The market for home based cleaning business is growing bigger as many people spend more time working with little or no more time left to clean up their houses. It became convenient to these people to just retain some cleaners who go to their house on certain days of the week to do the cleaning.

On the other hand, many people are looking for extra job to supplement their income. With the sad state of the economy nowadays, an extra buck or so will go a long way. A home based cleaning business is a good source of extra income especially for people who have the knack for cleaning. This type of business can be started with the minimum of investment. The business can be started with few basic materials such as: broom, vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, rags for dusting and washing, cleaning solutions, and carpet powder. These can be purchased without draining your pocketbook. Some of them are already in your household so there is no need to buy all of them.

Clients
Clients can be found quickly by referral. You can ask friends or people you know to refer you to those who are in need of house cleaners. You can start your business by first offering free cleaning service on a trial basis. If the client is satisfied, they will retain your services and hopefully refer you to their friends or relatives. If your job is exceptionally good, the word will spread like wildfire in the community. Before you knew it, you have job offers that you will find hard to handle.

Advertising
Advertising can help any type of business, big and small. You can advertise your service first by printing sign on your vehicle. As you stop by a client’s house, the neighbors will know what type of business you do in their neighborhood. You can hand out flyers or a plain business card giving out the name of your business and your phone number. Local printing shops can make you a good number of business cards or flyers for a few dollars. Make your business card and flyers as simple as possible so that you don’t have to spend a lot of money when your business is not earning much yet.

Charging
It is very difficult for a start-up business to figure out how much to charge clients. It is a stage when your main concern is to attract customers but also you have to make sure that your business investments, your time and effort will be pay off also. You are not on a charitable mission – your aim is to make money. You have to competitive with your rates but at the same time you must make some bucks out of your efforts. The best approach here is to find out how much the competitors are charging and figure out how much lower you can go without hurting your business interest.

Starting your home based cleaning business is challenging but it could also be daunting. But careful planning, effective marketing, and dedicated work can easily ensure the success of your business.

See: How to start a cleaning service

Getting noticed by potential clients can be realized by proper marketing of one’s business. One need not be a guru in this field but there are simple ways one can do to promote one’s business and earn revenue. But before spending money, one needs to focus on a target market for the business. Finding that niche and putting effort in that direction one would be able to get the clients needed to make the business profitable. This can be done by adequate market research and some investigation on one’s part to find out the market pulse.

After identification of the market, one needs to draft a budget of expenses for the marketing and advertising of the business. Typically, about 2% to 5% of a business’s gross revenue is used for the marketing of one’s business. Since one is just starting the business, one would need a larger amount to make the business known in the market. One needs to make the business known to gain potential clients. It would be absurd to run a business without gaining any clients. It would just be both a waste of time and money.

The next decision that needs to be made is the area where one would advertise, the medium for it and its frequency. Ads need not be expensive to be effective. Since one already knows the target market, making the advertising material accessible to the target market would make the business more visible and consistent. Posting ads in a local newspaper is the most basic of all campaigns. One just needs to attract the potential clients to the business but the attraction must be positive in the sense that one would be sought out to be engaged to provide the service, and not disdained or avoided. Making the advertisement attuned to the market is key here. This must be a showcase of why the service one is offering is better for one’s business. One should be able to communicate the business name and the benefits one would be receiving by engaging the services of one’s cleaning business. Usually, having testimonials, awards and statistics would make the third parties stand up and take notice of one’s capacity to clean.

Another way to entice clients is by providing special offers or discounts for the services that would be offered. Since it is a cleaning business, highlighting the type of equipment or cleaning materials one would use may sway the clients in one’s favor. Also, having a wide list of references would be best in convincing others to engage one’s business. Having a word of mouth campaign and a reference reward scheme are also ways to expand one’s promotions without entailing a lot of cost. Also, since it is the season of giving, making gift certificates an option not only allows one to get into the homes or offices of potential clients, it also allows both the recipient and giver to be rewarded by the business owner. The opportunities abound so one just needs to reach out and take them.

See: How to start a cleaning business

Maid services and janitorial services provide great opportunities that will definitely have you considering opening this kind of business. Residential cleaning is mostly chosen because of it’s cheaper but with the same method of cleaning as to office space cleaning. But, before opening this kind of business you must have to think about factors and plans to make it a success and also the different market groups it encompasses.

The cleaning industry has two market groups, namely the consumer market group and the commercial market cleaner. The consumer market group is composed of residential maid services, window cleaner, carpet cleaner or any other related cleaning service. In contrast to consumer market groups, janitorial businesses which provide a diverse range of services, which include big cleaning companies of carpet, belongs to the commercial market group. Before you decide which cleaning business you select, make a necessary research and plan on which service you will tackle. This is very important because planning for your expertise is essential to the growth of your soon-to-be business.

This kind of business is in demand, lucrative, and beneficial. It can create revenue more quickly. Other cleaning services operate full time or part-time basis, which means that this business has flexibility because of its wide range different cleaning purposes. The good thing about this cleaning service is that you can build your own company that suits your talents and styles. You can even do this job by yourself or hire cleaning maids to do the work. Cleaning service is abundant. This service is a great opportunity because big companies want their homes to be clean as well as those commercial and residential clients.

Most big companies and other businesses need cleaning services for their buildings and homes. In running this business you must have determination to make the business work. Give quality service and willingness to please the customers and dedication with your work allows you to clean their homes. It is your duty to maintain their trust on you and your cleaning service. You must have the knowledge in operating equipment for cleaning and you need to train your house cleaners in proper handling and cleaning of the equipment. Janitorial services and carpet cleaning businesses, for example require equipment in cleaning. Even the proper use of chemical solutions is needed. Nowadays, people prefer those cleaning companies that have respect in the environment and don’t use harmful chemicals and products in cleaning. Make an effort to research more so it will contribute to the success of the company that you are planning.

If you want to gain lots of customers, you have to provide excellent service. If they are satisfied with your service, they will definitely recommend you with their families and friends, which will contribute to larger consumers. You must research everything in order for your company to prosper. As an entrepreneur, you have to give quality service. You have to take into consideration that customers would want to make sure that they would have clean homes or offices when they hire your service.

See: How to start a maid cleaning service

Service-providing business encounter a lot of customers complaining for something regarding the service you are offering in the market. And like in the business of cleaning, this sort of scenario is very familiar. Almost everyday, the complaints are so demeaning at times and the toll is almost always reaching its limit. It’s just that, you have to handle them carefully and with a different approach in such a way that you give your relational skills a very hard test. You have to spend a lot of time on these since your clients are a very important factor for your business to grow and to profit.

First, you should act on them immediately. Don’t pass it off for another day or so before returning to the complaints or you will incur a bad reputation. Get straight to the point. If they don’t like the solution you used on their homes, then tell them you are now prospecting another one and so on. Don’t just linger and wait for them to get tired and stop complaining. You have to give them the assurance that their complaints are being handled thoughtfully. This will eventually give them the impression that they are important and that you value them more than anything else.

“The customer is always right” as the saying goes. Even if you feel that the complaints you are receiving is not that reasonable at all, stay cool and still hear them wholeheartedly. Sometimes they just want to unload what feelings are inside them. Although there are really hard-to-deal-with customers, nevertheless, give in to their desires as long as it is still according to your set standard. Even on those times, that is not reason enough to underestimate them. You have to see the situation and balance it with your rational thinking. Don’t act on them emotionally; you will just mess up the situations if that is so. Have a clear mind and say to yourself that these are blessing in disguise for you to improve your services to other people—your important clients.

In connection, never be defeated with those hard-to-deal-with customers by losing your composure and becoming angry, after all you are in the field of servicing others. And if you really want to keep them as well as incur more clients, you have to watch yourself. Once they are done with their concern, it is your time to show your side. Then make sure you meet with them by ensuring that their suggestions are valued.

In case of property indemnity in one of your clients, you should speak with your staff right after the report is done. You may want to talk to the concerned staff to know her side and give pieces of advice so that the next time she cleans the house of a client, she will not commit the same mistake. After that, don’t forget to inform your other staff that they should also careful with their own cleaning jobs. Also, you should make sure that your insurance as well as the bond is all set for this kind of settlement.

Cleaning services are a dime a dozen in the market right now and customers are finding it easier to change cleaning service crews for another because they have that option. Clients have become more demanding and because of the impossible promises that some cleaning business advertisements make, your cleaning business may not be a victim of pure service competition but a battle of who can get the most customers through underhanded means. The high turn over rate for outsourced cleaning services may seem discouraging but you can still keep your business in fighting form by following the traditional way of cleaning mixed with an aggressive campaign.

The easiest ways to keep your clients are listed below:

1. Keep your customers happy – First and foremost, a good relationship with your client is a must to keep them in your fold. People are very emotional in nature and when you have rubbed them in the right spot, they will consider you a friend and an indispensible business associate. Do everything you can short of being an obvious sycophant.

2. Create a feedback system – You clients will surely appreciate a professional and courteous help desk and a person who will listen to grievances and respond to these grievances quickly. If you are running your business on your own without other employees, a good tactic would be to have a feedback sheet where the customer can list down possible complaints or praises to the service you have rendered. Additionally, you can create a separate electronic mail address and voice mailing system dedicated solely to your cleaning service where your clients could easily forward anything that they have in mind. If you were a customer, you would surely appreciate a businessman who knows that customer satisfaction should be a priority.

3. Keep your cleaning satisfactory if not excellent – Admittedly, there will be days that you miss some spots or are too tired to be able to take care of all the details. But you will have to keep these days at a minimum or else you will run the risk of the client thinking that you are beginning to let go of the quality of your work.

4. Give yourself ample time to rest – do not spread yourself too thin by getting more clients than you can effectively handle. It will be hard for you to turn down a client, that is true, but if you do not and you start getting too tired because of your busy schedule, it will be hard for you to keep your cleaning skills at maximum level.

5. Keep abreast of new and better ways to clean – the internet is your friend and researches on new and improved ways to clean or better cleaning agents are easier to find if you just look for them.

The key to maintaining a long lasting business relationship with your client is always being in top form for the work you turn in. It is not hard to build a solid cleaning business if you know how to treat your clients well. Additionally, you will also need to take care of yourself.

See: How to start a cleaning service