Words of Advice from Commercial Cleaning Entrepreneurs

When Reddit users discuss their cleaning businesses online, they offer and ask for advice about one topic more than any other: how to find customers. You could have the best equipment, the most effective cleaning systems, and the most conscientious employees around, but your business won't make any money if you don't have clients.

Commercial Cleaning Entrepreneurs

How to get the word out:

Reddit cleaning company entrepreneurs seem to rely on a combination of cold calling, free online digital advertising, and networking.

Cold Calling:

• A Redditor called halfbare said, “Cold calling is your best resource. I had a residential/commercial cleaning business before I sold it. I called property management businesses and got lots of work cleaning commercial buildings and apartments in between residents moving in.”
  
  
• Another Redditor called Dallasmaids wrote, “My father and I operate a commercial janitorial service and it is VERY profitable in volume. In this type of business, cold calling is KING. Not Internet and not email. Person to person. Out of 25 buildings you go to, 1 might contract you.”
  
  
• The same user continued, “Get on the phone and cold call yourself, testing various scripts until you have one that produces appointments. You'll want to record how far each script gets you in the pitch, refining it until you have one that consistently produces appointments. Test. Test. Test.”
  
  
• The Janitorial Store's article, Cold Calling Success for Cleaning Companies says that cold calling can be a successful (and inexpensive) way to “market your business, make contacts with new prospects, build a database, and get referrals and leads.”
  
  

Free Online Advertising:

• Daviswbaer advised a user who was just starting out to invest time and energy on a Google My Business page: “If you are a local business, I would put 100% of your time into Google My Business early on. This is the easiest way to show up for local searches like ‘cleaners (town name)' or ‘cleaners near me.'”
  
  
• Another user urged “If you are not in the top 3 in the map pack, you need to be optimizing your GMB listing further. Get reviews, seed your own FAQ questions and answers, add good photos.”
  
  
• Several users stressed the importance of updating Google My Business posts regularly because some studies have proven higher rankings to result from frequent posts.
  
  
• If you are not familiar with Google My Business, you will find The Janitorial Store article Google My Business Page Setup and Optimization for Cleaning Companies extremely helpful.
  
  
• Rununcommon wrote, “Advertise to your friends on Facebook and ask them to share it...I bet some of them work in offices and their families probably do, too. Just throw a quick post up about how you're in the cleaning business if anyone is looking and yadda yadda yadda.”
  
  
• The Janitorial Store offers a course that is designed to walk members through the basics of using Facebook Advertising to grow your cleaning business and to explain how to get more targeted traffic and leads for your business.
  
  

Networking:

Many of the cleaning business owners on the EntrepreneurRideAlong subreddit were enthusiastic about the benefits of networking. For quick tips on how to network, watch our short video The Networking Vortex -- The Secret to Successful Networking. Another helpful article is Expand Your Network to Grow Your Commercial Cleaning Business.

• Joining local small business groups can be a great way of meeting new people and getting your name out there.
  
  
• The local Chamber of Commerce can be a useful resource.
  
  
• A Redditor called Leetstreet101, who owns a commercial cleaning company with revenue of 6K per month said, “Word of mouth has been my greatest friend.”
  
  
• Ricardo Funk, a Redditor with 300 clients and 12 employees, wrote that his company's top four sources for new clients are Facebook Ads, Google Local Services, cold calling, and networking.
  
  

How to make a business change cleaning companies:

Many Redditors mentioned the fact that commercial businesses often already have long-standing preexisting relationships with cleaning companies--some that have lasted for years. It can be difficult (and often impossible) to convince them to take a chance on your new business. For example:

• A user identified as Quleki said that he had hired and fired many cleaning contractors over the years in his capacity as a private and corporate dental practices manager. His advice was “Once we get someone in place, we like to leave things ‘as is' as long as the price is right and the quality is there. It's one of those things that we need to ‘just work.' So, I wouldn't get hopes up that these folks are going to just change ship suddenly. You will have to grind, grind, grind to get their attention (unless of course, they are already thinking of replacing their contractor).”
  
  
• Other Reddit users stated that they weren't visiting and selling to facility managers in the hopes that they would just magically switch cleaners but in order to establish a relationship. This way, if the current cleaners proved unsatisfactory and the business was ready to make a change, they would be the obvious next choice to reach out to.
  
  
• Another suggestion was to ask questions like “What is your biggest complaint about cleaning companies?” and to use this information to come back with a solution.
  
  
• Several cleaning company owners suggested proving your work ethic by returning to businesses on a regular basis, even if they weren't willing to switch. At this point, try asking the facility manager or owner to suggest 5 other companies that they thought might be interested in your services. It's like the old dating trick of asking the person you want to date (but who is coupled up) to introduce you to her friends!
  
  

Perseverance is key:

• As one cleaning company owner wrote, “Once I drop off a package to a business, they are now on the list. They will be contacted in some form or another every 4-8 weeks. The majority of the businesses I drop off information to are generally happy with their cleaners, that doesn't mean they aren't willing to keep me on file for future reference. Setting myself up to be next is all I'm looking to do.”
  
  
• A Reddit user called theabominablewonder had this to say: “Persevere! I work in Estates and half the time I get calls I'm busy and I'm too disorganized to file every cold caller's details. Those that persevere will generally at least get through for a chat eventually. I have reception screen my calls but when someone phones up for the tenth time she usually gets fed up and passes it to me to deal with.”
  
  
• It is important to note that NONE of the entrepreneurs posting advice suggested undercutting the competition. Yes, it is one thing to do a cost analysis and make an informed bid that happens to be lower than the competition, but it does not make sense to price your services so low that you will not make a profit.

You don't have to pore through thousands of Reddit posts to find advice and guidance as you start your commercial cleaning business. The Janitorial Store has all of the help and advice you need. Since 2005, more than 10,000 cleaning companies in over 70 countries have used The Janitorial Store's training and resources to start, operate, and grow their commercial cleaning businesses. We help commercial cleaning business owners build more successful companies. Please visit our website to view all of the membership benefits we offer, including multiple resources to help you target clients and price your janitorial services. 

Visit our Store for Certification Training Programs

Non-Member Price $147.00
Member Price $97.00