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Welcome to Volume II of the Clean Team Catalog Newsletter for housecleaning professionals. This month we're sharing our 8 best tips for marketing your house cleaning business. These suggestsions work for us and hundreds of our clients. But we want to hear from you, too. What's working for you? Share your tips with us at jeff@thecleanteam.com. Tell us how you've learned to be a better marketer -- and we'll share them with the rest of our readers in next month's Newsletter. Also be sure to check out the story on our FREE national referral service program -- an invaluable asset for new and expanding house cleaning businesses.
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How to Market Your Housecleaning Business
8 Steps to Landing New Customers
Customers are the backbone of any housecleaning business. You know that. But do you know how to land them? This question is particularly vexing if you've just launched your company, since word-of-mouth is the #1 most effective marketing tool for house cleaners. Even if you don't have word-of-mouth working for you yet, here are eight essential marketing practices for any new (or expanding) house cleaning company.
1. Study the market. Like real estate agents say, it's all about "Location! Location! Location!" If your customers are spread out all over town, you may spend more of your day driving between houses than cleaning them. And since you don't get paid to drive, your best bet is to focus on a geographically contiguous area. The families that are most likely to be interested in your services earn at least $50,000/year. Aim for those with two household incomes, since according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, eight out of 10 dual-earning families hire some type of outside cleaning service. Plan to target 500 families/homes in your initial launch.
2. Brand yourself. Nike tells you to "Just Do It". McDonald's reminds you that "You deserve a break today." Your cleaning business also needs a recognizable slogan. If you're drawing a blank, focus on the benefit that your company can provide to your customers. The Clean Team's slogan, "Your Weekends Weren't Made for Housework", quickly gets to the heart of the matter. It piques enough interest to get potential clients reading the rest of the ad - and hopefully making a phone call.
Another suggestion is to pick a slogan that differentiates yourself from your competitors (without putting them down). Perhaps your target market is environmentally aware - which you know, since on recycling Tuesday, almost every house puts out a full bin of paper, plastic and glass. Your house cleaning business can appeal to this eco-consciousness with the slogan "Clean Green: Because both matter to you!" (Just make sure, of course, that your products truly are "green".)
3. Create an ad campaign. For a three-week marketing blitz, plan a two-part campaign that reaches people in their homes. Start with a mailed postcard, and then follow-up with door-hangers. You can order your marketing products from TheCleanTeam.com or your local printer. Either way, be sure that your cards will be ready to mail the first week of your campaign and that your door-hangers will be finished by the second week.
4. Get a customer mailing list. You've already chosen your target area (Step 1) and had postcards printed up (Step 3). Now all you need to do is address them. That's where a customer mailing list comes in. The public library is a good first stop. You can find street directories, with the names and addresses of families in your target neighborhood. Another option is list brokers. Check the Yellow Pages for direct mail advertising or contact a local ad agency for a recommendation. Whether you pay for a list or sleuth it out at the library, be sure to get recent information. Lists older than six months will result in a lot of undeliverable mail - a waste of your time and money.
5. Go virtual. While you're plastering your target market with printed materials, strongly consider having a web presence as well (hosting costs as little as $10/month). Many busy household decision-makers will Google for information rather than crack open a phone book. They might look up "house cleaner" + "your local area". Or better yet, they'll type in the URL you featured prominently on your printed postcards and door-hangers. Either way, if you're on the web, your potential customers have a better shot at finding you.
6. Take out local ads. Two good sources to consider are your local paper and the Yellow Pages. If either covers a large geographic area, however, you won't get much bang for your buck. Instead, take advantage of the free business listing with the phone book. And send a press release to the business section of your newspaper, which may feature your company in a story about local entrepreneurship.
7. Incentivize your services. Pricing is tricky. If you go too high, you're priced out of the market. Estimate too low and you devalue your service. This delicate balance is further complicated when you try to pre-calculate future costs like hiring new employees as your business grows. In general, offering regular discounts is not a good idea, since it can give the impression that your services aren't in demand. However, if you are just starting out or you are seeking an injection of new clients, a "limited time offer" price promotion can help motivate on-the-fence customers.
Another great way to use discounts as a marketing tool is through referrals. Offer your current customers a "signing bonus" if they refer you to friends and family who become weekly or bi-weekly customers. Thank the referrer by cleaning for free the next time you're at their house.
8. Network. If you don't yet have a cache of customers to spread the word about your great work, start networking with other professionals in your area. Talk to real estate agents: Give them a dozen of your business cards and ask them to include your postcard in their new homeowner folders. Get chummy with the local welcoming organization and the chamber of commerce. If there's a local bakery or coffee shop in your area, ask to hang up a flyer on their bulletin board. Do the same at beauty shops and dry cleaners, too.
By implementing these eight practical suggestions, you should be able to land a number of new customers in the three weeks of this marketing plan. That's a great start for your new business -- but you're not done marketing yet! Just like staff training and equipment maintenance, continual marketing is essential to your long-term profitability.
For more on how to market your house cleaning company (and everything else you need to know, too), check out Jeff Campbell's Complete Guide to Success in the Housecleaning Business.
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FREE National Referral Program
Helping You Find G.R.E.A.T. Customers
Whether you are a two-person team in Tulsa or a thirty-person operation in Orlando, your success is dependent on your customers. So why not pick great ones? Or G.R.E.A.T. ones, as Jeff Campbell would say.
"G" is for Geographically Desirable
A long commute equals lost profits. Stay focused on one geographic area and you'll be in the black.
"R" is for Regular
Regular clients are those that hire you to clean weekly or bi-weekly.
"E" is for Energetic
Energetic people are busy people. They'd rather enjoy their weekend than spend it cleaning.
"A" is for Always
Always customers are reliable. They remember to leave your check on the counter and recommend you to their friends.
"T" is for Treating You Like a Professional
You provide a valuable professional service. G.R.E.A.T. customers realize this -- and respect you for it.
G.R.E.A.T. customers also rely on personal recommendations when choosing a house cleaning professional. That's why the Clean Team offers you -- our valued professional clients -- a FREE national referral program. Clients from TheCleanTeam.com or the Clean Team catalog tell us their zip code, and we tell them the name of the house cleaning company in their area. It's that simple. All you have to do to get referred is be one of our professional customers. | |
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The Clean Team Catalog for Professionals Only looks forward to hearing from you. Share your best marketing tips or join our national referral program by visiting us at www.thecleanteampro.com.
Sincerely,
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Jeff Campbell
The Clean Team Catalog |
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April 17, 2008 
