data on open data portals. If it does not, file a public records request with the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). Access varies from one place to another.
- Nursing homes – CMS publishes nursing home fire safety citations from the previous three years. Each one shows the inspection date, severity and correction date.
- Public buildings – for schools, cities and counties, the service contract end date generally resides in board agendas and procurement records.
- Reporting portals – Many AHJs expect third-party inspection reporting. The contractor of record can access those reports.
Step 4: Find Who Controls the Inspection Contract
The owner of record doesn’t always choose the inspection vendors. It is generally the responsibility of a property manager, chief engineer or facility manager for most commercial buildings. The correct individual varies by building type.
- Multi-tenant office and retail – property Manager or chief engineer. Regional director of engineering for large portfolios.
- Industrial and warehouse – facility manager, plant manager, or EHS manager
- Healthcare – director of facilities or plant operations. They oversee life safety code compliance on surveys.
- Hotels – director of engineering
- Restaurant groups – director of facilities or operations
- Schools and public buildings: facilities director, with purchasing running the bid
- Condos and HOAs: community association manager.
Save a direct phone number, email and LinkedIn profile for each contact. In addition, note the date on which you observed.
Step 5: Score the List and Time the First Touch
Finally, rank the buildings depending on when the decision is due, not by their size. Reach the prospect 60 to 90 days before the next inspection. You can still visit the site and send a quote.
Use the due date as the top score in your lead scoring. Also use building size as a smaller score.
Three Priority Tiers
- Tier 1, Call Now – due in 60 to 120 days, an open deficiency or impairment on record, or a new owner
- Tier 2, Schedule – due date known, incumbent known, a five-year or a 50-year milestone coming up, alarm panel still on copper line
- Tier 3, research – right building type, but no system or date data yet
Trigger Events Worth a Flag
- A deed transfer or a new management company
- A new sprinkler or fire alarm permit
- A tenant improvement or change of occupancy
- A failed or cited inspection
- A phone carrier retiring copper lines in the area
Fields to Track for Every Building
Keep one record for each building. Use the fields below. Indicate the date when you check every field. Consider it a guess if it has no date.
- Address and parcel ID
- Occupancy type, square footage, and year built
- Owner of record and management company
- Systems installed
- Incumbent provider, if known
- Last inspection date and where it came from
- Next due date, marked actual or estimated
- Open deficiencies or impairments
- AHJ
- Decision-maker name, title, direct phone, email and LinkedIn
- Last verified date
If you don’t want to research, custom B2B list building with verified contacts can complete these fields for you.
Turning the List Into Booked Inspection Walkthroughs
Start with the Tier 1 buildings. Link your first message with the system and due date. “Your five-year internal assessment comes due this spring” gets a reply. “We do fire protection” does not.
That keeps your phone, email and LinkedIn touches on one building record. Any instance of a touch should use the same system and the same date.
Contractors who do not have a sales team for this can depend on outbound programs that book fire inspection walkthroughs with the facilities and property decision-makers on the list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find fire inspection due dates for commercial buildings?
Check the most recent inspection report or tag. If not, add the NFPA time interval to the permit final date. The gaps can be filled by AHJ records. CMS citations for fire safety for nursing homes.
Are fire marshal inspection records public?
Sometimes. Others publish them in open data portals. Also release them only if you file a request under the state public records law. It mostly depends on the local AHJ.
How far ahead of an inspection should I contact a building?
Try to call ahead 60 to 90 days before the inspection due date. It will give you time to walk the site and locate deficiencies that were overlooked by the current vendor. A quote can also be sent even before the next inspection is ordered.
Is a fire inspection leads list the same as a prospect list?
No. A leads list generally provides little more than names and phone numbers. A prospect list also has each building’s systems, due date and the signatory. So you know when to call.
