One of the fastest ways to grow your cleaning business is to get referrals from your current customers. There may be times when a customer will pass your company's name along without any prompting from you. However, to really get your clients to work for you, it's important to encourage referrals. You do this by developing and implementing a business generating strategy.
A business generating strategy may sound complicated, but it's really quite simple. All you need to do is set up a system to track where referrals come from, and then reward the individuals (including your own employees) or companies that have sent new business your way.
Before you begin actively seeking referrals, take a look at your clients and make sure that they are happy with your services. If you're not sure how they feel about your cleaning services, send out a customer survey to see what areas they are happy with and where you might need improvement. There are also a few simple, but often neglected rules of courtesy that you should adhere to:
* Make sure that you show up on time to clean buildings. If you are delayed for some reason, explain why you were late to your customer.
* Take care of any complaints quickly.
* Do what you say you are going to do - whether it is dropping off supplies or showing up for a meeting with a customer. And remember, whenever you are meeting with a customer, turn off your cell phone!
* Always remember to say please and thank you.
You may provide the best cleaning service in your part of the country, but what your customer will remember is that one time you had a meeting and your cell phone went off or the time a complaint went unanswered.
Once you are happy with the level of service you are providing your customers, it's time to set up your "referral machine". Begin by deciding what type of rewards you will give your customers (and employees) for sending referrals your way. Are you just going to send thank you notes, or will you send gifts? Gift certificates are an excellent way to reward customers who send referrals; and cash is a good incentive for employees.
How do you get referrals from your cleaning customers? Ask! Think of the different ways you communicate with your customers.
1. When sending out monthly invoices include a referral form that they can pass along to anyone looking for cleaning services. Make sure you have a tracking number on the form or a place where they can write their name so they get the credit for the referral.
2. Do you send out a newsletter? That's the perfect place to let your customers know you appreciate your business and that you are accepting new cleaning customers.
3. Call or schedule an appointment with your current customers to discuss how things are going. Ask if you can send them a referral form that they can keep on hand.
4. Ask for testimonials from your current customers. Then print part of their testimonial on a referral form that they can give to people who are looking for a cleaning service.
5. Put together a list of the individuals and business that could send referrals to you. This includes not only current customers, but employees, networking groups, suppliers and professional service providers (your accountant, lawyer, tax preparer, etc.) Send information to all the individuals on your list letting them know you are building your business and are looking for referrals.
6. People are busy with their own lives and their own businesses. So it is important that you thank them when they take the time to send a new customer your way. Taking the time to send a thank you shows that you appreciate the referral.
As any successful business owner will tell you, referrals from current customers are the best way to grow your business. Indeed, it is more cost-effective to give cash and gifts to individuals that send referrals your way than to it is to run an ads in your local media. Provide good service to your cleaning customers and remind them you are growing your business and the referrals you get will pay off much better than any money you spend on an advertising campaign.
Copyright (c) 2007 The Janitorial Store
As your cleaning business grows and you add employees, keeping track of time sheets and adding up hours can be a big headache. If you have just one or two employees a paper time sheet where employees "clock in" and "clock out" for each location they clean may be all that you need to track their hours. However, deciphering data and adding up hours from numerous time sheets can take time away from other profit-making activities as you burn up your time doing payroll.
There are options available to your cleaning company other than hiring a full-time bookkeeper. Telephone timekeeping systems are ideal for cleaning companies. They allow employees to call from any location they are working at and "clock in" and "clock out" by using their employee pin number and location pin number.
These timekeeping systems have many time-saving benefits and features:
1. Tracks each employee's time down to the minute.
2. Reassurance that there's no cheating, as there can be with a handwritten time sheet.
3. Tracks travel time between buildings.
4. Caller ID capabilities to ensure employees are calling from the correct location.
5. The ability to leave messages for employees. As soon as they call into the system they receive their messages.
6. Employee scheduling and management.
7. Tracking of no shows or late arrivals. The system alerts supervisors with a call to their cell phone or pager.
8. Supervisors can call into the system to see who is clocked into a building at any given time.
9. The ability to track by job number as well as employee.
10. Easy way to import payroll information. Hours are automatically added up for you, including travel time. Various reports available. Two such automated timekeeping systems are: Express Time from A&B Express Products LLC, http://www.expresstime.net/index.html, and MITC's Telephone Timekeeping Software, http://www.mitcsoftware.com.
MITC's software has a one-time fee. You can buy added blocks of support time from them. Express Time is different in that it has a monthly charge as well as a per call fee. The MITC program does require added hardware and software installed on your computer or you can buy a ready-to-use computer from them.
Express Time has two different systems available: Express Time and Express Time Online. Express Time has a one-time fee, and you can buy added support hours. Express Time Online has a recurring monthly fee as well as a 12 cent per charge for each incoming call. Each system has software that must be downloaded on to your computer. They do not have hardware that is installed on to your computer, but they do have specific computer recommendations for the software to work efficiently. Express Time also states high-speed broadband is needed for technical support.
On either system, employees can call in any time of day, seven days a week, as long as you have the software is running on your computer. The MITC system has different modules that can you can add depending on your specific needs.
Either software, MITC or Express Time, will require a time commitment on your part to learn the system, which may seem overwhelming at first. But after a couple of weeks using the system you will be flying around it like pro.
Adding an automated timekeeping system may be the next step to growing your cleaning business. Any type of automated system you buy will require a financial investment, but it will free up your time from doing the mundane tasks of timekeeping and allow you to spend your time in more productive ways.
Steve Hanson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Cleaning Business, Business Plan and Home Appliances. Steve Hanson is co-founding member of The Janitorial Store (TM), an online community that offers weekly tips, articles, downloads, discussion forums, and more for anyone who would like to learn. Steve Hanson's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.