Launching a small business doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, anyone can do it. What separates those who are successful from those who aren’t is planning, proper execution, and learning to scale. This article will provide 5 tips culled from my own experience launching a cleaning business.
Make Plans and Follow Through
We make informal plans for everything: going out to eat, which clothes to buy, grocery shopping, and how to tackle house cleaning. In many ways, informal plans are everyday events that many of us don’t even realize exist. In business, we make formal plans: business plans, client contracts, customer support processes, etc. Just like informal plans these help us develop, formalize, and execute our actions.
Formal business plans need to be made for key areas and events. Two of the most important ones are as follows:
- Business Plan: This is your comprehensive, overall plan. It lays out your business mission, goals, marketing foundations, and a realistic examination of profitability. It is here where you lay out the nitty-gritty of what you plan to do and how to do it.
- Marketing Plan: Culled from the foundation laid out in your business plan, this goes into further detail with who you want to do business with. Here you will delve into your target audience, their habits, and how you will position your product/service to suit them.
Be Novel In Looking For Clients
Old ways of marketing your services and products aren’t as effective today. I can remember as a kid, for instance, that newspapers used to look pristine -with cool ads and pages. Today, however, the converse is true: the ads, if you get them, are often ripped up, shredded, or covered in a weird grease from the machines that print and bundle them up. This is a big reason why many newspapers are losing subscribers.
For business owners and marketers, its important to go where your customers are. With mobile technology and the internet, people aren’t just browsing a board at the grocery store -they are now online. Research and identify where they are at, use applications to increase your reach, and engage prospective customers in real time. As a cleaning business owner, I used 10 different websites and mobile apps to keep myself booked with clients. From Thumbtack to Amazon Home Services, I went where my prospective clients were. Don’t waste your money on outdated marketing avenues. Be creative.
Develop Customer Service Skills
Nothing is better for business then a happy customer. It really is that simple. However, the avenue for making a customer happy has changed drastically. It’s not just as simple as saying please and thank you. Take a note when your clients and customers offer criticism -take each bad review as an opportunity to improve your business and the model its based on. If they complain about a product your using, offer to do it again with a different product.
Offer Realistic Prices
One of the biggest issues facing small cleaning business owners is pricing their services. There are equal numbers of new cleaning business owners who want to either charge too little or too much. Those who charge too little do so in order to bring in more clients. Those who charge too much do so under the auspices of ‘knowing their worth’. Both are wrong.
Clients aren’t stupid. If they see you are undercharging for services or products, they will use you for a one time deal and then move onto someone more serious about their business. If you charge too much, they will ask you to prove your worth. Be realistic when you set your pricing. Make sure all your costs are covered and then compare to your competition. After all, some of your competitors have way more experience in the field than you do. Just cause you charge $15/hour doesn’t mean they are going to stop charging $30/hour.
Invest In The Right Supplies
Investing in the right supplies to provide services is extremely important -particularly for home and office services such as HVAC, Plumbing, Cleaning, and Maintenance. However, it is also an important thing for other industries. You can’t write a blog post if you don’t have paper or a computer. You can’t clean without cleaning supplies.
That doesn’t mean that you have to choose the most expensive products to do the job. Choose products that contribute to high quality at a decent price. Plan your costs and shop within your budget. Just cause something is expensive doesn’t mean it’ll do the right job. You have just as much input as the product you use. So invest wisely into the right supplies to do the job.
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Jason A Woodruff 