Need some advice on getting clients (Cleaning)

[Amazin]

Greetings everyone. I enjoy spending time on this forum. I think its gold and I appreciate all the helps I received since I joined this place and would like to return the favour in the future when I have something to offer.

I'm in the process of setting up a cleaning business at the moment (don't want to work for anyone else). My idea is to start off domestic, then commercial. Been doing lot of door knocking around Leytonstone/Leyton area so far. I have to say it is not a good area for getting clients. Many just can't afford it. (I charge £12 per hour, some were expecting £5 per hour).

Few people I spoke to told me I should try local businesses. I don't know how much I should charge them and I'd expect most business already have a cleaner. So can I get them? I can only think of 2 reason why looking for another cleaner. A:they are not happy with their current cleaner, B: I can charge less. I'm planning to do some cold calling tomorrow to see what happens.

 

[Mattlock]

I think the way things are , maybe drop your prices a little ,suck it and see, you can always put your prices back up when things start rolling

 

[popunder]

I suspect businesses would only take on someone who had all the relevant insurances in place, otherwise they're liable if you injure yourself on their premises, and they'll want someone to sue if you accidentally burn down their office. You should even have insurance to clean other people's homes to be honest, but businesses will be more strict about wanting to check.

 

[SEO Lady]

I had a domestic project last year and I used a local cleaning contractor and he charges me £10 an hour.

Perhaps you could charge lower if the customers provide their own cleaning products? I understand the price of these has to be absorbed in your rate.

Also, add your business to Google Places for free.

 

[bf220]

I think the way things are , maybe drop your prices a little ,suck it and see, you can always put your prices back up when things start rolling

Rubbish. If you win it on price, you'll lose it on price.

Get yourself uniformed, get insurance and most importantly be confident. You want to win customers / contracts because you come across as professional, reliable and competent. If you win bids purely on price, you'll never get your rates back up.

How about an ad in local newspaper and maybe see about getting a logo designed so that advert / uniform / van stands out.

Best of luck

 

[Amazin]

Rubbish. If you win it on price, you'll lose it on price.

I think you're right. I definately don't want to brand myself as cheap. I do have public liability insurance and I do believe I can do an outstanding job.

I had a domestic project last year and I used a local cleaning contractor and he charges me £10 an hour.

I just phoned a solicitor's place asking them if they need a cleaner. The woman told me they are paying £8 per hour. (I hope she's telling the truth). I have to say I'm disappointed by that. I was expecting something like £11-12 per hour at least. She took my details and I told her I will go in to drop in my business card later. Do you think I might be able to negotiate the price up bit?

I got a friend who's a manager at Ladbroke's and he told me they are paying the cleaner(or the cleaning company) £15 per hour without equippments provided.

 

[gemd89]

My friend has a cleaning business and offers laundry services - she charges £7.50 per hour and is unindated with work - she did try working for an agency but for every hour she did they took £3, they charged £10 so she was getting £7 per hour - i think she stopped on principle of them taking such a large cut.

Gemma

 

[bf220]

Do you think I might be able to negotiate the price up bit?

Unless they are unhappy with their current cleaner, absolutely no chance.

they are paying £8 per hour. (I hope she's telling the truth)

She probably is. I think you're problem is your trying to compete with (sorry to stereotype) a wee old woman thats happy doing 12 hours a week for some pocket money. Good money in that instance but its never going to be feasible as a business.

Chances are that Ladbrokes are working with a national company and put a £500k (guess) contract out to tender to maintain all of their buildings.

 

[gemd89]

Netmums is a great resource for finding cleaning work and so is gumtree - but lets face it cleaning is usually the easiest business to start just to do a few hours as you dont really need skills to be one that way anyone can enter the market, charge what they like and be happy on minimum wage and probably just be happy to have a job while we are still in recession and times are tough.

Gemma

 

[thegriffin2]

I am not in cleaning but sales is the same principle.
At the moment you might have a handfull of happy customers, I would ask the friendly ones for good references. Also I would ask them if they had any friends or family who they think will like your service.
This way you wont have to reduce your price as you are being recomended and most people will be happy to recomend you.

 

[Amazin]

Unless they are unhappy with their current cleaner, absolutely no chance.

I think I just made a mistake by making that call unprepared. Now I can't ask for more if they decide to use me in the future. My idea is to charge at least £12 per hour so that when I take on employees. I can pay my employees £7 per hour. I really don't like the idea of paying as little as possible.

but lets face it cleaning is usually the easiest business to start just to do a few hours as you dont really need skills to be one that way anyone can enter the market, charge what they like and be happy on minimum wage and probably just be happy to have a job while we are still in recession and times are tough.

Gemma

Thank you Gemma, a friend of mine once told me the same thing. Barrier to entry is very low. Not everyone want turn it into a cleaning business though. I think few weeks ago someone posted on gumtree that he/she is willing to do it for £5 per hour. It annoys me when I see that. I think I must've knocked on about near 1000 doors now and still not a definate yes. Maybe need to improve my sales tactics.

 

[Amazin]

look what I found! I don't understand. How do agencies like that make any money?

http://www.gumtree.com/london/86/62635686.html

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

look what I found! I don't understand. How do agencies like that make any money?

I did some googling for cleaners in London and I was shocked at the prices they're charging. I can understand a sole operator choosing to work for peanuts, but I've seen agencies that advertise £8. Considering the cost of living on London, that's really quite low.

However, I think there is a pretty large pool of people willing to work for very little money in London.

I'm charging £10 an hour in Dumbarton, Scotland, and getting it. Some of my competition charges £12 or more. Since I'm new, and since I'm a sole trader who can make a good profit at £10, I'm charging this for now. Later, when my schedule gets a bit fuller, I'll start testing the market by quoting a higher price.

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

You can use lead generation service from any call center. They'll provide you accurate leads for follow new customers...

Would you like to expand upon that? How does it work? How are potential customers identified and targeted? Have you seen this work for other cleaning companies?

 

[patientlady]

Try and get a couple of jobs for letting agents, say one commerical and one domestic. Get friendly with the lettings manager and wait for the leads...
If others are charging £8.00 and you wish to charge £12.00 then you need USP's. Work out what they are and sell in on these. Convenience, insurance, fully trained staff, supervised staff, spot checks, child friendly, pet friendly, referenced staff and so on...

 

[Janebert]

I think you need to decide whether you're going to focus on domestic or commercial. I suspect you'll get higher rates working in commercial - and the work will ironically be easier.

I'm one of the directors of a residents management company, and we employ cleaners to clean the communal areas of our flats. It's really easy work and they get paid £36 to basically sweep and mop floors in 3 blocks which (so I'm told) takes about an hour. You might consider going down the route of working for managing agents and/or residents management companies. You might even consider care homes etc. as well.

Also, if you're planning to expand to take on employees, have you thought through whether this is a life you'd enjoy? I imagine your whole life would then revolve around logistics, payroll, staff issues and legal matters - you would have to become a manager, administrator and marketer, rather than a cleaner.

There aren't too many USPs in cleaning I wouldn't have thought - it's fairly commoditised. Granted, some people will offer a better service than others, and some will have all the requisite insurance etc, but I suspect there's a ceiling on the hourly rate you can charge. Also, some people won't be that bothered about stuff like insurance - most particularly domestic customers.

I imagine the way to make the real money in that industry is to either build up a big organisation and basically become an agency OR to sell cleaning products and info products on how to clean your house. OR to specialise into something like carpet cleaning and upholstery cleaning.

Please don't fork out for any cold calling or telemarketing just yet (if ever!). It sounds to me as though you're still working on your target market and proposition. Until you have that nailed, then I wouldn't advise any big spending on marketing campaigns.

HTH,
Jane

 

[Amazin]

Its good to see my thread is alive again. Don't be fooled by the expensive/rich image of London, it has some of the poorest areas in the whole country. The problem is as someone already pointed it out: I'm competiting with foreigners or anyone who just more than happy to clean to make a living. Many of them only charges £7 per hour.

But through lead generation, only from £ 100 you can promote your product and services to over 1000 peoples. The lead generation companies used a lot of promotion techniques to reach right client of your product and services, as survey, cold calling, viral campaign, mail marketing, etc....

Interesting, I might look into that. quick update: I got 3 client so far for domestic clean and an estate agent who asked me to do a one off cleaning. I think I knocked about over 1000 doors now and 100s of cold calls. Not exactly a good ratio but I had few missed opportunities so I feel I need to improve my sales tactics. Some people were semi-shocked when I told them that I charge £10 an hour.

There aren't too many USPs in cleaning I wouldn't have thought - it's fairly commoditised.

One of my friend suggested the idea of being an "organic cleaner" where I only use traditional cleaning method and environmental friendly approach. I'm not sure if its practical. Perhaps I should try the "naked cleaner" idea instead

You might consider going down the route of working for managing agents and/or residents management companies. You might even consider care homes etc. as well.

I've contacted lots of estate agents, solicitors, accountants and surgeries. It has been disappointing so far. They tend to use third companies for that and sadly I'm not a company(not yet)

 

[virtuallysorted]

I'm your target market - I hate hoovering, I work lots of weird hours and the house is a mess, my husband works from home a couple of days a week and makes even more mess. We have the most amazing cleaning lady who absolutely is the backbone to the whole thing - she's not the cheapest but she does three things which make her outstandingly brilliant:
- she turns up when she says she will
- she tidies whilst she cleans, but doesn't move stuff - we haven't lost anything since she's been working with us.
- she's really careful not to let our cat out - sounds silly but I've fired a few people over this because saving a couple of quid an hour is just not worth having a squished kitty.

I'd suggest targeting wealthier areas around you - and putting adverts where they are likely to see them - so in newspaper deliveries (friendly newsagents will usually do this), on noticeboards at extra-curricular activities, asking gardeners/childminders/people who already work with these people etc to recommend you.

 

[S-Marketing]

Quick question to anyone who is thinking about starting a cleaning business, or who is running one but needs more work.

If there were a service that you could use that would get you enough work to work full time for your chosen hourly rate, how much would you pay for that service?

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Quick question to anyone who is thinking about starting a cleaning business, or who is running one but needs more work.

If there were a service that you could use that would get you enough work to work full time for your chosen hourly rate, how much would you pay for that service?

Um.... let me think... I suppose I would have to compare it to the cost of advertising, and how much I would have to spend on that in order to get up to a full schedule.

What would the service be? I work hard to brand myself as my own business. I wouldn't be happy as a "Dial-a-Maid" warm body who just shows up where I'm told to go.

However, if an agency quoted £12 or whatever to the customer, and let me have £10 of it, and that kept me busy, I think I'd be pretty pleased with that. At the same time, I'd be thinking... "why shouldn't the client give ME the full £12 an hour?" Employees poach clients (and clients poach employees) all the time based on that reasoning.

 

[S-Marketing]

Um.... let me think... I suppose I would have to compare it to the cost of advertising, and how much I would have to spend on that in order to get up to a full schedule.

What would the service be? I work hard to brand myself as my own business. I wouldn't be happy as a "Dial-a-Maid" warm body who just shows up where I'm told to go.

However, if an agency quoted £12 or whatever to the customer, and let me have £10 of it, and that kept me busy, I think I'd be pretty pleased with that. At the same time, I'd be thinking... "why shouldn't the client give ME the full £12 an hour?" Employees poach clients (and clients poach employees) all the time based on that reasoning.

Thanks for the input. I am not thinking of a 'dial a maid' type idea. I am simply interested to know how much people would be prepared to pay for information and advice if it were able to get them a full time amount of work at their desired hourly rate.

I provide marketing consultancy mainly to trades and skilled service businesses, and am simply wondering if there is a market for the same service to businesses such as cleaning etc. We seem to get threads weekly from people who want to start cleaning, valeting and other such businesses, which are incredibly easy to market if you know what you are doing, and I would like to know what value these people would put on having a full diary.

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Its good to see my thread is alive again. Don't be fooled by the expensive/rich image of London, it has some of the poorest areas in the whole country. The problem is as someone already pointed it out: I'm competiting with foreigners or anyone who just more than happy to clean to make a living. Many of them only charges £7 per hour.



Interesting, I might look into that. quick update: I got 3 client so far for domestic clean and an estate agent who asked me to do a one off cleaning. I think I knocked about over 1000 doors now and 100s of cold calls. Not exactly a good ratio but I had few missed opportunities so I feel I need to improve my sales tactics. Some people were semi-shocked when I told them that I charge £10 an hour.



One of my friend suggested the idea of being an "organic cleaner" where I only use traditional cleaning method and environmental friendly approach. I'm not sure if its practical. Perhaps I should try the "naked cleaner" idea instead



I've contacted lots of estate agents, solicitors, accountants and surgeries. It has been disappointing so far. They tend to use third companies for that and sadly I'm not a company(not yet)

Tell me about your cold calling... are you doing it for domestic work? knocking on residential doors? I'm not sure I have the nerve to do that, myself, but I admire anyone who can make it work.

People often have very little idea how much something is worth. They know there's a minimum wage, and they assume that people who clean are at the same skill level as someone stacking shelves at a supermarket. The overhead of running a business never even occurs to them. And, until someone flakes out when sick or accidentally lets their cat out, they don't realize that they're not just paying for the physical labour - they're paying for dependability and trustworthiness.

I'm a knitter. I have lots of knitting friends who produce beautiful garments and they're often told "You know... you could sell that and do that for a living." If you ask a person, "How much would you pay for this gorgeous cardigan?" they'll reply with something like, "Oh, I don't know... maybe £30?" The yarn, alone, costs far more than that. And, they take hours to make. It would be a couple of hundred pounds before a knitter would find it worthwhile to do, and if they actually needed to support themselves? Forget about it!

I know there was some carpet cleaning company that ran a scam offering to clean a rug at a ridiculously low price. The scam ran on getting the cleaner in the door so they could hard-sell more services at vastly inflated prices. The advertising campaign did a lot of harm to the cleaning industry because it gave people the idea that they could get their carpets cleaned for something like £10 or £20. Even if they never called the number and fell prey to the bait-and-switch scam, they were left with the general impression that cleaning carpets is cheap.

I think the same thing is likely true of these bizarrely cheap cleaning agencies. Even if they're not running a bait-and-switch, they're unlikely to be providing a good service. Many people will never figure that out, though. They'll just know they've read, somewhere, that cleaning costs about £7 an hour and, hey... that's still above minimum wage!

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Thanks for the input. I am not thinking of a 'dial a maid' type idea. I am simply interested to know how much people would be prepared to pay for information and advice if it were able to get them a full time amount of work at their desired hourly rate.

I provide marketing consultancy mainly to trades and skilled service businesses, and am simply wondering if there is a market for the same service to businesses such as cleaning etc. We seem to get threads weekly from people who want to start cleaning, valeting and other such businesses, which are incredibly easy to market if you know what you are doing, and I would like to know what value these people would put on having a full diary.

I would be willing to pay a fair amount, but as I'm a pretty low-revenue business, we may well have vastly different ideas about "fair." If you filled my diary at £12 an hour - getting me about 30 hours a week of billable work (the most I could do if I hustled) - that would be £1440 a month/£16000 a year.

It sounds like you're talking about one-off advice, here, rather than an ongoing service? I'd have to calculate A) how much I could afford with my current amount of cash and B) how much I'm likely to spend on advertising and marketing, anyway.

That, of course, is assuming that I believed in what you were offering. I get phone calls from people telling me that they can get me leads or high ranking on Google and so forth and I don't even consider them because I am pretty sure they'd all be a complete waste of money.

How would you convince tradespeople that you really had the goods?

 

[Janebert]

I would be willing to pay a fair amount, but as I'm a pretty low-revenue business, we may well have vastly different ideas about "fair." If you filled my diary at £12 an hour - getting me about 30 hours a week of billable work (the most I could do if I hustled) - that would be £1440 a month/£16000 a year.

It sounds like you're talking about one-off advice, here, rather than an ongoing service? I'd have to calculate A) how much I could afford with my current amount of cash and B) how much I'm likely to spend on advertising and marketing, anyway.

That, of course, is assuming that I believed in what you were offering. I get phone calls from people telling me that they can get me leads or high ranking on Google and so forth and I don't even consider them because I am pretty sure they'd all be a complete waste of money.

How would you convince tradespeople that you really had the goods?

I doubt it would ever be a good deal for either the consultant or the cleaning company to work on a 1 to 1 consulting basis, when a small cleaning company or one person outfit just doesn't make enough money to justify consulting fees or ongoing marketing fees.

What might work, however, is some kind of info product or workshop that can be delivered 1 to many, or some kind of turnkey marketing system with a low monthly fee. Whether that would be worth it, would depend on how much it would cost to develop the system compared with potential future revenues - expect to make a loss for the first 2 years! However, you would need to know all the ins and outs of marketing a cleaning service, in which case you should probably either be someone who's built up a successful cleaning company or find someone who has.

The problem with cleaning is that it's not truly scalable and it's fairly low cost work. That means margins are always squeezed, so there can never be any extravagant amounts spent on marketing. Unless, you get into the more commercial contracts, and then it's a whole other ball game.

For Amazin - when I said "managing agents" - I didn't mean estate agents or letting agents, but agents that manage leasehold properties. It might be worth you researching it a bit.

Jane

 

[S-Marketing]

I would be willing to pay a fair amount, but as I'm a pretty low-revenue business, we may well have vastly different ideas about "fair." If you filled my diary at £12 an hour - getting me about 30 hours a week of billable work (the most I could do if I hustled) - that would be £1440 a month/£16000 a year.

It sounds like you're talking about one-off advice, here, rather than an ongoing service? I'd have to calculate A) how much I could afford with my current amount of cash and B) how much I'm likely to spend on advertising and marketing, anyway.

That, of course, is assuming that I believed in what you were offering. I get phone calls from people telling me that they can get me leads or high ranking on Google and so forth and I don't even consider them because I am pretty sure they'd all be a complete waste of money.

How would you convince tradespeople that you really had the goods?

Thanks for your thoughts, very useful.

Ill be honest, usually I find that 90 % of trades people don't even actually know what marketing is, and even fewer understand the implications and benefits of decent strategic marketing. I would imagine that very few self employed cleaners would be able to differentiate between marketing and simple advertising.

I don't have a problem convincing people that my services are of value (I wouldn't be a very good marketeer if I couldn't even market my own services would I).

I agree, in terms of you needing a decent ROI you would need to make some basic calculations based on what you could make and also what you are currently spending. You would also need to remember though that strategic marketing would also be used to not only generate enquiries but also ensure that you make maximum profits, by tailoring every area of your business for maximum effect.

Trades people are very often surprised with the depth of our marketing service and very few had initially thought that decisions such as which tools to buy, which services to offer, what to charge and which staff to employ would be part of the marketing process. This is why I was wondering if the unskilled trades would be more difficult to work with, as I assume they would have a lesser understanding of marketing than the skilled trades do, so possibly also a lesser understanding of the value.

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Thanks for your thoughts, very useful.

Ill be honest, usually I find that 90 % of trades people don't even actually know what marketing is, and even fewer understand the implications and benefits of decent strategic marketing. I would imagine that very few self employed cleaners would be able to differentiate between marketing and simple advertising.

I don't have a problem convincing people that my services are of value (I wouldn't be a very good marketeer if I couldn't even market my own services would I).

I agree, in terms of you needing a decent ROI you would need to make some basic calculations based on what you could make and also what you are currently spending. You would also need to remember though that strategic marketing would also be used to not only generate enquiries but also ensure that you make maximum profits, by tailoring every area of your business for maximum effect.

Trades people are very often surprised with the depth of our marketing service and very few had initially thought that decisions such as which tools to buy, which services to offer, what to charge and which staff to employ would be part of the marketing process. This is why I was wondering if the unskilled trades would be more difficult to work with, as I assume they would have a lesser understanding of marketing than the skilled trades do, so possibly also a lesser understanding of the value.

I think you're very likely right. (Although, you can't really assume that "unskilled" means uneducated or unintelligent. Plenty of people end up in cleaning after having done something vastly different.)

Could you give me an example of how you've helped a tradesman... say, a plumber... build his or her business? And, without asking you to actually give away any secrets, what could you do for your average domestic cleaning enterprise?

It's usually assumed that a domestic cleaner will either want to expand into a company with fleets of vans, employees, and huge commercial contracts, or that they're just some uneducated housewife willing to do a bit of dusting for some pocket money. At this point in my life, I am only interested in getting myself as much work as I can, cleaning for myself. The next step would be to hire the occasional person to clean alongside me (thus helping me to book more man hours, whilst keeping me in control of everything that happens on clients' premises.) To actually hire people to clean for me is a bigger step than I think many people realize, and not one that I'm willing to entertain until I've gotten my one-man operation to its fullest capacity.

 

[S-Marketing]

Typical stuff we will do with a trade when working for them are things like researching the most profitable target markets, setting up strategic alliances, advising on pricing costs and structure, cancel most of their advertising, look at systems to retain clients and encourage recommendation, advise on up selling and cross selling opportunities, ensure all tooling, staffing and transport is up to scratch, get some free PR sorted, and then have a cup of tea.

The above is an example of the basics we would do for most trade and service type businesses. There is quite a lot more to it than that, but it gives you a good idea. Due to extensive research and experience in these areas, and for these types of businesses, it doesn't take all that long to formulate the bare bones of a plan. We often also carry out the implementation of the plans though, which takes a little longer. Stuff like strategic alliances are always better if set up and negotiated by us though.

There are some trades, landscaping and tree surgery being the best example, in which most of the businesses in it are run in a very flawed way. These types of businesses can be a very quick fix. There is also a nasty flaw in a fairly large proportion of trade type businesses, which means that they will never make much profit, knowing what this is and how to fix it, has huge benefits for our clients.

Cant really go into any more detail as I'm not looking to give away all my secrets, or sell my service here, but I hope this gives you a bit of an understanding of how we work.

Ps, Nobody working for themselves, even as a cleaner should be working hard thinking the maximum they will earn is £16 K a year. My advice would be to get your marketing sorted (well it would be wouldn't it)

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Typical stuff we will do with a trade when working for them are things like researching the most profitable target markets, setting up strategic alliances, advising on pricing costs and structure, cancel most of their advertising, look at systems to retain clients and encourage recommendation, advise on up selling and cross selling opportunities, ensure all tooling, staffing and transport is up to scratch, get some free PR sorted, and then have a cup of tea.

The above is an example of the basics we would do for most trade and service type businesses. There is quite a lot more to it than that, but it gives you a good idea. Due to extensive research and experience in these areas, and for these types of businesses, it doesn't take all that long to formulate the bare bones of a plan. We often also carry out the implementation of the plans though, which takes a little longer. Stuff like strategic alliances are always better if set up and negotiated by us though.

There are some trades, landscaping and tree surgery being the best example, in which most of the businesses in it are run in a very flawed way. These types of businesses can be a very quick fix. There is also a nasty flaw in a fairly large proportion of trade type businesses, which means that they will never make much profit, knowing what this is and how to fix it, has huge benefits for our clients.

Cant really go into any more detail as I'm not looking to give away all my secrets, or sell my service here, but I hope this gives you a bit of an understanding of how we work.

Ps, Nobody working for themselves, even as a cleaner should be working hard thinking the maximum they will earn is £16 K a year. My advice would be to get your marketing sorted (well it would be wouldn't it)

The maximum I can earn CLEANING isn't going to be much higher than that, unless you are telling me there's a way I can charge significantly (like, double) above the competition. However, the long-term plan is to establish my name and reputation as "Katy the Cleaning Lady" and then slowly expand. I have a rather unique idea for that, but I'm afraid people may consider it "too American." (I intend to put my photo on my business cards/flyers/web site, etc.)

Primarily, I am limited by how much I can bill per hour for my cleaning. However, I do think there are ways to add something on that isn't selling my own elbow grease. I would love to be able to sell my clients on having further professional services (carpets or ovens cleaned, bathroom suites replaced, decorating, etc) and then I'd make commission just for making a phone call. However, that would require a good alliance with trustworthy tradespeople on whom I can count to be available. If I'm going to sell their services, I need to be able to deliver.

I'd also be interested in taking a cue from hair stylists and selling cleaning products. (In America, at least, many people buy their shampoo at the salon because their stylist recommends it to them.) Perhaps, someday, I could even have products branded in the same way salons often have grooming products packaged with their name on them.

So, those are some examples of ways to sell something that isn't the sweat off my own brow.

 

[Amazin]

@Stretchy: I'm still not sure how your services can potentially help someone like me. Do you have a website or anything? I probably can't afford it anyways. I do have a degree in business and management though

Tell me about your cold calling... are you doing it for domestic work? knocking on residential doors? I'm not sure I have the nerve to do that, myself, but I admire anyone who can make it work.

Thank you for asking. I've done both street and door to door fundraising so cold calling is not too difficult for me. Sometimes you get people who's semi interested but don't want to make a decision on the door step. You will also get people who seems very interested but never get in contact with you.

I got invited into the house by this gentleman the other day who said he's will call me the next day or the day after but I'm still waiting. My conclusion is that there is no point just asking then drop your card, you need to close the sale by getting their number or possibly revisit their home. I don't want to be aggressive or anything but if you leave it to them to decide, they will probably never call you.

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

@Stretchy: I'm still not sure how your services can potentially help someone like me. Do you have a website or anything? I probably can't afford it anyways. I do have a degree in business and management though



Thank you for asking. I've done both street and door to door fundraising so cold calling is not too difficult for me. Sometimes you get people who's semi interested but don't want to make a decision on the door step. You will also get people who seems very interested but never get in contact with you.

I got invited into the house by this gentleman the other day who said he's will call me the next day or the day after but I'm still waiting. My conclusion is that there is no point just asking then drop your card, you need to close the sale by getting their number or possibly revisit their home. I don't want to be aggressive or anything but if you leave it to them to decide, they will probably never call you.

Thanks for that info, Amazin!

 

[S-Marketing]

The maximum I can earn CLEANING isn't going to be much higher than that, unless you are telling me there's a way I can charge significantly (like, double) above the competition. However, the long-term plan is to establish my name and reputation as "Katy the Cleaning Lady" and then slowly expand. I have a rather unique idea for that, but I'm afraid people may consider it "too American." (I intend to put my photo on my business cards/flyers/web site, etc.)

Primarily, I am limited by how much I can bill per hour for my cleaning. However, I do think there are ways to add something on that isn't selling my own elbow grease. I would love to be able to sell my clients on having further professional services (carpets or ovens cleaned, bathroom suites replaced, decorating, etc) and then I'd make commission just for making a phone call. However, that would require a good alliance with trustworthy tradespeople on whom I can count to be available. If I'm going to sell their services, I need to be able to deliver.

I'd also be interested in taking a cue from hair stylists and selling cleaning products. (In America, at least, many people buy their shampoo at the salon because their stylist recommends it to them.) Perhaps, someday, I could even have products branded in the same way salons often have grooming products packaged with their name on them.

So, those are some examples of ways to sell something that isn't the sweat off my own brow.

There are loads of ways you can charge more. There are also ways you can make more money without it costing the client any more. That's what the research and marketing strategy is for.

Billing per hour in a business with no obvious means of scaling is the easiest way of becoming a wage slave, just as an employee would be. All the ideas you suggest are good ways of increasing revenue in a more scalable way.

You need to be very careful setting up strategic alliances as you can shoot yourself in the foot if you do it wrong. Make sure that it is obvious you are simply making a recommendation to use someone and you have no financial connection with the person you are recommending. This is not a strategic alliance in its purest sense, but is a lot less hassle than setting up a more formal agreement. If you act as an official 'middle man' it causes no end of grief when the bath the plumber fitted starts leaking and the clients ceilings end up on the floor.

One other thing. The idea of having your photo on promo material seems to be frowned upon by lots of people. Personally, for businesses such as yours I think its a good idea (unless you have the look of a serial killer)

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

I think it's a good idea to use photos, too. After all, I'm the person they'll be inviting into their home. In order to stand out from the crowd, I need to sell that aspect of my business. I don't need to talk about "uniformed, trained, CRB-checked staff" in order to reassure people that the person who will clean for them is trustworthy. As a sole operator, I can also offer a much more flexible and personalized service than a larger enterprise. And, not using a bunch of stock photography on advertising materials will set me apart. I may use stock graphics in order to produce aesthetically appealing materials, but I personally find photos of generic models wielding cleaning equipment dreary.

I hear what you're saying about being careful about alliances. For that reason, I will stick to a certain narrowly-defined scope of complimentary services, such as oven and carpet-cleaning professionals. If they are all fully insured and reputable, I don't think there will be too much risk involved. I do need to look into how to legally set it up, though, to cover my ****.

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Another question about the sort of service you're talking about, Stretch: how well do you have to know the local markets in order to be effective? How can you facilitate alliances in various localities? How do you conduct market research?

 

[dagaul101]

Local businesses, in a relatively fluent area would be the first ort of call, new businesses ideally, those that haven't quite iorned out the details for a cleaner yet

 

[S-Marketing]

Another question about the sort of service you're talking about, Stretch: how well do you have to know the local markets in order to be effective? How can you facilitate alliances in various localities? How do you conduct market research?

Good questions. Obviously with trades that are local to me it is easier to research the market and also set up alliances. With clients who are a considerable distance away much of the work is often done by 'remote control'.
To be honest the principles are very much the same whether i'm working for a cleaner in Cornwall or a Tree surgeon in Scotland. Sound strategic marketing principles and research are useful for any service type business and can easily be adapted to a particular business by someone with the required skills, knowledge and imagination.

For a local business obviously primary research is easier to do, but to be honest I usually find that my cleints know most of the information I need anyway, they just don't know they know it, and if they did they wouldn't know what to do with it.

There is also a massive amount of primary and secondary data available to anyone who knows where to look. Both qualitative and quantitative data is also available to anyone willing to pay for it.

Facilitating alliances in various locations is easy. I have mentioned previously in the forum somewhere about work I did setting up a landscaper with work laying concrete bases and erecting cabins and timber structure's. This is now working incredibly well and he is able to fill his diary for months in advance with work which is very profitable for him. Next time I get an enquiry from a landscaper wanting this kind of work, I will simply replicate the alliance as all the research and hard work is already done.

 

[Janebert]

Katy - you're starting out with what seems like a really good attitude, so we don't have to convince you that there are other ways to make money with your business.

If I was working with you, I would do a mindmap brainstorm of everything your potential clients might want in the area of the "problem you solve" and your distinctive message/proposition. And brainstorm some potential target markets.

Presumably the "problem you solve" is "how do I keep my house clean in my circumstances ...". In my case, it's because I absolutely hate cleaning, it would take me all week to clean my 2 bed flat and I haven't got the time, but more importantly, the inclination.

In order to know EXACTLY what problem you're solving, you would have to define your target market fairly precisely. It could be busy working mums, cash rich time poor types, elderly people who can't do their own cleaning etc. Then you would go into all the standard demographic stuff about where they live etc. Round here it would be easy - just drop leaflets in a 1 mile radius, and you'll be full to capacity by Friday!

One of the problems with cleaners is that they don't do a thorough enough job. People like myself have kind of come to accept that we'll still have to do our own stuff to really keep the place clean. My neighbour fired her cleaner because she didn't polish the legs of her table. So, along with trustworthiness, is thoroughness - if that's what other people want as well.

You could even "re-position" yourself as a "household manager". If I had the money and if I knew someone capable enough, that's who I'd hire. I don't really want to pay people for "hours" - because someone good can get a lot more done in an hour than some employee who gets paid no matter what. I would want someone to let me know when the curtains need cleaning, the upholstery needs doing, I need a spring clean, the oven needs cleaning, the toilet brush needs replacing. My cleaner wouldn't even tell me that the toilet cleaner had run out! So, in that way, you could add value by moving the focus from being a 2-bob an hour cleaner, to a housekeeping or household management service.

What I think Stretchy is alluding to is looking for ways to add more "value". More value = more money essentially. Then of course, you've got to look for the things that are scalable and are add-ons or upsells. That could be selling your own products, and you can get started with that straight away if you want to make "green, non - toxic products" - because all the ingredients and packaging are readily available. I already did this for myself, with some success e.g. window cleaner made from water, vinegar and either vodka or isoproply alcohol. You can get books on Amazon for home made cleaning materials.

Then, of course, as you've already discussed there are the JV add-ons with other companies providing complementary services. I'm sure you can manage this yourself by asking around for who has a good reputation and then getting in touch to discuss how you could each market each other's services for a commission. As Stretchy rightly says, don't invoice for this yourself. I've tried to do JVs with people, and really struggled to find the right people to provide some IT services, and then I realised that I'd still be responsible for the work which didn't thrill me.

If you were to go this route i.e. a high-end household management company, then obviously your target market would shrink accordingly. However, it may well prove to be a far more profitable business model in the end if you can find the right clients in your area. You can even start off cleaning, and start targeting the higher end stuff whilst you're still earning a crust.

HTH,
Jane

 

[Oscar Tango]

I did some googling for cleaners in London and I was shocked at the prices they're charging. I can understand a sole operator choosing to work for peanuts, but I've seen agencies that advertise £8. Considering the cost of living on London, that's really quite low.

However, I think there is a pretty large pool of people willing to work for very little money in London.

I'm charging £10 an hour in Dumbarton, Scotland, and getting it. Some of my competition charges £12 or more. Since I'm new, and since I'm a sole trader who can make a good profit at £10, I'm charging this for now. Later, when my schedule gets a bit fuller, I'll start testing the market by quoting a higher price.

Having recently been down Dumbarton High Street, I'm amazed at that! It needs a lot more than cleaning...

 

[Oscar Tango]

You might have more luck with higher rates by addressing a niche, e.g. the dirty jobs that people hate doing;
- cleaning ovens
- cleaning barbecues
- cleaning gutters
- cleaning drains
- cleaning under-sink cupboards
- cleaning high-up cobwebs
- cleaning the inside of windows
- cleaning garages & sheds

Actually its probably quite a big list, and has some extra marketability compared to Doris Day hoovering to the sound of Frank Sinatra....

 

[Smith's Cleaning]

Hi Amazin,

I'm in the Wigan(North West) area and also run a cleaning business.

The list of "potential" customers for cleaners is endless. I regularly contact many types of customers. Vets, care homes, letting/estate agents, dentists, banks. Basically any business that has a property/office.

What I find has good results is sending out a letter introducing the business, make a note of all the contact details and follow up with a phone call a few days later. If they say they are not interested at the moment, ask them if you can send them info/offers from time to time and get thier email address.

Have you thought about other services you could offer?
I also offer valeting, conservatory cleaning and carpet/upholstery cleaning. You will be surprised at how many say "the carpets in my office are looking a little tatty, could you give them a clean?" At an extra charge
Or the office workers asking you to valet thier cars while you are there.

As far as pricing goes. I offer a reduced rate for new customers for contract cleaning stating that the rates will be reviewed after 3 months. A good way of getting new customers, even if they say they dont need you after 3 months.

 

[bryan1980]

Hi peeps we have a window cleaning and cleaning business and thought it was a gd idea to go to the sunday market to see if people would be intreasted in wanting a window cleaner what do you all think can you all plz get back to me thanks