Episode 96: Owning a Successful Cleaning Business is NOT About Cleaning
I'm sure you've heard lots of people say that if you want to be successful in business you must have a passion for what you do. But how many people do you know that TRULY love to clean for a living? Sure, many people get satisfaction from taking a dirty space and making it shine. But is that satisfaction enough to make a successful cleaning business? Not quite.
Why do you think the success rate of new cleaning companies is so low?
Episode 96- Video Transcription
It takes a lot more than the love for cleaning or the hope that you can make a good living, to make a successful cleaning business. So if owning a successful cleaning business isn't about cleaning, then what's it about? In my opinion it's about three things - customer satisfaction, systems and consistency.
The most common claim made in our industry is "We provide quality cleaning services." It's a phrase that is so over-used, no one is going to believe you unless you can prove it. People have been let down time and time again by companies that make this promise. Most can deliver on it for a short period of time, but then the bottom drops out. And your client thinks to himself, "Here we go again!"
So if you want to avoid making promises you can't keep, then it's time to put some sort of documented process or written system in place that is engrained into the culture of your business and used every day by every employee. Your written systems will ensure that for every property you clean, the same tasks will be completed in the same order and using the same route through the property -- today, next week, and six months from now. And as long as you have a consistent training program in place, just about any properly trained employee can replace a missing employee without causing a major upset within that account. And these documented systems are for other areas of your business too, including hiring procedures, bookeeping procedures, marketing, phone answering and onboarding new clients, just to name a few.
When people talk about sytems, the typical example used is McDonalds. The key to McDonalds' success is certainly not their food; it's the speed and consistency with which they deliver their product. Of course there are many other things that contribute to McDonalds success, but they would never be able to deliver on all their successful marketing campaigns over the years had they not been fanatical about the systems they have in place to make sure the customers are satisfied.
When your cleaning company provides consistent services, your clients will continue to do business with you because they can count on you to deliver on the promises you make. If you want to ensure the success of your cleaning company, you might want to borrow a page from McDonalds by putting systems into place that will ensure you deliver consistent, "quality" service. THAT is what will lead to more customer satisfaction.
If you'd like to save yourself hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in time and money spend creating systems for your business, then be sure to check out the 6-CD Set, Standard Operating Procedures for Janitorial Companies.
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