Many small business owners wrongly think happy, satisfied customers will provide them with referrals. Sadly, this is not the case for most businesses. More important, a service business like house cleaning does not necessarily generate the best referrals. Why?
You may be cleaning your last house for the holidays (geesh - I had some teams that were cleaning until 5 or 6pm on Christmas Eve!) or you may be wrapping presents or getting ready to spend time with family and friends.
December is here and it’s time to start thinking about your clients. What can you give them to let them know how much you appreciate them?
If your business is super busy you’ll probably want to keep it simple. No matter how much time I planned ahead, it always seemed like the holidays came too quick. I spent most of my energy planning a special holiday event and a holiday bonus for the employees. Therefore, it was always easiest to select holiday cards a few months in advance and have them engraved.
I was just reviewing the new items from my favorite marketing company. Finally, they stock items that I have been looking for and I know you need. There’s special holidays year-round and you need to be ready with your special offers.
August is always the slowest business month. People are getting in their last minute vacations; getting ready for the kids to go back to school; and just relaxing in the last lazy days of summer.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you know that August is the time for planning. The holidays are coming and you need to get your advertising in place to get your share of the customers. Your local publications will be accepting press releases and scheduling ads 4 - 6 weeks before publication. These local publications are your best resources for getting customers in your area.
One of the most difficult parts of starting a house cleaning business is deciding how to price cleaning jobs. I get many questions on that. But in fact, most people give little consideration to the in-home estimate. This when you go to the prospect’s house to determine how much work is involved and leave them with an estimate for the first cleaning and a quote for the ongoing service. This is where you have to “sell” your service and “sell” yourself as a business person.
