Business Advice: How To Run A Profitable Commercial Cleaning Business

Running a successful commercial cleaning business is something that can be learned by anyone, no matter what level of education or experience they have, so long as they have the willingness to work hard, understand what customers want, consistently provide quality service, and know-how to market themselves. It’s imperative to start off on the right foot to ensure success. Here are a few steps to make sure your commercial cleaning business is a success:

1. Learn as much as you can

Before doing anything, the first thing you need to do is learn as much as you can about the industry and your trade. This includes mastering the services you’ll offer and understanding all the associated running and business costs. Once you have a deep understanding of this, you can move on to studying your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses so you can get a better idea of how you can position yourself against them.

An important factor not to overlook, no matter how small your business, is how you can maximise your productivity. By taking advantage of tools to help you do your job, you will appear more professional, be available to service more customers and spend more time on the tasks that make you money. 

Commercial cleaning software programs offered by companies like Jobber help you manage your team out in the field, schedule jobs efficiently, and track every job detail in real-time. They can also help you with maintaining a consistently high-quality service through the use of checklists. Choosing the right technology at the beginning is key to you being organised and being able to excel at customer satisfaction and turn a greater profit.  

By learning as much as you can about your industry, you can understand better what your customers want and the price they’re willing to pay for your services. Ultimately, this information can help you identify a niche your competitors haven’t tapped into and help give your business an edge.

2. Come up with a Unique Selling Point (USP)

If you’re looking for other tips on how to run a cleaning business, having a USP is one of them. A USP can set your services apart from everyone else by ensuring that what you’re offering is something other companies or businesses don’t have. It can be in the form of better prices, bundle offerings, or even membership cards.

To better figure out the unique qualities of your business when compared to your competitors, you need to understand your target market. Learn as much as you can about it. This will help you create targeted marketing campaigns aimed at potential customers with a higher likelihood of hiring your services.

3. Create a catchy name

Before buying a vehicle to use, it’s essential to decide on your business name first. There’s an art for naming businesses, and it’s crucial that whatever name you choose is easily remembered. Keep in mind that unique names stand out from the crowd than generic ones. (1)

As a cleaning business, including words that give the impression of reliability, can also get clients to trust you. 

4. Invest in a suitable service vehicle

Having a good location is one of the challenges of startups and even established businesses. However, when it comes to commercial cleaning companies, this may not always be the case. It’s because most of your offered services happen in your client’s home or property.

Therefore, it’s essential to invest in a vehicle you can rely on to deliver your services and get business done. It should have ample space to store your items and have your company’s name and contact details painted on its body. This creates a dual purpose of delivering and advertising your services.

5. Advertise

Once you have the knowledge, the equipment, the name, and the vehicle, it’s time to get the word out in your community. Although it may sound like a no-brainer, neglecting advertising is usually one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make.

While word-of-mouth advertising can be powerful, it’s also crucial to market your business in other means. These may include having a website or social media accounts to promote your products and services online. You can also use them to continuously engage customers through high-quality content. 

Other online marketing strategies include defining your brand, reviewing website content, and developing an overarching marketing strategy. (2)

6. Take care of your finances

Once you have launched and established your business, the next best thing you can do is take care of your finances. According to 2019 statistics, the failure rate of start-ups and small businesses is around 90% with finances cited as one of its reasons. (3)

Therefore, it’s crucial to track and manage your income and expenditure. Collect and analyse your financial information periodically to make more accurate projections on what your business can make in the future, including the directions it should take.

7. Aim for customer loyalty

If you meet the goal of attracting the right customers, then you’re on the right path. However, you may want to go beyond just attracting them to converting them into loyal customers.

For this to happen, it’s essential to always strive to be professional. You can do this by making sure that you have all your equipment items ready to go. Next, always make sure that there are no errors on any invoice or receipts you’re giving out. It may also help to create a customer service checklist and ensure all staff members have read and understood it. Lastly, regularly monitor your employees’ performance and find ways to keep them motivated. Ultimately, all these tips can help build customer loyalty. 

Bottom line

Now that you’re more knowledgeable about running a profitable commercial cleaning business, it’s up to you how to use this information for your business’ gain. But with persistent effort and proper planning, you’ll be able to find success and fulfillment in commercial cleaning as a business owner.

References:

(1) “The Art of Choosing the Right Name for Your Business” Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisoncoleman/2020/03/15/the-art-of-choosing-the-right-name-for-your-business/?sh=672172d42e9f

(2) “Building Online Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses” Source: https://moz.com/blog/small-business-marketing-strategies

(3) “How Many Start-ups Fail and Why?’ Source: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/040915/how-many-startups-fail-and-why.asp