Once you have decided to put up your own business – a cleaning business, you will have to take care of the place or building where your business will operate, and you will have to get all the needed equipment and supplies. Your preparations will not end there as you will have to take care also of something that will make or unmake your business. You have to create a name for your cleaning business.

A great business name must captivate customers and must explain what the company does – if possible in one word. The name must fit your cleaning business and it must project a positive image to your customers, your employees, your suppliers, and every one you make business with. Your name must be easy to remember, easy to pronounce, and must create a good impression on everybody who hears about it.

Many start-up businessmen go personal when it comes to choosing a business name. They put their name or initials plus the kind of business they are into. It is common to see such business names as John Black’s Cleaning Services or JP Burke’s Cleaners. Personal names are alright if you intend to keep the business for a long time but if you planning to sell it once it starts making money, then you better do away with personal names.

Descriptive or suggestive words will be welcome choices for business names. You can ask your family and friends for words that will best describe your business and the quality of service you intend to provide. You should, however, avoid words that offers no inherent property or quality as this will not help people recognize your business. Meaningless names will go unnoticed because they offer no explanation of who they are or what they are about.

You should also avoid using names that is descriptive of the nature of the business but offers nothing else to support it. A cleaning business company that is named “Cleaners” will only let the public know that they clean but as to what they clean and how do they go about it will remain unclear. It will be similar to naming a restaurant “Restaurant”.

Business names should be cool combination of sounds that people will easily pronounce and remember but usually with underlying reasons or stories. People love Starbucks but they did not bother to find out how the name was arrived at; they just simply love the name. Most people did not know that Starbuck was Moby Dick’s first mate of Captain Ahab and he was greatly obsessed with coffee.

You choice of business name should be easy to pronounce, must be concise, must be easy to remember, must be distinct, and must be able to convey the message you want to send to your customers.

You must check first with your state to be sure that no one has already used the name you choose. You can also check with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to make sure that nobody will be serving you a Cease and Desist Order for the name you will be using for your cleaning business.

See: Start a cleaning business

Same with many other cleaning business owners, you may have set up doing everything on your own. As the business grows and you’ve added new cleaning accounts, you will find yourself having the need to hire more employees. But before you post that hiring ad or hiring someone, it is imperative to have a job description that specifies the duties that comes with the job.

Consider a job description as a “snapshot’ of the position. It should clearly state the responsibilities of the job and specify the required qualifications and skills of the candidate. Keep the job description simple and not to vague or you might not get the right applicants for the position. A good job description should:

* Be able to express the purpose of the position as well as the employee’s role in your business.

* Facilitate an easier preparation of your job advertisements.

* Give applicants a basic understanding of the key responsibilities of the position. This will aid the person decide whether the job is what they are looking for or not.

* Express what is required in the employee’s job performance.

* Lessen unnecessary duplication of the duties on different positions, which would increase the overall efficiency of your cleaning operations.

A job description should include:

1. The position title. If your company only has one or two employees, you may have one job position like janitorial worker or a technician. Once your company starts growing, you may need additional lead workers and supervisors.

2. The position to which the applicant with report to.

3. Lines of promotion. This informs the applicant that there is a potential for growth in the company.

4. A heading that allows some flexibility like “Responsibilities include, but are not limited to…”

5. Summary of the responsibilities and duties for the position.

6. Required or preferred education, experience, qualifications and skills.

7. Any special requirements as well as physical demands of the position.

8. If applicable, a short description of supervisory responsibilities.

9. The environment to perform the job duties in.

Keep in mind that job descriptions are considered as legal documents. Any references to age, race, sex, color, national origin, or disabilities are illegal.

Your qualification and experience section should show any specific requirements you need from an applicant like office maintenance experience, window washing etc.

The job description should also include a paragraph expressing that your company will train newly employees on cleaning processes, use of chemicals as well as safety guidelines and procedures.

You have to think of your job description as a guide for you as well as your potential employees. It should clearly specify the responsibilities of each party. An accurate and brief job description will help ease out the applicants that are less likely to be come good employees fro your cleaning business. You need to put some time into preparing a well intended job description before you hire your first employees to save you time, money and headaches.

See: How to start a cleaning service

The cleaning service industry is one of the areas in business that has kept on expanding over the recent years. Suffice to say that more and more companies are realizing the convenience and simplicity outsourced cleaning crews offer. From the littlest details involved in dusting furniture, to the more tedious work of cleaning carpets and upholstery, a commercial janitorial service is truly beneficial.

It is no surprise that you would want to create a cleaning service of your own. There are few other businesses that can compare to the ease of establishing your janitorial service. Nevertheless, just like any other foray into the service industry, you will need to think of ways to create an image for your cleaning business that differentiates it from all the other competitors.

One way to do this is to set up an unforgettable image and reputation for your cleaning business. Your start up company would definitely have a difficult time competing with older and more well-known janitorial services around. However, what you lack in years could be regarded as strength if you focus on what can revolutionize the cleaning industry. Instead of focusing on the reasons why you can give the same quality of service as the older cleaning companies, look for a way to make your cleaning business different. If you research on the cleaning companies in your locality, you are likely to find an area that you can improve on, either technology-wise or service-wise.

Since your business is in the industry of providing service to your clients, you should keep some traditional practices such as excellent customer service. It would be even better if you could improve on it. Instead of the usual customer-initiated feedback for instance, you can keep your customers happier by providing a more regular avenue for assessments and recommendations. You can schedule monthly meetings with your client to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

Have all your cleaning staff train or learn the proper way to handle and talk to clients. One of the easiest ways to lose regulars and potential customers is by having a rude or offensive cleaner.

Make sure that the equipment and tools, and even the cleaning solutions that you use are up to date and well-maintained. Companies everywhere do like a show of expertise in any area that involves their spaces; and a run-down, outdated vacuum could cost you one customer less.

Highlight facts that could put your company and your crew in a good light. One time training for the different areas of cleaning may be a huge come-on to potential customers. Additionally, you can create more confidence in your clients if you have re-training seminars and conferences for all your staff. Treat cleaning as a profession, and know that every profession is a continuous learning process. Skills are learned and improved through both theories and practice. Besides, with the many new things that one can learn about cleaning spaces, you can be assured that not one of you and your cleaning crew can say that you know everything there is to know about cleaning.

See: Commercial Cleaning Service

Putting up a commercial cleaning business? One of the things you need to put a lot of effort in is naming your business. Your business name is your basis in advertising and creating a logo. Having an unattractive business name would make it difficult for you to get clients to remember, and if they do not remember, they would not be able to tell their friends about you. Additionally, a business name that has no recall would prove to be a liability if for instance one of your prospective clients loses your contact number and would not be able to find how to contact you if they try and find you online or in the yellow pages.

The easiest way to come up with a business name is by using your own and then tagging it with the nature of your business. This can be to your advantage if you have already created a name for yourself in the industry that you are venturing into or if a lot of prospective clients (like your former employers and business associates) know of your outstanding business skills and ethics. It motivates you to live up to your name and the expectations associated with it too.

Another way to brainstorm a good name for your cleaning business is to get out a note pad and a pen and start writing as many synonyms to cleaning as you can remember. If you get stuck turn on your computer and use the thesaurus software program you can find there or borrow a thesaurus from one of your kids and browse through it. Cleaning goes by a lot of other names such as: cleaning, spotless, dirt free, fresh, sparkling, dazzling, and so on. Additionally, you may want to put a tagline after your name that becomes your trademark.

Some people also believe in lucky names and numbers that should be put in to create a business name to ensure success. For instance, the number 7 or the letter s; if you have beliefs like those, it would not hurt to incorporate it into your cleaning business’ name. After all, a little luck can do so much wonders to a fledgling business.

After you have already created different possible combinations to create your name, choose about three or more that you really like and field test it. Start reading them out loud and see if the name rolls off your tongue, if it creates an impact and if it is easy to remember. Then go to your spouse, your family, and your friends and ask for their input on how the name sounds.

Afterwards, you can go online and start scouting if there are registered businesses with the same name. You would not be able to get your business name registered if there is somebody else out there who have thought of the name before you; hence the reason behind creating three or more name options.

See: How to start a commercial cleaning service

Building cleaning service businesses or even start-up cleaning services are always on the look out for new customers. Advertising though should not be limited to getting clients, but also keeping them as well. With the many cleaning services for hire – be it commercial or residential- competition can be quite stiff and you will need to think of ways to make your clients stick with you.

Here are some tips on how to create attractive incentives for your customers to stay loyal to you.

1. Have a loyalty card for all your customers. Your clients will love a way to cost-cut and even a tiny bit of savings can mean a lot to them. On your part, regular cleaning gigs would be beneficial. A loyalty card should do the trick. Have one printed out for each of your customers, stamp each cleaning date and then offer the tenth cleaning service half-off or free of charge. This would prove advantageous to both of you; your client gets his savings by hiring you constantly while you get an assured nine cleaning jobs.

2. Reward referrals. Award your customer whenever he successfully refers you to one of his business partners, a member of his family, or one of his friends. A discount on one cleaning job per successful referral would be enough. You can keep on widening your network through this system and you get to expand your client base while keeping your previous clients happy.

3. Give out freebies whenever you can. Freebies need not be expensive and it is a good way to keep your clients from forgetting about your cleaning service. For instance, give away free deodorizers for their toilets every after cleaning job. These small gestures will be greatly appreciated by your clients.

4. Remember your clients during holidays. One of the best incentives a client can get from you is a good relationship. It need not be very special; you can send personalized thank-you notes and greeting cards during holidays and celebrations. These are inexpensive ways of making your clients feel important. Thinking about it, these can be the most powerful marketing tools you can produce.

5. Widen their network too. Your clients can come from all walks of life and may have professional needs that you can help with. You do not have to be too prying, but the mere fact that you do cleaning jobs for them can open your eyes to some of their possible needs that you can provide. For instance, offer to give out brochures of that small private loaning institute that you clean for, or hook up one of your home cleaning service clients who have kids to a day care facility that you clean for. These are little things but can be highly valued by your clients and make them more loyal to you.

These are just some ways that you can utilize to earn loyalty from your customers. One point to remember is that you need to always balance your incentives with your profits so you do end up losing but gaining more business.

See: How to start a cleaning service