Cleaning fees is a tough subject to bring up with your cleaning clients and is not always fun. Many maid service owners lack the confidence to clearly state cleaning fee’s without breaking down and offering their services at a much lower price than what they want. These discussions can be difficult to do, but are so VERY important for the success of your business!
When fee’s are clearly explained and combined with excellent customer service, it can lead to strong customer relationships. On the flip side, failure to clearly discuss fee’s can lead to mistrust with clients.
Why do many Cleaning Business Owners hate to discuss cleaning fees?
Cleaning Business owners often times, do not want to talk cleaning fees with their clients upfront for fear of pushing them away. There are lots of cheaper options out there, so many try to avoid it.
Don’t Loose your Value
But you know your value, so stick to it. You don’t want the client to start the conversation and end in a bidding war, or worse end up cleaning a home for less than your value. You have set your prices so that you know you will cover expenses and make a certain profit. Any fee’s less than that you will be loosing money.
Don’t Loose your clients trust
Hiring a cleaning business is personal. Home owners invite you into their home based on trust. Create a trusting relationship that will last for many years. Clients do not do business with companies they do not trust!
Set your Cleaning Business up for success by being upfront with your clients when discussing cleaning fee’s.
5 Steps to Discuss Cleaning Fees with your clients
There are a few steps you can take to start having the conversation with clients from day one. Discussing fee’s with clients can be easier if you follow along with these 5 steps.
1. Take the Lead on Discussing Fees
Take the lead on discussing service price. You should start talking about the fee’s before the client does. Don’t let the client or potential client ask the question. This can take the discussion in an awkward turn.
While it may be difficult to start the conversation on fee’s, it demonstrates leadership and starts to build the trust between yourself and the client.
What you don’t want to happen is to have the clients start the discussion. They will most always come lower than your asking price. But then when you tell the This can lead to the client negotiating and setting their own cleaning fee’s.
2. Always be upfront and consistent on what your price includes
Continuing on the lead with your price discussion, you want to be very clear on what services are included in your cleaning service. Clearly define what is and what is not included in that service.
Always have a Cleaning Service Checklist to provide to the customer. This way they have a list of what is included in their regular service you are quoting them on.
If you offer any extra services make sure to leave a price list of those services. This way when the client asks you to clean the oven during a clean, you can refer back to the price list on the extra charge. What you don’t want to do is let clients assume there is no extra charge. This creates a sticky situation, one which does not end very well.
3. Discuss the value of the service
You know your value, now communicate with the client. What value do you bring to the table?
Is it the time your client will save by not having to clean their home? Is it the awesome reliable customer service your client will receive? Or is there a special product you use that others Cleaning Company’s do not?
Whatever it is, make sure you communicate it when talking about price.
In my Cleaning Business no one in the area could mop floors like us. We used a heavy duty steam cleaner that cleaned tile floors quickly and very effectively. Our clients never had sticky floors (you know that feeling when you walk over a recently mopped floors and your shoes stick to the floors!) and never had any cleaning residue left over.
It was a true value proposition that other companies could not offer and we made sure our clients and potential clients knew it.
4. Ensure your client understands your fee schedule
After you have clearly explained your fee structure, ask the client or check with them to make sure they understand. Provide print outs or hard copies of what your additional fees are.
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You should be leaving each new client with a new client welcome kit. These kits should include information about policies, cleaning checklists, and pricing for additional tasks. This will provided needed information to your clients so they know want to expect with future services.
If you are providing a quote to a potential new client, always provide a cleaning checklist so the client knows what exactly it is your company cleans when they visit a home. Make a clear list of what is included and what is extra.
5. Put it to Pen
When you quote a client a price, always document it. This will avoid any miss communication. You can document it in an electronic format or on paper. Provide a copy to the client for their records. In the future when the client asks for extra tasks, you can always refer back to what was quoted originally.
After providing a quote to a client, follow up with a letter thanking them for the opportunity of provide them a price for cleaning their home. Include how much it will cost to clean their home on a weekly, biweekly, and monthly basis.
If the client does not sign up for a while after the initial quote, you have a copy of what was originally quoted. This way if they do call you in the future, you will have it ready. It is ok to put a time limit of how long a quote is good for. It is safe to use a 90 day rule.
When your quoting a customer for pricing following these steps will increase trust. Consumers buy from those they trust. If you can develop trusting relationships, you can quickly build your customer base!
The last thing you need to know about discussing cleaning fees with clients
The take away with discussing cleaning fees with clients is to
Be open
Always be upfront
Have consistent pricing
If you stick to these rules you will be successful in taking to clients about pricing. You will dodge the haggling some clients like to get into.
As always this is your business, don’t let clients set the prices. And always maintain trust and credibility with having a consistent price structure that all clients will come to expect and understand.
What are your biggest struggles with talking cleaning fees with clients? Leave a message so we all can share in our experiences ?.
If you found this article helpful, please help me in sharing the word to help others by sharing my photo at the top of the page.
How exciting, you just booked a new cleaning client! So how do you welcome your new client? With a New Client Welcome Kit that is. Now is the time to start setting the stage for the client experience with a new client welcome kit for a positive relationship!
Don’t leave your new client hanging until you show up for their first cleaning. Impress them with a welcome kit that provides information that includes
A Welcome Letter
Client Data Form. So they can tell you more about them.
Cleaning Checklist. What they can expect from you.
Customer Policies. What do you expect from them?
Promotional materials. So they can tell their friends about you.
Having a welcome will create a positive first impression with your new cleaning client. In the new client welcome kit, you will set expectations and let the client know what to expect in your relationship and the cleaning service you provide.
Continue reading to learn how to make your own forms from scratch and what you should include.
I have put together a list of what you should include in your new client welcome kit.
What to Include in Your New Client Welcome Kit:
1. A Welcome Letter
A Welcome letter introduces you and your business. It also lets your new client know how excited you are that they have hired you to clean their home. Make sure your welcome letter is warm and inviting.
In your letter, introduce yourself and your business to your new client. Next, tell them how you will provide excellent customer service. Then, end the letter with what they can find in the new client welcome kit. If there is any paperwork that needs to be returned to you in your new packet, tell the client when and how to send it back to you.
2. Client Data Form
The purpose of the client data form is to collect the pertinent information for you to provide the best cleaning service for your client.
What to include on your Client Data Form:
Information about the client
Start the form with a section where the client can provide contact information. Contact information includes house phone, cell phones, and email. This way you will have multiple ways to get a hold of the client when needed. Include an area for the client to tell you how they want to be contacted in the event the cleaning needs to be rescheduled or in the case of an emergency.
Next, include a section where you collect basic information about the house. Ask questions such as how many bedrooms are in the home, how many bathrooms, and what kind of flooring is throughout the home. Having information about the house will give you a better idea of what cleaning supplies you will need to bring into the home.
The next section of the form should include any important information about the cleaning, that is specific to their house. For example: How does the client want you to enter the home? Does the client have any no-touch items in the house? Any pets, what are their names, and where will they be?
Include a question on where the central garbage can is located. You will be collecting trash in the house and will need to know where to put it. Is it in the garage or on the side of the house?
Ask the client what to do if a door is closed in the home. Sometimes this indicates a do not enter. Ask if it is ok for the cleaners to enter bedrooms or bathrooms with closed doors and clean them. Sometimes clients will have out-of-town guests you are not expecting. If a door is shut for privacy you will need to know what is expected.
3. Customer Policies
The purpose of the Customer Policy document is to set boundaries for the homeowner/client. This document should eliminate surprises or questions in the future. For example, if a hurricane comes through your area, your client should know ahead of time what to expect from you and your cleaners.
Having the Customer Policy document will help to create a long and happy relationship between you and the customer.
Items to include in your customer policies.
Cancellation policies, how to cancel an appointment, and any fees that may be charged.
Lockout policies. What will happen if cleaners are not able to get into a home, and how you will treat that. Will there be a fee charged after so many lockouts, etc?
Damage and Breakage policies. Accidents happen, your new client knows that, tell them how situations like these will be addressed. My customer policy also had the following ‘We request that all valuable, irreplaceable, collectible, or heirloom items (whether monetarily or sentimentally valued) be stored and/or not cleaned by our team’. Tell them how long they have to report any incidents.
Inclement weather policies. Depending on where you live, you may experience inclement weather from time to time. In Florida, our inclement weather included Hurricanes and Tropical Storms. Those of you living up north, have to worry about snow and ice. Provide information on what will happen if your cleaners can not drive to service a home. Let the client know how you will contact them to reschedule.
Hours and Holidays. Include here, the hours of operations. When can a client call you and get an answer? Do you have an after-hours number? Does your company observe any holidays and what are those holidays?
Any other information that is specific to your business.
Include a comprehensive list of what is included with each cleaning, on the cleaning checklist. This will let the client know what they can expect with each of their cleaning visits. Questions may arise or clients may want to add an additional item to their cleaning service, you can refer to this document to justify any responses or price increases.
An important note to make, if you include a cleaning checklist, make sure you and your cleaners are following it to a T. When you say you are going to clean the top of the refrigerator, you better clean the top of the refrigerator.
Clients will look for these items and will notice when they are not done. When you don’t follow your checklist, it will create distrust with the client. The client will be less likely to continue with service and will certainly not tell their family and friends about your business.
The cleaning checklist will also help protect you from those clients who like to leave notes asking for you to clean out the refrigerator. And you know they are out there! When a requested item is not included in your regular service, you will want to be compensated for it. The moment this situation comes up refer to this document to justify the additional charge.
5. Promotional Materials
The purpose of including promotional materials is to let your clients share your business with their friends and family.
Items to include in your welcome kit include business cards, pamphlets, fliers, or other promotional items. Business cards serve two purposes 1st: so clients have your contact information and 2nd: so that the client can pass it along to their friends, family, and neighbors! Referrals do not cost you any money and they have the highest conversion rate to booking!
Once your new client sees how awesome you and your business are, you will want them to pass your information on to everyone they know! Make it easy for your client to tell people about your business. Provide 5 business cards and a handful of any pamphlets or fliers your business has.
Next provide a description of your referral program: Providing promotional materials will not be very helpful if you do not entice the client to promote your business name. Come up with a great referral program your client can not resist.
You can provide a free cleaning after 3 a referred client has completed 3 scheduled cleanings. You can offer discounts to neighbors if they schedule on the same day and rotation. We provided a 10% discount to both neighbors if they scheduled on the same rotational day. We saved LOTS of money in drive time by cleaning two houses on the same street.
When to Use your New Client Welcome Kit?
The new client welcome kit should be sent out the minute after you have booked your new client. You can send it in email or you can send it via snail mail, or hand it to them if you are face to face. Either way, it is important to get this package out to your new client ASAP.
I HIGHLY recommend sending the new client welcome kit in two forms. One in paper form and the second in electronic forms, such as email. This way if the client loses one he/she has a backup copy and can save or store it in whichever way works best for them.
Presenting Your New Client Welcome Kit
This is an important step, how you present your new client welcome kit will further speak about your brand. We are in the business of cleaning houses. Therefore, any material you give a client should be neat and tidy. Don’t just hand your new client a stack of papers. Care should go into putting it together.
Need Help with Quotes and Pricing? Read my super helpful articles to help you through it!
All our new client welcome kits were hand-delivered or mailed in a green pocket folder, the kind the kids use for school. The green matched our brand’s colors, and the pockets provided for better organization. We attached our business card to the front of the folder to identify where the folder came from.
Each document was placed on each side of the pockets. The welcome letter and documents they needed to fill out were on one side of the folder and promotional items on the other.
ALL cleaning businesses should get their business listed on Google. Why you ask???
Why every cleaning business should have their business listed on Google.
It is free! WHAT!!!! Yes, 100% free advertising for your cleaning business. Businesses use to have to pay to be listed in the yellow pages, now you can list for FREE on Google!
It is LOCAL advertising, meaning your business will popup only to those looking for service in the area’s you serve.
It makes your business look PROFESSIONAL. Every business has to be verified as legit before Google will place them on the map.
Google is one of the largest search engines on the web. Most consumers now a days search for local services on the internet. No one has a yellow phone book laying around anymore.
It puts your business on the web. If you don’t have a website yet, potential customers can still find you online. If you DO have a website, it is just one more place you can link your site to which helps improve our SEO ranking!
Click on the Green Button in the top right hand corner that says START NOW
3. What Is The Name Of Your Business
This page is where you enter in your business name. This is the name that will be listed on Google and what potential customers will see.
Click the BLUE box labeled NEXT
4. Where Are You Located
This is where you list where your place of Business is located. This is your legal address. Even if you are operating out of your personal residence put the address there. This is the address Google verifies to ensure you are a real company.
You can opt to hide the address if you do not have a Commercial Store front for customers to visit. If you are operating out of your home, I recommend checking the HIDE MY ADDRESS (IT’S NOT A STORE) option. This will keep your personal information private.
Click the BLUE box labeled NEXT
5. List your Delivery Area
Because you clicked the HIDE MY ADDRESS IT’S NOT A STORE option, this next step appears. Here you will list where you deliver your services. This will be where you want to service clients. You can opt to list a region, city or post code OR you can opt to set a mileage range you wish to service from your business address you listed in Step 4.
Click on the 1st option Deliver in person within region, city or postcodeto list metropolitan area’s or local cities or even zip codes you service.
Click on the 2nd option Deliver in person within distance from business to enter in a specific number of miles away from your place of business you service.
To continue, click the BLUE box labeled NEXT
6. What Kind of Business Do You Run
This page is where you enter your service offering. You can add Cleaning Service, Residential Cleaning, Commercial Cleaning, Carpet Cleaning whatever it is you service to your customers. This is what will cause your business name to pop up when someone in your service area searches for a Cleaning Business.
Carry on by clicking the BLUE box labeled NEXT
7. Connect With Customers (Optional)
This page is where you will put your business contact information. Even though this step is optional, I HIGHLY recommend that you put in a phone number where potential clients can reach you and your website where potential clients can visit to learn more about you.
This step is so important, because potential clients will need to know how to get a hold of you. Make sure too, that the phone number you are listing is one that will get answered. People like to get information right away. If they are calling around for pricing and ready to schedule, they will want to talk with someone right away, not someone who returns their calls the next day.
Move forward by clicking the BLUE box labeled NEXT
8. Choose A Way To Verify
This screen is where you opt how you want Google to verify your business. Google wants to make sure you are a real business, and not just spam. To expedite your listing, click on the BLUE box labeled MAIL. Important! Make sure the address listed below your business name is correct. This way you can insure you will receive your post card.
You should receive shortly. Make sure to be on the look out for it. It will come as a lightweight white post card, and can be mistaken as junk mail. You will have 30 days to verify the business using the code on the post card. Once you enter the code, your business will be listed right away.
Now anyone searching for a cleaning service in the area’s you designated as your service area will see your name and phone number. This the NUMBER 1 way to advertise your business for FREE!
Read my article on Cause Marketing for another great way to advertise your Cleaning Business.
In a Nutshell you should get your business listed on Google ASAP! There is nothing more exciting than seeing your business name pop up on Googles map next to a RED pin!!!
Did you find this post helpful? It would mean a lot to me if you could share it and comment on the post.
Cause marketing is when a for-profit business and a non-profit business team together to bring awareness or raise funds for a common cause. Philanthropy helps your business generate more business and now a days consumers expect it from businesses, it is becoming the norm.
What is cleaning for a reason and why should it be part of your business strategy?
Cleaning for a reason is an outreach program where women undergoing cancer treatment can apply to receive free, no obligation, cleaning services. A patient can apply for cleaning service by having their doctor sign a form confirming treatment. Anyone can sign them up through the cleaning for a reason website.
Once enrolled, patients are matched up with a cleaning service who service in their area. They receive 4 free consecutive monthly cleanings during treatment. This takes the burden of house work off of the patient and allows them to focus on healing, resting and spending time with loved ones.
Many of these patients lack the physical ability to clean their own homes. The body is put through a lot during treatment and chemo making it nearly impossible to keep up on house work.
Currently 1,200 maid services participate in the program and have served 23,000 women totaling $6,000,000.00 in house cleanings. The number keeps rising as more awareness is being made. Anybody who is a somebody in the residential maid service industry is participating.
So what is a maid services commitment?
A maid service who agrees to participate in the program agrees to service 2 patients at the same time. The maid service sets the cleaning parameters that they are willing to clean.
You can donate 3-4 man hours a cleaning. Which will be plenty of time for up to a 3500sq ft home. If you have 2 patients to service, that is only 6 – 8 man hours in a month.
This is a wonderful service to provide for women undergoing treatment. Everyone is so appreciative for the help. Word will spread through out your community about your businesses commitment to the cause. When I was running my cleaning business, we would have friends and family members of those we serviced through Cleaning for a Reason who were looking for cleaning services.
Cleaning for a Reason provides marketing resources for their maid services. They provide a ready to use logo for you to apply to all of your marketing material.
Need content for your social media? They provide loads of Facebook post ideas and tweats that you can reuse on your platforms for your following!
2. Boost employee moral!
Send them on these cleanings. Employees love to making a difference and participating in community service. There is no better feeling than knowing you made a difference in some ones life!
My employees absolutely loved servicing these clients. It made them feel more pride in their work and our company, building employee loyalty.
3. Cause Marketing
Tell all of your customers and potential customers about your involvement. Include the logo in all of your marketing material. It will help to build a positive image in your community.
Every October complete a campaign educating the public and local news media about the program. There is a good chance you could get a featured article or news blurb about it during the month of October! Cleaning for a Reason even provides Media News Releases for you to send into local news media!
You just get the feel goods!
Every client/patient I cleaned for through this program was so grateful of the service. We meet so many strong women. Heard so many encouraging stories.
It is so enlightening to be apart and support a person in their hardest fight of their life. Just knowing you contributed support against their battle is aw-inspiring.
You could never put a price tag on the benefits.
Now is the Time to Join!
It is supper simple to sign up. Go to www.CleaningforAReason.org, and click on their Click on the Maid Service tab.
There are minimal requirements to being a maid service partner. You will need to be insured and/or bonded and perform background checks on non-family employees. (Which you should be doing anyway!!!)
Its one of the most sought after questions for new entrepreneurs. How do I deliver a house cleaning quote? First, before we get to far into this, you will need to know what your price structure is.
Get the FREE Download for my Price Worksheet (included in the FREE Resource Library This worksheet provides a Pricing Guide for recurring Residential Cleaning!
Its exciting when you start getting requests for quotes. You’ve marketed your business and finally got that first call. Now what??? If you don’t have all your ducks in a row and a consistent process then you will not have a very high conversion rate.
STEP ONE
Decide if you are going to give in home estimates or phone estimates. These are the 2 most popular quoting methods, and the most debated on whether which is best. They both have their pros and cons.
In Home Estimates
Lots of cleaning companies only do in home estimates and will argue that they are the only way to go. Whats great about them is you will be able to to see the condition of the home. Because the condition of the home has an impact on cleaning times, seeing it will give you a better idea on how long you should plan to be there on the first clean. It also alleviates any surprises…Trust me those are never fun!
The down side is that they eat up valuable time. You might be confused…Wait, isn’t landing a job one of the most valuable things you can be doing? Well, yes … and no. You can have a converted quote just the same whether you speak to the potential client on the phone or in person. The difference is the amount of time invested to convert the quote.
When you are a business owner, your time is very valuable and you will need to be very selective on how you spend it. Most in home estimates will take about 2 hours. This allows for driving time and for the actual face to face time with the client.
You could only realistically do a few in home estimates a day. And that is if your doing them during regular business hours. But, most of your estimates will be done around a time convenient for the potential client. This means you will be spending weekends and evenings delivering quotes. This will cut into family time, leisure time and sleep time!
Phone Estimates
These are my #1 choice. You can still get information concerning the job AND you can still create a connection with the potential client BUT you are saving 1/4 of the time! You could give 3 times more quotes this way!
The down side to phone quotes is you won’t be able to see the home until the first cleaning day. In my 2 years of running a cleaning business we walked into 1 complete disaster. But this was a move out clean, not a recurring client. The way around this is to set a disclaimer letting the client know up front, that the Estimate may change due to extenuating circumstances causing additional cleaning time than expected.
If you have a consistent cleaning system and pricing system your cleaning times will not vary greatly for the majority of clients. Obviously there are those outlier’s, but that is what the disclaimer is for. This makes phone quotes more effective and accurate.
Website estimates have grown in popularity in recent years. When you are first starting out, it more than likely will not financially make sense for you to invest in an online booking form. If you have a website, you should definitely make it a goal of yours to putting one on your site. The great thing about online estimate forms is they happen on autopilot. A client finds your site when they do a web search for a reputable cleaning company in your area, they can get a custom quote immediately AND can book their cleaning at the same time! When a quote is submitted, or booking made, you will get a notification.
The online booking form I used for my cleaning biz was Launch27. They are currently the best out there. Pricing starts at $59 a month. But they the sleekest and most user friendly format for both clients using the form and you as the business owner managing it. They have an easy to install plug-in for your site and offer tons of resources to help you through the process.
Step Two
Collect Data
Whether you are providing an in home, over the phone or web quote you’ll want to gather pertinent data to help you set a price as well as prepare for your first cleaning. You will want to know the following information before entering a home.
Square footage
Number of Stories
How many Bedrooms
Number of Bathrooms
Any other rooms? Laundry, Den, etc.
Type of flooring throughout the home
Any Pets?
Is there currently a cleaning service
One time cleaning or Recurring service
Any additional information the client would like to add
Not only will this information help determine price and cleaning times, it will also help prepare for the first cleaning. It will help give you an idea of a cleaning time and help determine what supplies and equipment will be needed. If the client has wood floors you’ll want to bring a wood floor mop and cleaner, if none then that can be left in the vehicle. (BTW Click here —-> for the best Wood Floor Cleaning System) The more information you can gather about a home before you enter it, the better. This will help to eliminate any special surprises.
Step Three
Define your services
So, why should clients choose your cleaning service over another? Now’s your time to SHINE!!! Tell them all the fabulous reasons your company stands out over another. Remember that you will be competing with cleaners who work by themselves, have no insurance, and don’t have any formal cleaning program, and are not insured. So tell potential clients this. If something is broken or property is damaged, cause lets face it we are all human and accidents happen, liability insurance protects your clients home and belongings. (P.S. If you don’t have business insurance, you need to hop on over and read this article —-> Why every cleaning business should carry insurance!)
Show them a cleaning check list used with each cleaning. At a minimum your service should include dusting of furniture, vacuuming, moping, kitchen surfaces, bathroom surfaces. Think of including areas that many other cleaners miss such as long dusting of ceiling fans and hard to reach area’s (this can be done with a simple long dusting tool).
Offer a unique service, and tell potential clients about it, that will separate you from your competitors. The way we stood out over our clients is offering ‘Extra’s’ like wet wiping baseboards, cabinetry, vacuum living room furniture, and other periodic tasks that most companies charge extra for. When I would tell potential clients this they were always excited about this. Its so easy to offer. At each cleaning you complete one task. Because you are keeping up on the tasks, it does not take much effort to add to the cleanings.
Step Four
Follow up
This is important. Some times potential clients will ask for a quote and may be get busy, or something else comes up. If we didn’t hear back from a client in 3 days I would email them or call them to ask if they had any questions I had not answered. This does 2 things. One it puts your company name in front of them again. Maybe they have called around for several quotes (which most people do when shopping for a cleaning service). Two it lets the potential client know that you care about their business and care about them. If they were to hire your cleaning service, they know they will be services with care. And three it makes you look professional.
Ask if you can send them promotional emails
I always asked those that received quotes if we could put them on our mailing list. I don’t recall anyone saying no! I let them know that we ran promotions or specials periodically for clients and that we would be happy to add them to our mailing list. Almost every time we ran a special, we had a prior quote sign up either for a 1 time clean. Some times homeowners get quotes and realize they can’t afford the service. But jump on the special promotions. These clients are great for generating referrals too! Once we got into their home to clean, we impressed them with our stellar service we either got a great review, referral or new continuous service.
Also, if there is an issue with budget with a potential client you can suggest once a month visits rather than weekly or bi-weekly. They still get the heavy cleaning done, but may have to do light cleaning chores such as vacuuming and wiping down counters.
So there you have it! How to give an effective house cleaning quote and get a sale. The key here is collecting the right data to determine the price, consistent pricing, having a consistent cleaning system and following up. Clients will hire a service whom they trust, so remember to always be professional and keep all promises.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a response or shot me an email at Roberta@WellKeptClutter.com! I am here to help you start a successful cleaning business with as little extra work necessary!
Starting a cleaning business is a low cost, low entry business to start. With that comes a flood of entrants trying to take advantage of the same opportunity. Seeing that competition can be intimidating. Making growing your cleaning business seem overwhelming and impossible.
To stand out from the competition you have to think out side of the box and get a bit creative.
Growing your cleaning business with low to no budget.
Brand your Car
At first, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a vehicle wrap for your car. (Though it will be something you want to add down the road when you have more revenue.) You can purchase vinyl lettering at Wal-Mart or craft store. Put your ‘Companies Name’, indicate ‘Residential Cleaning Service’, and your ‘Phone Number’.
Every time you pick up your kids from school all those parents in the car rider lot will see your vehicle, there are 180 days in a school year. Times that by 2 (for drop off and pick up), that is 360 potential impressions per parent!
Or each time you clean a home, that clients neighbors will see your vehicle. The longer they see your car parked in their drive way the same time, every other Wednesday at 9:00 am the more likely they will call. They will see that you are reliable (because they see your vehicle the same time), and you obviously do a stellar job because your client keeps having you come back.
Because you have your companies name plastered to your vehicle, be sure to always act accordingly. Remember everyone you drive past, may be a potential client. Drive politely. Don’t cut any one off. No road rage, and for heavens sake don’t give anyone the bird!
Another rule of thumb. If you are a smoker, don’t smoke in your car! You would not smoke in your office, so don’t smoke in your vehicle. There are several reasons why, but for this post I will just say because of the whole image. With the whole air quality and sanitation phase, most home owners do not want to hire smokers. So if you do happen to be a smoker, try to keep it out of your vehicle for the sake of your image.
My first 2 clients (I considered them my first, because they were complete strangers!) were obtained this way! Best $20 I had ever spent. One was a bi-weekly clean at $145 for 2.5 years, that was $9,425 in revenue off of a $20 investment. Not too shabby!
Join local Facebook groups
Local Facebook groups are a great way to get your name in front of a large group of potential customers. To find local groups on Facebook, type in your city’s name in the search bar. Choose groups similar to services offered, swap shops, parent related groups, realtor groups, and any neighborhood groups you want to service.
Once you join, don’t over populate the feed with advertising. This makes you look desperate and pushy. Instead create a strategy to add value to the group. It is OK to introduce yourself and service when you first join, but after that try not to post advertisements.
The best marketing strategy with these groups is to respond to cleaning needs, contribute to discussions with helpful, professional and friendly content. You want to be seen as a expert in the cleaning field. Someone who provides valuable services, and not as a pushy used car salesman!
You will find others offering cleaning service, so you will have to make sure to stand out (in a good way!). Rules to follow to preserve your brand is to always be professional. Don’t fall into the trap of negative posts, be personable but don’t divulge your dirty laundry.
It is important to build relationships with members. If they respect and grow to trust you, they will be more likely to refer clients your way or higher you in the future….even better 🙂
I have seen small business owners post about their services, only to post a few days later about the lady driving a Blue Ford Focus who cut them off on Hwy 301 Tuesday afternoon at 3:00. That kind of post may elicit more response, but it is not going to make you look like a professional business owner.
Offer a Promotional Sale on GROUPON
GROUPON can be a powerful tool for your business if leveraged correctly. To run a campaign you offer your cleaning services for a discounted price for a short period of time. Local buyers purchase your coupon upfront, then have a short period to redeem the coupon for services.
I know I am always saying not to under sell your services. But in this one instance I recommend the GROUPON sales. GROUPON has the resources to get your business in front of a ton of consumers. It does not cost any money upfront. You pay GROUPON a percentage of your sales.
I have written up an entire blog post on how to effectively run a successful GROUPON campaign so that you can grow your business and the number of recurring clients. Read it over here: Building your Business with GROUPON
Donate to local organizations
Community service is a great way to spread the work about your company. Silent auctions are a lucrative and popular way that local organizations/groups fund raise. Donating a 3 hour cleaning would only cost you your time. You will help. You will gain cleaning experience, a potential client, reference, and referral.
The people that purchase these gift certificates have the need for cleaning help, and usually are tied to the organization in one way shape or form. Which means they will be supper gracious to you for offering up your services to help support that group.
There are several ways to find these opportunities. You can utilize the Facebook groups. Contact churches or schools directly letting them know you would be happy to help support their group.
Donations are not only good PR, but it also helps get the word out about your service. Most all groups accept certificates, and only a few were even redeemed. You will gain more positive exposure commenting on these announcements as a reputable company willing to help and donate back to the community.
Join and network with your kids PTO/PTA
PTO’s are constantly looking for volunteers and donations. You can support your child’s school and promote and grow your cleaning business. There are so many different avenues you can take with this. I wish I would have implemented this with my cleaning business. There is something uplifting about helping the community!
Teacher appreciation is huge in schools, with budget cuts and stagnant salaries schools welcome any support they can give their teachers. Offer 1 free cleaning to the teacher of the month. Or better yet if there is no teacher of the month program you can spearhead it and put your cleaning company’s name as the sponsor of the program. Teachers put in a lot of time and effort into our kids so pampering gifts, such as a sparkling clean home, is always much appreciated.
Other ways to support your school include purchasing an ad space in the school newsletter or sponsor level, donate raffle items for silent auctions, provide the ‘clean up crew’ for after hours school events, set up a table/sponsor a game at any school carnivals. You can get really creative with this so think out side of the box!
Offer Discounted Services to Friends and Family
I did this when I first started my business. I only promoted it on Facebook, but knowing what I know now, I would have utilized my email list as well. Tell all of your family and friends of your newest business venture.
Do them a favor by offering a free service in return, ask for a review and to use them as a referral. This is a sure way to build your reference list and a review base to add to marketing material. Plus you will prove your value, so they will be that more likely to refer you to people they know….See how everyone wins!
Reach out to local Real Estate agents
Realtors work with home buyers. At a sale, a good realtor will give a gift to the new home buyer, welcoming them into their new home. What better gift than a move in clean! (From your company, of-course!)
Another way to service a realtor is buy offering cleaning services for house showings. It is no secrete that a clean home shows better and a home that shows better sells better! If a home seller does not have a house cleaner, their realtor could recommend bringing in your company!
Working for realtors can help keep you busy, plus build more repeat clients. They meet and work with a lot of home owners. Make their life easier and help them sell more houses and they will keep you in mind when their clients need your services.
Obtain a new home purchased list.
New home buyers are usually new to the area. They don’t already have a cleaning service and probably in the market for one. Put together a fun letter, or post card if you have the budget, and mail it to the address.
Make sure to talk about all the awesome ways you will make their life better. What value do you bring them? What makes your company better than the next? Offer them their first cleaning free! Or if you have a few extra dollars, throw in a free $50 Bed Bath and Beyond gift card so they can pick out something fun for their new house!
Get creative, be causal, be fun and be professional.
How do you find newly purchased homes in your desired neighborhoods? Visit realtor.com type in a zip code you want to service and search. It will then populate a list of homes, with street addresses, of recently sold homes, by date.
Now try it! Write down 2 ways you can promote your business this month at your child’s school and implement them!
A few things to keep in mind when growing your cleaning business. Always, always, (sorry I have to say it again) ALWAYS present yourself in a professional manner. This will help you stand above 80% of the so called cleaning businesses out there.
You don’t have to spend a lot, or have a huge budget to market your business in the beginning. Now get out there and implement these low cost steps. You have nothing to loose and only new clients to gain!!!
Let me know what works for you and how many clients you can grow you company with!
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Roberta Reed is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Cleaning Business owners often times, do not want to talk cleaning fees with their clients upfront for fear of pushing them away. There are lots of cheaper options out there, so many try to avoid it.
You just get the feel goods!
