The only real secret to growing your cleaning business is discovering what people look for in an ideal cleaning company—and giving it to them.
The internet is full of marketing tips and ideas. But none of them will do you any good if you don’t know what is most important to your customers. Once you know exactly what they want you can begin creating a strategy that meets their needs.
We’ve rounded up a few of the most common qualities people look for in a cleaning company.
Punctuality.
Your customer wants to know when you’re going to arrive to clean their home. More importantly, they want to be able to count on you to stick to that schedule. If you’re constantly showing up late, you can throw off a family’s rhythm.
One way to make sure everyone is on time is to keep an airtight employee schedule. A good cleaning company software will make it easy for you to organize everyone’s appointments so they know exactly when and where they need to be.
Another tip: When you’re hiring cleaners, pay close attention to their punctuality. If they’re right on time to every interview and cleaning trial, you should be able to count on them to be on time for your customers too.
Excellent cleaning skills.
Customers don’t want a cleaning company that’s going to cut corners. In fact, many people hire a cleaning company because they want a professional who will do a better job than they will!
Think about creating a checklist or manifesto to share with your team members. This can help you create a shared expectation for the type of service you deliver to your clients. You can take a more high-level approach, such as “Clean every customer’s home as if it was your own,” or be hyper-specific, such as “Use glass cleaner on every picture frame and scrub the baseboards in every room.” You can also use this as a marketing tool, to show potential customers how seriously you take your promises.
You could also consider regular training or check-ins with your team to make sure everyone is doing their best. Maybe one member of your team is a whiz with the carpet shampooer or knows how to dust the delicate inner workings of a piano and could teach everyone their tricks. Share your knowledge with each other so your customer gets the best of what you all have to offer.
Ease of communication.
No one wants to wait days for a response to their call, text, or email. Your customer wants to be able to get hold of you easily if they have a question or need to reschedule an appointment.
Put systems in place to ensure that communication is fast, easy, and reliable. Here are a few ideas:
- Add a “contact us” form to your website. Check your inbox twice a day and set a goal to answer every query within 24 hours.
- Set up a company phone number that receives texts so your customers can send you messages at any time.
- Make a rule that all phone calls and texts must be returned within a day (or less). If you’re the one who handles all incoming calls and texts, make sure you forward everything to a trusted team member when you’re on vacation.
- Invest in a cleaning company software that sends out automatic appointment reminders so that even your busiest customers always know when to expect you.
Insurance.
Accidents happen. A broom can knock over a vase, a vacuum cleaner can mangle a cord, and bleach can splash on someone’s favorite sweater. Your customer wants to hire you without worrying about who will pay for things like that. They’ll look for words like “bonded” and “insured” on your website to see if you’ve invested in the insurance that will protect them from liability.
Shop around for a good insurance company that meets your needs. Add a note to your website, your social media pages, and any flyers or other marketing materials confirming that you are indeed insured. This will give you and your customer peace of mind.
An ideal cleaning company is safe and trustworthy.
Your cleaning company is different from a dentist or a lawn care service for one very big reason: Your customers allow you to enter their home. Your customer wants to trust that you will respect their space, their belongings, and their families.
An important strategy for earning that trust is sharing testimonials from your other customers. Be sure to include them on your website and social media platforms. Make it easy for potential customers to learn more about you and discover why your current customers trust you.
If you’re hiring new cleaners, consider running background checks or taking other measures to ensure that you’re hiring the very best to care for your customers. And don’t be shy about sharing your methods for hiring. When your customers know you take the process seriously, they’ll trust you to assign a cleaner to their home.
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When you know what your customer expects from an ideal cleaning company, you can focus your attention on giving it to them and stop worrying about things that aren’t important.