House cleaning is not a choice but a necessity and studies have shown that Americans spend approximately six hours per week cleaning their homes. There is a diverse market you can tap into from specialty cleaning services for carpets, floors, and rooms to residential and commercial cleaning. You can have your pick.
Follow the eight steps mentioned below to ensure that your new business drives as expected:
1. Decide Your Game Plan:
Your foremost step should be to pick whether you’re going to be in the business for the long term or will it simply be a side-income source for you. While brief cleaning offers basic services like dusting, vacuuming, and mopping, full-time cleaning services try to cater to more in-depth service offerings. Whatever you decide, make sure you stick to a standard set of services. At such a decision-making crossroads, preparing a cleaning business checklist will help you get a proper idea of the business work.
Also read: 10 Best Ideas to Start Business from Home
2. Research the market:
Study your local demographic because it will help you decide the type of cleaning services that are needed by the customers, decide what pricing will suit them and what the competitors are doing. Remember that thorough market research opens avenues regarding the customer’s demands and you can then mold your business to supply based on that.
3. Do the Initial Cleaning Jobs Yourself:
The next step in your house cleaning business checklist should be to decide to get your own hands dirty (literally) before you hire staff. It will allow you a chance to remodel your business plan if need be to smoothen out the process in the long run. When you begin offering services by yourself, not only will it save the cost of paying the staff, it also builds clients’ trust in your business and helps spread the word about your initiative. You can contract help once your business starts picking up.
4. Choose a Brand Name:
In today’s constantly changing world, branding is an integral part of building a successful business. It should be a name that clients can recognize easily with your services. You can play with words or try something quirky but make sure it’s easy to spell and remember and which also accurately describes the services you plan to offer. Don’t go overboard or rush into naming your business because it defines your business’ image.
5. Determine your service area & create a marketing plan:
Narrow your service area with a selection of geographical locations you will serve that are lucrative enough with potential regular clientele. It will help you organize your services, stock your supplies, manage transport, and plan the essential marketing campaigns that will tap the interest of your chosen service area. Talking about marketing, another crucial step in your cleaning business checklist is to plan your marketing model based on what your clients are seeking and where. Based on this study, you can go with referrals, Facebook ads, Google listings, Paid Ads, Networking, etc.
Also read: 5 Popular Business Models for a Startup You Can Choose From
6. Get Organized with Cleaning Software:
Thanks to the availability of various cleaning software at your disposal, you won’t have to organize, manage, and execute the routine tasks of a cleaning business all by yourself. You can rely on these technologically run well-crafted assistances to schedule appointments, connect with customers, track budget, oversee employee scheduling, process invoices, plan for taxes and other business fees, streamline marketing plans, and much more!
7. Budget appropriately for your equipment:
Clients expect that you arrive at their place well-equipped with your cleaning business supplies checklist of relevant tools and products. Budget for heavy-duty vacuum cleaners, equipment trolleys, advanced sweeping machines, or even a van to carry all these. Ensure that you plan to counteract these purchases in subsequent profits.
8. Ask for reviews
Consistent positive reviews build trust in potential clients when they look at your brand from someone else’s experience. Studies have shown that 70% of consumers choose to read a minimum of four reviews before they decide to trust a business. So, my final recommended step that should be in your cleaning business checklist is to ask your clients to submit their valuable feedback regarding your services. They can post it on Google, Facebook, or even on review sites like Yelp and LinkedIn for others to refer.
Delivering amazing work and maintaining customer satisfaction are two pillars on which your cleaning business can strive to be lucrative. The cleaning industry earned about 46 billion dollars in 2020 and is expected to grow 10% by 2026. Above all else, you receive a sense of personal satisfaction when you start your own successful business.
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