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Grow My Cleaning Company's Podcast

Do less and grow FAST. Mike shares the secrets to building a million dollar cleaning company without being a slave to your business.
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Now displaying: February, 2016
Feb 29, 2016

Janitorial Company Hiring

Getting tired of working all day and wondering how on earth would you make your job become lighter and make your life much more easier?

Listen in to how today’s awesome episode can help you with your milestones by giving you some tips and advice on how you can grow your company.

Today’s podcast interview is with Todd Vaccarello from West Coast Commercial Cleaning­ www.WestCoastClean.com.

Todd and Mike discuss  promoting from within and hiring for the best employee. Mike’s shares his insights about the concept of different salaries according to your employee's workload and for him.

BONUS TIP: Cleaning is  $10/hour work.

Mike comes up with a set of ideas that can help cleaning business owners improve their approach in hiring or promoting employees. Make sure you check out Mike’s brilliant ideas!

BONUS TIP: There are two things to consider before hiring/promoting an employee and Mike will deliver them to you, so tune in. Don’t miss this! This is interesting!

Of course, a workplace should include Core Values that is shared between each and everyone within the company and reflects them to the customers. Without these factors, you are bound to do things the hard way, waste most of your precious time and spend it on less important things, and what makes it harder is­ you’ll be doing it everyday!

Being systematic is very important, that is why Mike suggests to create systems that average people can excel in to do the work, systems that could make the work easier and could handle different situations and scenarios. Systems saves lives people!

BONUS TIP: Get your Culture & Core Values Right!

Mike strongly promotes to have a good set of core values for a growing company.

Of course, always encourage employees that they should make decisions that don’t violate the company’s core values. Listen in to hear how to pull it off.

WARNING: Don’t violate the core values, or it’s gonna be ugly!

 Here are some last thoughts Mike shares with Todd:

  •  Hire someone that shares your core values
  • ●  If you got the people that shares the same core values, life is so much easier
  • ●  If they violate your core values, it’s gonna be a problem
  • ●  Hire somebody that's going to have a chance for success

BONUS TIP: Do not abdicate authority but delegate authority

Mike believes that posing authority must be done in a right way. Making sure that an employee is ready and capable to do your work, they must undergo a long and systematized process before considering them to be locked and loaded. And abdicating authority is just setting things up for failure.

LAST HIT: KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) Enjoy Mike’s nerdy talks about KPI. This will definitely give you some good ideas on how to come up with your own KPI and make your company grow!

 Here comes the Lightning Round!

  •  Don’t ever lose focus on why you started your own business
  • ●  Do not allow employees handle tasks without proper training
  • ●  You can’t please everybody
  • ●  Learn to smile, be considerate, and appreciate feedbacks
  • Hit Subscribe if you want to watch more of Mike’s videos about how to grow your company at our YouTube Channle­ Click the Subscribe button now www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM
  • Or join us on our Facebook Group or free where you can also share your insights with other awesome people at www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany

 

We can help you grow your company more, visit us on our website at www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com and also Subscribe to our show on iTunes here: http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

iTunes­ http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

 And don’t forget to Follow us onTwitter­ https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow See ya!

 

Feb 26, 2016

How to Build a Successful Cleaning Business

 

A lot of owners of cleaning companies are burdened with the tightrope walk of working in their cleaning businesses and trying to spend the time and energy it takes to grow their business to hire people so they can stop cleaning and start being the entrepreneur they know they are.

 

Today Mike coaches Jeffrey Carruthers from Gold Cleaning Canada on how to build a successful cleaning business.

 

Having enough cash flow to hire people to do the cleaning for you can be one of the biggest problems owners have when it comes to transitioning out cleaning for their business to working on their business.

 

Finding the time to plan can be a big obstacle for knowing how to build a successful cleaning business, especially when you are exhausted from manual labor.

 

For commercial cleaners, finding that time can actually be pretty simple. Listen in for some quick tips on when and how to find the time and what you need to focus on.

 

Mike breaks down how to  selling for 30-60 days, earmarking all jobs for subcontractors can change your business and your life.

 

BONUS MATH: Say you sell $1200 of work, then subcontract them out for $600, You now you can hire a $600 employee!

 

If you can pay someone 10$/hr that’s 60 hours a month of time you just bought yourself deal listener.



Mike explains the simple concept of when you want to get out of the business 90% of the time it’s not a transitional problem it’s a client acquisition problem.

He then goes into how you can set up a good client aquisition system to finally free you from working in your business to on it.

 

BONUS TIP: if your margins are right, you’re always going to be ok

 

He then explains a huge mistake owners make when charge for their time. Are you afraid that raising prices will scare all of your clients away? Then listen in, you might be surprised at the reality.

 

Don’t get tricked into thinking you can save money by doing the work you yourself, listen to why this can be a business killer.

 

Finally Jeffrey brings on the Canadian charm and wisdom in the lightning round

 

  • Just do it
  • Make sure you vett subcontractors well
  • Look into joining a networking group

 

Check out the last podcast at: http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/how-to-get-government-cleaning-contracts/

 

If you love us, and who are we kidding of course you do, subscribe to our YouTube channel and learn how to build a successful cleaning business- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

Need more help and support? We have that! Join our private FB Group just for owners of cleaning companies- https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

Get more blogs and resources at our Website- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

Don’t have the time to stare at Mike’s face for the show? No problem subscirbe to the show on  iTunes - http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

 

Let’s be honest, who has time to read more than a sentance at a time, hit us up on Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

Feb 24, 2016

How to Get Government Cleaning Contracts

 

Are you looking to make that leap into government contracting? Before you go down the route of getting special certifications, minority certifications and chasing that Government Cleaning Contract dragon, you need to ask yourself who is your target customer?

 

Mike coaches Anthony Fisher of Anthony’s Janitorial Maintenance on how to get government cleaning contracts. Anthony is currently in the residential and commercial market but wants to specialize in government contracts with his minority owned certified cleaning business.

 

Have you gotten confused or derailed with special designation? Find out why having the designation does not necessarily mean you will get the contract and what you can do to get a leg up on your competition.

 

Mike explains how to find out what your ideal customer really wants so that you aren’t trying to sell them something they don’t even want or care about.

 

BONUS TIP: They want a problem solved or their life to be better not necessarily than the cheapest price.

 

Mike shares how to get the answers to helping your customers reach their goals.

 

Certifications aren’t easy to get or maintain, you’re competing against the guy that ONLY does government contracts. Fortunately there is an antidote, listen in to hear how to not only compete, but crush your competition and master how to get government cleaning contracts.

 

BONUS TIP: The government wants you to understand their rules and make sure you know how to follow them perfectly.

 

But don’t be fooled by the allure of fame and riches with the government, find out why if the government is only 20% of your business they aren’t worth your time

 

The good news is it’s a great time to be in the commercial cleaning space even if you don’t know how to get government cleaning contracts or even want them.

 

But if your heart is set on working for the man, it  should be your full time job. Mike explains how long it actually might take to carve your niche out in the government contract world, you might be surprised.

 

BONUS TIP: The best 12 ideas you have are always going to perform below the 1 idea you put all your focus on .

 

Mike explains how to know your niche inside and out and how that can be your ticket to success. Why being able to answer your customer’s business questions and not their cleaning questions can revolutionize your closing ratio.

 

Finally Anthony shares his wisdom in the Lightning Round

 

  • Never leave a customer unsatisfied
  • Don’t give too much responsibility to employees that aren’t ready
  • Learn your niche

 

Check out our last show-http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/how-to-start-you…leaning-business/

 

Don’t forget to subscibe to our YouTube channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

Get more resources and peer support in our private FB Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

More Blogs, resources and podcasts on our Website- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

Subscribe to the show on iTunes- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes



Continue the conversation on Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

Feb 22, 2016

How to Start Your Own Cleaning Business

 

Mike coaches Zohar Rangel of Merimon in Salt Lake City Utah on the do’s and don't’s on How to Start Your Own Cleaning Business.

 

Mike lays down the number one key idea - “first you’ve got to actually DO this”

Don’t get caught up in the “I’ve heard this before, I’ve tried it” hear why that mentality can be a business and progress killer.

 

Mike explains the problem with assuming that you know it already and that you get it.

 

Knowing it does you absolutely 0 good, doing it is the key.

 

Next they get into what every new cleaning business owner should do - Pick a niche - Learn why this is one of the most important things you will do to build a start a successful cleaning business.

 

Mike then lays out how to pick your niche:

 

  • Pick the type of work you do
  • Pick your customer

 

Commercial cleaning is awesome because it’s recurring revenue, maybe you gain a couple or lose a couple but you know some money is always coming in.

 

Residential cleaning is good but smaller accounts, more work and generally more fussy customers.

 

In Zohar’s case Mike brings up the point that construction clean up is good but isn’t exactly recurring.

 

He then shares the secrets that almost no one does - but every successful business knows.

 

Mike shares the good stuff on how to find out what your customer wants and how to be the only one giving it to them.

 

Learn how to beat the “Everyone says they want the best clean at the lowest price” game.

 

You can’t be the cheapest and make any money and if you aren’t making money you can’t really give a good service.

 

BONUS TIP: If you ask your prospective customers WHY they want the cheapest price you open the conversation to getting to the root of what they really want.

 

It’s easy to sell something to your customer that they've already told you that’s what they want

 

Mike talks money and marketing - Set aside a customer acquisition budget and stick to it. Test and find your customer acquisition strategy - start that early

 

These systems are going to be expensive in the beginning so at the bare min - set aside a fixed % of your income to devote to marketing and client acquisition.

 

BONUS TIP: Find a mentor that has done it and have them guide you through how to start your own cleaning business.

 

Once you find out what your customer wants you have to sell it to them, but how do you sell your first few clients? Guess you will just have to listen in to find out but here’s one little gem right off the bat:

 

  • If you interview enough customers what they want  you will get 2-3 jobs right off the bat

 

Finally, Mike gets into the things not to do:

  • Don’t waste money and time on logos/office space/website/social media
  • Nothing happens until you make a sale

It’s just as important to not focus on things that are a waste of your time as the things you need to do

 

Zohar then brings the heat with his Lightning round answers

  • Whatever the mind can believe and conceive the mind can achieve - napoleon hill
  • Think and grow rich - napoleon hill
  • Don't wait to go for it if you aren’t totally “ready”
  • Always look for ways to better your service

For some more genius ways on how to wrangle your employees check out this Link from last show-http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/employee-motivation/

 

Can’t get enough of Mike’s face? Good news, we have more! Subscrive to our YouTube channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

Join the fun on our private FB Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

Get more free resources, blogs and training on our Website- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

Sign up to hear us for free on the go at iTunes- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes


Get more cleaning genius 140 characters at a time on Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

Feb 19, 2016

Employee Motivation

 

Employee motivation is what separates the good companies from the great.

 

Mike coaches Ivan Perez of Evelyn’s Cleaning Service on how to cultivate the best employees for his cleaning service. Bottom line, if you can get your employees engaged and excited you are going to be much more successful.

 

Mike starts with sound foundational keys; If you have the problem of employees doing just enough to not get fired, you have a culture problem.

First he tackles the silly belief that most business owners believe; if I give you $10 you will give me x amount of your time.

 

Listen in to what the problem is with this line of thinking and why it can not only not build the right employees for you but stop you from ever getting them.

 

Mike goes into how employees REALLY think, and it may surprise you to know that that YOU are a commodity, not just the other way around.

 

BONUS TIP: When you are hiring $10-$15/hr employees you e competing with all the other $10/hr jobs out there or worse the government that will pay them to do nothing instead

 

The fact of the matter is that there are too many people willing to give them 10/hr for a labor intensive job

 

Mike explains your employees don’t take your employment seriously because they can just go out and get another job to pay their rent when it’s convenient if they’re too hungover to come into work that day or just plain don’t feel like it.

 

Never fear, Mike has the Solution.

 

BONUS TIP: You are never going to get anyone's heart and passion for 10-15$/hr

It doesn’t matter if you pay them $10 or $15 it’s always going to be the same level of commitment.

 

So how DO you move them from seeing you as a commodity is they have to be a part of something bigger than cleaning toilets?

 

Mike shares the power of giving them something they believe in, something that they're passionate about.

 

He then breaks it down into 2 steps.

 

Step 1 - identify and discover your core values - why you do what you do.

 

They discuss the best way to create that same drive that drives you through creating a culture and atmosphere that goes hand in hand with your core values.

 

BONUS TIP: You can’t manufacture your culture, you have to ask yourself what is important to you, something bigger than the company. Make that the golden thread to build your company and culture on.

 

You want the employee that is passionate about what you are passionate about so find the reason you do what you do that is bigger than money.

 

Following the steps lined out in this podcast your employees won’t see you as a commodity anymore, they will want to be a part of the culture, they don’t want to let the cause down, their coworkers down.

 

Mike suggests some awesome reading material for any owner looking to build culture in their company; Rockefeller habits by Vern Harnish

 

“If your employees aren’t mocking you about your core values you haven’t been talking about them enough” - Vern Harnish

 

Mike breaks down easy suggestions to building community and culture in your own company that you can start implementing this week!

 

Finally Ivan shares his own nuggets of wisdom in the Lightning Round

  • Always know what you’re talking about when it comes to your services and what you have to offer
  • Value your time - don’t take the low ball offers
  • Work with your teams from time to time- learn from your employees and clients

 

Check out the last show- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/cleaning-service-pricing/

 

Want more? Subscirbe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

Get more great ideas, community and support in our private FB Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

For more training and free resrouces to to our Website- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

For more cleaning lovin’ on the road subscribe to our podcast on iTunes- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes


Finally get daily wisdom and entertainment from Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

Feb 15, 2016

Cleaning Services Hiring

 

If you have questions on when to start delegating tasks and your cleaning services hiring you have come to the right place.

 

If you start by doing everything yourself with no employees or partners you should be building cash pretty quick. Mike breaks it down for Tiffany on where to find the capital to start hiring and why you need to delegate those tasks ASAP.

 

Learn why you want to be doing “everything” as little as possible.

 

BONUS TIP: The first trick is to identify $10/hr, $50/hr and $100/hr work

 

Cleaning is $10/hr work

 

If you’re cleaning there’s no way, even if you’re the best cleaner that ever lived will ever be doing $100/hr work.

 

Let’s delve into this further and say that now you are not doing $10/hr tasks but now you are managing cleaners, that is still like $20/hr but definitely never $100/hr work.

 

If you are saying to yourself,  you can’t afford to not do the $10/hr jobs but then simultaneously saying because you are doing the 10$/hr jobs you can’t be doing the 100$/hr jobs, it costs you 90$/hr!

BONUS MATH: An account that you charge $500/mo for, over the course of a five year contract earns you roughly 30k.  If that takes you 3 hours to manage that contract its $10k an hour!

 

Mike then talks about the biggest mistakes owners make when they are no longer “doing the cleaning” and how that mistake can cost them the most in time and revenue.

 

He goes over what you absolutely shouldn’t be doing and what you as the owner cannot afford not to do.

 

Of course moving from doing everything to only the $100/hr tasks isn’t an overnight transformation. But Mike goes into depth about how to make that shift mentally and strategically.

 

If you are cleaning, who’s running the business?If you saw the pilot of a plane cleaning the bathroom you would be worried about who’s flying the plane?

 

Knowing when your business is about to die isn’t as easy as knowing when a customer is upset and ready to stop service. But it’s even more crucial to be paying attention to it.

 

Because it’s easy for the $10/hr tasks to get on fire, you get so used to going fire to fire you forget to create systems for your business. Hear how to avoid this common mistake.

 

As the owner it’s your job to make sure the right person is doing the right job.

 

Finally Tiffany lays some wisdom down in the Lightning round

  • Treat your cleaning staff as if they are the product that you are selling to people- invest in making sure they are a quality product
  • Don’t try to spend all of your time and energy trying to figure out a bidding calculator when on a time crunch to bidding a new job
  • Know how to sell yourself when talking to the client



Check out the last episode at http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/niche-cleaning/

 

More genius 24/7 on our YouTube channel, subscribe and don’t miss out  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

Be a part of the community on our private FB Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

For more free training and bonus material go to our Website- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

For cleaning lovin on the go subcribe to our podcast on iTunes- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

 

Continue the conversation 149 characters at a time on Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

Feb 12, 2016

Niche Cleaning

 

Are you sick and tired of trying to serve everyone? Do you know who your ideal customer is? Have you been wanting to really drill down you business and do niche cleaning?

 

Today Mike coaches Derreck Smallwood of Sqeaky Kleen Washing on Niche Cleaning. Derreck has chosen Property managers as his specific target customer and wanted clarity on how to supercharge his marketing efforts.

 

First Mike shares a little wisdom from The Ultimate Selling Machine by Chet Holmes .

He explains what a dream 100 is, why it’s important to set aside time to figure out who they are  and how it can help you to maximize your marketing dollars and save you thousands of wasted effort and money.

 

BONUS TIP: Instead of having so many customers doing everything you can, specialise in your ideal customer

 

Mike then explains how trying to attract everyone can crush your business.  None of us have the budget to market to everyone so learn how to pick your niche cleaning business.  A lot of cleaners will make the mistake of thinking more service mean more clients and that means more money but it can mean the very opposite.

 

Some of the benefits of fewer clients are:

 

  • Being able to spend more money per client per year
  • Specializing your marketing efforts to just their specific pain
  • Being the only one in your market to cater specifically to them

 

If you are like Derreck who has the doggedness and determination to show up at his prospects door every day until they say you’re hired or go away then listen for these great tips on how to supercharge your efforts:

    • Find their specific pain - This is key, you can’t really market effectively to your prospects without knowing what keeps them up at night. Here are some of the ways you can get this golden information:
      • Take them out to lunch and ask them what drives them crazy about janitors/Customers
      • Once you do several lunches you get a trend of exactly what their pain and passion is about
      • Use those exact pain and passion words they use in your own marketing
    • Join a trade association that they associate with- make your name and face known to them. Become a trusted resource not a salesperson

BONUS TIP: Don't try to get into too many services - focus on your niche and position yourself as an expert by getting to know your clients on a deeper level than your competitors

 

Mike explains how niche cleaning can keep your customers happy because you know what is important to them.

 

It’s difficult if not impossible to have more than 1 niche. You can only do so much with the time and money you have, spreading yourself too thin can be a detriment to your business.

 

Lastly, Mike’s parting words are “Building relationships is key”

 

Finally Derreck lays some wisdom on us in the Lightning round

  • Gain focus and lay out your list of goals and work on succeeding at those goals
  • Not following up is a big mistake
  • Know your numbers

For more cleaning genius subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

Join the conversatino on our private FB Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

More free resources and downloads at our Website- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

On the go? No problem, subscribe to our podcast on iTunes- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

 

Share the love on Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

Feb 10, 2016

Today Mike coaches Jaime Kulaga of Two Maids and a Mop on how to keep cleaning clients that are leaving due to situations outside of quality and performance by encouraging an attitude of total responsibility.

 

Learn how to focus on your circle of influence and not the things you cannot and should not try to control.

 

Mike explains that the sphere of things you can control is very small but the sphere of things you can influence is much larger and why there’s power in knowing the difference.

 

Hear what your cleaning clients are communicating is really saying when they cancel service for reasons other than problems with your service.

 

BONUS HINT: The way to combat customer loss is to provide a solution to their deep needs

 

Start with a solution to THEIR specific problem and then communicate it continually.

 

Mike goes on to explain when you truly believe you are solving problems and you communicate that to your employees you will get a higher quality of employee to your cleaning clients.

 

Hear when the worst time is to try to save a cleaning client. And what the indicators are so you aren’t caught off guard.

 

BONUS HINT: The best way to make losing customers a non-issue to have a steady stream of new prospects that turn into leads that turn into customers.

 

But how?? So glad you asked.

 

The one problem with franchises is they don’t help you with getting you clients other than their general advertising. You can’t trust that the marketing budget for your area through your Franchisor is going to serve you as well.

 

Mike explains how to create client attraction system and put them in place in your business.

 

Finally, they cover the important of why you need to know your numbers. Do you know where your company is financially? How many cleaning clients per month you loose? How about how many new leads turn into paying customers?

 

You must have a very specific tracking system for your leads per month and your conversion rate.

 

BONUS TIP: Get away from statements like “the phone is always ringing”

 

You must track

 

Finally Jaime hits us with some of her own business genius in the lightning round.



For more genius subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

Meet other owners, get peer support and great ideas on our private FB Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

For more blogs and other resources check our our Website- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

Listen to Mike on the go at iTunes- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

 

Sign up for daily genius at Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

 

Check out our Last Podcast-

http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/cleaning-company-website-design/

Feb 8, 2016

Today Mike coaches Cinderella Bermudez on how she can update her cleaning company website design to keep up with today’s time-strapped, short attention spanned, technologically advanced world.

 

The landscape is changing for the cleaning industry, you have to be intentional with being innovative and keeping up to date.

 

The fact that your customers don’t even have time to have a phone conversation bodes very well for those of us in the saving you time and work arena.

 

Cleaning can’t be outsourced to the philippines. It’s a real service that has to be done locally and more and more people today just don’t have the time to do it themselves.

 

Taking the time to have an actual conversation with their customers and get to know them and what they need/want is very effective but doesn’t work if you want to break that 7 figure barrier.

 

If your desire is to build your cleaning business to a multi million dollar business you(the owner) can’t be doing all the selling yourself, you have to systematize it and the changing landscape to getting customers online is very conducive to that reality.

 

The beautiful thing about the written word is you can make it perfect unlike salespeople who have good days or bad days.

 

You have to understand your customers pain. Asking questions that hit their pain is a much more effective sales tactic than “50% off first cleaning”

 

Mike suggests Cinderella make an “I You Count” of her website.  Go to your website today and take out all the Is and We’s and change them to YOUs.

 

Customer’s only care about themselves not you, use THEIR words to address what your customer’s pain is.

 

Use video on your site. There’s a lot of added benefit to video:

 

  • Makes you personal
  • Allows you to introduce your staff
  • Builds a virtual relationship

Mike breaks down the myth that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. One on one conversations with you (the owner) aren’t scalable, what is scapable is knowing what your customers want and answering their questions with written word, pics and video and send thousands of people to that site a day.

 

So create a website that addresses all of your customer’s questions and needs right off the bat. Don’t be afraid of new technology, embrace it!

 

Websites don’t have bad days- they are always up and always perfect.

 

When looking for a website designer, most people look for a web design company usually because they’ve been marketed to by that company. They look at the websites they’ve done before and say “wow that’s a beautiful website” and then pay their fees for a beautiful website.

 

But then 2 months later they have a beautiful website that looks great but doesn’t perform any different.

 

BONUS HINT: Hire someone who is an expert in client attraction to manage your website design .



Here are the components you should have to build a successful website:

 

  • Know who your ideal customer is
  • What they’re interested in
  • What do they absolutely want to get rid of and would pay anything to get rid of

 

Then take those components and give them to a client attraction guy to craft the best client attraction system/website for you. Know who your customer is, know what their pain is and take painstaking time to craft a message that is compelling to them.

 

Don't focus on whether or not the website looks good to you in your eyes, ask prospective web designers what kind of ROI are they getting, how many leads per month, how many are converting to bids?

 

Website designer requirements:

 

  • They should be a marketing person who has access or ability to do a website
  • Quiz them on the results of their sites/conversion

 

BONUS TIP: Don't fail for the trap that everyone falls for that you want a consult therefore your call to action is call now for a free consultation. What your customer is hearing is “call now to get pestered by a salesperson”

 

A way to get around being positioned as a salesperson is to use a lead magnet.

 

Finally Cinderella shares her own wisdom in the lightening round:

  • You are your own worst enemy, get out of your own way, trust your employees
  • Don’t fire angry - take a moment to let your emotions subside and make a thoughtful decision
Feb 3, 2016

Marketing a Cleaning Business

 

Have you felt the sting of spending thousands of dollars on marketing a cleaning business only to get virtually nothing or absolutely nothing back?

 

Today Mike helps Annie Bobbitt of Northern Connecticut Maid Brigade solve the question of how NOT to waste money on marketing that doesn’t work.

 

If your past marketing efforts didn’t pan out it doesn’t mean marketing as a whole doesn’t work, it just means what you did wasn’t right.

 

KEY POINTS:

 

  • How to know what the right message is
  • What media to use for your market
  • Who your target audience is

 

We also cover Direct mail. Yes, real, 100% dead trees direct to your prospective customer’s mailbox. There are 100 ways to skin that cat and Mike covers a few key concepts to get you started.

 

Mike explains the benefits of direct mail versus other forms of marketing. Learn how direct mail can narrow down who get’s your marketing by zip code and specific demographics and how that can save you thousands.

 

Avoid the pitfalls of using the wrong media when marketing a cleaning business by knowing where you should be spreading your message to attract your dream customers.

 

Once the media is settled Mike moves on to the message.

 

A lot of Val Pac advertisers don’t know how to do direct response, call to action or appeal to your customer’s specific needs and wants. They just do tagline, name, logo, artwork and phone number. But there’s nothing about the specific pain of your target market.

 

Your client isn’t interested in how long you have been in business and generic lines about being green, reliable or trustworthy. They are interested in THEMSELVES.

 

BONUS GENIUS: Know your customer’s biggest paint

 

Next Mike moves on to “Branding” and why unless you are a $50 Million dollar a year company it just isn’t worth your advertising money.

 

As a smaller company, marketing a cleaning business is more like putting in $1 and hoping to get a $1.50-$1.02 back. So you MUST  know how to carefully craft your message that speaks directly to your specific customer.

 

BONUS HINT: When you go on a sales call and get to emotional place with your prospective customer, use their words exactly in your ads.

 

If you can get 80% of someone’s pain, you’ve won the marketing battle. If you don’t have pain and a strong call to action, then you definitely don’t have the resources to spend on “branding”

 

You time and energy is better spent figuring out what your customers want and how you can solve their problems.

 

Hear how to find a solution that is interesting to your prospects that will have them coming to you as the trusted source in that field.

Hear how you can create a consumer guide that solves your customer’s problem and how you can change how they view you from a pushy salesperson to trusted advisor.

 

Mike gives a quick shot out to the Sandler Sales System and how their sales process is all about getting that pain from your customer. https://www.sandler.com/sales-training/sandler-selling-system

 

Finally Mike explains the best way to make sales work is to have a good marketing process. If your prospects come in already educated on your free resource they are 10x as valuable as someone who has no idea who you are. (AKA a cold lead)

 

Your salespeople have good days, bad days, show up on time or no show, but sales copy says it perfectly every time.

 

Here are the key takeaways from today’s Show:

 

  • Figure out who your ideal customer is
  • Find their pain
  • Craft a message that uses their language to explain that pain
  • Solve their pain in your message
  • Use the right media to target your specific audience
  • Set up a system that is repeatable every time

 

Finally, Annie shares her wisdom with her final Lightning Round answers:

 

  • You’ve got to be tough
  • Spending sales tax money on marketing is a big mistake
  • Find ways to do good things for your employees

 

If you want more Marketing a Cleaning Business lovin’ subcribe to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

 

For more FREE resources join our private FB Group just for owners of cleaning companies https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/

 

Get more blogs, downloads and podcast notes at www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com

 

Can’t be bothered to read? No problem, listen in on iTunes at: http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

 

Finally get daily quotes, questions and more Twitter Lovin at- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow

Feb 1, 2016

Want some cleaning marketing ideas? Yes? Well you my friend are in the right place! Marleen Swoboda owner of Mars Cleaning Service asks for marketing ideas for her 38 year old cleaning company Mars Cleaning and Mike hooks her up on this episode of the Grow My Cleaning Company Podcast!

 

Marleen shares some of her thirty eight years of experience and some great war stories before hitting Mike up for some cleaning marketing ideas. If you want to see what Marleen is up to nowaday’s you can check out Mars Cleaning at: http://marscleaningservice.com

 

Before you do, listen in as we talk about the myth of “branding” for small business and discover why direct response marketing is the ONLY way to go for your cleaning company.

 

KEY POINT: You MUST TRACK!! If you can’t track it, you are just throwing money away on a strategy called hope!!

 

Listen in as Mike gives away the secret to using your vehicles to actually MAKE you money. How to market with your company vehicles along with the HUGE mistake so many owners of cleaning companies make with their vehicle marketing.

 

HINT: When people are driving (hopefully NOT online) is sending them to your website the best way to go?

 

BONUS HINT: Talk about what people are interested in...

 

DOUBLE BONUS HINT: It ain’t you!!

 

Once Mike get’s off of his vehicle advertising soap box, without even taking a breath he dives into the importance of a Market, Message and Media match.

 

A flurry of amazing ideas to market your cleaning company ensues and Mike teaches you how to come up with the right marketing budget that you can actually afford and simultaneously debunks the “I can’t afford to market” myth/ excuse/ bad thinking.

 

RESOURCE ALERT- www.GrowMyCleaningCompany.com has EVERYTHING you need to grow your cleaning company!!

 

The people who say advertising costs too much will find the money to create advertising that says “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS”

 

Always remember, advertising is only expensive if it doesn’t work!!

 

Before the fun ends, Marleen gives back to cleaning nation with some amazing answers and insight in the Lightening Round. Check out this quick summary to whet your whistle:

 

  • Keep your sense of humor, be patient love it and stick with it
  • don’t do big new jobs on the full moon
  • give back to your customers

 

Still jonesin for MORE cleaning marketing ideas? Check out this podcast:

http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/janitorial-marketing/

 

What?? Still can’t get enough of the Grow My Cleaning Company universe? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and the Grow My Cleaning Company Podcast below:

 

YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxfA97D5XdOD4WWwHYrM

Podcast- http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com/itunes

 

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter- https://twitter.com/CleaningCoGrow for quick marketing ideas for your cleaning company



Last, but NOT least, join the best online group of owners of cleaning companies to swap cleaning marketing ideas here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/growmycleaningcompany/


It is free and is a great opportunity to ask questions, show off your knowledge and experience and best of all it is FREE!

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