Market report · Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
The State of Outbound Sales in Louisville, 2026
How outbound selling looks across the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN 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.
- 3,573business sites with 20+ people across the categories trades sell to, #42 of our 100 metros
- 12buyer sites per mechanical contractor, #23 of 100 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 Louisville
Biggest buyer pool
Restaurants: 1,028 sites
with 20 or more people, the largest buyer category in Louisville/Jefferson County, ahead of retail stores (672).
Where the metro leans
Warehousing and distribution: 2.03x the U.S. mix
Also over-represented: colleges and universities (1.72x) and hospitals (1.58x). Trades that serve these buyers have more of them here than the national average suggests.
Most room
Commercial HVAC & Mechanical: #23 of 100 markets
12 buyer sites with 20+ people for each of 110 local mechanical contractors. The most crowded is commercial roofing, #78 of 89.
Biggest reason to call
Ford Kentucky Truck Plant paint shop, $1 billion
Groundbreaking planned by end of 2026. One of 4 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 2026-09; 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 Louisville/Jefferson County
3,573 business sites in Louisville/Jefferson County have 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to. That ranks #42 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 | 1,028 | 2,605 | 1.02x | +62 |
| Retail stores | 672 | 4,154 | 1.08x | -51 |
| Manufacturing plants | 530 | 1,222 | 1.47x | +84 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 402 | 2,991 | 1.11x | +82 |
| Wholesale distributors | 303 | 1,375 | 1.13x | -32 |
| Senior living and nursing | 169 | 403 | 0.86x | 0 |
| Grocery stores | 97 | 602 | 1.07x | -1 |
| Trucking companies | 89 | 531 | 1.03x | -9 |
| Hotels | 75 | 211 | 0.95x | +7 |
| Auto dealerships | 74 | 204 | 1.23x | -8 |
Louisville/Jefferson County leans toward warehousing and distribution (2.03x), colleges and universities (1.72x) and hospitals (1.58x). A trade that already sells to those buyers elsewhere has a deeper pool here than the national numbers suggest, and a case study from one of them travels well on the phone.
It is thinner than the U.S. mix in private K-12 schools (0.57x) and churches and religious organizations (0.58x). A program built around those buyers runs out of fresh accounts sooner here.
Growing fastest over the past year, by establishment count: manufacturing plants (+84), medical, dental and outpatient offices (+82) and restaurants (+62). New sites have no incumbent vendor yet.
The metro
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN: 12 counties in this report's counts.
Jefferson County, Clark County and Floyd County hold 82% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
Where the sites are
| County | Sites with 20+ | Share of metro |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson CountyStart here | 2,333 | 65% |
| Clark County, Indiana | 381 | 11% |
| Floyd County, Indiana | 208 | 6% |
| Shelby County | 100 | 3% |
| Bullitt County | 98 | 3% |
| Nelson County | 88 | 2% |
| Oldham County | 75 | 2% |
| Harrison County, Indiana | 39 | 1% |
Chapter 02 The competition
Which trades have the most room in Louisville
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 Louisville figure is ranked against the other markets we track.
| Trade | Rank among markets | Sites per contractor | Contractors | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial HVAC & MechanicalMost room | #23 of 100 | 12 | 110 | -4 |
| Paving & Asphalt | #24 of 94 | 51 | 34 | +1 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | #41 of 100 | 4.1 | 368 | -8 |
| Fire Protection | #41 of 96 | 46 | 47 | +2 |
| Commercial Electrical | #46 of 100 | 11 | 156 | 0 |
| Commercial Construction | #53 of 100 | 4.6 | 254 | +2 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | #63 of 86 | 54 | 35 | 0 |
| Commercial Landscaping | #74 of 100 | 3.1 | 570 | +13 |
| Managed Service Providers | #85 of 100 | 1.6 | 1,245 | -14 |
| Commercial Roofing | #78 of 89 | 44 | 41 | +2 |
Commercial HVAC & mechanical (#23), paving & asphalt (#24) and commercial cleaning & janitorial (#41) rank best in Louisville. For those trades a program can work longer before it calls the same building twice, and fewer competitors have already pitched each owner.
Commercial roofing is the most crowded trade here, #78 of 89: 44 buyer sites for each of 41 local commercial roofing contractors. Winning there takes a sharper reason to switch than a lower price.
Managed service providers (-14) and commercial cleaning & janitorial (-8) lost contractor establishments over the past year, so the same buildings are split among fewer firms than a year ago. Commercial landscaping (+13) and fire protection (+2) added them.
Not ranked here: commercial flooring (8 contractors). With fewer than 10 local contractors the ratio is noise, though a thin field is itself a sign of open ground.
Open programs
Our availability workbook does not cover Louisville 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
4 named, sourced projects and 6 anchor owners in Louisville/Jefferson County. 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 · $1 billion Ford Kentucky Truck Plant paint shop Groundbreaking planned by end of 2026 A new paint shop to replace the existing one at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, part of about $5 billion in Ford investments in Kentucky. Automotive paint shops are among the most mechanical- and electrical-intensive industrial buildings, with large air handling, exhaust and fire suppression systems, and construction starting late 2026 means subcontract buying through 2027. The Lane Report, 2026-09-10
- 02 · $1 billion GE Appliances Appliance Park modernization Announced; Building 5 conversion starts 2027 A three-building modernization at Appliance Park in Louisville: a $400-million-plus conversion of Building 5 to dryer production, a $112 million redesign in Building 1 and a previously announced $490 million in Building 2 for front-load washers. Building 5's 9 to 12 month conversion after refrigerator production ends in early 2027 means a concentrated window of electrical, mechanical, floor and fire protection work inside an operating campus. The Lane Report, 2026-09-02
- 03 · $280 million University of Louisville Health Sciences Building Under construction; completion 2029 A six-story, 257,000-square-foot building along Preston Street between Chestnut and Gray on UofL's Health Sciences Center campus, housing dentistry, medicine, nursing and public health programs, with Messer Construction as general contractor. Simulation suites, research labs and dental clinics carry dense mechanical, electrical and fire protection scopes over a three-year build, followed by finish work and custodial service. UofL News, 2026-04-21
- 04 · $180 million Kentucky Exposition Center Phase I exhibit building Topped out; completion end of 2026 A 350,000-square-foot Class A exhibit building on the northwest side of the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, with Calhoun Construction Services as construction manager and a $213 million Phase II planned. Finish work runs through the end of 2026 with events starting in 2027, and the $213 million second phase plus year-round event use create follow-on construction, cleaning and paving work. The Lane Report, 2026-02-23
Projects current as of 2026-09; 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 Louisville/Jefferson County. One relationship with a facilities team here can cover many buildings.
Health system · Louisville, Jefferson County
Norton Healthcare
Norton Healthcare reports six Louisville hospitals with a combined 1,907 licensed beds, three Southern Indiana hospitals with 347 licensed beds, and nearly 24,000 employees.
Nine hospitals and more than 480 locations across Kentucky and Southern Indiana each carry mechanical, life-safety, cleaning and grounds work.
Norton HealthcareCampus · Louisville, Jefferson County
University of Louisville
UofL lists 25,000 enrolled students, 3 campuses and about 7,000 faculty and staff.
Three campuses, including the health sciences campus downtown, run classroom, lab, housing and athletic buildings that need cleaning, HVAC and grounds work.
University of LouisvilleMajor employer · Louisville, Jefferson County
UPS Worldport
UPS Worldport is a 5.2 million square foot hub that sorts roughly 400,000 packages every hour with over 7,000 employees and 155 miles of conveyor.
A 5.2 million square foot sort facility with ramps and employee parking carries heavy electrical, roofing, fire protection and paving needs.
AirlineGeeksMajor employer · Louisville, Jefferson County
Ford Louisville Assembly Plant
The 3-million-square-foot plant is undergoing a $2 billion overhaul to build electric vehicles on Ford's Universal EV Production System.
A converted 3-million-square-foot assembly plant carries electrical, mechanical, coatings and fire protection scopes as production retools.
Work Truck OnlineAirport · Louisville, Jefferson County
Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF)
SDF reports 4.59 million total passengers in 2025 and a record of nearly 7.5 billion pounds of cargo handled that year.
Terminal, parking and airfield buildings run by the Louisville Regional Airport Authority need cleaning, HVAC and pavement work.
Louisville Muhammad Ali International AirportIndustrial park · Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana
River Ridge Commerce Center
River Ridge is a 6,000-acre commerce park along I-265 with 12,675 employed individuals onsite in 2024.
Manufacturing, distribution and data center buildings in one park share needs for roofing, paving, electrical and sprinkler work.
The Lane ReportAnchor facts checked 2026-10; each source is linked on its card.
Which trades the work touches
| Trade | Projects and owners |
|---|---|
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 8 |
| Commercial Electrical | 8 |
| Fire Protection | 7 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 6 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 4 |
| Commercial Roofing | 4 |
| Commercial Flooring | 4 |
| Commercial Construction | 3 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 1 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 1 |
Chapter 04 The calendar
The Louisville selling calendar
Outbound runs every month, but the weather changes what a buyer wants to hear. These are the NOAA records for the Louisville/Jefferson County 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 | 9 | 10 | 102 | 124 | 179 | 210 | 225 | 70 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 27 |
| Cooling degree daysaverage month | 0 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 109 | 252 | 354 | 319 | 153 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| Heating degree daysaverage month | 993 | 793 | 616 | 284 | 103 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 46 | 267 | 586 | 871 |
| Average high (°F)average month | 42 | 47 | 56 | 68 | 76 | 84 | 87 | 86 | 80 | 69 | 56 | 46 |
NOAA logged 214 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 772 damaging wind reports across the metro's counties from 2015 to 2024: #22 of 100 markets for hail and #17 for wind. May, June and July carried 62% of the reports. Storm calls are a real door-opener here, and the contractor who is already known before the season gets the inspection.
The metro averages 1,225 cooling degree days a year (#45 of 97 markets) and 4,568 heating degree days (#47 of 97). Cooling load peaks in June, July and August; heating in January, February, March, 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.
7 months average a high of 60°F or more (April, May, June, July, August, September and October). That is when exterior painting, paving and landscaping crews are busiest, so in-season calls catch owners while they can see the work that needs doing. The contracts themselves are bid on each property's own dates, so the selling runs all year.
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.
Roofing demand spikes after hail and wind events, when owners want an inspection and documentation for their insurer, so be the known contractor before the storm, not one of many calling after it. Planned work follows each owner's budget: inspections feed capital requests, and replacements are approved ahead of installation. Outbound runs every month, keyed to each building's roof age and budget date.
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 Louisville, 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 Louisville program
Before a program starts we size the list: the decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each trade in the Louisville/Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Madison territory.
- 3,646Commercial Roofing
- 3,646Commercial Construction
- 1,488Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
- 1,157Commercial 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 Louisville
Before you hire a sales development rep in Louisville, price the whole job, not just the salary.
The salary is the smallest part of the decision. About 5,190 people hold the role in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN 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 Louisville 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: 1,028 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: 672 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: 530 sites here
From our HVAC talk track. Production uptime and energy. Ask how cooling issues affect the line.
- Where does cooling or ventilation actually touch production, in process cooling, make-up air or the control rooms?This separates comfort cooling from equipment that affects output, and output is where the plant spends money quickly.
- When was the last time a mechanical issue slowed or stopped a line?A recent incident gives you the cost of failure in the plant's own words, which justifies a preventative program.
- When are your planned shutdowns, and does HVAC work get scheduled into them?Shutdown windows are when real work gets done, so knowing them tells you when a proposal needs to be approved.
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, Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN.
- 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 2026-09.
- 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 Louisville/Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Madison 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.
