[CLEAN & SHINE NW]

Hi everyone ,

I just started my new cleaning business.

I set up everything, company, name, adverts, letters...etc. , but still struggling to get customers. I advertise in the local newspaper and use flayers .

I what I am doing wrong? Or perhaps I need to advertise longer? I have been advertising just a week.
I am planing to send a proposal letters to lettings agency, to advertise in the local magazines...

Any idea how to get more customers?

[derek west]

if it was that easy chief, everyone would be doing it, gonna take ya a good 2 years to get a decent return then add another 2 years to start making a good profit, thats if you set out with the objectives of doing a top notch job that the custy will remember and promote.

this is a patience game. do a good job, charge a decent price and hang on in there.

theres no quick fix, its about holding on to what you get.

[martin19842]

hi there

what type of client are you looking for ??

commercial or domestic ?

advertsing for one week, is a drop in the ocean!!!

sales activity is the key, that activity takes a whole load of different things,
emails, website, cold calling by foot, compliment slips from potential clients, phone calls, intro letters, and then all of that all over again.

if you are in the business full time, then you should be doing the above at least 6 hours a day at the start,  as you then win clients, the level of sales activity will reduce as you need to service clients and win new ones at the same time.

with commercial clients, say as example office cleans, how long do you think it will take from first contact to start of a contract ??

you could be lucky and quote a job on a thursday for a start the following monday, BUT THEY ARE RARE.

your sales cycles might be one month or threee months, some as long as six months.

so you need persisitence.

regards

martin

[CLEAN & SHINE NW]

Thanks for advices !


Domestic cleaning

[JandS]

And a website that actually appears when you click on the link.

John

[Adam P]

please do one thing is it's not too late! get another domain name ASAP as spelling mistakes in the domain name looks massively unprocional in my opinion.

http://www.profecionalcleaning.co.uk/

your business name isn't relevant to that word so why is it used? you've got the correct spelling on the page but not the domain 

also checking your site, you should check it too as it looks like you haven't bothered.

We hope you can find everything you need. Company Name is focused on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction - we will do everything we can to meet your expectations.

[CLEAN & SHINE NW]

Thank you for looking at my profile.

I have applied   to company house to change my company  name 4 days ago. 

 It is going to be Clean & Shine. Then we are going to change and domain name and everything else.

[actualcleaning]

Hi,just popped into this side of the forum to get some advice as my wife is starting a domestic cleaning business and came across this post.

Firstly i would imagine that building a domestic/commercial cleaning business will take time,effort,advertising and recommendations.Like my business it is all about building a reputation with customers and maintaining those customer relations,it is hard to start...very hard...but in the long term with sound advice and good marketing then there is no reason not to achieve what you set out to do...

This brings me onto another very important point imo,hourly rates.
I notice that you have an set hourly charge of £9.40 for regulars.I am struggling to see how this can equate into a business at this level?
The time you take all your costings into account(of which i am sure you have gone into) i fail to see how this min charge makes the struggle of building a business worthwhile.
As i say my wife is venturing into the domestic cleaning business and we have worked out that just to achieve min wage on a 50% full schedule (because untill your working day is full for 5-6 days you will be working under capacity) she has to charge min £13.50 per hour....

Do these figures look comparable to others who have built from scratch,or do we really need to be gaining customers at rock bottom prices to achieve growth,something which i am adverse to.

I do hope your business goes well AG.

[CLEAN & SHINE NW]

Hi,

9.40 is just around the prices in my area Chester.  Once we get popularity  we may increase the price level, but we can't start with prices more than well established company. Is that right?

[martin19842]

hi there

re your website, good and bad really, i would remove the hourly rate from it for a start, all your competitors now know your pricing structure.

is 9.40 substainable usually when people start out they find they have to charge a little higher to cover all of there overheads.

if you have got an army of cleaners out there right now then 9.40 per hour might be achievable.

in essence, the question is -- are you working and looking to only earn your salary, or are you looking to earn a profit as well, ?? there is a  big difference !!

you need to earn profit to fund further advertising, sales activity, more equipment, etc etc.

regards

martin

[dianegreenwood]

When I started 2 years ago, it was 3 weeks in before I actually did any cleaning so its not easy getting off the ground.  Its about persistence and a lot of shoe leather in my case.  I flyered all the areas I wanted to work in which picked up our first few clients. 

In our first month of trading, we did a whole 36.5 hours of cleaning and in the same month this year (April) we have already got 1050 hours booked!

Our main marketing strategies in order of success have been:

Website
BNI
Referrals
Local Ad Mag
Strategic Partnerships
Other
Flyers

Re hourly rate, anyone who starts at £9.40 is going to struggle in my opinion.  In the domestic marketplace, £13.50 to £15 per hour is about right to make a decent profit, pay decent wages and allows some contingency for being flexible.  We do not even attempt to compete with those charging self employed rates as ours is a fully managed, professional service.

Cheers

Diane

www.freshlymaid.co.uk

[JandS]

The website looks unprofecional.
Spelling mistakes.
Home page in large letters "Thaks for visiting"

John

[martin19842]

hi there

Diane has shown how deteminaton and hard work creates a business.

it is irrelevant of the size of your business or the services or products that you sell, the principals are the same.

the tightening economic climate has affected the cleaning/ soft services industry in a number of key ways.

1. a lot of people who unfortunately have either lost their job or been made redundant have decided to start in this business area, cleaning, window cleaning, carpet cleaning and gardening, it is perceived to be an EASY business to do.

2. in the commercial sector, the number of clients moving premises has slowed, the number of properties being occupied has slowed, therefore new business is more difficult to win, one reason for this is as business has slowed people tend to look after their clients as best they can, reducing the chance of them leaving for dissatisfaction. therefore making clients review pricing more than the level of service they are receiving .


things will get better and the strongest companies whether they be large or small will survive and prosper.

as more people start to find liquidity in their monthly budgets then more home cleaners may well be required.

regards

martin

[Daria Taylor]

Hi,

9.40 is just around the prices in my area Chester.  Once we get popularity  we may increase the price level, but we can't start with prices more than well established company. Is that right?

Atanas

Send me an e-mail I will help you with what I can. Your website will not generate you any money as it is not optimised, spelling is pretty bad ( although i cant say alot my self as I cant live without spell checker) and there are few other issues.

First of all think again about you price, what sort of customers you want to have etc.

Anyways I've offered my help, if you need it e-mail me.

Regards
Dash t

[Daria Taylor]

I sent you a reply to your e-mail,

Regards,
Dash t

[Phild]

Nice to see your 'passing it on' Dash ;-)  Phil D