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Anyone have success in marketing for cleaning professionals?

by umc
10 replies
I've been in the cleaning business for most of my life. I've watched people struggle to market their businesses, the typical person that is great at what they do but terrible at putting themselves in front of the right people. Often times cleaning businesses have some horrible website built on templates from the 1980's with atrocious content that looks like a third grader put it together.

I see a need for professional cleaners to pay for marketing help, but I'm not sure if they are willing to actually do so. Many are the DIY types, which is why their web presence looks so terrible, and often these businesses are started out of financial desperation because they don't take a lot of startup funds to get off the ground.

So, has anyone here had success in selling marketing services to professional house cleaning services, or maybe some niche cleaning like window washing, carpet cleaning, or the like?

My idea is to build a great model website from my own experience, then basically copy and sell that website over and over again to cleaners in different cities. Using a responsive theme, they would also effectively get a mobile site. I would also put together a private forum for my members to discuss the business and essentially get coaching through that cleaning business forum. I might even put together a directory for my members to be listed in, with an initiative behind it to brand them all as "certified cleaners" or something of the sort. I'd like to offer everything for one price, but I'm not sure that I could get much out of the pockets of most cleaners. I may be wrong though. Could I get $50/month for this? $100/month? Nothing, because these people typically don't have money or don't see the value?

Any experience or advice? I was thinking about this because it plays into something that I know and something that I'm passionate about, but if it isn't a marketable area, then maybe I have to look elsewhere. I have other projects in the works too, but I thought that this might be a good opportunity for me.
#cleaning #marketing #professionals #success
  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    Just remember the website isn't what they want.

    What they most likely don't understand
    is their website has to be marketed and
    the website drives people to phone and
    leave their contact details.

    Not only pointing out why their website isn't
    working, you need to show what a few tweaks
    can mean.

    Do this by using dollars and numbers
    from assumptions on their average sale
    amount and their lifetime value.

    Best,
    Ewen
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    • Profile picture of the author umc
      Oh yes, I agree that the website isn't the only factor that matters. That's why I also want to provide a private forum for those cleaners that want to join in with me. They get the website, the forum, and everything for one price.

      In the end, they want more customers. A professional website gives them a presence that will make them stand out above their often unprofessional competition. It has for me over the years. In my forum I would be happy to teach them about getting listed in Google+ Local, writing good copy for Craigslist advertising instead of the "I wIlL kLeEn 4 CHEEEP!" that a lot of seemingly illiterate cleaning people post, and how to market themselves also through the work that they do every day.

      I have pretty much achieved my success with offline measures only over the years, but my website and some of the elements in it have been huge hits with some of my clients and potential clients, and I think that I can replicate that and add value to their business.

      So, for one price, they get not only a tangible product in the website and any directory that I created, but they also would be getting further value through the additional coaching forum wherein they could further their marketing, cleaning, and business knowledge and get their questions answered.

      I think that, like you suggested, looking at the lifetime value of a customer could be a great way to think of a pricing model for such. Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Joe Polish has a whole array of products, done for them advertising,
        bootcamps and mastermind groups for cleaners.

        For one of his promos for his bootcamp he said they would be losing [exact number of dollars given] if they don't attend.

        He was able to back the figure up with a survey of extra amount made from previous bootcamp attendees.

        Once he got them there, he upsold them to a more personal training.

        That upsell bought in a cool million dollars.

        So there is money there, if you know how to market it right.

        Best,
        Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author vidpes
    I used to do SEO for a company who used to offer two services, maid services and cleaning services. Had very good results on them and they used to get a lot of sales monthly.

    There are a lot of people who prefer to order these services online now.
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  • Profile picture of the author umc
    Oh yeah, I listen to all of Joe's " I Love Marketing" podcasts. He deals more with carpet cleaning, which has higher margins, but I guess it could translate over to the regular house cleaning realm. Heck, I'll be cleaning carpets tomorrow for one of my house cleaning clients, so there is definitely crossover.
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  • Profile picture of the author viralmarketing
    Originally Posted by umc View Post

    I've been in the cleaning business for most of my life. I've watched people struggle to market their businesses, the typical person that is great at what they do but terrible at putting themselves in front of the right people. Often times cleaning businesses have some horrible website built on templates from the 1980's with atrocious content that looks like a third grader put it together.

    I see a need for professional cleaners to pay for marketing help, but I'm not sure if they are willing to actually do so. Many are the DIY types, which is why their web presence looks so terrible, and often these businesses are started out of financial desperation because they don't take a lot of startup funds to get off the ground.

    So, has anyone here had success in selling marketing services to professional house cleaning services, or maybe some niche cleaning like window washing, carpet cleaning, or the like?

    My idea is to build a great model website from my own experience, then basically copy and sell that website over and over again to cleaners in different cities. Using a responsive theme, they would also effectively get a mobile site. I would also put together a private forum for my members to discuss the business and essentially get coaching through that cleaning business forum. I might even put together a directory for my members to be listed in, with an initiative behind it to brand them all as "certified cleaners" or something of the sort. I'd like to offer everything for one price, but I'm not sure that I could get much out of the pockets of most cleaners. I may be wrong though. Could I get $50/month for this? $100/month? Nothing, because these people typically don't have money or don't see the value?

    Any experience or advice? I was thinking about this because it plays into something that I know and something that I'm passionate about, but if it isn't a marketable area, then maybe I have to look elsewhere. I have other projects in the works too, but I thought that this might be a good opportunity for me.

    Im interested in this particulart market as well, but on the commerical side where leads coming in are less than residential, but with a higher pricetag.
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    • Profile picture of the author RyanLester
      I recently picked up a contact number from a flyer at the library (from a bulletin board where external businesses are allowed to advertise.

      I called the lady and she was VERY interested in using my services. She said that I should give her a call the following day at 6pm. 6pm came, gave her a call and she said she was tired from the long day and would call me next week.

      Next week came and went and I never heard from her. Monday, Tuesday, then this past Wednesday i sent her a a text as a gentle follow-up. Up until today, I have not heard from her.

      This is the thing dont understand about business owners, they ask you to call and when you do, they seem to ignore your contact.

      But anyway, operating in a niche, and developing expertise in that niche is a fantastic way to brand yourself as an expert.

      maybe even putting out an ad, saying that you working exclusively helping cleaning companies market themeselves can allow you to put a premium on your prices.

      as they say exclusivity deserves a premium.
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  • Profile picture of the author karenloye
    Hi UMC -- A fellow here in my hometown targets carpet cleaners with websites and online marketing services. See his website at carpetcleaningwebsites.net. I do not know him personally but know people who do. I hear that he is quite successful. My guess is that there's plenty of business to go around as there are thousands of carpet cleaners in the U.S.
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  • Profile picture of the author fiverrfreak
    I just think that as long as you are using seo to market your websites and services, you will get results.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rainer0651
    I was in the cleaning business from 1981 to 1992. In that period of time I got 5 shopping centers and 30 banks and other assorted small contracts.
    In around 1987 I paid $1000 a month for a full page ad in the yellow pages which produced absolutely nothing. I was obligated to pay that for a full year.

    Point being I had money to advertise back then. I sold the business and got out of it and went into database programming compensation plans for MLM companies before the internet got popular. It was more fun but now have left that and am doing internet marketing.

    A mall contract is a juicy thing, back in 1987 I was billing $25K per month for just one rather big mall and netting $9K out of it. So if you want to target cleaning companies the best thing to do would be to call up a shopping center and find out who they are using. It is the common area that needs the cleaning not the individual stores, find out who is doing that. It is a huge area that needs to be done and cleaning companies get big bucks for that.

    Then call up that cleaning company and ask them if they want SEO or whatever you are offering to boost business. If they even had SEO back when I was doing it I would have listened had you called me. They are always looking to expand. And finding cleaning crews is easy because everyone pretty well knows how to clean something.

    What usually happens with a cleaning company is they subcontract out the work and eventually that subcontractor gets lazy and they lose the account. There is always a turnover happening. The client who is not happy with the current service will be doing a search on the internet at some point. If it is a large city there will be many searches. Big cleaning companies are always looking to replace the contracts that eventually drift away from them.

    Don't be afraid to call them they will listen.

    Hope this helps
    Rainer
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