Trying to prove you're just as good as the big cleaning companies?

Why would a customer CHANGE cleaning companies?

Remember when you were a kid... and a teenager... how you so yearned to be OLDER? 

The funny thing about growing up is that we all want to be just like the grownups. We want to be seen to have all the grown-up qualities of adults, we want to be viewed as mature and wise.

Amazingly, so it is with our business as well. When we start a cleaning company, it is usually just you either alone or with a partner... small, hopeful, eyeing up towards those well-established cleaning companies, trying to simulate their appearence, actions, tools, policies, websites...

...all very, VERY normal for anyone starting up a business within his/her chosen industry.

But look-a-here... did you ever stop to consider this:

What if the big boys have got it BADLY WRONG???

What if they DON'T know it all, what if their solutions AREN'T workable, what if they just PRETEND to have the key to success???

I mean, look... in an industry where everyone aims to be the SAME, what option do customers have but to...

Right. Now you begin to understand why in confidential surveys the most widely held fixed idea among facility managers is "once you've seen one cleaning company, you've seen them all..." and the second "they all clean well for a while, but THEN..."

Thus, if it would be that the big boys' work is producing more dissatisfaction than anything, they it would stand to reason NOT to try to be like they are.

Anyhow, to compete with them you undercut your own profitability more often than not.

And if you try to be like they are... why would the customer go into all the trouble and cost of CHANGING their cleaning company, just so they could get another one exactly like the previous cleaners that they didn't want???

Indeed. The answer is that if you want to attract the BETTER kind of new customers - ones who appreciate your work and are willing to pay for it too - then you must be DIFFERENT from everyone else.

And that's what most of us are trying. But "different" does not mean using superlatives about yourself, telling how good you are (remember, they "know" that "all cleaning companies are the same...."), but something altogether different.

If you're interested to find out what, then simply read our article "Finding ways to increase the price and profits of contract cleaning services" and you'll be on your way...

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Finding ways to increase the price and profits of contract cleaning services 

 

P.S. Our domain name has changed, so just in case you happen to try to log onto any page on our blog that does not open, go to http://www.cleaningcustomers.com/ and see the link directory from there!

The mirror effect on bidding on accounts:

How to increase the chances of winning with your quote irrespective of its price?

When bidding on a contract cleaning job, most of us concentrate solely on the PHYSICAL requirements of the facility being quoted on for cleaning.

But what about the EMOTIONAL requirements of the client / the facility manager choosing a new cleaning company?

Do you really think it is all a matter of FACTS and SPECS for him/her? That the old cleaners somehow just stopped cleaning or died and therefore he/she needs a new service provider?

Right.

Emotional issues triggering extreme opinions

The fact of the matter is that cleaning quality is extremely difficult to define without significant professional experience within the trade. And when we speak of cleaning customers, let me assure you that there is very little PROFESSIONAL experience there.

Instead, they go by their emotions and that (usually negative) experience from cleaning within their own house. 

So complaints originate from the lowest echelons of the customer's company, and the facility manager simply wants... what?

He wants those problems to END. 

He wants to choose the LAST EVER cleaning service provider he'll ever have to choose.

And when you are in contact with him - both on the phone and in person on site - you must address those emotional issues he has, ensuring him you will indeed solve that problem and take care of the cleaning so his work is diminished.

In a way, you then must MIRROR his worries with certain assurances of your own, but it is vital to know how exactly you can find out and present these so that he will believe you.

So why not read our article "How to increase quote acceptance ratio tenfold with a new presentation technique" in order to find out how you could achieve that?

It can be done.

Feel free to contact me through the website if you have any questions.

P.S. Our domain name has changed, so just in case you happen to try to log onto any page on our blog that does not open, go to http://www.cleaningcustomers.com/ and see the link directory from there!