How To Start A Cleaning Service

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Updated: January 18th, 2023

You've stumbled upon the idea to build a cleaning service and now you're ready to take the next steps.

There's a lot to think about when building a business, so we put together a guide on how to get started, launch, grow and run your cleaning service.

We also provide you with real-life case studies and examples of founders running successful cleaning service (and how much💰 they're making today).

💡 Idea

Is the cleaning business for you?

Now more than ever, the cleaning industry plays a major role in keeping our homes, cities and environment safe.

As long as you're okay with getting your hands a little dirty, creating a cleaning business can be a highly profitable venture for you.

Let's look at the pros and cons of starting your own cleaning business:

Pros:

Flexibility One of the biggest advantages of starting a cleaning business is that you can either offer part-time or full-time services. If you like the work and have the experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. Or, if you prefer to manage the books and instead delegate work to someone else, you can build and manage your own team to do so.
Ability to start your business from home: It's not necessary to have an office space to get your business started! You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning!
Little experience required: As long as you meet the needs of your customers and do a thorough job, you can easily start a successful cleaning business
Little overhead + startup costs required: To get started, you only need a few essential items! We will go over this in more detail in the startup section below
Rewarding work!: If you're someone that enjoys cleaning (or the operation), starting a cleaning service can be really fun and rewarding.

Cons:

The physical work is not easy: No matter how hard you try, this part cannot be downplayed. The hours/work involved with cleaning a business or home is no walk in the park. If you plan to clean yourself, it's important to ensure that you are in physical and healthy shape to be doing this as supplies can be heavy and movements are not easy on your body.
Crowded space: There is a lot of competition when it comes to the cleaning industry, so it's important that you spend a good amount of time analyzing the market and demand in your area.
Motivation: If you plan to have a team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you incentivize your team properly and ensure that everyone is happy.

Creating a successful cleaning business means that you will have the ability to sell, provide stellar customer service, communicate with vendors and motivate your team (even if it's down the road)!

Players

Big Players

Small Players

Clean Lots $40K/month in revenue
Two Maids & A Mop $600K/month in revenue
Sandras Cleaning Service

What market do you choose?

There are two main markets in the cleaning industry

1 - Consumer/residential market (ie. homes, Airbnb accommodations).

Although residential cleaning makes up a smaller portion of the overall cleaning industry, the demand for contract cleaning in residential homes is looking to increase in 2020.

This is due to more households coming on the market in the next year and lack of time (and desire) for house-owners to clean their own homes.

2 - Commerical/ nonresidential market (typically targets businesses rather than consumers).

The commercial/nonresidential market accounts for 80% of cleaning service revenue, so there is typically more of a demand with this type of service as businesses have strict health codes and need to keep their facilities safe/clean for both customers and staff.

The type of market you pursue should, of course, depend on the demand in your local area and what competition looks like.

You may want to consider specializing in one of these markets, but know that it's common to offer both types of services so that you can easily expand your services to new customers and markets.

Market Opportunity

Currently, there are a lot of opportunities for growth within the cleaning industry.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that cleaning services will see a 10% growth in jobs through 2026, which is above the national average for all industries.

This spike in demand is due to COVID-19 and the spread of the virus. Proper and thorough cleaning has the ability to inactivate the virus.

Commercial and residential cleaners are better equipped to meet the proper standards, which has led to an increase in demand for these types of services.

Additionally, in order to meet these high-quality standards, cleaning services are able to charge more to ensure that expectations are met and the health and well-being of the client is in good hands.

Search Interest

Let's take a look at the search trends for cleaning service over the last year:

How To Name Your Cleaning Service

It's important to find a catchy name for your cleaning service so that you can stand out in your space.

Here are some general tips to consider when naming your cleaning service

Avoid hard to spell names: you want something easy to remember and easy to spell for your customers
Conduct a search to see if others in the space have the same name
Try not to pick a name that limits growth opportunities for your business (ie. if you decide to expand into other product lines)
As soon as you have an idea (or ideas) of a few names that you love, register the domain name(s) as soon as possible!

Why is naming your cleaning service so important?

The name of your business will forever play a role in:

Your customers first impression
Your businesses identity
The power behind the type of customer your brand attracts
If you're memorable or not

It's important to verify that the domain name is available for your cleaning service.

You can search domain availability here:

Find a domain starting at $0.88

Although .com names are the most common and easiest to remember, there are other options if your .com domain name is not available. Depending on your audience, it may not matter as much as you think.

It's also important to thoroughly check if social media handles are available.

As soon as you resonate with a name (or names), secure the domain and SM handles as soon as possible to ensure they don't get taken.

Here's some inspiration for naming your cleaning service:

Hot Mops check availability
Unblemished check availability
No Dust are Us check availability
Daisy Maids check availability
Lovely Housekeeping check availability
The Maid Company check availability
House Keep Up check availability
Squeaky Clean Maids check availability
Housekeep check availability
The Cleaning Fairy check availability
Township Cleaners check availability
Bippity Boppity Boo Cleaning Service check availability
Maid Pro check availability
Bonny Maid check availability
Sweet Dream Clean Team check availability
suds in the bucket check availability
Floor to Ceiling check availability
Dust Buddies check availability
Dust to Shine check availability
All Clean Services check availability
Spotless check availability
Sparkling Clean check availability
Sweeners Cleaners check availability
Maggie Maids Cleaning check availability
Cheers Cleaning Service check availability
Check Maid Cleaning check availability
Wicker Residential Cleaning check availability
Ever-Clean Maintenance check availability
True Shine check availability
You Have It Maid check availability
Perfect Clean check availability
Executive Cleanse Maintenance Services check availability
We’ve Got Maids! check availability
Flower Maid check availability
Fresh Start Office Cleaning check availability
Choice Janitorial check availability
Whisk Drive check availability
Washed Up Cleaning Service check availability
Dust Busters Cleaning Services check availability
Dust & Shine check availability
Ever-Clean check availability
Maid to Order check availability
Clifton Cleaners check availability
Top to Bottom Cleaning check availability
My Clean check availability
Pristine Clean check availability
Filth Fighters check availability
The Cleaning Bee check availability
Pure House Cleaning check availability
Today’s Maid Services check availability
Rags to Riches Cleaning Service check availability
Neat Services check availability
TipTop check availability
Sparkly Maid check availability
Supreme Klene check availability
Maid to Please check availability
Home Clean Home check availability
Klean Klub check availability
Specialty Coatings check availability
Happy House Cleaners check availability
Maid to Perfection check availability
Broom With A Clue check availability
The Dirty Spot check availability
Companion Maids check availability
Perfect Home Cleaning check availability
Shine Time Cleaning Services check availability
Pristine Cleaning check availability
Super Maids check availability
Mighty Maids check availability
Little Piggies check availability
Raggedy Ann’s Maid Service check availability
Scour Power Cleaning check availability
Dust Bunnies check availability
Lulu’s Cleaning check availability
Helping Hands check availability
Ecogenie Cleaning check availability
Power Bright Cleaning Services check availability
Housekeeper Plus check availability
In the Groove Cleaning Service check availability
Maxim Cleaning check availability
Detailed Cleaning check availability
Cleaning Dash check availability
Peachy Clean check availability
Home Sweet Home Cleaners check availability
Breathe Easy Commercial Cleaning check availability
After You Cleaning Service check availability
Ready-Maid Maintenance Services check availability
Clean Queen check availability
U HAVE IT MAID check availability
Sweeping Dimensions Cleaning Service check availability
Wall-2-Wall Cleaners check availability
Hands & Knees Professional Cleaning check availability
Fresh Tech Maid check availability
Comfy Mom check availability
Maid Brite check availability
Maid in Bliss check availability
Hags with Rags check availability
Married To The Mop check availability
Fantastic Cleaners check availability
Magic Rags check availability
Under the Rug Cleaners check availability
Maid in Home check availability
Green Maid check availability
Clean Conscience check availability
Maids and More check availability
My Housekeepers check availability
Dependable Cleaners check availability
The Gleam Team check availability
Shine on check availability
A New View Cleaners check availability
Minute Maids check availability
Krystal Clear Home Cleaning Service check availability
Maid Right check availability

Read our full guide on naming your cleaning service ➜

🎬 Start

Write a Business Plan

Writing a business plan from the start is critical for the success of your cleaning service.

Why?

Because this allows you to roadmap exactly what you do, what your overall structure will look like, and where you want to be in the future.

For many entrepreneurs, writing out the business plan helps validate their idea and decide whether or not they should move forward with starting the business.

You may want to consider expanding upon these sections in your business plan:

Executive Summary: Brief outline of your product, the market, and growth opportunities
Overviews and Objectives: Overview of your business, target customers, and what you need to run your business
Products and Services: Specifics on the products and services your business will provide
Market Opportunities: Analysis of customer demographics, buyer habits and if your product is in demand
Marketing: Outline of your marketing plan and how you plan to differentiate yourself from other customers
Competitive analysis: Analysis of your competition and the strengths and weaknesses therein
Operations: Hierarchal structure of the company and what it will take to run the business on the day-to-day
Leadership Team: Detailing roles and responsibilities of each manager based on their specific skill-set
Financial Analysis Understanding of all expenses, operating budgets, and projections for the future.

Learn more about how to write a business plan here

Setting Up Your Cleaning Service (Formation and Legal)

When it comes to setting up your business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some financial and legal decisions.

The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether you want to be an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp.

These three options are found to be the most common when starting a small business, and all serve to protect your personal assets and also provide you with certain tax benefits.

LLC: All income and expenses from the business are reported on the LLC personal income tax return.
S corp: Owners pay themselves salaries + receive dividends from profits.
C Corp: C Corps are separately taxable entities that file a corporate tax return (Form 1120). No income tax is paid at the corporate level and any tax due is paid at the owners individual expense.

Depending on where you're conducting business, you'll also want to consider securing the proper permits, licenses and liability insurance.

Learn more about securing the right permits and licenses ➜

Need to start an LLC? Create an LLC in minutes with ZenBusiness.

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Cleaning Service

If you are planning to start a cleaning service, the costs are relatively low. This, of course, depends on if you decide to start the business with lean expenses or bringing in a large team and spending more money.

We’ve outlined two common scenarios for “pre-opening” costs of starting a cleaning service and outline the costs you should expect for each:

The estimated minimum starting cost = $62
The estimated maximum starting cost = $35,923

Startup Expenses: Average expenses incurred when starting a cleaning service.	Min Startup Costs: You plan to execute on your own. You’re able to work from home with minimal costs.	Max Startup Costs: You have started with 1+ other team members.
Employee & Freelancer Expenses
Payroll Costs & Fees: Payroll cost means the expense of paying your employees, which includes salaries, wages, and other benefits. This number depends on if you decide to pay yourself a salary upfront and how many employees you have on payroll. At first, many founders take on all responsibilities until the business is up and running. You can always hire down the road when you understand where you need help. Keep in mind, if you do plan to pay yourself, the average salary founders make is $50K.	$150	$250
Employee Hiring Expenses: Apart from payroll and benefits, there are other hiring employees costs. This includes the cost to advertise the job, the time it takes to interview candidates, and any other turnover that may result from hiring the wrong candidate.	$1	$2
Total Employee & Freelancer Expenses	$151 (min)	$252 (max)
Website Costs
Website Builder: The cost of your website will vary depending on which platform you choose. There are many website builders on the market, so it's important you choose the right one for your business and overall goals. To learn more about your options + how to build a great website, check out this article.	$10	$500
Web Designer: Web design includes several different aspects, including webpage layout, content creation, and design elements.If you have the skills and knowledge to design your website on your own, then outsourcing this to an expert may not be necessary. There are plenty of other ways you can design a beautiful website using design tools and software.	$200	$6,000
Domain Name: Your domain name is the URL and name of your website - this is how internet users find you and your website.Domain names are extremely important and should match your company name and brand. This makes it easier for customers to remember you and return to your website.	$12	$200
Business Email Hosting Service: An email hosting runs a dedicated email server. Once you have your domain name, you can set up email accounts for each user on your team. The most common email hosts are G Suite and Microsoft 365 Suite. The number of email accounts you set up will determine the monthly cost breakdown.	$1	$15
Website Hosting Costs: Server hosting is an IT service typically offered by a cloud service provider that hosts the website information and allows remote access through the internet. A hosted server can help you scale up and increase your business’s efficacy, relieving you from the hassles of on-premise operations.	$0	$300
Total Website Costs	$223 (min)	$7,015 (max)
Business Formation Fees
Small Business Insurance: Depending on which state you live in and the business you're operating, the costs and requirements for small business insurance vary. You can learn more here.	$500	$2,000
Permit and License Fees: Depending on your industry, there are certain licenses and permits you may need in order to comply with state, local, and federal regulations. Here is an article that goes over all the permits and licenses you may need for your cleaning service.	$50	$700
Lawyer Fees: Although you may want to avoid attorney fees, it's important that your business (and you) are covered at all costs. This comes into play when creating founder agreements, setting up your business legal structure, and of course, any unforeseen circumstances that may happen when dealing with customers or other businesses.	$0	$1,500
Set up business: LLC & Corporations: The first step in setting up your business is deciding whether your business is an LLC, S Corp or C Corp. The cost for this depends on which state you form your business and which structure you decide on. We put together an article that goes over the 10 Steps To Setting Up A Business.	$50	$500
Total Business Formation Fees	$600 (min)	$4,700 (max)
Vehicle Expenses
Mode of Transporation: For your cleaning service you'll need to rent or purchase an operating vehicle such as a van, vessel, RV, or enclosed trailer.	$0	$10,000
Total Vehicle Expenses	$0 (min)	$10,000 (max)
Retail Business Expenses
Utilities (storefront business): This refers to the cost of monthly utilities for your storefront location, which is typically based on a per-square-footage rate.	$0	$1,000
Building improvements and remodeling: If you plan to operate a physical location, you may find yourself dealing with building improvements and remodeling costs. Even if these costs are minimal, this is something to consider when renting/buying a physical location.	$0	$950
Storefront Property Rent: This refers to the storefront space you rent or buy for your business. The cost depends largely on the city and the size of the space. Keep in mind that other costs may be involved with your base rent and your lease will define additional expenses you are responsible for.	$1,250	$3,500
POS System: Gone are the days of cash registers! Many businesses now use point-of-sale systems for their checkout needs and to track sales and inventory. Here is a list of the best POS systems for small businesses!	$0	$1,200
Total Retail Business Expenses	$1,250 (min)	$6,650 (max)
Advertising & Marketing Costs
Business Cards: A cleaning service involves quite a bit of customer interaction, whether that is attending tradeshows, sales calls or simply having face to face interaction with prospective clients. Business cards are a great way to stay front of mind with your clients.	$0	$50
Business Signage: Business signs let people know they're in the right place and are one of the first impressions your customer will have of your business.The cost for signage depends on a variety of elements:- material- size- number of colors- durability- installation and laborThere are plenty of design tools and software to create your own signs, or you can hire a sign business to do this for you.	$75	$2,486
Direct Campaigns, Printing and Mailing: Although it may sound old-school, traditional marketing methods can be a cost-effective way to drive awareness for your brand. This includes flyers, postcards, sales letters, coupons, special offers, catalogs and brochures.	$0	$300
Press: If your business and story is unique enough, press and media attention may come to you, but odds are, you may need to do your own outreach and budget for this. We put together a guide here that discusses different press opportunities (both free and paid).	$0	$500
Google Ads: With Google Ads you have the ability to control how much you spend by simply setting a monthly budget cap. Additionally, with these ads you only pay for results, such as clicks to your website or phone calls! It's okay to start with a small budget at first and make changes accordingly if you see valuable returns.	$0	$300
Facebook & Instagram Ads: With Facebook and Instagram ads, you set your budget and pay for the actions you want (whether that be impressions, conversions, etc).You can learn more about pricing based on your impressions here.	$0	$350
Total Advertising & Marketing Costs	$75 (min)	$3,986 (max)
Software Expenses
Email marketing tool: If you plan to grow your email list and email marketing efforts, you may want to consider investing in an email marketing platform (ie. Klaviyo, MailChimp). We put together a detailed guide on all of the email marketing tools out there + the pricing models for each one here.	$0	$100
IT Support: IT support installs and configures hardware and software and solves any technical issues that may arise.IT support can be used internally or for your customers experiencing issues with your product/service.There are a variety of tools and software you can use to help with any technical issues you or your customers are experiencing. This is a great option for businesses that do not have the means to hire a team of professionals.	$150	$2,000
Accounting & Invoicing Software: It's important to have an accounting system and process in place to manage financials, reporting, planning and tax preparation. Here are the 30 best accounting tools for small businesses.	$0	$50
CRM Software: CRM (customer relationship management) software system is used to track and analyze your company’s interactions with clients and prospects. Although this is not a necessary tool to have for your business, implementing this, in the beginning, may set your business up for success and save you valuable time.	$12	$300
Internal Communication Tool: If you plan to have multiple members on your team, you may want to consider an instant message tool such as Slack or Telegram. The cost is usually billed per month (approx $5/user/month) or there are freemium versions available on many platforms.	$0	$20
Social Media Management Tools: If you plan to do social media marketing for your cleaning service, you should consider investing in a social media automation or publishing tool. This will save you time and allow you to track performance and engagement for your posts. Here is a list of 28 best social media tools for your small business.	$0	$50
Payroll Software: The main purpose of payroll software is to help you pay your team and track each of those payments (so that you don't have to do it manually). If you do not have any employees or have a very small team, payroll software may not be necessary at this stage. Here are the 11 best payroll tools for small businesses!	$0	$200
Total Software Expenses	$162 (min)	$2,720 (max)
Office Space Expenses
WiFi & Internet: Whether you work from home or in an office space, WiFi is essential. Although the cost is minimal in most cases, it should be appropriately budgeted for each month!	$0	$100
Total Office Space Expenses	$0 (min)	$100 (max)
Specific Industry Expenses
Handyman Tools: To start your cleaning service, you will need to have the essential tools to bring to each job. Here's a list of tools to get you started - you may find that you already have these in your tool-kit or garage!	$0	$500
Total Specific Industry Expenses	$0 (min)	$500 (max)
Total Starting Costs	$62 (min)	$35,923 (max)

Raising Money

Since the startup costs to start cleaning service range between $62 - $35,923, there are ways you can raise money to cover these costs.

Here are a few ways you can secure additional funding:

Launch your product on Kickstarter
Raise capital by asking friends and family
Apply for a loan
Find an investor!

Ron Holt, founder of Two Maids & A Mop ($600K/Month) talks about how he raised a random goal of $150K to start his cleaning business:

I made a decision to start a business right then and there. Only one big issue: I had no money. So I created a completely random goal to save $150K before starting the business. I had less than $1K in my bank account at the time,

I sat down and created a plan of attack to save money at all costs, take second jobs on the weekends/evenings, have side hustles to generate extra cash and to completely crush corporate America in hopes of promotions and pay raises.

My solution was to simply save $330 every single week for the next eight years. That’s nearly $140K if you’re counting at home. I felt my keen investing skills could get me over the finish line with a little help from compound interest.

How Much Should You Expect To Make?

Hourly rates

Depending on the type of service you are providing, the hourly costs range anywhere from $20-$75 per hour.

Here's how this typically breaks down (on average):

Carpet cleaning: $25-$75 per hour
Window cleaning: $50-75 per hour or $7-$10 per window
House cleaning: Flat rate of $90-$150 or $25-$75 per cleaner (depends on the size of home)
Commercial cleaning (ie. businesses): $20-$30 per hour, per cleaner or 5-55c per square foot.
Commercial litter cleaning service: $20-$50 per hour

Revenue numbers

Two Maids & A Mop

$600K/month in revenue
500 employees
Serves 82 markets across the country
Cleans 400 homes per year

Clean Lots

$40K/month
1 employee
Startup cost of $250
Serves 150 properties
Bills out $500,000 per year in litter cleaning work

🚀 Launch

Ron Holt, founder of Two Maids & A Mop explains the importance of community when launching:

Traditional Launch Strategies For Your Cleaning Service:

There are various different ways you can launch your cleaning service successfully.

Here are a few different strategies to get customers excited about your cleaning service:

Set up a Facebook page for your business. This is a great way to establish an online presence
Host an event in a fun location with drinks & food. This is a great way to get exposure in the local community.
Get Press! Pitch your story to the media and you may just land in an amazing publication
Live sales to get customers excited
Send a hand-written letter in the mail with a discount on your services to the local community/neighborhoods.

I focused on local marketing and tried to interact with anyone and everyone within the community.
I scoured the local area for meetup and networking groups.
I used my evenings and weekends to drop off door hangers on thousands of doors, all by myself.
I connected with every real estate agent and provided them with a free cleaning, no strings attached.
I even went so far as to offer a free house cleaning to anyone that would invite 10 of their closest friends over for an afternoon cocktail.

Think of those afternoon cocktail sessions as the house cleaning version of a Tupperware party. I’d answer questions about cleaning, provide a bunch of free booze and everyone would be booking us by the end of the party. I was talking to anyone that would listen to me and using my people skills to my advantage.

Build A Website

Building a website is imperative when launching your business, and with the right tools in place, this can be a simple task to check off the list (without having to hire someone).

Pick a domain name that's easy to remember and easy to type
Choose a Web Hosting Plan (ie. Shopify, Squarespace)
Make sure you choose the right theme and design
Implement the proper page structure (ie. about page, contact page, pricing etc)

To learn more about how to build a stellar website with little stress, we give you all the details on this step-by-step guide.

📈 Grow

Improve your SEO

SEO is not just about driving traffic to your site, it's about driving the RIGHT traffic to your site, and ultimately, converting leads into customers.

One of the most important aspects of SEO is understanding what your customers are searching for, otherwise known as "keyword research."

Here are some tools that can help you choose the right keywords for your cleaning service.

Google Ads Keyword Planner invaluable for discovering search trends.
Google Search Console is very helpful once your website is up as it shows you what words/phrases are generating traffic.
Ahrefs and SEMRush are paid tools that allow you to look at results of your competitor's website.

Publish Great Content

Finding keywords is an important piece of the puzzle, but Google also ranks your site based on the actual content you produce, as this is what your customers are reading and engaging with.

There are various different "forms" of content that you may want to consider diversifying on your sites, such as blog posts, articles, studies, and videos.

So let's discuss what google considers "good content:"

Length - This will vary depending on the page, however, generally having a sufficient amount of content helps search engines recognize that your site is a good source for a specific topic
Engagement - The longer people stay on your website to read your content, the higher Google will rank your website. It's important to have informative and "thick" content that keeps people reading
Avoid Duplicating Content - Google will recognize this and may consider your content to have low value
Ensure pages load quickly - This will also help with engagement and time spent on your website
Shareability - Create content that people want to share, and is easy for them to share, especially to their social media accounts (ie. "click to tweet" is a great example of this).

Another element of creating good content is creating consistent content.

If (and hopefully you are) publishing content frequently, it's important to stick to a schedule - this helps build brand trust and easy user experience with your customers.

Planning out your content with a content calendar is key to staying consistent.

Here are a few great content calendar tools that can help you:

Trello
Airtable
If you prefer to keep it simple, your average spreadsheet is just as useful!

Backlinks

Backlinks are an important piece to SEO, as they allow for other websites to link to your content.

Search engines recognize that other sites are essentially "verifying" your content and essentially rank you higher because of this.

Of course, some links are more valuable than others and can affect your site in different ways.

For example, if a highly valuable and credible site like the New York Times links to a page on your website, this could be remarkable from an SEO perspective.

Aside from organically getting mentioned from other sites, there are other ways that you can increase and earn backlinks:

Create infographics with relevant data that people want to share
Promote your content on different sites/look into "guest blogging"
Contact influencers/journalists/bloggers and ask them to mention you!
Write testimonials for other sites in exchange for a backlink
Leverage existing business relationships

Learn more about the fundamentals of SEO ➜ here and check out Neil Patel's 3 Powerful SEO Tips below

The idea of earning a website visitor without having to pay for it seemed attractive. We compete in an old-school industry, so I was able to master the art of local SEO without having to earn a master’s degree.

SEO was driving so much traffic to the consumer sites, and we’ve used those early days to truly master the art of SEO today. We perform SEO work for all of our franchisees, at no cost to them.

Social Media Advertising is one of the leading ways to get the word out when it comes to cleaning service.

There are various different Social Media platforms available to you. Some may be more critical for your marketing efforts than others, however, it's important to have an understanding of what's out there and available to you.

Let's talk about a few of the main platforms and what makes them unique:

Facebook Advertising - more than 2 billion monthly users. Facebook is the best for lead generation + capturing email addresses for e-commerce businesses.
Instagram Advertising - approximately 500 million monthly users and has a higher audience engagement rate than any other platform. Instagram ads are best for linking to a product page or landing page and reaches the 18-29 age group most effectively.
Twitter Advertising- Small businesses typically use twitter ads to drive brand awareness, but the platform is meant more for organic engagement (and is not as heavily used for paid advertising)
Pinterest Advertising - 175 million monthly users and most effectively reaches the female audience. Pinterest is great for promoting products without "promoted". The promoted pins have a way of blending right in.
LinkedIn Advertising - 227 million monthly users and is geared towards the B2B market and generates the highest quality leads. Great platform for recruiters, high-end products and services that will help businesses

It's important to first define your goal/objective so that you don't waste time and money into the wrong platform:

Here are some different questions to ask yourself as it relates to your goals:

Do I want to simply drive brand awareness?
Do I want to drive users to my website to gather information?
Do I want to increase sales and get my customer to take action?

From there, choose the platform that targets your audience best and start experimenting!

Learn more about social media advertising ➜ here.

Build a Referral Program

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get the word out about your business and acquire new customers. Especially when you are starting out, it’s important to build a solid referral program to encourage existing customers to help you find new ones.

A great way to do that is by offering a reward (ie. credit on your service or cash) to customers that refer you to their friends and family.

A fantastic referral program will help with clout, credibility, and establishing yourself in the space.

Here's a great example of a referral program from Lilly's Cleaning Service.

A great incentive for the customer to refer business
Simple, easy transaction
The reward is applied after the third cleaning, so you are guaranteed to have a new consistent customer out of the referral (vs just a one time cleaning).

Diversify Your Product Line

Adding new products to your business is a great way to expand into new markets and grow your business.

It's important to note that adding new products and diversifying may not be in the cards for you right this moment, and that's okay. You can always consider it down the road.

Here are some reasons you may want to considering adding/diversifying your product

Meeting the needs of your customers
Establish yourself as a top provider in your industry and stay ahead of the game with competition
Resistance to downturns/trends fading
Create new revenue streams

While it's important to specialize and be the best at one thing, there may be opportunity to offer new services (as long as it makes sense for your business).

There are several different ways you can expand your services in the cleaning industry:

Expand your offering to other markets (ie. residential, non-residential)
Offer lawn care services
Party/event cleaning services
Offer cooking services or additional help around the house (this concept is more common outside the U.S

Brian Winch, founder of Clean Lots explains the importance of offering new services, but not to the extent of hurting your reputation:

You can specialize and be the very best at one thing (product or service), and develop related products or services. But don’t stray too far from your core.

Early on we had a couple of clients ask us if we could provide other services such as snow removal and lawn care.

We obliged fearing we would lose them if we didn’t. We found that the service hours didn’t mesh, we didn’t enjoy this other work and didn’t do as good a job. We stopped the extra work and lost only one client. Don’t risk your reputation.

🏃🏼‍♀️ Run

How To Retain Customers For Your Cleaning Service

Retaining customers is one of the most effective ways to grow your cleaning service.

Oftentimes, it's easy to find yourself focusing on generating new customers, vs retaining your current ones.

Look at it this way - you are 60-70% more likely to sell a new product to an existing customer than you are a new customer.

That's not to say that finding new customers and revenue streams is not important, however, the easiest (and most inexpensive) source of new revenue is right there in front of you.

Here are some ways you can retain customers for your cleaning service:

Responding to comments on social media
Send discounts (or freebies) to loyal customers
Provide valuable content, for free
Write a hand written thank you note
Provide awesome customer service and build relationships with customers

To find out more tips and tricks on retaining customers, check out this article ➜ here

Brian Winch describes how he builds relationships with clients, and as a result, gets referral business:

Referrals are a result of satisfied clients.

Offer extra value over what you do. We act as an “extra set of eyes” for our clients.

We notify them of any property damage, burned out lights, graffiti or illegally dumped items such as mattresses and sofas the first opportunity to do so when we’re on-site cleaning. This helps build and cement a relationship. Who do you think they’ll call when they need someone to clean their other properties? We’ve had some clients for up to 30 years!

Differentiate Your Brand From The Rest

There's a lot of competition within the cleaning industry. It's important to do your research and identify ** what others aren't doing** and capitalize on that thing.

The perfect example is when the founder of Two Maids & A Mop created a plan that allowed customer feedback to directly control employee wages.

It sounds crazy, but at the end of the day, their phone lines were blowing up and their employees were happier than ever.

Here's how it works:

Basically, a customer rates their level of satisfaction on a simple scale from 1-10, and we use that rating to determine the employee’s compensation level.

There was some initial shock to the system within the two offices, but everyone became excited once the first paychecks were printed.

We started using the pay for performance plan as a sales tool. We talked about it every time someone called for a quote and always led with it during in-home estimates. People started to eat it up, and we quickly started to grow even faster than before.

There would never be another time in the future when we didn’t talk about the compensation plan. It would become part of us, no different than our own business name.

Outsourcing

If you can afford to hire someone to help support your cleaning service, outsourcing is a great way to save you time and energy.

Most importantly, outsourcing can help you focus on the core growth of your business, versus spending your time on day to day tasks that other people can do just as well!

If you do plan to outsource your work, it's important to be hyper-familiar with the actual work involved.

Why is it important to be hyper-familiar with the work?

So you can understand how long it takes
So you understand the full process, edge cases, things that can go wrong.
So you can explain it in detail to your employee.
So you can make sure it actually works (for example - how do you know cold email works for your business if you’re not on the ground floor trying it out?)
Understanding the tasks at a deep level will save you a lot of time and money.

Tools to get started:

As a cleaning service, there are some tools and platforms you may want to consider when getting started:

Reviews tools such as Yelp
Accounting tools such as Quickbooks
Blog tools such as Squarespace
Seo tools such as Ahrefs
Other tools such as Gusto or Workwave

Resources

Books

Website/Videos

Case Studies

Part of

Starting A Cleaning Service: Everything You Need To Know

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meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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