As a professional cleaner, you can work your own hours and make extra money while providing a valuable service that people need.
To get your business started, you need the right marketing approach.
We all know that word of mouth is one of the best ways to get clients for cleaning businesses.
But what other methods should you use? It’s all about finding the right blend of marketing strategies—online and off.
With competition in the industry fiercer than ever, understanding how to properly market and advertise your services is key. For example, the number of janitorial businesses in the US has grown 3.6% per year on average over the five years between 2018 and 2023.
Getting new clients isn’t just about advertising. It’s also about building relationships and establishing trust with potential customers.
You’ll need to think outside the box. In this article, we’ll discuss how to get customers for cleaning businesses and where and how to market your services.
Tips To Get Your First Client
Starting a cleaning business can be an exciting venture. If you’re wondering how to find clients for cleaning businesses that are just starting out, you’re in the right place.
With any new business, one of the biggest challenges is landing your first client. Without a track record, it can be difficult to convince people to trust you with their cleaning needs.
Let’s answer the question that brought you here: “How to get clients for my cleaning business?”
Select A Service Niche
By specializing in one type of cleaning, you can set yourself apart from the competition. There are many different types of cleaning services that you can offer, including:
- Residential or commercial cleaning services
- Deep cleaning services
- Eco-friendly green cleaning options
- Carpet cleansing and upholstery care
- Spring cleaning packages
- Post-construction clean-up jobs
- Janitorial services
- Maid services.
Focusing on a single type of service makes it easier for your marketing efforts. It makes your company stand out to customers who are looking for a very specific service. Remember, niches work because when you try to cater to everyone, you’ll end up getting lost in the sea of so many different companies providing the same thing.
Here’s an example of why niching works:
Say you’re a cleaning business that offers maid services, spring cleaning packages, carpet cleansing, and eco-friendly cleaning. Imagine a prospective customer who wants a spring cleaning package only. They’re tossing up between two companies: one that specializes in spring cleaning, and then yours. Remember, yours doesn’t specialize in anything but offers spring cleaning as one of the many services… Who do you think they will choose? Of course, they’d be most likely to choose the specialized company. This is because they would trust that if a company is specializing in spring cleaning, they must be very good at it.
Here are a few more things to look at to select your niche:
- Market demand: Look at the cleaning services that are in high demand in your area. If carpet cleaning isn’t showing up in many search results, consider this niche. You want to fill the demand.
- Competition: Check out your competition to see what types of cleaning services they offer. Focus on a niche that isn’t already being handled by other cleaners in your location.
Once you’ve chosen a niche for your service, emphasize it in your marketing and advertising. Focus on the fact that this is your area of expertise, and double down on that.
Define Your Ideal Clients
Research what types of customers are out there. An ideal customer is someone who values your services and is willing to pay what you charge. Cleaning businesses always prefer return customers, since they are already familiar with the spaces and the cleaning procedures in places they’ve been to prefer. So most cleaning service businesses would have an ideal customer that is looking for regular cleaning (weekly or bi-weekly).
Individual homeowners or office managers in charge of the upkeep of commercial space make ideal clients. These clients may need more frequent visits because they have more foot traffic or because they have higher standards for cleanliness.
Local Promotions To Get Clients For Cleaning Business
Local advertising and promotion are essential to get new clients for cleaning businesses. Use local resources, like newspapers, radio stations, and websites. These will help you spread the word about your services in order to get the most exposure.
Local promotional opportunities like community festivals and farmer’s markets are also ideal. By bringing flyers or information tables to these events, you can easily connect with prospects and tell them about your services.
Placing ads on local TV or radio stations is another great way to reach prospective clients in the area. Make sure that you create content that is tailored to the interests of your target audience. By doing this, you can gain their attention quickly and effectively.
Detailed Proposal To Leads
You can land leads for your cleaning business with a detailed proposal that showcases your expertise, professionalism, and the value you can offer. A well-written proposal makes clear and convincing points about your services, processes, and prices.
A detailed proposal can also help set you apart from your competitors and build credibility with potential clients. This, in turn, can increase the likelihood of them choosing your services. Many cleaning companies aren’t providing in-depth information about their services, and with a lack of information, people turn away. The effort of making a call and asking all of these questions is enough to have a potential customer want to search for another company that has those answers on their site.
Deliver Amazing Service
Another great way to get clients for cleaning businesses is to deliver an amazing service. Customers will appreciate and remember quality service, and that can often be enough to make them come back for more. Also, word-of-mouth marketing is fantastic, since you don’t have to pay for those new leads. You’re getting these new people simply because your service is so good that they rave about it.
All of your staff members should be well-trained and know how to serve customers in a professional way. This tells customers that you hold your business to a high level of customer service excellence. With 2,347,836 people working in the cleaning industry alone, it should be easy to find people with experience.
Make sure they are trained very well in your unique cleaning procedures, and also choose friendly and approachable people if they are going to be communicating with the clients.
A good customer experience also requires effective communication between staff members and customers. Staff must understand what customers want and show they are listening by being attentive and polite.
Upselling
Upselling is a way to make a sale in which a service professional, like a cleaner, suggests more products or services to a customer while they’re already in the sales funnel. This can be when they’re about to pay, or when they have already paid for a service.
The goal of upselling is to make the transaction worth more and bring in more money for the business.
In a cleaning business, upselling could mean offering extra services like deep cleaning. You should clearly communicate the benefits of the additional services so that people see the value of saying yes to the upsell.
Get Clients For Cleaning Business Online
Online advertising can be a great way for cleaning businesses to reach out to potential customers in a quick and affordable way. Create an engaging website, develop targeted marketing campaigns through social media channels, and use search engine optimization (SEO) practices.
Implementing SEO practices will also help ensure that when someone does a Google search for “cleaning businesses” in your area, your business will show up at the top of their results page.
Optimizing metadata like titles and descriptions, utilizing relevant keywords within content, building backlinks from other websites, etc., can all go a long way toward getting organic traffic from search engines like Google or Bing.
Design A Basic Website
First and foremost, cleaning businesses should have a website that shows off their services in a professional way. Remember to answer all questions before people have to reach out to you and ask them. A very in-depth FAQ page would give customers everything they need to know to book your company. A design that is interesting and has clear calls to action will help catch the customer’s attention at first glance.
Highlight customer reviews. Social proof is fantastic for leading people to decide on your company. They want to hear from happy customers. If you don’t have any reviews yet, remember to reach our for some testimonials once you start getting your first clients.
Google My Business – Local Listing
Google My Business is a local listing platform that can help you reach potential clients for your cleaning business. By using Google My Business effectively, you can reach local potential clients and stand out from your competition in search results.
Here are some ways to use Google My Business effectively:
- Claim and verify your listing: Make sure you claim your business listing on Google My Business and verify your business information to ensure it’s accurate and up-to-date.
- Optimize your listing: Fill out all the details about your business. This includes the services you offer, business hours, contact information, and photos of your business and team.
- Respond to reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business listing. Respond promptly to any feedback you receive, whether it is positive or negative.
- Use keywords: Use relevant keywords in your listing to increase your chances of appearing in search results.
- Promote your listing: Share your Google My Business listing on your website, social media, and other marketing materials to help drive traffic to your listing.
Create A Facebook Business Page
A Facebook business page can be a valuable tool for reaching potential clients. When creating the page, make sure to include detailed information about the services offered.
These can be a list of available cleaning tasks, any specialties that your business may offer, and your contact information. You should also update your page often with industry-related content to stay current and keep potential customers interested.
Here are some steps to creating a successful Facebook business page:
- Set up a business page: Set up a Facebook Business Page for your cleaning business, that is separate from your personal profile.
- Promote your page: Share your Facebook Business Page with your network and promote it through other marketing channels to increase visibility and reach a wider audience.
- Utilize Facebook Ads: Use targeted Facebook Ads to reach potential clients who are interested in cleaning services in your area.
Instagram Integration
Integrating your cleaning business with Instagram can be a great way to get new clients. By creating an account for your business, you can share photos of your work and projects. This will give potential clients a glimpse into the quality of your services.
You can also use hashtags to make it easier for people to find you when they’re looking for cleaning services.
Engage with potential customers on Instagram through comments, story stickers, and DM. You can also share helpful tips about cleaning or even offer discounts and deals exclusive to your followers.
If you’re seriously looking at how to get clients for cleaning businesses, you should also take advantage of Instagram’s advertising features. With these features, you can create targeted campaigns. This ensures that only those who are likely to be interested in your services see your ads.
You can make these campaigns even better by using A/B testing and other tools on the platform. This will help you find out which ones lead to more conversions and a higher return on investment (ROI).
Finally, remember that engaging content is key when using Instagram as a marketing tool. Post high-quality images of before-and-after shots of jobs you’ve completed. If done correctly, this kind of content will help you solve your conundrum: “How to get more clients for my cleaning business?” You will also enhance your relationship with loyal customers.
Online Marketplaces To Find Clients For Cleaning Business
Joining online marketplaces can be a great way to reach new clients for your cleaning business. To make sure that a platform is a good fit for your business, research each platform and understand its fees and requirements. Here are some popular marketplaces to consider:
Thumbtack
Thumbtack matches service providers with clients. Thumbtack lets cleaners list their services and availability. Clients can then ask for quotes. Service professionals get these requests and give quotes, which let potential customers compare the options and choose the best one.
TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit helps cleaning companies attract new customers. To do this, you need a polished profile, fast responses, and competitive quotations.
Handy
Cleaning services are just one of many that may be arranged through Handy. It is a platform that links customers with local service workers. Create a profile on Handy to advertise your cleaning business’s services, availability, and rates. Then, customers may post a cleaning job on Handy and compare bids from approved local cleaners.
Focus On Customer Referrals
Customer referrals are a proven and effective way to get clients for cleaning businesses. This method involves encouraging existing customers to refer more people to your services. By focusing on customer referrals, you can reach new potential clients and grow your cleaning business in a cost-effective way.
How To Showcase Testimonials
Testimonials are written or recorded statements from happy customers that can help your cleaning business gain credibility and trust.
They provide social proof of the quality of your services and can be a powerful tool to get clients for cleaning businesses.
After each job, ask your satisfied customers for a testimonial. You can ask for a written testimonial, a video testimonial, or even a review on your website or social media profiles. Another effective way to display testimonials is to take screenshots of messages or emails from happy customers. People love seeing the actual testimonial written by the client. It builds more trust that it is a legitimate review. We do this on our website, sharing our clients’ “Ring The Bell” moments, which are ‘wins’ that they celebrate and share with us.
Take a look at how we showcase testimonials here.
Networking With Related Businesses
By making connections with other businesses in the same field, you can reach new potential customers and get your business more attention. Here are some tips for networking with related businesses:
Identify related businesses: Look for businesses in your area that serve similar clients or provide complementary services. These can be real estate agents, home builders, or interior designers. Think about the type of businesses that need cleaning intervention.
Build relationships: Attend local networking events, join professional organizations, or simply introduce yourself to business owners in your community.
Collaborate: Consider collaborating with related businesses to offer bundled services to clients. For example, you could partner with an interior designer to offer a package deal for cleaning and design services.
FAQs: How To Get Clients For Cleaning Business
How Do I Make My Cleaning Business Popular?
To make your cleaning business popular, you need to create a strong brand identity and market yourself effectively:
- Create a unique logo, slogan, and website that will help customers remember your business.
- Use social media to promote your services and engage with potential customers.
- Network with related businesses in your area to reach new potential clients and increase exposure for your business.
How Can I Get Clients For My Cleaning Business?
Networking is one of the most effective ways to get clients for your cleaning business. Ask satisfied customers for testimonials that you can use to build credibility and trust in your business. You can also use online advertising platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads to reach potential customers in your area.
How Do I Get Office Cleaning Clients?
If you’re looking to get office cleaning clients for your business, reach out to local businesses and organizations in your area. Make cold calls to local businesses and organizations to introduce yourself and your services. Lastly, ask satisfied customers for referrals and offer incentives for any successful leads.
Last Thoughts On How To Get Customers For Cleaning Businesses
From mastering the power of word-of-mouth to leveraging social media platforms by targeting your ideal customer, there are many ways to get clients for cleaning businesses.
Beyond the more technical strategies for client acquisition, always remember that providing a great service is the best way to get new customers and return customers.
By showcasing great reviews and getting your current clients to stay with you for a long time, you’ll succeed. You might even find that you have so many new leads, you need to work on scaling your business and building out a bigger team!
Whether you are just starting out or want to grow, Scaling With Systems can help you generate leads for your cleaning business. We will work with you every step of the way by building profitable client acquisition systems that are proven to work. Book a free consultation call with one of our advisors today to learn more.
