There are 6 easy ways to make extra money during the fall with your professional maid service. After enduring what seemed like a never-ending summer slump, here are a few ways to recoup some of that income loss due to vacationing customers.
Most of our residential customers take vacations during the summer months. Of course, since they aren’t using their homes, they have no need for our services. This leaves us with a loss of revenue and practically no way to make it up. After all, it wouldn’t be good practice to cancel them. And finding a one-time cleaning to fit into their time slot would be happenstance. It kinda sucks right. Trust me, we know the feeling. But really, there is nothing that we can do about families that take vacations. Nothing. At least nothing AT THAT TIME.
We have had to learn how to remedy the summer slump in the fall or spring months. During this time, we would offer additional services to all of our customers. Some wanted the extra tasks performed, some didn’t. It varied customer to customer and year to year.
Offering to provide additional services to make money helps in these 3 ways.
Offering these extras helped in 3 ways.
First, it was our opportunity to replace lost revenue during June, July, and August.
Secondly, it allowed us to provide a more comprehensive cleaning experience for our customers. And
Finally, it allowed us to perform on-the-job interviews with prospective team members. See, usually when we had extra tasks to perform, we would bring in temporary help.
This helped our daily work schedule to run smoothly and more efficiently. After all, we fit these extras into our customers’ regularly scheduled service day/time.
Over the years, our add-on service packages have changed. We have always provided basic general cleaning. However, in retrospect, there was always a tad difference in servicing one home compared to another.
One homeowner would want us to wipe all of the window sills because they had a cat that liked to rest on them. While, another home didn’t need that job performed because they didn’t have window sills. Most homes wanted us to load, run, and unload their dishwashers. But there were a couple of homes that didn’t even have a dishwasher but they requested other duties.
We eventually figured that we needed to adopt a worksheet to help us customize each customer’s needs. It really helped us to create more individualized cleaning packages. If you like, you can DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY HERE.
I’m certain that it will help you to customize each of your residential cleaning packages too. Grab your copy.
Nevertheless, there were additional tasks that we could offer to them ALL.
Here is a list of 6 easy ways to make extra money in your cleaning business.
1. Window cleaning. Most cleaning services don’t provide window cleaning on a regular cleaning schedule. So this would create an extra task which equals extra money. What would make it even better is if you could have access to the exterior side, provided that the windows flip inward. Nice right!
Suggestion: Just make a bucket of sudsy water and Dawn, yes, you read right. Dawn dish liquid. Clean and squeegee across with this combo kit. Wipe dry. Check out this window cleaning video!
2. Appliance cleaning. Sometimes this is very necessary as most homes are preparing to host for the holidays. What a perfect time to suggest this service.
Suggestion: Most modern ovens are self-cleaning. If your customer is comfortable using this feature on their oven, then inform them that you’re available to complete the task and wipe clean. So, on your regularly scheduled service day, allow enough time to wipe the oven with a little soapy water to remove all debris. For the refrigerator, perhaps use a mild antibacterial soap to remove all spills. Ask if it would be alright to toss out any spoiled food.
3. Polishing dishware, or pots and pans. Wow, tasks such as these can take several people AND several hours. If you do this, you may want to charge by the hour.
Suggestion: Use plenty of microfiber towels. Try Twinkle products for a variety of items to clean and polish.
4. Carpet cleaning. Even if your clients have large area rugs and no wall to wall installed carpet, I’m sure they can still benefit from this cleaning.
Suggestion: If you don’t own a carpet cleaner, you can always rent a machine from a local home improvement store.
5. Hard surface floor care. With today’s instant access to information, you can download instructions on how to clean just about anything. This includes cleaning a variety of floor types. Very, very important…learn you client’s surfaces. Make no assumptions.
Suggestions: You can either arrange for a professional who is skilled in this type of cleaning. Or, you can rent a floor machine for this process if you feel that it is something you can handle. Get the proper cleaning agents. Offer this specialty service at an additional cost for sure. One extra tip: charge by the square foot!
6. Ceiling fan cleaning. Often times when we provide routine cleaning for our customers, we hardly ever have to wipe the ceiling fans. We simply dust them off and keep moving. But, have you noticed the fans in high humid areas of the house? Like the kitchen and bathrooms. They get stuck on dust that requires more than a duster.
Suggestion: They need to be washed down with appropriate cleaning material. For heavy stuck on grime, we have used Awesome. It is a really practical degreaser. Spray on a damp towel, wipe quickly, and DON’T let the product sit on the fan blades. Wipe off all residue quickly with soapy water. Very important, make sure to open a window and use a face mask if possible. This product would always tickle my nose. Lol.
I dare not conclude that these are the ONLY 6 easy ways to make extra money during the fall with your professional maid service. There can be hundreds! Seriously. Just take a look around each of your customer’s home.
Become strategic and look at EVERY surface. What do you see? Jot it down and make a list. Research the going rates in your area per task. Create a proposal for each of your clients and give them a price. It is just that simple. Making the list and creating the proposal is the EASY part. You see, you already have the customer. You are already in their home 2-4 times per month. So now, just maximize the efforts that you already put into practice.
“The Thing I would hate myself for the most or regret the most is if I did not push myself to maximize my potential and my abilities.” Milos Raonic
Until next time,
Happy cleanings
Creator of A Janitor’s Story®. I started my office cleaning side hustle at 20 years old. Years later, with the partnership of my husband and our amazing staff, my business grew to mid-six figures and fulfilled my wildest dreams! Now, 27 years STRONG, I’ve retired, and I help aspiring entrepreneurs to START and GROW their house and office cleaning service businesses to achieve their biggest dreams. I’d like to help you do the same.
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2 Comments
I really appreciate that you shared this amazing post with us, thanks for sharing and keep up the amazing work.
Thank you. I’m glad you could benefit from it.