How to Get Clients for Your Cleaning Business

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How to get clients for my cleaning business is the most asked question by professional cleaning business owners. The thing is, there is no ONE SIZE FITS ALL solution to this. There are actually many ideas to grow your cleaning service.  Here’s a list of 5 “real” ideas to get clients with your residential and commercial office building cleaning company.

 

Growing a cleaning company is not as hard as you may think. It does, however, take time, tenacity, a strong will, and grit. It’s a hustle, especially in the beginning.

And equally important, it takes the right method (for you), to target, market, and secure cleaning contracts for homes and commercial office buildings.

 

And, once you find your stride, stick with it. Ride it until the wheels fall off.  😉

 

For instance, if you get better results from passing out flyers in the neighborhood you want to work in, cool, keep doing that!

If you have success with targeted Google ads, Instagram and Facebook ads, then keep doing that.

Or, if joining large networking groups and attending local community events has increased your cleaning clientele, then keep going in that direction. That’s excellent too!

They’re all awesome ideas to get customers for your professional cleaning service company!

 

The thing is there’s no one size fits all for advertising your professional housemaid and commercial janitorial office building cleaning services. In fact, there are several ways.

Let me explain…

2 reasons why finding more house and office cleaning clients is not a one size fits all strategy

1. Consider where you live and how networking, advertising, and marketing work best.
2. Think about the cleaning customers you desire most – residential house cleaning customers or commercial office building customers, AND how best to market to their current needs.

 

Geography can make a huge difference in who you decide to target and market to.

 

You could definitely benefit from an excellent customer referral program that helps you find more cleaning customers for your residential and commercial cleaning business if you live in a less populated area.

 

In more populated areas like New York, NY and Chicago, Il, paid advertising and joining local neighborhood networking groups may serve you best in finding new customers for your house and office cleaning company.

 

Joining a digital Network/referral app such as NextDoor is a growing trend and a resource worth checking out.

 

Really, it’s your call of how you want to get more customers for your house and office cleaning service.

 

Here’s 5 proven tips I know can work.

 

5 ideas: How to find more customers for a professional cleaning service business

 

1. Try the basics which I absolutely love for those who side hustle cleaning services or those who are just starting their cleaning businesses.

• Door to door sales. Pass out flyers in neighborhoods that you want to clean in and that you already work in.
• In fact, with permission, place flyers, cards, or advertising material on the bulletin boards in local convenience stores, home supply stores, libraries, the town hall or civic centers.  Place an ad in the local neighborhood newspaper. Believe it or not, this is still effective marketing!  You could get one excellent customer who could help you grow your cleaning business fast by referring more people to your services. It’s worth a try. 🤷🏾‍♀️
• Val Pak system (still works!). Those flyers, you’ve designed can now find themselves inside of your ideal customer’s homes and offices!
• Wear your uniform as often as you can and always have advertising material on you. Don’t forget to include your QR which goes directly to your info/ booking page.
• Branded vehicles. Removable decal are just fine, only remember your QR code for easy access to your website/ booking page.
• A website that is SEO appropriate, even if it is a static homepage. Websites are improved over time, so don’t become discouraged if it’s not up to par with your competition.

TACTIC: Use your time and advertising funds wisely. Also, when advertising, remember to sell the transformation you’re bringing to your customers not the price! All advertising should be customer centered.

 

2. Go digital and use the online space as effectively as possible! Now more than ever, establishing a digital presence is very important.

• Take advantage of Google ads, Facebook and Instagram ads. In fact, you can record a live video from your smart phone, upload it to your business Facebook and Instagram account then promote it as a paid ad. Be sure that you target your market well. Perhaps outline that you only service certain zip codes. Or, that you want to clean certain types of commercial offices, i.e., banks, medical facilities, day care centers, multi-unit general office buildings, etc.
• Val Pak also has a digital presence. Check them out especially if you’re going the discount route.
• Apps like Next Door, Angi, Groupon are worth exploring also. Keep your strategy in mind because it’s easy to lose money if there’s no end goal or baseline from which you’re working with.
• Home Advisor is a paid membership now. They weren’t always. Nevertheless, I personally feel that you will get better targeted clientele with this membership because you have more control over who you want to be matched with.
• Also try Amazon Home Services for house cleaning and office building cleaning (when they open up applications again). No up-front costs but you must be approved first. Once you’ve clicked the link, scroll down on the page and click “APPLY”.

Tactic: Be mindful and intentional when advertising on-line. Don’t waste your time by messing around! Know your ideal customer and advertise to them specifically. Again, give yourself grace because it takes time figuring out how to advertise to get the best results.

 

3. Join small and large organizations that improve your business development and promote your business

• There’s ARCSI for maid service providers.
• There is also ISSA for commercial janitorial cleaning businesses.
• BNI (Business Network International)

Tactic: These 3 are only suggestions. (Do your homework to see if investing in these memberships is worth your return). There are more business organizations that you can join but your primary goals for joining any associations are to 1. Increase clientele, 2. Gain knowledge for business and the professional cleaning industry.

 

4. Participate in local business development agencies or local events. Some have an online presence as well.

• Better Business Bureau
• Chambers of commerce
• Local events, conferences, and seminars
• Become a vendor at conferences for your ideal customer. I.e., if there is a symposium, or workshop, or conference for doctors, see if you can become a vendor and rent a booth. Just be sure to have all your marketing material centered around cleaning medical facilities.

Tactic: Just like above in #3, it’s not wise to join any association if you’re not gaining business or industry knowledge or gaining new customers. (This opinion does exclude associations that you participate as a sponsor of some sort. Those groups feed your soul as an entrepreneur and is not the subject of this article.)

 

5. Create your own business referral community

• Develop a fantastic professional cleaning business referral system with your current customers, even if you have less than 5 customers.
• Form a community of your own, like a referral link of other tradesmen that you come in contact with like painters, plumbers, gardeners, nannies, dog walkers, electricians.
• Spread the word about your services with Home Owners Associations. Perhaps attend one of their meetings to introduce yourself. This can be easy if you already have a customer who is in an HOA.

 

Tactic: This strategy to increase your professional cleaning clientele would involve time, research, a financial investment, and again… grit!  But, YOU CAN DO THIS!!! “Nothing beats failure but a try”. So, give it a try.

 

Again, once you have found “THE” method to find more customers for your residential and commercial janitorial cleaning company, keep at it! You’ll know when to pivot – pretty much when “THAT” strategy doesn’t work anymore.

 

Side note: I know that you’ve come to this post wanting to know “how to find more customers for a professional cleaning service business”. Can I challenge you further? Are you leveraging yourself fully with the customers you already have? Are you providing comprehensive cleaning services such as window cleaning, carpet cleaning, upholstery care and many other deep/detail cleaning services? Are you recognizing their current needs and offering to help.

If you aren’t, why not?

 

You’re leaving money on the table because that $150 basic house cleaning job can be worth $200 EXTRA within the same cleaning? How you say? Because when you provide additional cleaning services, you get paid for those additional cleaning services!

It’s simply upselling your services!

 

Fill out the form below and I’ll walk you through this simple to implement step by step process for FREE.

 

Just complete the form below and I’ll email you the 3 steps to take to make more money AND increase your customer’s positive experience.

 

Conclusion:

The 5 suggested methods to get clients for your cleaning business are… 1) Try basic door to door advertising. 2) Go digital to display discounts and targeted ads to your ideal customer. 3) Join organizations that increase your knowledge and give your exposure. 4) Participate in local events showcasing your company. 5) Form you own referral network with customers and other trades. Remember it takes time, tenacity, and strong will, and grit to grow a professional house and office cleaning company.

 

 

“The only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

— Mark Zuckerberg, founder, Facebook

 

Until next time,

Happy cleaning!

 

 

I grew my office cleaning side hustle into a ½ million-dollar corporation with the partnership of my husband and our amazing staff. In 2020, I retired my service-based business to shift my focus and passion from serving cleaning clientele to serving cleaning business owners.

 

Utilizing my 27+ years’ experience, I offer free and paid products exclusively for cleaning business owners and cleaning side hustlers at A Janitor’s Story® Website and my VIP Group Coaching Membership App.

 

I’ve served other cleaning pros by helping them to turn one time cleaning jobs into high paying recurring customers, create excellent client retention practices, develop hiring systems that really work, build marketing techniques that convert and so much more.

 

If this is a place you’d like to explore, I’d love to serve you too. Simply sign up to my free weekly email newsletter for tips and inspiration. I can’t wait to meet you inside.