Cleaning-Success.com

What Do You Give to Cleaning Prospects When Meeting For The First Time?

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-11-06T14:11:00-06:00

One of our members shared the following:

Some of the customers we have gained have commented on our presentation at the initial meeting. They said it was "unique" and different. I guess I never really thought of doing it any other way.

For every initial meeting, we bring a packet/folder of info for them to look through during the walk through. Some of our clients have said it made us "look" more professional than the other companies who just gave them a price and left.

In that packet, we have the following:

-an intro letter that tells about us and who we are
-a copy of our insurance certificate
-a copy of a W-9 form
-two copies of the contract - one for us and one for them, once both are signed
-a walk-through checklist
-a specifications sheet
-a follow-up checklist (that we leave after every cleaning)
-a stamped/addressed feedback postcard that we ask them to send after service begins
-several business cards
-a copy of our policies (that cover payments, lockout, reschedules, cancellations, etc)
-a brochure that covers our referral bonus program and the "extra" services we offer

It may seem like a small thing, but our customers have told me that it made us stand out as the more "Professional Business" and that's why they chose our service!

What do YOU do to make yourself memorable in the prospect's eyes? Share your thoughts by clicking on the Comments link below.

Introducing The Happy Cleaner Blog!

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-10-30T16:58:39-05:00

We recently conducted a survey of all our newsletter subscribers to find out more information about how they're handling Human Resources issues. Some of you might have taken the survey and we'd like to thank you!

We received a lot of feedback asking for more specific information on these issues so we've created a blog specifically for cleaning company owners who would like more support and information on this topic.

Please head over and visit the new blog to see the survey results. And be sure to sign up for email updates!

The Happy Cleaner Blog

Do I Stay In The Cleaning Business Or Do I Quit?

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-10-23T00:32:00-05:00

The past year has been tough on a lot of people, including cleaning business owners. Many are simply shutting the doors to their business because they're losing clients faster than they can obtain new ones. The good news is that many cleaning company owners are actually growing their business despite the odds against them!

Recently a cleaning business owner asked for advice because she's fearful of the growth of her business. She has the opportunity to go back to her old job and she's seriously considering it. She asked, "Do I abandon my growing cleaning business to accept a job in my old profession (with all of the same old headaches) or, do I take on new headaches that will come with moving forward to fully grow my current business and hire an employee?"

A couple people offered encouraging advice:

1. Do you prefer working for yourself or for someone else? Which one gives you the most pleasure, makes you happy, gives you freedom and control? Anything we want bad enough is worth working for and working through the headaches.

2. You have to ask yourself several questions first. Then, the answer to those questions will drive your pursuits. If you want to be in business for yourself and don't want to return to your old job, then I recommend you stay in the business and look for ways to grow. There are incredible opportunities for growth in the cleaning industry. Hiring and training and growing and expanding your cleaning business can be rewarding and lucrative. But it can also be fraught with headaches and frustration as any business can be. Your vision and your dreams for this business need to be the driving factor.

What advice do YOU have on whether or not she should stay in the cleaning business or quit? Click on the Comments link below to share your thoughts.

Are Your Cleaning Supervisors Too "Nit-Picky"?

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-10-16T05:10:00-05:00

A cleaning business owner is having a supervisor problem.

"We have a supervisor that the employees say is toooo nit picky. He takes the job personally and gets upset about little issues. He inspects all day long and the employees feel he is being petty."

The following advice was offered:

Have you done any follow up on the employees who are doing the complaining? I would inspect their work myself and then check your supervisor's reports. If there is consistency with what you're observing and what your supervisor is observing then you've likely got a problem with the employee.

One thing you also need to keep in mind with supervisors is that they sometimes get so wrapped up in looking for things that got missed that they forget to look at the big picture and look for the positive things that are going on. People get tired of always being told they're doing things wrong. Eventually their morale goes down and they just don't care any more. Make it a point to remind your supervisors to give as many compliments as criticisms. In fact, I would make it a rule that for every negative, give two positives.

I would also watch your supervisors to see how they talk to the employees. Are they approaching them, telling them everything they do wrong and then leave? It's better to approach the employee and say something like, "Hi Sue, you do such a good job on the restroom cleaning, but there's just one thing I've noticed that you often forget to do. Please watch the spots that appear on the lower part of the mirror. When people wash their hands, water always splashes up. Sometimes you need to bend down and look at that area to actually see the spots. Mrs. Smith, the building manager mentioned this to me so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep a closer eye on that."

Here is some additional comments from another cleaning business owner:

Hummmmm, my first thought was - "isn't it his job to be picky?!?" I mean after all.... I expect that my supervisors be as picky if not more than my most picky customer. If they are anything less, then they are not doing their job properly.

Btw - my second thought was "So are the persons who are crying loudest about the supervisor being picky the same persons who he is asking to correct problems?" If so there in lies the problem As long as you are clear about your required/ desired results then allow him to do his job and back him up.

Care to offer your opinion? Click on the Comments link below to add your thoughts.

Get Your Cleaning Prospects "Off The Fence"

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-10-09T00:48:00-05:00

We often hear from cleaning business owners that after they submit a proposal to a prospect, they never get a call back as to whether or not they were awarded the contract.

First, you should schedule a follow-up appointment after turning in the proposal. But if you're not able to do that or if they cancel the appointment, be sure to make follow-up phone calls to see where they're at in the decision-making process. Just be sure not to become a pest!

Sometimes people just get busy and put off making a decision. In this case, you may want to try something to get them "off the fence". Here is a suggestion from cleaning business consultant, Dick Ollek:

Whenever I had someone on the fence delaying their decision or just not making a decision I would try to think outside the box on how to get their attention. I have been known to send a flowering plant with a note indicating something like, "hope these flowers brighten your day and you can surely brighten ours by awarding us your business. You are important to us".

Doesn't have to be flowers or this wording but something that grabs their attention and something like this should bring a smile to their face and not aggravate them.

What do YOU do to get your cleaning prospects "off the fence"? Please share your thoughts by clicking on the Comments link below.

Cleaning Business Owners - Are You Happy?

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-09-28T11:50:12-05:00

This week I had the privilege of seeing Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos talk about his company's culture and how Zappos became famous world-wide for providing a memorable customer experience through customer service.

But it was the end of his presentation that really caught my attention. Here he talked about what makes us happy, and it occurred to me that most of us are chasing carrots. You know what I mean -- dangling the carrot in front of the horse's nose so he's always focused on chasing immediate gratification.

Tony calls this type of happiness Rock Star (always chasing the next high). If you're a cleaning business owner it might be something like, "if only I could make a half a million in sales I'd be happy, (or a million, or whatever that number is for you). Or "when I achieve _____, I will be happy". But are you really happy when you've reached that goal? Or are you now on to the next carrot?

The next stage of happiness is called Flow (engagement - time flies). During this stage of happiness you are more engaged in what you are doing and time just seems to fly by. Isn't it fun when business is booming and cash is flowing into the company? Yes, you're happier, but not quite there yet. Suddenly you need to hire more people to handle the extra business and the quality of work starts to slip... Is happiness only fleeting?

The third stage of happiness is called Meaning/Higher Purpose (being part of something bigger than yourself). Ahh, now it's starting to make sense! When have you truly felt happy in your life? Was it when you did something that had meaning or a higher purpose than your own self-gratification? Is it any wonder that people who do charitable work seem so happy? It's no coincidence.

Tony Tsieh discovered that when he defined his company values and culture, it translated into happy employees and customer satisfaction. Suddenly he was a part of something bigger than himself. If you could create your own company culture and transform it into something bigger than yourself, would it make you happy?

Share your thoughts by clicking on the Comments link below.

Frustrated With People Who Think My Prices Are Too High

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-09-24T00:00:00-05:00

A cleaning business owner shared her frustration:

I recently gave a bid for a 3200 sq ft.house with 4 bedrooms 3.5 baths. All 3 baths are used daily, sheets need changing on 3 beds. There was lots of wood and tile. I told the lady it would be $120 for weekly and $145 biweekly.

She thinks this is much too high. Now her last girl was charging $85 weekly and she wasn't happy with her cleaning. As she walked me through the house she wiped her finger across the blinds and said she doesn't dust here and she doesn't dust here. Plus they let her go because some of their pain meds went missing.

What do these people want? Do you think these prices are too high? I am so tired of cleaning homes for nothing!

Another business owner offered the following advice:

No need to be frustrated, this is an excellent opportunity for you to demonstrate the old "you get what you pay for" principle! Now, you may not win this bid, who knows, but it's living proof that you are right on target with your pricing. Allow the customer's experience to give you new confidence that you are pricing your jobs correctly.

They are looking for a better service and they've found one. Now it's up to them to make the change and "get what they pay for". Of course, it helps if you get better and better at demonstrating how your service is different and why you are worth more (explain about insurance, bonding, payroll taxes, quality, trust!). Share with the client how quickly her "savings" will evaporate if instead of meds, the cleaner had stolen a watch or diamond ring. Leave it at that.

Sometimes we give bids to the wrong prospects. People who are not willing to pay for quality are not really good prospects for you. So, it's not that your pricing is all wrong, it's just that you are either talking to the wrong prospects (people who want something for nothing are not good clients) or you need to work on how you demonstrate the difference between your quality services and the low-cost bad services out there.

Do you have advice for this frustrated cleaning business owner? Click on the Comments link below to share your thoughts.

Cleaning Company Owner Shares Success Story

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-09-18T09:00:00-05:00

A member of The Janitorial Store shared this success story.

I belong to my local Chamber of Commerce and was able to get a set of mailing labels for free. (Most Chambers charge a small fee for mailing labels of Chamber members)

Next I bought some postcards from Staples for $25.00.

It cost me $42.00 for bulk mailing charges.

Four days later I was awarded a $500 a month account ($6,000 a year). I also got a $250 one-time clean, a window washing job and the opportunity to submit a proposal on a floor care account.

Please share YOUR success stories by clicking on the Comments link below.

What It Takes To Be Number 1 And Stay Number 1

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-09-13T11:20:51-05:00

Jeffrey Gitomer Explains what it takes to be Number 1 and stay Number one with 10.5 success strategies.

Do you agree? Post your thoughts by clicking on the Comments link below.

Is the REAL Money in Commercial or Residential Cleaning?

TheJanitorialStore.com — 2009-09-07T09:28:49-05:00

This question has come up occasionally from both residential and commercial cleaners. People in residential cleaning hear there is more money to be made in commercial cleaning and to a certain degree this is true; primarily because commercial cleaning companies can grow to a tremendous size - in the tens and hundreds of millions in sales a year. Many of the most successful residential cleaning companies have grown to $2 to $5 million a year in sales. To do more than this in residential cleaning is rare. So from a sales perspective, yes, it is feasible to make more money in commercial cleaning.

But what is your definition of "REAL" money? Is it making $100,000 a year? $150,000 a year? $300,000 a year? ...more?

Here is something to consider that is besides the idea of how much money you can make in a cleaning business, no matter what kind of cleaning business you own. When we had our first really successful year in terms of income, it hit us that the old statement "money can't make you happy" is very true. We were finally making the kind of money we had always dreamed of, yet we were so stressed out that we couldn't take the time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Yes, our company was growing, but we didn't take the time to automate our business so it could run smoothly without us being there every single day. Because our company depended on us so much, we had a hard time taking time off and enjoying life. Sound familiar?

So what do I mean by automating your business? I'm talking about putting systems into place for everything you do in your business -- from hiring to training to home/building inspections to scheduling work. Yes, we had a policy manual that covered many of these things, and yes, we had certain systems in place. But what we did NOT do was document, step-by-step, each of these systems so that our key employees could duplicate what we did without us being there. This is where the REAL money is, because as you put systems into place you'll find you're spending less time spent fixing mistakes, handling complaints, and writing up poor performing employees. Instead you'll have more time to enjoy the lifestyle you really want to live because your company is learning to run without your constant presence.

You can certainly make REAL money in whatever type of business you choose - residential cleaning, commercial cleaning, carpet cleaning or selling widgets! The key is to choose a business you are passionate about and then systematize everything you do to maintain consistency throughout your company so your business can grow successfully. Before you know it, you'll not only make "real" money, but you'll be enjoying the lifestyle you've been dreaming about.

Please share your thoughts about this post by clicking on the Comments link below.