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How we went from nothing to $14,000 a month in clients (Housecleaning Company)

by mrjosco
25 replies
This is both a success thread, for those thinking of starting their own enterprise, and a request for advice - for those who are like me and looking to improve the offline marketing machine.

I work for a company that owns a few different businesses. One of the businesses is a residential house cleaning company. We have tried many things, but we have found a few that work better than others.

Our goal has been to build a business on a shoestring budget, so our marketing has been very limited in terms of budget. Most of our marketing has been via door to door sales.

We created a door hanger flyer that acted as a coupon. It offers 1 hour of free cleaning with a minimum purchase of 2 hours. It also clarifies that we offer 'free estimates'. This allows us to have a conversation with our prospective clients and give them a customized quote based on their needs.

At first we just put the doorhangers on each door; trying to hit as many homes as possible. We passed out 10,000 door hangers, but only had a response of about 1/3 of 1%. As you can tell, this was NOT cost effective!

So we started trying a different method. We would take the same door hangers, but wait until evening or the weekend - when people were home - and we would go door to door. If no one answered, we would still leave the doorhanger, but if they did answer we would use this outline script:

"Hi, my name is _____ from Pixie Dust Services. We are a locally owned cleaning company and we just wanted to let you know we are here to serve you. Have you ever used a cleaning service?"

Our conversion rate from this method has shot up to around 2.5%. It takes a lot more time, and is labor intensive, but it has proven to be very effective.

Our total cost to acquire a new customer is around $130 per customer. This is much lower than the average lifetime value of a customer - and most new customers cover this cost in just one month of using our service. If we were not paying a cleaner/sales person to do the door to door (and were doing it our self) that cost per customer would be much, much lower - as the major cost is labor. So for someone looking to start something - a cleaning company can be started for as little as the cost of insurance, initial cleaning supplies and a few door hanger flyers. The biggest cost is your own time and investment in going door to door.

This method has allowed us to grow from nothing to over $14k in monthly revenue in just under 6 months.

That is the 'success' side. I want to encourage anyone looking to start their own venture that the best method is usually just putting boots on the ground, ear to the phone or knuckle to the door.

Of course, there is clearly room to grow. We are looking at improving our method and making our customer acquisition more efficient. We don't mind paying $130 for a new customer, as that is profitable, but we would like to find ways to lower that figure.

Does anyone have any ideas on that front?

We are thinking about an EDDM campaign. I have attached the flyer I have designed and would love to get people's critique on the flyer.

How would you market a business like this?





Your thoughts and feedback is appreciated!
#$14 #clients #company #housecleaning #month
  • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
    Mrjosco,

    Congratulations on the success. A little shoe leather and strategic thinking paid off. I lived in Cheyenne for four years, compliments of the USAF, and saw you passed out 10000 door hangers. That should have blanketed Laramie 2 times over .

    We have a lead gen site for housecleaning that is just dormant now given our interests have shifted and my son is no longer dating the housecleaner. When we paid some attention to it the results weren't not your socks off but it did produce jobs for her.

    We put in on CL and gave biz cards to our ins agency clients. There is an idea you may be able to use. Talk to local independent insurance agencies and see if you can jv with them. They give out your card and you give out their card.

    A reputable and dependable housecleaner is hard to find. I know we'd give out your cards especially if you bought your poicy through us. We'd even put up a few on our office bulletin board (it is in the waiting area so people read it).

    You can always PM me with any questions.

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author jrod014
    I think the design is awesome! Straight and to the point. One suggestion is possibly adding a value on the free hour of cleaning. Another would to possibly state under the free hour of cleaning something like "No strings attached! if you like us, tell your friends about us!" Or something along those lines.

    EDDM is great for the money.
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    • Profile picture of the author RRG
      Originally Posted by jrod014 View Post

      I think the design is awesome! Straight and to the point. One suggestion is possibly adding a value on the free hour of cleaning. Another would to possibly state under the free hour of cleaning something like "No strings attached! if you like us, tell your friends about us!" Or something along those lines.

      EDDM is great for the money.
      I'm going to agree with some of this, and disagree with some of it.

      I agree you should test one FREE hour of cleaning, no strings attached vs. your Buy-2-Get-1-FREE offer. I'd be willing to be there are plenty of people out there who don't consider that an irresistible offer.

      "We're so confident that our cleaning service is the best in town--by far--that we're willing to offer you one FREE hour of cleaning, a $29 value. No strings, no catch, no fine print, no B.S.

      If after the first hour, you want us to clean more, GREAT! But if not, we'll pack up our supplies, thank you for the opportunity, and be on our way."

      I don't agree, however, that your EDDM postcard is awesome.

      I'd have a compelling headline, some actual copy, and testimonials (as many as you can fit), at the very least. I would also include a coupon on the card, inside a dotted box with a pair of scissors, instead of saying the card itself is a coupon.
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      • Profile picture of the author greco
        In my experience, you're better off with no deal/offer at all than a half-baked offer that isn't all that good of a deal. To really work as intended, sales/promotional incentives must necessarily be GREAT deals (as opposed to just good or even mediocre deals) otherwise they lose their incentive quality. Not only will a mediocre offer fail to give the potential customer a compelling reason to try the service, it can also serve to actually dissuade someone who might have otherwise considered using your service had there been no offer whatsoever because it can invoke a feeling that you do things (including the service you are selling) half-way. If you're going to offer a discounted price or other deal as an incentive, it needs to invoke a feeling of "wow what a deal!" in your potential customer's mind when they see it. Anything less is a waste of time and money in my experience.


        Originally Posted by RRG View Post

        I'm going to agree with some of this, and disagree with some of it.

        I agree you should test one FREE hour of cleaning, no strings attached vs. your Buy-2-Get-1-FREE offer. I'd be willing to be there are plenty of people out there who don't consider that an irresistible offer.

        "We're so confident that our cleaning service is the best in town--by far--that we're willing to offer you one FREE hour of cleaning, a $29 value. No strings, no catch, no fine print, no B.S.

        If after the first hour, you want us to clean more, GREAT! But if not, we'll pack up our supplies, thank you for the opportunity, and be on our way."

        I don't agree, however, that your EDDM postcard is awesome.

        I'd have a compelling headline, some actual copy, and testimonials (as many as you can fit), at the very least. I would also include a coupon on the card, inside a dotted box with a pair of scissors, instead of saying the card itself is a coupon.
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        • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
          Originally Posted by greco View Post

          In my experience, you're better off with no deal/offer at all than a half-baked offer that isn't all that good of a deal. To really work as intended, sales/promotional incentives must necessarily be GREAT deals (as opposed to just good or even mediocre deals) otherwise they lose their incentive quality. Not only will a mediocre offer fail to give the potential customer a compelling reason to try the service, it can also serve to actually dissuade someone who might have otherwise considered using your service had there been no offer whatsoever because it can invoke a feeling that you do things (including the service you are selling) half-way. If you're going to offer a discounted price or other deal as an incentive, it needs to invoke a feeling of "wow what a deal!" in your potential customer's mind when they see it. Anything less is a waste of time and money in my experience.

          Well said, Im constantly shaking my head at the offers I see around town that are not really that great.

          I dont think biz owners are really understanding the difference between offers you make to the general public to get them motivated to visit you the first time and offers you can make to current customers to get them to come back.

          Save $4 on two dinners when you buy 2 beverages was one that I saw just the other day that bothered me as I felt like I had to spend even more than I would save in order to use it.
          Why make it so hard for me to try you out, there are half a dozen Mexican restaurants within a few miles radius of me and you have just spent good money to send me a message basically saying that you arent that interested in me trying you out.

          Stuff that exempts lots of things or has other cumbersome restrictions send the same message as well.
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          • Profile picture of the author bamin
            Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

            Well said, Im constantly shaking my head at the offers I see around town that are not really that great.
            That is so true
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  • Profile picture of the author brucemcc
    Being an Online Marketer my opinion is of course biased towards your online presence.

    I did a quick search of "house cleaning *yourcity*" and see that you don't show up until the very bottom of page 3. Shouldn't be too hard to get to the top of Page1. Page 1 currently has superpages, yellowpages, craigslist, etc.... Basically just filler material. There is only 1 actual cleaning service listed on the first page.

    On your website you don't mention the areas you service at all on the home page. Mention them a few times in your text. (don't over do it).

    Put your business address in the footer so that it appears on every page on your website.

    I would expand your Cheyenne, Laramie, and Colorado pages a little bit. Not enough quality content on the page for Google to rank the pages in the search results.
    Also customize the meta tags for each individual page. (Description, keywords, etc...)
    After adding some more content, text, photos, etc... to these pages then you can do some off page SEO to get these page to show up in the Google search results for those specific cities.

    This of course is just a start to the never ending process of marketing your business online.

    Hope that helps. Ask away if you have any questions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr. Subtle
    Originally Posted by mrjosco View Post

    At first we just put the doorhangers on each door; trying to hit as many homes as possible. We passed out 10,000 door hangers, but only had a response of about 1/3 of 1%. As you can tell, this was NOT cost effective!
    Really? Spend less time worrying about response rates and more time on ROI. Let's check out how well the ROI worked using doorhangers.

    According to your figures you generated 33 new customers with the doorhangers.

    In your post above you said:

    Originally Posted by mrjosco View Post

    Our total cost to acquire a new customer is around $130 per customer. This is much lower than the average lifetime value of a customer - and most new customers cover this cost in just one month of using our service.
    So the average customer generates $130 in revenue a month. 33 new customers times $130 = $4290.00/mo in sales.

    You didn't mention what your lifetime customer value is ... I guess because you've only been in business 6 months. So, I'll use 6 months. 6 times $4290.00/mo = $25,740.00 in sales generated (so far) by distributing 10,000 doorhangers. Which means that each and every doorhanger hung has generated your company $2.57 (so far).

    I'd be rinsing and repeating doorhangers (with a better offer) again and again. (Or doing/testing an EDDM postcard.)
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    • Profile picture of the author tigerbait
      Originally Posted by Mr. Subtle View Post

      Really? Spend less time worrying about response rates and more time on ROI. Let's check out how well the ROI worked using doorhangers.

      According to your figures you generated 33 new customers with the doorhangers.

      In your post above you said:


      So the average customer generates $130 in revenue a month. 33 new customers times $130 = $4290.00/mo in sales.

      You didn't mention what your lifetime customer value is ... I guess because you've only been in business 6 months. So, I'll use 6 months. 6 times $4290.00/mo = $25,740.00 in sales generated (so far) by distributing 10,000 doorhangers. Which means that each and every doorhanger hung has generated your company $2.57 (so far).

      I'd be rinsing and repeating doorhangers (with a better offer) again and again. (Or doing/testing an EDDM postcard.)
      I think he's spending $130 to acquire 1 new customer.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    Well you're in the cleaning industry which is somewhat similar to what we do (mold). Our niche has much less demand, but a much higher profit margin. Although you need special certification to guarantee the work.

    However, if I were you, I would completely saturate the "household services" section of Craigslist. Thats a fairly obvious no-brainer to me. We don't even target cleaning services in our headlines or our ads, but we still get 3-5 calls a week from people looking for cleaning services. Which is not really a lot considering how many ads we post every month (almost 3000 divied up between 6 different sections).

    Still, if our ads actually targeted cleaning services, I couldn't imagine the type of response we'd see. Its made me consider offering these types of services, but I don't like dealing in industries that require a high volume to be profitable.

    I still think it would be VERY wise for you to make up about 5 high quality image ads. What I do is use my review ratings to build credibility. I got just a few awesome reviews on google, yelp, insider pages and merchant circle, then I put them all together in 1 photo, and upload it to the top of my ad. So its the first thing people see before they even get to our ads which are being tracked.

    I use imgur to track impressions. I basically make a folder on my harddrive, copy & paste the jpeg file into the same folder, then rename it to 25 different versions.

    Then the same for my other 4 ads. So I wind up with 125 differently named files uploaded in my 1 imgur account. There is actually a lot of other nonsense I go through like how I link my ads, then the way I spin my tags.

    But the reason I do all of this, is so the code of the ad, the links, and the tags duplicate as seldom as possible.

    Then I outsource mass posting and track my headlines/impressions/calls.

    It would take a long time to explain the full process.

    A lot of which would seem like overkill to most people, but its not hard to do, and I like being as safe as possible.

    With that said, you can generate a boatload of leads off craigslist. But you need a very strategic system. Great headlines, great ads, tracking, then just scale it up.

    I'm sure if you did this, you'd get a nice volume of calls.

    I have tried door hangers myself, and direct mail, but generally I prefer online. Mainly local search, youtube, craigslist, and more recently we got involved with SEO.

    -Red
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  • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
    Hi there,

    I like your flyer/postcard....but I think you should add testimonials from the zipcodes you plan to target. Best ones would be ones you could actually list the real true names of "Betty Smith, 90210". Then you'll get people actually asking the real Betty Smith about your service. I'd pepper the white (dead) space on that card with testimonials.

    Also, offer a better-than guarantee. Instead of your money back, how about $150 bucks cash. Sure, you'll have a couple of scammers, but you'll get much better response.

    All the best,

    Sasha
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  • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
    daily deal sites get mobbed for house cleaning. just discount your first hr or one room or some service, then upsell. One service got mobbed and booked out 6mos, I complained and was going to cancel so they found a spot for me the next week. Just don't overbook yourself and piss off customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Do a giveaway of a one time house cleaning (whatever service costs you less to do). You'll get responses from people who need houses cleaned. One winner only. Can only enter one time per address. Everyone else gets the runner up prize, which is your get one hour with two paid.

    At some point when you have enough data, maybe you can average out how long it takes to do one room, and then based on that average, price it out and offer one room free with every X (as long as it fits your target area).

    Oh and I like the retro front of the card but I'd get rid of the distracting gray background - women prefer nice colors, not gray and black. AND especially get rid of that woman on her knees! That's gonna make you come across like you're a 1950's male chauvinist to women. I'm assuming you don't wish to alienate women? And polls show today's men share cleaning tasks more than previous generations.
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    • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
      Think of cleaning and you think of freshness and light. Spring Clean and you will think maybe in colour terms of whites, greens and yellows.

      Same thing. Freshness and light.

      Grey? Not really the colour to use.

      Is charging by the hour common in America?

      I wouldn't pay anyone to clean by the hour and I don't think anyone I know would either.

      So that would be a dead end straight away.

      I want you to clean my house because I can't be bothered and I am happy to pay for this to be done.

      But not by time as I will think you are spinning it out and could work faster.

      That is my rationale on the hourly rate if you were interested.

      But that is me in England. As no one else mentioned it I presume hourly is normal in the US.

      Dan
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      • Profile picture of the author umc
        Congrats. My wife and I have been cleaning for 13 years together. Our cost for acquiring clients has always been pretty much zero, but we didn't need to build up quickly because of the way we worked it from the beginning. At this point we do zero advertising other than our website which isn't optimized or anything because we don't need the work and don't wish to ever hire. Do great work, provide excellent customer service, and people will tell other people about you at no cost to you. I've never paid for referrals, and we've diversified our services over time for our own interest and it helped us to grow without costing us money over time.

        As far as old-school imagery like the lady on her knees scrubbing, there's nothing wrong with that. Or at least I would tell you that I know of a cleaning business that is extremely successful with the old time images like that. You've obviously had some success as well.

        Just remember, marketing is what you do every day in your business, not just one campaign or another. Too many cleaning businesses forget this and fall on their faces because they know how to advertise but piss their customers off with poor cleaning (after all, THAT is what they're hiring you for) and employees that suck (steal, don't show up, do idiotic things in people's homes, etc.).

        The only advertising that we did was occasional flyers, Craigslist (yeah, a lot of cheap people on there, but I weeded them out in my ads and got some good responses), and cross-promotion with our auto detailing services. I also participate in some local forums and in the course of conversation sprinkle in what it is that we do when relevant. People know us as the cleaner on there, and we've cleaned for many people on that forum, some for years.
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        • Profile picture of the author misterme
          Originally Posted by umc View Post

          As far as old-school imagery like the lady on her knees scrubbing, there's nothing wrong with that. Or at least I would tell you that I know of a cleaning business that is extremely successful with the old time images like that.
          I'm happy to stand corrected. Of course, it could be that the company using those images loses some people if they're offended but makes up for those lost sales in other ways. Or maybe they use the images in a context that doesn't give that stereotypical vibe. Just sayin'. You could test it against another image and measure the results, since images ought to be tested anyway.
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          • Profile picture of the author umc
            Originally Posted by misterme View Post

            I'm happy to stand corrected. Of course, it could be that the company using those images loses some people if they're offended but makes up for those lost sales in other ways. Or maybe they use the images in a context that doesn't give that stereotypical vibe. Just sayin'. You could test it against another image and measure the results, since images ought to be tested anyway.
            That's the problem. You can't make rules about anything because anything could work. If women are offended by those old school looking images though, they sure post a lot of them with clever sayings on sites like Pinterest. I agree about testing though.
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          • Profile picture of the author depp12
            Great little story. I am still reading around and struggling.

            Do you do the cleaning yourself or do you hire staff ?

            do customers mind having their house cleaning done from a male perspective ?

            what about the insurance and trust issues with outside employees ? how do yyou handle that ?

            Thanks,
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            • Profile picture of the author mrjosco
              Thanks, everyone, for the great tips!

              Originally Posted by depp12 View Post

              Great little story. I am still reading around and struggling.

              Do you do the cleaning yourself or do you hire staff ?

              do customers mind having their house cleaning done from a male perspective ?

              what about the insurance and trust issues with outside employees ? how do yyou handle that ?

              Thanks,
              When we first started we had one person do the cleaning and the 'sales'. As they filled their schedule with jobs we began to hire outside cleaners. This has been the biggest struggle - and we have found a solution (as much as a solution as you can) in that we hire the people with no regard to their experience. We just hire world class people and train them the way we want them to clean. We treat it as a skilled and learned profession. There are the way lay people clean and there are ways a PROFESSIONAL cleans.

              We are fully insured and bonded. It didn't cost much to start (less than $1000 a year) and the cost grows as our number of employees grow. We help mitigate risk by doing a criminal background check and drug testing. We also use a 'buddy' system in which any job going more than two hours has two employees working it (so two employees at 1 hour each instead of 1 at two hours)

              As far as charging by the hour - It doesn't seem to be an issue. In fact, it helps us close the sale and build a relationship. We tell people our hourly wage and then explain that we can send a manager out to offer them a free estimate. This lets us get to know the clients, customize our offering for them and then begin building a relationship.

              Once a cleaner works on a house that same cleaner will continue to clean. It is not a different person each time. We also pay our employees more than industry average. This is so we can recruit and retain the best people.
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            • Profile picture of the author misterme
              Originally Posted by umc View Post

              That's the problem. You can't make rules about anything because anything could work. If women are offended by those old school looking images though, they sure post a lot of them with clever sayings on sites like Pinterest. I agree about testing though.
              Yeah but women posting submissive images, if that's what they're doing, is different than getting solicited with them. It's like how you can't say certain words unless you're a member of that group, you know?

              I don't mean to harp on it. Just know that I've spent 30 something years marketing to women. So I'm not exactly talking out of sheer speculation.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    Congrats of course!

    Mr Subtle is right, the response % doesn't matter, only the ROI.

    It's awesome that you're tying in doorhangers with door knocking, that's what I do currently with my home improvement business. I have likely the best canvasser in the industry running the show here and we pick up SO much business door knocking it's insane. He can't go more than two hours without getting at least two solid leads and 60%+ of them sell.

    If you need some pointers about door knocking, he'd be more than happy to chat with you as he loves what he does. I have seen him turn canvassers that were setting one appointment every three days to setting three appointments each day, literally overnight. And these are average sales of $5,000+.

    Regarding your postcard, you definitely need tochange the background to a retro yellow/orange color. It doesn't mesh well right now. You can use adobe kuler (free, google it) to find the right colors to choose.

    The retro look is definitely the way to go with services like this, it always looks trustworthy, classy, and brings people to a happier emotional state.

    I think the copy can be improved, which will heighten the response for sure. Right now you're only going to capture the people who are really in the market for your service already. With some improvement, you can motivate a lot more people to get off their butt and call you.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
    You don't know what will actually work in the real world until you test it
    but I'd be inclined to put a lot more information on your marketing material
    about:

    # The benefits to your clients of hiring you (clean house, less work, healthier
    atmosphere (less dust etc).

    # The reason they should hire specifically you. What do you do that's special?
    Do you go to a lot of trouble to vet your cleaners so you know they're honest
    for example? Is there special training? What do you do that other cleaners
    don't?

    # A strong headline on each side of your flyer. One side might be something
    that appeals to your best prospects eg:
    "7 Simple Secrets To A Cleaner Home (Without Lifting A Finger)"
    and the other side might be your gift offer
    "One Hour Of Professional Cleaning For You Completely FREE"


    Generally speaking the more time you take educating your prospects
    and clients on why they should do business with you (what's in it
    for them) the more likely they are to hire you and keep doing business
    with you.

    Kindest regards,
    Andrew Cavanagh
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  • Profile picture of the author ManieE
    My 5 sents, ask your customers to for referrals and give them something in return for positive referrals, e.g. a discount / commission / gift....

    Referrals are an easy, cheap and powerful way to build a business.
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  • Profile picture of the author MWalden
    Try coupon sites like amazon local, living social, groupon, etc. Whats good about these sites is you pay nothing upfront and they design the ad. You are benefiting from their traffic. I placed a coupon that sold 200+ on amazon local. The coupon was for $47. Which is over $9K made. Of course they take 20%, but getting $7K was cool with me. No out of pocket costs.
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