When it comes to a growing successful commercial cleaning business, getting clients is just the beginning. In this article, we’ll provide an answer to the most common problems we’ve heard smaller companies complain about. Not only will these clear up any doubts you may have, but they will also actually help you grow your customer list and improve your conversion rates; two crucial steps when attracting new customers for your services.
Getting clients for your cleaning company may not seem like a huge task, but it’s simply not enough. You need to get the right clients and convert them into regulars. The problems faced by many cleaning companies like yours often have obvious (for us) solutions and here we will point out the best ways to solve them.
PROBLEM #1:“I don’t know who my customers are”
We can all agree that at the most basic level, a commercial cleaning company client is someone who needs to have their workplace cleaned. But of course, you need to go deeper than that. You can start by researching who your cleaning business is directed to and trying to reach. You can also look into your competition and what they are doing, to whom are they directing their communication.
Identifying your target market is crucial to your success. Understanding this market and its demographics will help you determine and create a message that is less general and more relatable to them.
Here is a list of industries that you should consider targeting
- Private Schools
- Funeral Homes
- Doctor’s Offices
- Manufacturing facilities
- Dentist
- Veterinarians
- Accounting firms
- Hotels
- Laywers office
You can also find a good Buyer personas template so you can learn more about your ideal customer and most importantly know how to approach them and communicate with them.
PROBLEM #2: “My prospects never reply to my reach outs”
Customers only want to hear what makes them happy, how you’re going to make their life better, and how little you’re going to charge for cleaning. They just want their workplace cleaned and disinfected, at the best price.
So your goal shouldn’t be letting people know your life story. It’s to understand your target audience and what triggers them. Look to the answer to these questions to reach the proper audience:
- What do they need most? Do a Google search for the biggest needs they have. Tools like Also Asked will help you reach different options within the needs customers have.
- What do they want to achieve? Before we get too philosophical, this is just what they’re looking for in a commercial cleaning company. The answer will be related to work frequency, equipment needs, and possibly a bit more.
- What are their pain points? Everyone needs cleaning, apparently. But let’s get specific here and see what exactly do you offer vs. what your current and prospective customers need.
- Can I do this? Any setting where you give a customer the chance to ask a question related to your business and services, and you can answer them is ideal. This not only promotes interaction, it generates a lot of goodwill and Google relevancy to your brand. Social media is a great place for this, but so are cold emailing and cold calling. This interaction can help you understand the customer’s needs and get the whole questions flow going.
When you know your ideal customers, it’s easy to align the business in line with their needs. People only care about what benefits they’ll get from your cleaning service and not how great of a company can be.
PROBLEM #3: “I’m sending the right message, but it’s not reaching the right people”
Once you know what to say and who to say it to, you have to figure out how to reach them. This can be through a passive service like Google My Business, which will reach customers who search for your company or services related to your business.
But when you’re in a market shared by many other companies providing the same (or similar) services, are you still passive? Of course not! You have to reach out to people and this is done by focusing not only on the target but also on their inquiries. Google Ads are excellent for this, as they will target questions asked in the search window and provide and link your content as answers.
Another effective way to reach out your ideal target audience is through email marketing, this is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience and it’s as close as free as it gets.
To learn more about how we implement email marketing strategies to get cleaning clients don’t miss our latest training webinar NO LEADS LEFT BEHIND
Once you know the needs of your target, you can prepare better for the demands of the commercial cleaning market. This can also help develop a better image on social media and your website. For example, if most of your customers are looking for carpet cleaning, then you can invest more in platforms such as Facebook ADS for cleaning companies targeted towards people looking for this service than hardwood cleaning, for example.
PROBLEM #4: “All my information is on the website, but people keep asking the same questions”
Your website is one of the first impressions your customers get of your company. If it doesn’t look or navigate well, they’ll leave and probably never come back!
Your website needs to be fresh and updated for potential clients who might visit and existing clients who are looking something up. So refresh often by making changes like adding new content, attractive colors, modern interface, improved navigation, etc.
Here are a few hints to keep in mind when thinking about a website for commercial cleaning:
- Avoid clutter and keep the website clean, with lots of space
- Offer pricing calculators
- Place highly visible contact information
- Have a user-friendly design that looks similar across different platforms (desktop, tablet, phone)
- Install chat-bot or instant messaging system
- Showcase your current clients
- Explain your service areas, FAQs, etc.
PROBLEM #5: “I’m on social media but no one can find me”
Commercial cleaning companies that only have an account on social media are missing out. It’s important for them to post relevant and regular content, and not just when they notice something going viral. Guiding their followers through the process of hiring a commercial cleaning company or finding who can cover their needs makes it ideal.
Additionally, not all social media channels are directed to the same people, and understanding how each of them works will let you market your cleaning business better.
- Facebook makes it easy to set up a business page and have users follow you. From your business page, you can post operating hours and services offered. Customers can also provide a review on your Facebook business page, and better reviews help more potential customers find your page.
- Instagram is crucial not only as a relevant social media platform where everyone has an account. If a customer cannot find you on the platform, it could lead to a bad experience or worse, sending them to your competitors.
- LinkedIn is a professional platform and a free way to post job openings. But it is also a great way to create awareness for your cleaning company’s brand and connect directly with the decision-makers within a company.
PROBLEM #6: “I’m not getting any contracts through social media”
There are a lot of myths concerning social media and its use. Social media is not a faucet you open and sales will come pouring in. It’s rather a constant source of knowledge and information for your customers, in which your consistency will give the sense of how good you are at your job and this will lead customers into getting in contact with you. It is a process led by social media, but (usually) not done through social media.
The key to success in the commercial cleaning business is consistency. With such a competitive market, it’s important that you have an effective marketing strategy and publish your content consistently on social media platforms, so customers can realize the options available to them, but also find out about what services are available at their location!
Social media is a powerful tool with the right strategy, capable of attracting many customers. But it’s usually through other platforms (email and phone calls, usually) that you will close the deals. However, many social media channels are bridging this gap and putting Call to Action buttons on their pages, with options to “Call Now” or “Book Now”, which are free to include.
With these buttons, you can link your cleaning service booking pages to Facebook or Instagram so that a customer who visits the page is able to book their appointment with just one click. If they want an even easier way of making reservations, there’s no need for them to get off of social media! Hashtags can also help you direct these customers better.
But it will be regularly posting on your social media channels with content relevant to your audience and your services that will keep people engaged. This will lead to a higher engagement score as well as make search engines more likely to show seekers what’s posted.
In general, the right social media strategy designed by a highly capable marketing team will clear the way to mostly engage your customers, and marginally make sales.
PROBLEM #7:“I engage with prospects all over the world. But no one hires me locally”
Website and social media traffic are essential to become relevant on the internet, but how do you become relevant to locals, which really are the ones who will likely hire you? You need your business listed in local directories. This is usually a free service and can help increase your web traffic.
There are many local directories available, some more relevant than others. Some examples are
And while these are mostly ‘old school’ directories, created sometime in the early 90s, they tend to be directed at a very specific target audience who still uses this service.
But if you REALLY want to be relevant in your local area, Google My Business is what you need. In layman terms, GMB (Google My Business) is the integration of Google Search with Google Maps, and it can be your only source of local traffic and you will still be making it work.
You can easily register your commercial cleaning business in Google by adding the name, phone number, website, local address, and opening hours, but you can also add so much more. Your customers can also add reviews, which Google ranks very high and will also help your business grow.
With over 3.5 billion searches per day, GMB provides approximately 26% of the views local businesses receive in the US. The information provided from GMB can be completely customized and will help you make the experience more profitable when a customer decides to check you out.
Since around 58% of searches are done from mobile, it makes sense that GMB integrates with Google Maps, as it will take customers directly to your office. A properly applied strategy with GMB may be the best way to gain more commercial cleaning contracts, as your business is visible to the people working or living near your business area.
PROBLEM #8: “Should I be sending emails? How do I evade spam filters?”
While some may argue that email marketing is saturated, there is a good reason for it. Email is a quick and inexpensive way to reach a large portion of your target audience. In fact, email is not just a tool for extending offers to customers or generating leads. For many cleaning companies, it is the primary tool for generating a return on investment in marketing efforts.
Companies that can master the cold email market do it well and enjoy higher sales and a more cost-efficient approach to their marketing overall.
You’ve probably already used cold emailing but if you’re not currently doing it, you are missing out on the chance to expand your reach beyond those who have just visited your website. Companies like ZoomInfo, Data Axle USA, and D7 Lead Finder, among many others, provide lists that you can buy based on the demographic information you provide, improving how you market your cleaning business.
Then, it’s just a matter of creating the right message to reach the right person at the right time. This will require a proper pipeline to channel your emails and the replies you get. While it’s not something we can simplify in a couple of lines, we do urge you to be a part of our monthly webinars, where we teach how to set up and handle a proper pipeline with our system.
PROBLEM #9: “So I just send the emails?”
If it were as easy as that, you wouldn’t need to follow instructions.
A strong pipeline to reach customers is not just made of emails. You will need at least three channels to communicate with your potential customers; these can be emails, voicemails, and SMS.
Through different channels and different messages, you can design a custom pipeline to reach and guide your customers through a communications pipeline designed to turn inquiries and leads into conversions.
This pipeline will help you contact the right people at the least possible cost and with the least amount of waste, with a clear buyer persona that targets the right leads.
Watch our free training on how to get started with email marketing here. You can also learn a ton more about email marketing, the different types of email marketing, and how to use each of them in our previous article: 8 Email Campaigns Every Cleaning company should have.
PROBLEM #10: “I’ve done all of the above, but no new clients”
We always love a good challenge at Cleaning in Motion so let’s get cracking!
If you have already created a user-friendly website, spent a good budget on Facebook and Google ads, pushed updates through all your social media platforms, and contacted the right people, but still no commercial cleaning contracts? Your marketing strategy is not wrong. You may need to wait. But you also need to think differently than your competitors.
A good technique here is to focus your messages on what you have, pay attention to your current customers, and try to convert them into regular customers. Improve your content and the experience through:
- Speeding up your website according to what customers search for
- Enhance the business experience by offering guarantees
- Create more interesting content, such as videos
- Include free webinars for your customers
- Run A/B testing using the collected data
- Use testimonials to build trust
PROBLEM #11: “I don’t know how to be more approachable”
No one likes complicated words. Customers are not interested in searching for vacuum cleaning onomatopoeias, a sesquipedalian service, or hiring your supercalifragilisticexpialidocious cleaning company.
If you have a cleaning company website and are interested in getting a huge amount of leads, SEO is one of the top services you’re going to want to hire. In simple terms, SEO is making sure your website has everything your customers are looking for.
From content words, titles, external and internal links, words in links, content and even common typos of these words are the needed ingredients that the search engine needs to rank your website among the top results. And that’s where you want to be, since on the first page alone, the first five organic results account for 67.60% of all the clicks.
Many SEO strategies we have handled increase website visibility and traffic while converting more commercial cleaning contracts. It’s no wonder 61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority.
PROBLEM #12: “So I don’t really need Facebook or Google ads?”
If you’ve been reading everything, you know your competition is fierce and not only out to get more clients, but also out to absorb their competitors! You need all the help you can get.
A well-optimized website with organic content can generate healthy leads, but this takes time. If you boost your presence with paid advertising on Facebook and Google, you can speed up this process and start getting commercial cleaning leads right away.
Since many of these platforms are pay-per-click, you don’t spray and pray, but only for clients who interacted with your ads. Google ads are your ultimate choice to have your website appear in the top 3 results of a Google search. Facebook ads appear in social feeds and are pointed at specific demographics.
What’s important is that you don’t have to choose either-or, as each platform is different, and both enhance brand awareness through different channels. Using both will just mean a better chance to get more commercial cleaning contracts. But being able to use both effectively is where the skill of a marketing agency like Cleaning in Motion comes in handy.
High conversion ad copies will mean the difference between merely a potential customer and one who wants to hire your services. Our expert team is your best bet at achieving a higher ROI and getting more cleaning work.
The Bottom Line
The Commercial Cleaning Market in the US is highly competitive, with many companies trying to be the next big thing. A common trend lines most of them: they are small and medium businesses that compete in their local markets. Whether yours is struggling to grow, or you’re already a leading janitorial service, you will definitely want to boost your leads! Any of the eleven problems mentioned above have a solution and you just need the right team to handle it.
The right team will help you boost your commercial cleaning contracts and achieve your business goals. This will let you not only get more customers but also keep them for a long time.
Just remember everything else is pointless if you reach the wrong people.
