Market report · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
The State of Outbound Sales in Los Angeles, 2026
How outbound selling looks across the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metro right now: who the buyers are, which trades have room, what is being built, what a rep costs to hire here. Then a 4-tool kit to work the market this month.
- 30,739business sites with 20+ people across the categories trades sell to, #2 of our 100 metros
- 105buyer sites per paving contractor, #1 of 94 markets: the best rank of any trade here
Sites: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; rank among the 100 metros on our market pages. Room: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 sites per contractor in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1, among markets with at least 10 contractors.
Executive summary Read this if nothing else
5 things to know about outbound sales in Los Angeles
Biggest buyer pool
Restaurants: 9,358 sites
with 20 or more people, the largest buyer category in Los Angeles-Long Beach, ahead of retail stores (6,009).
Where the metro leans
Close to the national mix
No buyer category in Los Angeles-Long Beach sits 20% or more above its national share, so lead with the biggest pools rather than a specialty.
Most room
Paving & Asphalt: #1 of 94 markets
105 buyer sites with 20+ people for each of 176 local paving contractors. The most crowded is managed service providers, #26 of 100.
Biggest reason to call
LA Convention Center Expansion, $2.6B
Under construction: Olympic-ready spring 2028, complete 2029. One of 8 named, sourced projects in this report.
Hiring locally
$124,700 for an in-house SDR's first year (illustrative)
At a $55,000 base salary, once commission, payroll taxes and benefits, tools, recruiting and training, turnover and manager time are added, before ramp time.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1; project sources as of 2026-07; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Full list at the end.
Chapter 01 The market
Who buys in Los Angeles-Long Beach
30,739 business sites in Los Angeles-Long Beach have 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to. That ranks #2 of the 100 metros we publish. Here is what those buyers are and where they sit.
The largest buyer categories
Sites with 20 or more people are the ones worth an SDR's time: big enough to have a facility lead, a service budget and a contract that comes up for renewal. The "vs. U.S. mix" column compares each category's share of local employment with its national share (1.00x is the U.S. average).
| Category | Sites with 20+ | All sites | vs. U.S. mix | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RestaurantsLargest pool | 9,358 | 32,100 | 0.71x | +1,038 |
| Retail stores | 6,009 | 38,838 | 0.59x | +339 |
| Manufacturing plants | 3,628 | 14,403 | 0.67x | +52 |
| Wholesale distributors | 3,264 | 27,945 | 0.69x | +309 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 3,139 | 42,669 | 0.97x | +2,269 |
| Grocery stores | 1,347 | 6,219 | 0.66x | +146 |
| Senior living and nursing | 1,156 | 3,716 | 0.68x | +40 |
| Bank and credit union offices | 701 | 6,643 | 0.51x | +78 |
| Private K-12 schools | 653 | 1,114 | 0.55x | +28 |
| Hotels | 599 | 1,770 | 0.48x | +52 |
No category in Los Angeles-Long Beach sits 20% or more above its national share, so the market rewards trades that sell to the biggest pools rather than a niche.
It is thinner than the U.S. mix in golf courses and country clubs (0.23x) and hospitals (0.24x). A program built around those buyers runs out of fresh accounts sooner here.
Growing fastest over the past year, by establishment count: medical, dental and outpatient offices (+2,269), restaurants (+1,038) and retail stores (+339). New sites have no incumbent vendor yet.
The metro
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA: 2 counties in this report's counts.
Los Angeles County holds 72% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
Where the sites are
| County | Sites with 20+ | Share of metro |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles CountyStart here | 22,076 | 72% |
| Orange County | 8,636 | 28% |
Chapter 02 The competition
Which trades have the most room in Los Angeles
Buyer sites per contractor is a rough read on how crowded a trade is: more sites for each local competitor means more doors nobody else is knocking on. Each trade's Los Angeles figure is ranked against the other markets we track.
| Trade | Rank among markets | Sites per contractor | Contractors | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paving & AsphaltMost room | #1 of 94 | 105 | 176 | -5 |
| Commercial Flooring | #1 of 68 | 168 | 80 | -2 |
| Commercial Roofing | #2 of 89 | 163 | 118 | +3 |
| Commercial Landscaping | #3 of 100 | 8.7 | 2,206 | +109 |
| Commercial Electrical | #8 of 100 | 15 | 1,035 | +13 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | #7 of 86 | 100 | 199 | +7 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | #10 of 100 | 15 | 772 | +16 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | #13 of 100 | 5.3 | 2,568 | +69 |
| Commercial Construction | #20 of 100 | 6.5 | 1,693 | +25 |
| Fire Protection | #20 of 96 | 58 | 364 | -6 |
| Managed Service Providers | #26 of 100 | 4.0 | 4,339 | +248 |
Paving & asphalt (#1), commercial flooring (#1) and commercial roofing (#2) rank best in Los Angeles. For those trades a program can work longer before it calls the same building twice, and fewer competitors have already pitched each owner.
Managed service providers is the most crowded trade here, #26 of 100: 4.0 buyer sites for each of 4,339 local managed service providers. Winning there takes a sharper reason to switch than a lower price.
Fire protection (-6) and paving & asphalt (-5) lost contractor establishments over the past year, so the same buildings are split among fewer firms than a year ago. Managed service providers (+248) and commercial landscaping (+109) added them.
Open programs
Our availability workbook does not cover Los Angeles yet. We take one client per trade per territory, so ask before you plan around it.
Chapter 03 The projects
What is being built, and who owns the buildings
8 named, sourced projects and 6 anchor owners in Los Angeles-Long Beach. Each one is a reason to call that has nothing to do with your company and everything to do with the buyer's building.
The projects
- 01 · $2.6B LA Convention Center Expansion Under construction: Olympic-ready spring 2028, complete 2029 A 190,000 sq ft exhibit-hall expansion creating a contiguous 750,000+ sq ft hall, plus new meeting and multipurpose space. engineering.lacity.gov
- 02 · $9.5B Metro D Line Subway Extension Section 1 open (May 2026); Sections 2 and 3 targeted 2027 Three-section subway push to Westwood ahead of the Games, station finishes, systems, and life-safety work still ahead. metro.net
- 03 · Multi-billion program LAX SkyLink People Mover & Modernization System testing, opening 2026 ahead of the World Cup A 2.25-mile, six-station automated people mover plus terminal modernization across the airport. lawa.org
- 04 · $8.7B to $39.5B in LA County Hospital Seismic Compliance Wave Hard state deadline: January 1, 2030 All acute-care hospitals must be operational post-earthquake by 2030. 73 LA County campuses affected; Harbor-UCLA’s $1.7B replacement is already underway. labusinessjournal.com
- 05 · Largest urban mixed-use build in the western U.S. SoFi Stadium & Hollywood Park World Cup pitch conversion underway; LA28 broadcast center planned Eight FIFA World Cup matches in 2026, then the LA28 International Broadcast Center, atop a ~300-acre district still building out. hollywoodparkca.com
- 06 · Value not disclosed UCLA Research Park Build-outs begin 2026; first occupancies late 2027 A 1.3M sq ft immunology and quantum research campus in the former Westside Pavilion, lab-grade mechanical, electrical, and fire systems. newsroom.ucla.edu
- 07 · $302M capex (up 31% YoY) Port of Los Angeles Capital Program FY2026/27, highest capital spend in a decade Pedestrian bridge, rail expansion, and interchange work across the port complex. portoflosangeles.org
- 08 · Up to $4B in contracts LA28 Olympics Program Contracting now, no new permanent venues Temporary overlay across 15+ venues: structures, power, HVAC, and event-cycle services. City officials have publicly urged local firms to compete for this work. la28.org
Projects current as of 2026-07; each source is linked on its card. Values are as reported by the source.
The anchor owners
Health systems, campuses, large employers and industrial parks hold the biggest concentrations of commercial buildings in Los Angeles-Long Beach. One relationship with a facilities team here can cover many buildings.
Health system · Pasadena, Los Angeles County
Kaiser Permanente Southern California
Kaiser Permanente lists 16 hospitals, 201 medical offices and 92,784 employees for its Pasadena-headquartered Southern California region, which includes the Metro Los Angeles and Orange County markets.
Hospitals and medical office buildings spread across Los Angeles and Orange counties each run HVAC plants, sprinkler systems and patient-area floors with daily cleaning needs.
Kaiser PermanenteHealth system · Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Wikipedia, with citations, says Cedars-Sinai has a staff of over 2,000 physicians and 10,000 employees.
A dense medical campus of patient towers, research buildings and parking structures carries heavy mechanical, electrical and life-safety maintenance.
WikipediaCampus · Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
UCLA's facts and figures page lists total enrollment of 46,678: 33,040 undergraduate and 13,638 graduate students.
The Westwood campus packs classroom, lab, residence hall and athletic buildings with parking structures that need cleaning, mechanical service and flooring work.
UCLAMajor employer · Anaheim, Orange County
Disneyland Resort
Wikipedia, citing the City of Anaheim's 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, lists Disneyland Resort as Anaheim's largest employer with 36,000 employees.
Theme parks, resort hotels, the Downtown Disney district and parking facilities operate daily, with heavy cleaning, painting, HVAC and paving needs.
WikipediaIndustrial park · City of Industry, Los Angeles County
City of Industry
The City of Industry says its Industry Business Council represents over 3,000 businesses including manufacturing, wholesale, distribution and logistics.
A city built almost entirely for warehouses, plants and distribution centers means constant demand for roofing, dock paving, lighting and sprinkler work.
City of IndustryPublic owner · Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
County of Los Angeles
The County's FY 2026-27 adopted budget is $54.2 billion, with 115K+ budgeted positions across 39 county departments.
County departments run hospitals, courthouses, libraries, parks, fire stations and office buildings across the county, each with mechanical, roofing and grounds needs.
Los Angeles County Chief Executive OfficeAnchor facts checked 2026-10; each source is linked on its card.
Which trades the work touches
| Trade | Projects and owners |
|---|---|
| Commercial Construction | 10 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 9 |
| Commercial Electrical | 8 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 7 |
| Fire Protection | 7 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 5 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 3 |
| Commercial Flooring | 2 |
| Commercial Roofing | 2 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 2 |
Chapter 04 The calendar
The Los Angeles selling calendar
Outbound runs every month, but the weather changes what a buyer wants to hear. These are the NOAA records for the Los Angeles-Long Beach metro's counties, month by month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail and damaging wind reportstotal, 2015 to 2024 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooling degree daysaverage month | 10 | 7 | 16 | 30 | 71 | 156 | 295 | 324 | 242 | 102 | 23 | 2 |
| Heating degree daysaverage month | 350 | 306 | 269 | 186 | 102 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 60 | 200 | 366 |
| Average high (°F)average month | 64 | 65 | 67 | 71 | 75 | 81 | 86 | 88 | 85 | 78 | 70 | 64 |
NOAA logged 8 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 25 damaging wind reports across the metro's counties from 2015 to 2024: #86 of 100 markets for hail and #86 for wind. January, February and March carried 73% of the reports. Storms are not the main driver here, so roof age, leaks and budget timing carry the roofing conversation.
The metro averages 1,277 cooling degree days a year (#43 of 97 markets) and 1,872 heating degree days (#80 of 97). Cooling load peaks in July, August and September; heating in January, February, March, April, November and December. Peak months are when HVAC calls lead with service and response times; the rest of the year they lead with planned work and budgets.
Every month averages a high of 60°F or more, so exterior painting, paving and landscaping work is not squeezed into a short season here. The calendar that matters is each property's contract and budget date.
Trades with no weather season
Cleaning, construction, electrical, flooring and fire protection sell on contract end dates, budgets and inspection cycles. Learn each account's date on the first call and come back before it.
Chapter 05 The numbers
What one meeting takes, trade by trade
What booking a meeting has taken on our own calling floor for the trades we run in Los Angeles, next to the records we can prospect here. The sales center figures are national; it does not break them out by city yet.
| Trade | Dials per appointment | Reached proposal | Proposals won | Dials for 10 meetings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire ProtectionFastest to book | 78 | 21.6% | 13.2% | about 780 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 86 | 32.2% | 7.4% | about 860 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 88 | 18.8% | 12.7% | about 880 |
| Commercial Electrical | 96 | 14.6% | 21.1% | about 960 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 98 | 16.6% | 24.9% | about 980 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 115 | 31.2% | 14.4% | about 1,150 |
| Commercial Flooring | 122 | 30.8% | 9.8% | about 1,220 |
| Commercial Roofing | 140 | 25.9% | 16.1% | about 1,400 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 142 | 23.9% | 21.7% | about 1,420 |
| Managed Service Providers | 162 | 10.0% | 20.5% | about 1,620 |
All of these trades together: 122 dials per appointment
The records behind a Los Angeles program
Before a program starts we size the list: the decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each trade in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim territory.
- 32,337Commercial Roofing
- 32,337Commercial Construction
- 16,081Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
- 10,053Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial
Source: Abstrakt territory record counts, as of October 2026: estimated decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each program in the territory. Shown for the programs the count covers.
Read it this way
Divide the records by the dials one meeting takes and you see how long a list lasts before it repeats. A thin list means a program has to work every record well, not just call more.
Chapter 06 Build or buy
What an in-house SDR costs in Los Angeles
Before you hire a sales development rep in Los Angeles, price the whole job, not just the salary.
The salary is the smallest part of the decision. About 50,470 people hold the role in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metro, and every one of their employers is competing for the same hires.
| Cost | Year one |
|---|---|
| Base salary | $55,000 |
| Commission and bonus | $15,000 |
| Payroll taxes and benefits (25% of pay) | $17,500 |
| Tools and data ($550 a month) | $6,600 |
| Recruiting and training | $7,000 |
| Turnover (35% a year, rehiring) | $2,450 |
| Manager and QA time (5 hours a week) and admin (4 hours a month) | $21,150 |
| Total, before ramp time | $124,700 |
Headcount: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services and travel (SOC 41-3091). The cost lines are the starting values of our SDR cost calculator: $15,000 commission, 25% payroll taxes and benefits, $550 a month in tools, $7,000 recruiting and training, 35% yearly turnover, and manager, QA and admin time. Change any of them there.
$124,700
for one in-house SDR's first year at a $55,000 base salary.
That buys one rep. It does not buy the list, the manager's coaching system or cover when the rep leaves.
Part two Apply this
The Los Angeles market toolkit
4 working tools built from the chapters above. Tick the boxes as you go (they stay ticked in this browser), copy the scripts into your CRM, or save the whole guide as a PDF and print this part as a worksheet.
Tool 01
Account scorecard
Before an account goes on the call list, check every line that fits. Call the accounts with the most ticks first, and leave the ones with none for later.
Tool 02
Discovery question bank
Ask fewer, better questions. Pick three or four for the call and save the rest for the meeting. Each one comes with the reason it earns its place.
Restaurants: 9,358 sites here
From our fire protection talk track. Staying open and passing inspection. Multi-unit operators are worth more than single locations.
- When was your hood suppression system last inspected, and when is the next one due?Due dates tell you when to call and what to offer.
- Have you had a failed inspection or a citation recently?Failed inspections threaten the ability to stay open and create urgency.
- How many locations do you operate, and does each one use a different vendor?Multi-unit operators are more valuable and often want one vendor across locations.
Retail stores: 6,009 sites here
From our paving talk track. First impressions and liability. Many stores lease, so confirm who controls the lot before pitching.
- Does the store control the parking lot, or does the landlord or shopping center manage it?This is the first qualifying question, since many retail lots belong to the landlord.
- Are there potholes, cracks or faded striping customers have complained about?Visible problems in front of customers drive action and point to a first job.
- Is a remodel or refresh planned for this location?Remodels are when lot work often gets funded and scheduled.
Manufacturing plants: 3,628 sites here
From our roofing talk track. Downtime and work around production. Phased work and night or weekend scheduling matter here.
- Where are the leaks showing up, and are any over production lines or electrical equipment?Leaks over production raise the stakes and move a repair from nice to have to urgent.
- How much equipment is on the roof, and has anything been added recently?Rooftop equipment and new penetrations are where roofs fail and where a maintenance program pays off.
- How old is the roof, and has anyone given you a condition report on it?A missing condition report is an opening for an inspection the plant engineer can take to management.
Any first meeting
Plain practice that works in every market.
- How are you handling this today, and what would you change about it?The gap between today and what they want is the whole reason to meet.
- What happens if nothing changes this year?Tells you whether there is a cost to waiting, or only curiosity.
- Who else would need to agree before anything moves?Names the people who can stall the deal, while you can still invite them.
- When does the current contract or budget come up for review?Gives you the date to plan around, even when the answer today is no.
- What would make a first meeting worth your time?Lets the buyer set the agenda, which is the agenda they will show up for.
Tool 03
Trigger watchlist
Each of these changes gives a buyer a reason to take the call this month instead of next year. Tick the ones you will track, and set a news alert or CRM field for each so you hear about it first.
Tool 04
30-day action plan
4 weeks, 15 steps, nothing you need to buy. Tick each one off as you finish it; your progress stays in this browser.
Week 1Draw the territory
Week 2Check the rules, then write the talk track
Week 3Make the calls
Week 4Measure and decide
Sources and notes
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023: business sites by category, size and county, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1: contractor establishments, one-year change and concentration (location quotient).
- Projects: named public sources linked on each card, current as of 2026-07.
- Anchor owners: sources linked on each card, checked 2026-10.
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2015 to 2024: hail and damaging wind reports by month across the metro's counties.
- NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county monthly series, 1991-2020 averages: degree days and average highs by month.
- Abstrakt sales center, Performance Intelligence, national, as of October 2026: dials, appointments, proposals and wins by trade. Method.
- Abstrakt territory record counts, as of October 2026: decision-maker records per program in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim territory.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services and travel (SOC 41-3091).
- The toolkit's discovery questions come from our trade talk tracks; the plan and checklists are sales practice, not data.
