When you first launch a business, one of the first and most important things to consider is what kind of business to open. A cleaning service is an excellent choice, because you will always find a demand for your services. Whether you cater to homes, commercial properties, or both, a cleaning service can very quickly grow and expand to meet its goals.
You simply need to know how to get it there.
Finding Your Niche
As mentioned above, there are a few different niches that you can go into as a cleaning service. Some cleaning services do cover multiple niches, but they rarely start out that way.
The benefit to defining a specific niche is that you can then use that to inform your business name, marketing strategy, and who you need to cater to as a client base. This will essentially give you a starting point to work from.
Common cleaning niches include:
- Everyday domestic cleaning
- Deep domestic cleaning
- Office cleaning
- Restaurant cleaning
- Hotel cleaning
- Hospital and medical facility cleaning
- Exterior cleaning (windows and gutters)
As you can imagine, some of these niches also require different equipment, supplies, and expertise.
Get Supplies
Once you know who you’re going to be cleaning for, you need to work out what supplies you need. The best option is to buy in bulk because you will save a lot of money in the long run.
Some supplies, like wet wipes, gloves, trash bags, and cleaning sprays and solutions are pretty much universal to most niches. But if you’re doing deep cleaning, you might need more powerful equipment in addition to the normal supplies.
It’s also a good idea to bring your own equipment like vacuum cleaners and mop buckets. While some properties have these already, you don’t know exactly what people have or whether it’s good enough for the job. If you have your own cleaning supplies, you’ll find it a lot easier to get the job done.
Hiring Employees
As your cleaning business grows, you might need to take on more employees. This is a vital step to growing your business even more, because it frees you up to be able to take on more clients and potentially earn more money.
Always make sure that you don’t bite off more than you can chew. A business that grows too quickly without the appropriate foundation underneath it can easily crumble under its own weight. This can lead to some clients being let down and your reputation tarnished.
So, when hiring employees, think about the roles you need them to fill. Sometimes it helps to have two cleaners on a job, especially if you’re training them up. While cleaning doesn’t require a lot of qualifications, it does help to have experience and to know what you’re doing. This is especially true if you’re working in a healthcare or food service setting.
Speed is money, especially when it comes to cleaning. Make sure that you and your employees can work quickly and efficiently to get more jobs done in less time.
Finding Customers
When you have a niche, it’s much easier to find new customers. A lot of this comes down to your marketing strategy.
There’s something to be said for canvassing, where you go out and try to find new customers by talking to them. Contact homeowners at home and ask if they need a cleaning service, and consider going around the local businesses to ask the same thing.
Still, good marketing should cut down on the amount of canvassing work that you have to do.
Business cards are incredibly handy to have around as you can either give them to people or leave them in stores for interested parties to find. Posters can also net you some new customers.
Make sure that your business is registered on Google and any local white or yellow pages so people can more easily find it when they need a cleaner. As well as local marketing strategies, consider digital marketing strategies.
A social media account can get you in touch with potential customers and give them an easy way to contact you. Make sure that you keep your account active and, if you have a business website, link the two.
Get involved with local expos and find more and more opportunities to make your business as visible as possible. This is the best way to find customers and grow your reputation as a cleaning business.
