Market report · Omaha, NE-IA
The State of Outbound Sales in Omaha, 2026
How outbound selling looks across the Omaha, NE-IA 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.
- 2,542business sites with 20+ people across the categories trades sell to, #54 of our 100 metros
- 48buyer sites per fire protection contractor, #33 of 96 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 Omaha
Biggest buyer pool
Restaurants: 751 sites
with 20 or more people, the largest buyer category in Omaha, ahead of retail stores (555).
Where the metro leans
Hospitals: 1.81x the U.S. mix
Also over-represented: golf courses and country clubs (1.56x) and apartment and residential property managers (1.41x). Trades that serve these buyers have more of them here than the national average suggests.
Most room
Fire Protection: #33 of 96 markets
48 buyer sites with 20+ people for each of 29 local fire protection contractors. The most crowded is commercial roofing, #88 of 89.
Biggest reason to call
Omaha Streetcar, $421 million
Under construction; opening 2028. One of 10 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 Omaha
2,542 business sites in Omaha have 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to. That ranks #54 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 | 751 | 2,130 | 1.21x | -11 |
| Retail stores | 555 | 2,618 | 1.04x | +32 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 245 | 2,042 | 1.28x | +137 |
| Wholesale distributors | 241 | 1,192 | 1.09x | +17 |
| Manufacturing plants | 237 | 639 | 0.74x | -2 |
| Senior living and nursing | 130 | 214 | 1.04x | +8 |
| Grocery stores | 83 | 263 | 0.71x | +5 |
| Trucking companies | 80 | 640 | 1.33x | -20 |
| Bank and credit union offices | 68 | 535 | 1.25x | -7 |
| Churches and religious organizations | 63 | 528 | 0.19x | -2 |
Omaha leans toward hospitals (1.81x), golf courses and country clubs (1.56x) and apartment and residential property managers (1.41x). 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 churches and religious organizations (0.19x) and private K-12 schools (0.42x). 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 (+137), retail stores (+32) and hosting and data processing companies (+30). New sites have no incumbent vendor yet.
The metro
Omaha, NE-IA: 8 counties in this report's counts.
Douglas County, Sarpy County and Pottawattamie County hold 92% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
Where the sites are
| County | Sites with 20+ | Share of metro |
|---|---|---|
| Douglas CountyStart here | 1,690 | 66% |
| Sarpy County | 437 | 17% |
| Pottawattamie County, Iowa | 216 | 8% |
| Saunders County | 22 | 1% |
| Cass County | 21 | 1% |
| Washington County | 21 | 1% |
| Harrison County, Iowa | 11 | 0% |
| Mills County, Iowa | 7 | 0% |
Chapter 02 The competition
Which trades have the most room in Omaha
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 Omaha figure is ranked against the other markets we track.
| Trade | Rank among markets | Sites per contractor | Contractors | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire ProtectionMost room | #33 of 96 | 48 | 29 | -1 |
| Managed Service Providers | #41 of 100 | 3.1 | 467 | +28 |
| Commercial Construction | #63 of 100 | 3.8 | 189 | +3 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | #71 of 100 | 3.3 | 281 | 0 |
| Commercial Electrical | #79 of 100 | 8.1 | 139 | +8 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | #82 of 100 | 7.3 | 110 | +1 |
| Commercial Landscaping | #84 of 100 | 2.7 | 489 | +13 |
| Commercial Flooring | #61 of 68 | 44 | 17 | -1 |
| Paving & Asphalt | #87 of 94 | 26 | 48 | +3 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | #81 of 86 | 40 | 32 | -4 |
| Commercial Roofing | #88 of 89 | 29 | 42 | +2 |
Fire protection (#33), managed service providers (#41) and commercial construction (#63) rank best in Omaha. 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, #88 of 89: 29 buyer sites for each of 42 local commercial roofing contractors. Winning there takes a sharper reason to switch than a lower price.
Commercial painting & coatings (-4) and fire protection (-1) lost contractor establishments over the past year, so the same buildings are split among fewer firms than a year ago. Managed service providers (+28) and commercial landscaping (+13) added them.
Open programs
Our availability workbook does not cover Omaha 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
10 named, sourced projects and 7 anchor owners in Omaha. 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 · $421 million Omaha Streetcar Under construction; opening 2028 A 3.2-mile streetcar line through downtown and midtown Omaha along Farnam, Harney and 10th streets. Utility relocation and track work in 2026 lead to street reconstruction, paving and traction power and signal electrical work before the 2028 opening. Nebraska Public Media, 2026-02-03
- 02 Boys Town National Research Hospital expansion Under construction; broke ground November 2025 An expansion at 144th and Pacific streets in Omaha adding 131,000 square feet of hospital space and 123,000 square feet of research labs and clinics. Hospital and lab space bring large HVAC, electrical and fire protection scopes, followed by flooring and medical cleaning as floors open. Boys Town National Research Hospital, 2026-06
- 03 · $67.5 million UNO Howard L. Hawks Training Center and Maverick Park Clubhouse Under construction; clubhouse July 2027, training center summer 2028 A $55 million training center east of Baxter Arena and a $12.5 million baseball and softball clubhouse at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Practice courts, locker rooms, sports medicine and strength space bring HVAC, electrical, flooring and painting work through 2028. University of Nebraska Omaha, 2026-09-18
- 04 · $99.3 million Nebraska Medicine Farnam Health Center Under construction; opening September 2027 A four-story Nebraska Medicine outpatient center for dermatology, internal medicine, GI and behavioral health at 42nd and Farnam streets in midtown Omaha. Clinic and procedure space carries mechanical, sprinkler and finish scopes through summer 2027 completion, then a standing need for medical-grade cleaning once patients arrive. University of Nebraska Medical Center, 2026-03-10
- 05 Millwork Commons hotel (Disbrow building conversion) Under construction; opening by end of 2027 PGSA is converting the 1886 M.A. Disbrow Company building at 12th and Nicholas streets in Omaha's Millwork Commons into a 144-room hotel with a restaurant, atrium and an added floor with a rooftop bar. Adding a floor and a rooftop bar to a historic structure means new roofing and sprinkler work in an old building, then hotel flooring and finishes and ongoing housekeeping and janitorial demand after the 2027 opening. KETV, 2026-06-10
- 06 Drury Plaza Hotel downtown Omaha Approved by City Council August 2026 An eight-story, 210-room Drury Plaza Hotel with a 160-stall underground parking garage and a public restaurant and bar in downtown Omaha. A new eight-story hotel brings structure, roofing, sprinkler and corridor and guest-room flooring packages, and Drury says it plans to own the property long term, which means steady cleaning and renovation work after opening. KETV, 2026-08-27
- 07 · $200 million Hollywood Casino Hotel Council Bluffs Broke ground September 2026 PENN Entertainment is building a land-based casino on one level to replace the Ameristar Council Bluffs riverboat in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, tied to the existing 160-room hotel. A single-level casino floor means a large new roof, sprinkler and gaming-floor electrical work over the build, then round-the-clock cleaning contracts for a 24-hour casino and its restaurants. KETV, 2026-09-14
- 08 Creighton University Sports Performance Center Under construction; completion 2027 A 50,000-square-foot athlete facility with strength and conditioning, nutrition, sports medicine and academic space at Creighton University, the first project in its $300 million Fly Together athletics corridor plan near downtown Omaha. The building needs roofing, rubber and sport flooring in the 10,000-square-foot strength area and heavy HVAC for training space, and the 12-block corridor is set to get 11 new or upgraded facilities in total. KETV, 2025-11-13
- 09 · 168,486 sq ft Highway 370 Logistics Under construction A 168,486-square-foot speculative industrial building on a 12-acre site near I-80 and Highway 370 in Papillion (Sarpy County), started in March 2026. The site plan includes 115 car stalls, 31 trailer stalls and truck courts for 10 dock doors (expandable to 26), so heavy-duty paving and site concrete come with the 2026 build. Opus, 2026-03-24
- 10 · $50 million 156th Street and Capehart Road area improvements (Sarpy County) Construction from spring 2026 A Sarpy County road program that adds new road on 156th Street, widens roads to three lanes and builds a roundabout at 168th Street and Schram Road to serve industrial growth in western Sarpy County. At least two years of road paving, and the industrial sites it opens up bring parking lot and site paving work behind it. KMTV 3 News Now, 2025-12
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 Omaha. One relationship with a facilities team here can cover many buildings.
Health system · Omaha, Douglas County
Nebraska Medicine
Nebraska Medicine's two hospitals, Nebraska Medical Center and Bellevue Medical Center, have more than 800 licensed beds.
Academic medical campus in Omaha plus a Bellevue hospital and clinics, all with heavy HVAC, life-safety, cleaning and parking demands.
Nebraska MedicineCampus · Omaha, Douglas County
University of Nebraska at Omaha
UNO reported a total headcount of 14,810 students for fall 2026.
Multi-campus university with classroom, research, housing and athletic buildings plus surface lots and grounds.
University of Nebraska at OmahaMajor employer · Omaha, Douglas County
Union Pacific Railroad
The Greater Omaha Chamber lists Union Pacific Railroad among regional employers with 2,500-4,999 employees.
Headquarters office tower and regional rail facilities with occupied-building cleaning, mechanical and electrical needs.
Greater Omaha ChamberPublic owner · Bellevue, Sarpy County
Offutt Air Force Base
The Greater Omaha Chamber lists Offutt Air Force Base among employers with 5,000+ employees.
Federal installation with hangars, airfield pavement, offices and housing maintained through federal contracting.
Greater Omaha ChamberMajor employer · Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County
Google Council Bluffs data center
Google says its Iowa presence began in 2007 as a single hub in Council Bluffs.
Data center campus with large mechanical and electrical systems, fire protection and secured grounds.
Google Data CentersIndustrial park · Mills County, Iowa
Mills Crossing Megasite
The Greater Omaha Chamber lists the Go Ready certified site with 1,641 acres available.
Large certified industrial site where new plants or warehouses bring site work, paving, power and fire protection.
Greater Omaha ChamberAirport · Omaha, Douglas County
Eppley Airfield
Eppley Airfield served over 5.2 million passengers in 2025.
Terminal, parking and airfield pavement run by the Omaha Airport Authority, with mechanical, paving, roofing and cleaning needs.
Omaha Airport AuthorityAnchor facts checked 2026-10; each source is linked on its card.
Which trades the work touches
| Trade | Projects and owners |
|---|---|
| Commercial Construction | 11 |
| Fire Protection | 10 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 10 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 8 |
| Commercial Electrical | 8 |
| Commercial Roofing | 8 |
| Commercial Flooring | 6 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 6 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 2 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 1 |
Chapter 04 The calendar
The Omaha selling calendar
Outbound runs every month, but the weather changes what a buyer wants to hear. These are the NOAA records for the Omaha 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 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 100 | 167 | 270 | 157 | 74 | 50 | 12 | 3 | 26 |
| Cooling degree daysaverage month | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 76 | 231 | 340 | 279 | 112 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Heating degree daysaverage month | 1,302 | 1,047 | 792 | 429 | 179 | 23 | 10 | 17 | 92 | 379 | 784 | 1,165 |
| Average high (°F)average month | 32 | 37 | 50 | 63 | 73 | 83 | 86 | 84 | 78 | 65 | 49 | 36 |
NOAA logged 405 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 471 damaging wind reports across the metro's counties from 2015 to 2024: #10 of 100 markets for hail and #38 for wind. May, June and July carried 68% 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 1,055 cooling degree days a year (#52 of 97 markets) and 6,220 heating degree days (#24 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 Omaha, 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 Omaha program
Before a program starts we size the list: the decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each trade in the Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont territory.
- 2,452Commercial Roofing
- 2,452Commercial Construction
- 971Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
- 770Commercial 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 Omaha
Before you hire a sales development rep in Omaha, price the whole job, not just the salary.
The salary is the smallest part of the decision. About 3,430 people hold the role in the Omaha, NE-IA 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 Omaha 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: 751 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: 555 sites here
From our electrical talk track. Lighting cost and fast repair. For chains, decisions often sit in a regional facilities office, so find who owns vendors for your area.
- Who handles electrical service for this store, the store, a regional facilities office or a national provider?For chains, decisions often sit outside the store, so this tells you who to call next.
- Is a lighting retrofit or remodel planned for this location?Remodels and retrofits are defined projects with budgets.
- How fast does your current electrician respond when lights or signs go out?Slow response during business hours is a common reason to add a vendor.
Medical, dental and outpatient offices: 245 sites here
From our MSP talk track. Patient data rules and uptime at the front desk. Ask who did the last HIPAA security risk assessment and what happens when the scheduling system goes down.
- Who completed your last HIPAA security risk assessment, and when?The HIPAA Security Rule expects a risk analysis. A blank or an old date is a concrete, compliance-driven reason to meet.
- When the practice management or imaging system goes down, who do your front desk staff call, and how fast does someone respond?Downtime at the front desk is felt in canceled patients the same day, so response time is where practices notice a weak provider.
- How many locations do you run, and does each one have the same network and security setup?Multi-location groups often grew one office at a time, and the differences between sites are the scope for a standardization project.
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, Omaha, NE-IA.
- 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 Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont 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.
