Cleaning business advice

[Peter.maddocks]

Hi all, I set up a small cleaning business six monthes ago. I am just looking for some advice.
I know it takes a while to become established and start making good profits but business is really slow and is not growing as quickley as i thought it would. I advertise using flyers, business cards, local newspaper, local chip shop menu, van signage, logo,d work wear and Iv sent out e-mails to business I would like to work with also. Nothing seems to be increasing the number of people using my services. My prices are competitive and my standard of service is in my opinion very good.
What else can I do to increase my customer base?
Is it normal for a business like mine to struggle like this after six months with no real sign of growth?
Any advice or input is appreciated

 

[Ashley_Price]

Welcome to UKBF.

Many businesses shutdown within the first 3 years! You should never be over enthusiastic about how well your business will (or will not) do. These forums are littered with the stories of people who thought they would get tonnes of work in almost straight away so didn't have enough funding.

I think you are doing a scatter-gun approach to your advertising, you need to be more focused. A chip-shop menu, etc., isn't going to do anything.

You don't say whether it is business or residential cleaning that you do.

You think your standard of service is good - but what about your customers? Have you got any regular contracts or have most people used you only once, if so this should set alarm bells off! If you were good they would keep coming back and passing your name to others.

Your prices are competitive... are they in fact too cheap! Many people do believe in "you get what you pay for", so they will wonder why you are cheaper than competitors.

 

[accountancyextra]

I'm sure the marketing guys on here will be able to add much more, but, just ahving a quick look at your site and your post my observations are:

1) What is it you do and who do you serve? When you said a cleaning business, my first thought was that you would be turning up to clean my houes/ office each week with a duster & polish. Looking at your site, it infers more that you are a "stain busters", "rug doctor" type operation? If that's the case, would you be better using a name that is more specific?

2) As Ashley has already said, your maketing appears scattergun at best. Work out who your potential customers are and then target them. It's a long shot that you'll attract the same type of customer doing a mailshot to businesses as advertising in a chip shop.

3) What's your "hook"? Many businesses will say that their service is high quality & no one would ever say it's not What differentiates you? It's not clear on your site

It looks like you are tryiong to cover too many bases at any one time. It's a common mistake because people think that by doing that they'll attract everyone who needs anything cleaning. Strange thing is, it's actually the opposite that seems to be true. Those who concentrate on one or two things and do them really well always seem to get much more business.

 

[alanc]

Put yourself into the mind of the type of person that is going to want your services. Think: where are they going to be looking?

If you are offering "stain buster" services, maybe the Yellow pages and online trade directories is where you should be listed.

 

[Billmccallum]

How big is Kilkeel? From the map it looks like a pretty small place and seems to be quite some distance from any large town, but I could be wrong.

Have you got a reasonable catchment area to gernate the level of business you want?

Your web site does not come across too well, far too much text and not enough images of existing contracts. Almost half the front page is the main banner and large margins to the left and right means you lose a great deal of space where you could add other information.

Having said that, I don't think a web site is the best vehicle for marketing a cleaning business! How many people are going to search for a cleaners web site? won't they just pick up yellow pages or search yell.com

With cleaning, you will be working in peoples homes or businesses, so you need a personal approach.

If you are going to have a web site, why not include selling cleaning materials online as an extention of your business.

 

[That Guy]

A friend of mine has just started her own Cleaning Company

She has been running for just 2 months and is already fully booked.

Her advertising involved:

- FreeIndex.co.uk - Profile Here
- Google Maps - Add Your Business Here
- Flyers - Hand Delivered to Local Area
- Business Cards to Clients (to hand out to friends and family)
- Local Church Magazine
- Local Business Magazine
- Free Listing on Yell.com
- Free Listing on Scoot.co.uk

She also has a website that I did for her (link above) that concentrates on two main key word phrases "domestic cleaning gloucester" and "domestic cleaning gloucestershire" because this is the area she covers. She is on the first page of google for both of these phrases.

I'm not sure if any of this info will help you but it seems to be working for her

Good Luck!

 

[Newky]

I'd say your website needs some work.

Contrast your site http://www.shineservices.co.uk/ with the other cleaning company mentioned above http://www.hartwellcleaning.co.uk/

Your site isn't very well structured and has quite a dark, cold feel to it. It doesn't really inspire confidence or make the reader feel comfortable. If you look at hartwell cleaning's site, it is warmer, more accessible and it feels more polished.

Please don't think I'm negatively criticising your site. The above might sound that way but I'm just trying to help out

Out of interest, did you pay for someone else to develop the site for you?

 

[greenmop]

I run a cleaning company, and most of our enquires come via our website. Whether people google us, or find us on the many (free) listings sites, yell.com etc. As That Guy's advice is spot on.

As we are mainly commercial cleaning, I also spend my mornings on the phone calling businesses to see if they'd like us to do them a free quote.

Our website is far from perfect, but it looks professional (IMO!), and it is a vital business tool to give prospects confidence in the service you provide.

Also, ask your customers for feedback, don't just assume they are happy if they don't say anything. Great service, competitive pricing, quality cleaning.. Word will soon start to spread!

Wish you luck.

 

[Peter.maddocks]

Thanks for all your input, I will take it all on board.
I didnt realise my website was thought of like that. I thought it was o.k but then again I dont know much about websites etc. I paid for it through a goverment business start-up programe later to find out that I dont have the option of editing text or adding images. I will look into upgrading my package to let me do this.
I have done most of the advertising listed above and have a paid listing with yell.com and alot of free listings.
In reply to the stain buster type operation, Im unsure of what you mean?

 

[Newky]

Thanks for all your input, I will take it all on board.
I didnt realise my website was thought of like that. I thought it was o.k but then again I dont know much about websites etc. I paid for it through a goverment business start-up programe later to find out that I dont have the option of editing text or adding images. I will look into upgrading my package to let me do this.
I have done most of the advertising listed above and have a paid listing with yell.com and alot of free listings.
In reply to the stain buster type operation, Im unsure of what you mean?

Hi Peter

What I contributed above is only my opinion. What you should ask yourself is how you feel when you attempt to get information from both of the above sites.

How do they make you feel?

Do you they feel trustworthy? If so, which one moreso and why?

Can you easily find all of the information you're looking for on the sites?

You get the idea...

I may be able to help you with a re-design free of charge if you'd like help.

PM me at some point if you do.

Thanks,
Newky.

 

[Peter.maddocks]

Thanks for your help but I dont have the option of editing the content of the website

 

[That Guy]

Thanks for your help but I dont have the option of editing the content of the website

I would seriously look into a way of being able to edit.

Can you transfer to another hosting company? Vidahost do a package for just £17 for the year.

You cannot continue running a website that you can't edit, it won't do your business any good!

 

[Ashley_Price]

Yes, I hadn't looked at the website - but I do agree with everyone it does need to be looked at.

I think a common mistake is people think a website can just be static - put some text up about what they do and just forget about it. But think of your website as your "shop window" - this is going to be someone's first impression of your business.

You would do well to have a look at the websites of some of your competitors, you will see just how much you need to do. As Racheal (Greenmop) is a member of here, you could a lot worse than have a look at her site: http://www.greenmop.co.uk/

 

[Newky]

I would seriously look into a way of being able to edit.

Can you transfer to another hosting company? Vidahost do a package for just £17 for the year.

You cannot continue running a website that you can't edit, it won't do your business any good!

This is good advice. You need to be able to control the content of your site. The hosting plan That Guy suggested will be more than sufficient.

Without the ability to change your own site how will you update pricing, contact details and other, more general, information?

It's a necessity really, not a luxury.


Best wishes,
Newky.

 

[oldeagleeye]

Another vote for Viadahost. I think that they offer RV Sitebuilder which I know isn't great but a hell of a lot better than the present offering.

There is also Joomla and Wordpress. Again both free and there might even be a suitable theme. If not. No copying now but I agree with Ashley - Rachael has a great site at Greenmop not only in looks but the way she splits domestic form commercial where your site OP with so many listing on the same page makes you look like a jack of all trade cowboy and master at none.

I would get the CC out as quick as possible if I were you. Not only is that present site not working for you it is working against you and whoever designed it must have been having a laugh if they got more than 10p

Robert

 

[WinnieMinnie&Oscar]

I have a cleaning company, 5 years old now.

Email marketing using something like constant contact or Mailchimp (mailchimp is free) can be really effective.

You can do holiday campaigns, last minute special discounts, gift certs campaigns, the list is endless. For every quote you do, try to obtain the potential customers email address, even if it's a no. Say you like to email offers and discounts from time to time, if they say this is ok, you have their permission to target them on email campaigns. It takes a little time to build up your email list, but just keep asking everyone, all telephone enquires, all internet enquires, all in home estimates. Keep asking if you can take their email address to send coupons and offers.

Put a sign up 'join our email list' form on your website, constant contact give you the sign up box code, you can paste it into your site.

like mine: magicmaid.co.uk

Then you can sometimes change that no into a yes.

 

[WinnieMinnie&Oscar]

On home page i would change the line ''a newly established valeting and cleaning business''.

If a customer asks how long you have been operating be truthfull, but don't offer this information up freely. I sometimes suspect there is a section of society that target new companies, to try to take advantage of goodwill and get the cheapest rates. These customers (looking for the cheapest rates) can be impossible to please, and not actually really worth trying to.

Also more importantly that could put off the people you want from using you, if they realise you are new.

I agree with the others it is important to have a website you can update yourself.

 

[WinnieMinnie&Oscar]

I have a cleaning company, 5 years old now.

Email marketing using something like constant contact or Mailchimp (mailchimp is free) can be really effective.

You can do holiday campaigns, last minute special discounts, gift certs campaigns, the list is endless. For every quote you do, try to obtain the potential customers email address, even if it's a no. Say you like to email offers and discounts from time to time, if they say this is ok, you have their permission to target them on email campaigns. It takes a little time to build up your email list, but just keep asking everyone, all telephone enquires, all internet enquires, all in home estimates. Keep asking if you can take their email address to send coupons and offers.

Put a sign up 'join our email list' form on your website, constant contact give you the sign up box code, you can paste it into your site.

like mine: magicmaid.co.uk

Then you can sometimes change that no into a yes.

Just incase this reads wrong. Try to obtain email address from quotes that said no to the quote, or they need to think about it. If they say you can't email them, then you have to follow their wishes.

 

[PERCY67]

You say you are a small business, yet you offer all sorts of cleaning services.

The first questions I would ask, what training do you have, are you a member of any trade organisations, what examples of work do you have. Just by looking at you webpage, you come across cheap and would do the job for the cheapest possible price. Problem is once your are known as cheap, you will always be cheap.

You need to concentrate on one or may be two services, and invest in them. Spend money on training and improving how you business looks to others. A good carpet cleaning business can do about 1000 a week but you need to know how to sell the service, and a good carpet cleaners starts at 2k upto 20k for a truckmount.

The wording you have used is poor "If for some reason a task is missed or not performed to your satisfaction, we will endeavour to come back to you and fix it as soon as we can, free of charge.- I would not even put this in the customers mindset.

The people who designed the website have done a very poor job and this needs a total revamp.


What you need to do is start by dropping leaflets once a month in the same area for a minimum of three months and then start building up a database of customers to market special offers to. The return on leaflets is less than 1% so you need to keep going.

Running a cleaning business is hard work, and getting good staff who can clean can be a major issue, it's not just a case of running a duster around, customers can be very demanding and they check everything. And yes I ran a cleaning business for 7 years so I do have experience.

 

[Window Cleaning Resources]

You need to concentrate on one or may be two services, and invest in them.

In my opnion Percy has hit the nail on the head here.

I had to read through the small text to discover exactly what it is you do.

If you were to just focus on one service such as car valleting and specialise you could bring your business more into focus not only in your own mind but in the mind of your customers.

A big picture of a shiny car being cleaned on your site or whatever would immediately let people know what you do.

It will help you target your advertising more and develop a reputation (hopefully a good one) in one particular field.

People should identify your business with a particular service easily.
eg. "Oh Peter, the guy that does car valeting."

People are not likey to say "Oh Peter, the guy that cleans sofas, cars and kitchens"

 

[Window Cleaning Resources]

Just another thought....

A successful cleaning business is all about repeat work.

Ask yourself which service you do at the moment is most successful at drumming up repeat business and you have your answer as to where to focus your efforts.

Wish you success!

 

[iArtist]

Hi all, I set up a small cleaning business six monthes ago. I am just looking for some advice.
I know it takes a while to become established and start making good profits but business is really slow and is not growing as quickley as i thought it would. I advertise using flyers, business cards, local newspaper, local chip shop menu, van signage, logo,d work wear and Iv sent out e-mails to business I would like to work with also. Nothing seems to be increasing the number of people using my services. My prices are competitive and my standard of service is in my opinion very good.
What else can I do to increase my customer base?
Is it normal for a business like mine to struggle like this after six months with no real sign of growth?
Any advice or input is appreciated

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