Since Covid-19, cleaning has been added to the essentials list for everyone. Where cleaning is already an endless and restless task, the pandemic has made most of us a little phobic. Putting in the dilemma of what every professional cleaning business should do to choose the right path.
Industry growth:
Innovation in the cleaning industry has shown significant growth in the cleaning service market. The cleaning service industry has a broad category, comprising day-to-day cleaning of consumer and commercial – hospitals, schools, industrial premises, hotels, shopping centers, and the list goes on. Green cleaning products are one of the key trends driving the cleaning service market.
Specialized services such as seasonal cleaning will continue to offer more opportunities for cleaning companies. More responsibilities always bring more challenges. During the recession, same as every other business Covid has affected the cleaning industry too. The cleaning industry like all other industries has undergone rapid change in recent years.
Let’s discuss a few key areas where professional cleaning business owners are facing challenges.
Market Challenges
Let’s be honest, starting in the cleaning service industry is one of the easiest businesses but market competition of labor and costing has made this complex. While this may be true these challenges are not going away any time soon. The perception that professional cleaning is not a skilled work has been pervasive in the cleaning industry. Resulting in higher expectations from the clients of lower charges.
Though this is not true, cleaning companies need to analyze their commercial growth and simultaneously look for opportunities to keep costs down without compromising their quality of service.
Technologies/Innovation
The cleaning industry is a vying market with many companies often competing for the same potential business or client at the same time. The saturation within the cleaning world means that companies must have to stand out in their field and cross the threshold, offering the newest technologies and innovations.
Providing new better performing machines is less time-consuming. In simplest terms, robots and new innovations are seen as leading – edge competition. Be updated with technology.
Limited Man-Power
Staff can make and break the whole business. Covid times have escalated the demand for workers. Other than professional cleaning, the demand for Covid cleaning services has been on a hike, and companies have taken the smart decision of outsourcing the work to professional cleaning companies. Work that smart, tap on your every resource. Use scheduling software like Picktime to manage your payments, invoicing, and meetings.
Shortage of Supply
We have been talking about the shortage of supplies in our whole piece. As we already know, almost everything has come to halt as soon as the pandemic begins spreading out.
The increase in demand for disinfectants, multi-use cleaners, vacuum, and other products and methods to get rid of stains was disrupted by the lack of cleaning supplies. Leaving professional cleaning business owners no choice but to increase their budget to buy more products or lose the client.
If you’re a professional cleaning business owner and want to break into the edge-cutting market of the cleaning business, here are some ideas and essential tips to get yourself going.
Things Every Professional Cleaning Business Should Do
1. Set Your Expertise
The cleaning business is vast, with commercial and consumer services. Not every cleaning professional is the same, they all have their expertise. Don’t just start. Pick the market you can serve best. Find your niche. Each kind of professional cleaning business has different demands, advantages, and disadvantages. Spend time on knowing your client’s needs – do they want full house cleaning? Boat Cleaning? Are they looking for environmentally friendly cleaning?
2. Offer Personalized Services
Giving personalized services is a great way to connect and grow with your clients. Now when you know what your client wants it’s easier to prepare and serve accordingly. Sit with them, take their calls. Invent some special cleaner and give that as a freebie. Be sure to check in with clients after the job is done and take feedback.
3. Learn Cleaning Yourself
How do you expect to hire a good professional if you are not aware of the job yourself? Cleaning may seem a straightforward job, but there are many important skills to learn. As a professional cleaning business owner, you must know how to use chemicals safely and effectively in order to clean different areas and materials.
4. Hire Professional Cleaners
Soon after starting out, you will realize that you need to expand your business. That allows you to take new bigger jobs and hire more workers. But it’s important to bring in the right employee. Make sure the people you hire know what their job is. Maybe even take their test. Choosing the right employees is the most critical part of the professional cleaning business.
5. Develop an Efficient Cleaning Workflow
Time is money in every business. And saving time and still doing the job efficiently is very important in the cleaning industry. Working on time management will benefit both you and your clients too. Research about cleaning techniques. Create a system for every job and every step: supervision, customer service, cleaning, laundry, and management.
6. Clean it Like It’s Your Own
Yes, always. Clean it like it’s your own. Regardless of where you’re doing the job and what you’re cleaning, always clean it by following all the traditional steps you would follow at your home.
7. Spend Time on Customer Service
It’s like those unwritten rules, if you’re running a cleaning business there’s no need for marketing or customer service. Quality is important, but it’s not everything. Don’t just assume that if your work is good it will satisfy all the clients – build a strong relationship with your customers and stand out from other professional cleaning businesses. Avoid clashing your meetings with clients and family tweetups. Manage all your appointments at one place with an appointment scheduling software Picktime and sync your contacts.
8. Learn to Say No
Saying no is okay, it’s good. As a professional, you should not feel like you have to take on every opportunity that comes. If you’re not prepared for a certain job or not well equipped, it’s ok to say no. At the initial level, it’s always better to focus on limited clients with quality work.
9. Invest in Learning Digital Skills
Knowing how to get clients for every business takes strategy and knowledge from almost every aspect. The professional cleaning business has a specific clientele and you need to be skilled for that. The cleaning business may not be particularly high-tech, but you don’t want to miss out on a great client just because you don’t know how to use an Instagram handle or schedule a meeting with your client virtually. Use Picktime, an appointment scheduler app to manage your meetings with those digital nerds.
10. Never Undersell
Know your worth, and work things out according to you. When you’re starting out you must be tempted to try to undercut the competition. Work on better strategies by simply outperforming others.
In conclusion, if you want to have a successful professional cleaning business, make sure you are doing the following things: marketing your business, being efficient and effective with your time, using the proper equipment, stocking up on supplies, maintaining a good relationship with your clients, and always being professional. By following these tips, you will be well on your way to having a thriving professional cleaning business.
