How To Get More Clients For Your Cleaning Business Even If You're Brand New
By DAWN-MARIE NESBITT
There is a new cleaning business starting up everyday and with that, comes the daunting task of finding their first client.
In fact, most businesses have this problem and whilst there are so many ways to get started prospecting for your first client or next, if you want sustainability in your business, you need to keep in mind that you must have a sound and ongoing marketing strategy to help you get new clients and keep them. Doing so helps with sustainability and profitability.
I always believe that every business needs to focus on longevity, but I appreciate at the same time, that start up businesses need their first or tenth customer, to have some type of regular income, before they start setting up systems in their business to generate sustainability.
In this blog post, I am going to share with you ten effective ways that you can try, to get your first or next client for your cleaning business.
Once you have your first few clients and want to achieve business growth, consider my marketing strategy for sustainability, growth and profitability.
Leaflet Distribution
Because cleaning businesses are based on your geographical location, leaflet drops are one key way that you can implement as a start up to get your first client.
You can create professionally-designed leaflets with Canva or VistaPrint. I really like Canva because it is user-friendly and you get to design your leaflets for free, download them as a PDF, then print them at your local stationary shop.
If you want, you can also order your designed leaflets from Canva and they will deliver it to your home.
Whilst leaflet distribution is listed as my first recommendation, I do want to say, that it can also be hit or miss.
Whilst you may think that this is a great method to getting your name out there, consider having an effective strategy, for distributing the leaflets and following up with people who you shared your leaflets to.
To start, you may want to consider dropping leaflets through the letterboxes of your neighbourhood or local business owners like shops, beauty salons or grocers.
Keep in mind that you will not be the only person dropping leaflets in this way. There are so many other businesses who drop leaflets as you, so you are competing with several other businesses in different industries.
For example, in my letterbox I get over 10 leaflets from the pizza guy, from the charity shop, from the Chinese takeaway and what do I do with them? I don’t even look at the leaflet. I throw them away.
So how can you stand out?
Consider dropping leaflets more frequently. Perhaps several times every month, so that people start to remember the design of the leaflet and your name.
You may want to take it a bit further and speak to the owners of the homes or places where you drop the leaflet. Have a conversation with them and understand what their needs are. Gain feedback on the actual leaflet.
Not many people are willing to do this, because it’s time consuming or they may have a fear of speaking to people.
But if you do this often, it helps you stand out from other leaflet distributors.
Besides homeowners, consider approaching local letting agencies in your town or city. Here, you have to get out of your comfort zone. Instead of leaving leaflets in the lobby or with the receptionist, who are unlikely to do anything with them, other than pin them on their notice board, find out who is the decision maker of the local letting agency and have a meeting with them.
Once you have the meeting, follow up with them at least once a month. This helps to keep you top of mind.
Other business owners you can target include landlords, storage unit providers, pet shops or houses for sale.
As I mentioned before, leaflet distribution is hit or miss. Typically you can have a conversion rate of less than 1% as one cleaning business owner said, so make sure to take note of how much time and money you are spending on your marketing efforts here and what your return on investment is.
Local Newspaper
Another way you can get your first or next client is through your local newspaper.
Like leaflet distribution, advertising through your local newspaper may not be the most effective option, but it is still something you can try.
One thing you need to ask yourself, when choosing this method and before investing in it, is to ask yourself, whether your ideal clients read the local newspaper.
How do you find this out?
Well you can do some research. Check with local newspaper houses or spots that sell the papers and ask what type of people buy the papers.
Consider the demographics of the people who buy. Are they closely related to the demographics you want to target?
You can also contact some of the advertisers in the paper that you wish to advertise with and ask what type of response they got. But one thing that I must mention is, even if they do get great results, does not mean that you too will get similar results.
This is just a way for you to see if there is any potential to you getting results from this advertising effort.
Local Website Classifieds or Directories
Have you tried advertising or posting your details on local website listings such as Craigslist, Nextdoor, Local Directory or GumTree?
These local website classifieds and directories are still drivers of good traffic to your services and whilst it may take some effort and consistency to generate good leads, you can start putting together a good marketing strategy, to make sure you get the most out of these websites.
When using these sites, consider outbound reach. That is, where you contact prospects who have posted “Help Wanted” ads. You may also want to consider inbound reach. That is, where you post an ad and someone contacts you.
Here are some best practices when using these websites.
1. Your headline matters
Typically with local classifieds, your headline matters, since this is the first thing that a prospect sees, when your ad is shown.
Your headline will also generally prompt a response to your ad and cause more people to click on it. This is your first hurdle, getting people to click.
When writing your headline, it should be intriguing and arouse curiosity. Here are some things to think about when you write your headline:
- Does it offer an incentive to the reader for clicking through? Example, “A bonus is waiting for you when you use our cleaning services”
- Is there a sense of urgency in your headline that prompts immediate action? Example, “5 spots left for a huge discount on cleaning services”
- Does your headline trigger a strong, emotional reaction? Example, “Tired of your disorganised, messy rooms that leave you more drained every day?”
2. Use relevant keywords in your ads
Usually with sites like Craigslist and GumTree, your ad is triggered when a keyword is typed. Therefore make sure to use keywords in your text, that you think your prospect might search for.
3. Provide a link and contact details
Before someone uses the services that have been advertised, they are more than likely to do research on the business owner.
This is why it is so important to have an online presence that is in order, so that your prospect can find information about you.
A professional online presence, that has useful information, is helpful to the prospect and gives you a high likelihood of being contacted over your competitor who does not have an online presence.
If, as a cleaning company you are yet to have an online presence, then my article on Why Small Businesses Need A Website is a great starting point to understand the importance of it.
4. Post Often
It goes without saying, that marketing with local website classifieds has to be consistent. That’s because other people’s ads will continue to be added to the website, pushing your listing further to the bottom.
When you post often and within the regulations permitted by the site, you have a higher chance of being found by your prospects, because your ads are time relevant.
Networking Groups
This next option will require you to go out of your comfort zone and can be time consuming, but could also be rewarding.
Choose specific local networking events and show up there to connect with people in your local communities that are decision makers in companies which may need your services.
Does your local chamber of commerce have networking events?
That will be a great time to meet other business owners and network with them. The main thing you should understand with networking events, is that it is a long-term strategy to help you build a relationship with people that could open the door for a major cleaning contract.
So keep this in the back of your mind, if you’re someone who thinks outside of the box and sees the bigger picture.
Sponsored Events
Sponsoring a local charity event is another way that cleaning business start-ups can really stand out and command the attention of their local audience.
This is because when you do this, you get to borrow the audience of an institution that has authority and also a potentially large following.
One way to accomplish this effectively is, you can donate a complimentary office or house clean as a raffle prize.
Next you can post on your social media pages saying that “(Your company name) is pleased to support (Institution’s name)’s raffle this year. Don’t forget to go to the event at (date, time and place) and support our local community events”.
When you do this make sure that you tag the institution from your social media business page, taking advantage of the social media algorithm. That way when you tag the institution, your post also shows up on the newsfeed of their followers.
What a great way to get in front of more people right?
Collaboration
There are many different industry sectors that want to team up with cleaning companies and use them as their go-to cleaning professionals.
Some of these industry sectors include property management companies.
One way to find them is through internet research or you can use LinkedIn to find managers of property developments. Make sure and take their contact details and call or email the decision maker.
You don’t want to call or email anyone. Get specific contact details for the person who will actually make the decision whether they want to do business with you.
Keep a spreadsheet of who you contacted and when and always follow up with them. Once you have done outreach with several, you will begin to see a pattern where you will be able to determine, how many property managers you need to reach out to, to get a response.
Then you will know how many responses you need to get before you close a deal.
Some other ways you can get your foot through the door is by offering discounts on sign-ups to your services. If all goes well you can be signed as the preferred or exclusive cleaning company.
Word of Mouth
Word of mouth still goes a long way.
If you already have clients, before you end your cleaning job with them, ask them to recommend you to their friends, work colleagues or neighbours.
When using this method, be sure to make sure that there is something in it for them. For example, you may want to offer an incentive, such as a money-off on their next clean or even a percentage of the cleaning cost of the next person who they recommend.
If you are giving a percentage of the cost to the referrer, be sure to factor this into your price.
Google My Business
With the growth of the internet, it is so important for businesses to get online. One important tool that you can include in your business tool box is Google My Business.
A Google My Business listing, when properly optimised, allows you to get found by prospects who are looking for your services online.
If you have searched for any type of local business yourself, you will see at the top of the search results, appears several listings for different businesses near you.
This is a prime spot to have your business featured in this location since it allows your business to be effectively put in front of would-be customers; and it’s all free.
What can you do with Google My Business?
- You are able to update your profile
- Add your products and services
- Allow clients to post reviews which helps with the appeal of your business, when you can demonstrate to other prospects that you have provided a good service to other users. A better review profile improves the number of clicks you get on your listing.
- You can add regular posts, images or video content to help engage with your listing visitors
- You get Reports and Insights into how your business performed on Google search, giving you the opportunity to optimise for any missed opportunities. So insights like how many people visited your location from search, how many people visited your website, viewed the pictures or videos you posted or called you.
Once you have created your Google My Business account, it’s also important that you create a robust online presence, so that your prospects can see more of what you do.
The purpose with any strategy like this, is to help you stand out from your competitors.
You see, most businesses that start up, are often looking for quick-fix solutions. This path never works out because it always leads you to hustling for sales.
Instead a better solution is to create a strategy that sets you up for brand loyalty and ultimately growth.
Facebook Organic Posts
This next option includes posting on places like local Facebook groups and Facebook Marketplace.
Because there are so many other businesses doing the same like you, one way to stand out is to offer some giveaways. Maybe you can offer an extra carpet clean with a house clean?
Also you can search within these groups for instances of when people have posted for cleaning then directly on that post, include your link to your business website or Facebook page.
Another way to get more engagement on your posts, is to post helpful, valuable content that does not include any selling. For example, can you create any how-to posts on cleaning that you know concerns your target audience? Can you do a video on cleaning topics that you know will be helpful to your audience.
For example, 7 DIY Tips On How To Make Your Home Smell Fresh and Clean.
You see, not a lot of people will take these steps to grow their business, when in fact these are the exact measures you need to take to stand out, build trust, gain attention and grow your business.
Paid Advertising
Why not invest in Google Ads and Facebook Paid Advertising, to boost your visibility to an audience that may not know you exist yet.
With social media organic reach getting lower and the first page of Google being clogged with top-performing websites, advertising is an option that you may have to take, to get your business in front of the eyes of people who want your offer.
Google is actually the best platform to get in front of people who are searching for cleaning companies near them.
I would recommend using Facebook Ads if you’re looking to gain brand awareness and want to create a long -term strategy to get clients.
Remember, that social media marketing isn’t just about posting for sales. It’s about creating value and building relationships with the people who will one day want to work with us.
So there you go. You have 10 ways to get new business to your cleaning business. Choose which one is best for you, then consistently apply it every day.
What’s Your Strategy?
It really doesn’t matter what type of cleaning services you sell.
Being successful in the cleaning industry and with the overwhelming number of other cleaning businesses, there’s no room to compete.
Because if you compete, it will all come down to price – how low can you go and can you undercut that next cleaning business – and that’s not something you want to consider when trying to grow your cleaning business.
If you’re not visible in the cleaning market, no one will really know about you. And with tons of options out there, the only thing you can do is stand out so you become visible as an industry leader. When people know you, it means you can charge more, be more credible and be the go-to cleaning business.
Now this is certainly not a short-term strategy. You have to think long-term, if you want to build a sustainable and profitable cleaning business that will have a massive impact.
To learn how to do this you must have systems and processes in place.
I share those systems and processes in my 8-Step Marketing Blueprint For Small Businesses.
8-Step Marketing Blueprint
Want to attract more prospects, make more sales, and keep clients longer? Want sustainable and profitable business growth? Grab the FREE 8-Step Marketing Blueprint that helps you get fast growth ideas for your small business.