House Cleaning - The Professional Business
by Gail Metcalf
Most people get into house cleaning to earn some extra money. You may have family, friends and neighbors
as your regular clients. Are you ready and motivated to take your part-time business to the next level?
Growing any business takes time and patience. And if you have a loyal client base now, set aside a
portion of your gross revenue for advertising, custom business forms and your own products and equipment.
Expanding your business also takes planning. How can you start getting new clients without a large
advertising budget? A small one-time investment in custom business forms is the first step.
So what's wrong with not using business forms? Absolutely nothing if you're satisfied with your client
base right now and not interested in making more money. But I hear from a lot of professional house
cleaners that are struggling in their business. They wonderwhy they don't get more of the jobs they bid
on. They ask why people won't pay their rate and instead want to negotiate the price down.
If you're not presenting yourself as a professional business, your prospects assume you just need to
make some extra money; you don't have their respect and they think you'll be happy to take whatever
they offer to pay. Now think about this for a minute. Who would you be more likely to hire: the plumber
that shows up to estimate your job with a clipboard and custom business forms or the plumber that shows
up with a flyer?
Be honest with yourself; you are going to trust this plumber inside your home around your personal
possessions. What if this person were to break or damage something? Do you think about this issue with
the plumber with the clipboard and custom business forms, or is it more of a concern with the plumber
with just the flyer?
Your prospects are judging you and forming an opinion from the moment you answer their call. And you
know what they say about first impressions? It's absolutely true in running a business. Not only are
they judging you before they hire you, but they judge you again when you arrive on the scheduled service date.
 Use the Service Agreement
to define your terms of doing business and to document the service for each client. This forms performs
dual purpose as it is also your estimating form that you use during your in-home or telephone bidding.
You will discuss the content with your prospect and then have them sign it, not as a contract, but to
provide you and them with an understanding of your terms and the service start date.
The Customer Checklist
records your estimate for your new client and has all the cleaning tasks listed that you perform. This
form alone can get you the job immediately or even later after your prospect has tried other services.
The Work Order is created
from the important notes you recorded on the Service Agreement during the walk through or telephone
interview. It specifies the client, the address and phone number, information pertaining to pets in
the home, client specific requests and directives, including important notes you documented about the home.
The Service Checklist is
used by you or your team on the scheduled service date. It is a reminder of the regular service tasks
that are to be performed and is used to maintain quality. One of the biggest complaints from clients
is that quality deteriorates over time. If you're not using a Service Checklist, you're not instilling
trust in your clients, especially new clients. They will auto- matically check your work on every
appointment to make sure you didn't miss anything. And if you did, you'll hear about it - quick!
When you start to use business forms for your existing clients, they will probably ask you why the
sudden change. This provides you with a chance to tell them that you're expanding your business and
would appreciate referrals. This leaves them impressed and knowing that you are serious about running
a professional business and will be more likely to make referrals.
Custom business forms speak loudly to your prospects and in the long run land you more jobs, referrals and larger profits!
Gail Metcalf has been self-employed over twenty years; in computer software
consulting and building and selling two businesses. Additionally, she spent six
years in IT Management with a US Insurance company. She built her cleaning
business from the ground up with techniques and procedures she developed. Learn
more with The House Cleaning Pro Turnkey System and the Pro Tips and Tricks.
Site Map available on The
House Cleaning Pro website.
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