What’s the secret to success when it comes to commercial cleaning services? It’s not keeping your customers happy – it’s keeping them coming back. You want clients that are so pleased with your work that they refer you to others and continue to do business with you even if a competitor offers cheaper prices or offers additional perks like free carpet cleaning or regular office cleaning service on Fridays. Here are 10 tips you can use to build an effective commercial cleaning business and keep your clients coming back again and again.
1) Use the Right Equipment
Sure, you may be able to get by on less in your residential business, but for commercial cleaning it’s a different story. It’s essential that your equipment is always in tip-top shape and that you have all of your supplies with you at all times. You don’t want to end up in a situation where one piece of equipment (or one cleaning solution) is missing—you can easily lose hundreds or thousands of dollars if that happens. To ensure success in commercial cleaning services, follow these tips: _____________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ _______________
2) Hire the Right People
The backbone of your commercial cleaning services business is your employees. Without good people behind you, your company will never be more than an idea and a dream on paper. You need to spend time vetting, training and monitoring their work performance and attitude. Additionally, you should make sure they feel like valued members of a team – not just replaceable laborers in a fast-paced assembly line. Pay them well (or at least what’s fair for their skill set), show appreciation for hard work, give them some say in how things get done, listen to their input and communicate often to keep everyone informed about company goals and progress towards those goals.
3) Work with Influencers in Your Industry
You might not know it, but commercial cleaning and other facilities management companies are a dime a dozen in just about every city. The key to success for many businesses is to find ways to stand out from your competitors. This can often be difficult; most commercial cleaning services have many of the same offerings and prices, making it hard for consumers to justify one over another. Here’s where influencers can help: Influencers are people who have tremendous reach online, whether that’s on social media or with e-newsletters.
4) Collaborate with Other Small Businesses
When you’re starting a business, get to know other small businesses. Often times, businesses are so busy that they can’t take on extra work. However, if you can convince them to try out your services or hire you to do some contracting work for them on occasion, you may be able to trade work for each other. This is a good way to start getting some steady money coming in, even if it isn’t from your own company yet.
5) Be Responsive & Punctual
Your reputation as a cleaning service depends on your ability to get jobs done efficiently, on time and with a high level of care. If you’re late for meetings or let appointments fall through, it’s easy for clients to see you as unreliable. You should be available 24/7 if your customers need you, but make sure that they have your contact information and know how to reach you when they do. Make sure you set aside time each week to follow up with clients who haven’t had an appointment in over six months.
6) Provide an Extra Service
Many cleaners offer ancillary services—such as pressure washing, upholstery cleaning, carpet cleaning and duct cleaning—to help them stand out from their competition. Diversifying your business helps you broaden your customer base, and also lets you drive down costs by using in-house employees for certain tasks. Just be careful to avoid oversubscribing so that you don’t spread yourself too thin or skimp on quality. These ten tips can help ensure your success as a commercial cleaner
7) Make Sure You Have Insurance and Licenses
Setting yourself up to make money is not enough. If you’re going to have a business, be smart and make sure you take care of all of your bases. Your commercial cleaning service may need workers’ compensation insurance, which covers injuries on-the-job in some states. Liability insurance protects you from lawsuits from customers or other businesses if an employee gets hurt or something gets broken on a job site. You may also need to buy commercial property insurance in order for tenants to rent space for your operations center.
8) Keep Track of Your Expenses
It’s important to keep track of every penny that goes in or out of your business, especially when you’re just starting out. If you don’t know exactly how much money you spent for a certain item, you can’t know if it was a good deal. Many successful business owners recommend starting with Excel spreadsheets because they are easy to use and will quickly show whether or not your cash flow is positive. Also, even though an Excel sheet isn’t exactly pretty, it’s easy to find deals online and personalize them for your needs. No one’s going to see it but you anyways.
