A cleaning business covers many service areas include janitorial, house or office cleaning, window cleaning, garbage collection, floor cleaning, pressure washing, and more. Whether you are providing cleaning services to businesses or busy homeowners, getting the word out and pitching your services is no simple task. It’s also something you can improve at if you are willing to work on it. To help you, here are a few tips for promoting your cleaning business successfully.
Know Your Target Market
Many small business owners are thoroughly confused about their target market. They aren’t necessarily clear about who their typical customer is or who they should be to advance their interests.
For instance, a cleaning business may attempt to cover home cleaning and office cleaning too. For companies like Showpiece, offering dedicated commercial cleaning services in Sydney means that customers know exactly what to expect – no mixed messages. You might think this is fine but, when it comes to pitching the service, it creates a murky message for potential residential and commercial customers. Also, any marketing time and budget are spread too thin chasing different potential customers this way. So, avoid doing this.
While it’s tempting to offer your cleaning services to anyone and everyone, it’s better to have a clear message when pitching either directly or even through advertising messages. That way, potential customers feel that you’re clear about what you’re offering and to whom. They can then weigh up whether to become your next customer or not.
Later, expand through different sub-brands to provide segmented services, but keep it simple early on.
Avoid Pitching on Price Alone
While price is something that differentiates service providers, it’s not the only thing people are interested in. After all, no one wants to get into a wrangle over poorly provided services, or to have to buy a service from a second provider because the first one proved inferior. Customers know that price isn’t always indicative of a good outcome, so avoid pitching purely on price. Ensure there are value-added elements and small details that other competitors miss out on promoting.
Promote the Benefits to the Customers
Whether it’s a busy mom who’s trying to fit everything into her day or a company that wishes to outsource cleaning services to a third-party firm, they all want to know the benefits of using your services. Any pitch needs to include some of the benefits to be more effective. For instance, for companies that are concerned about the potential for damage inside the office caused by cleaners, incorporating that your business has specialized cleaning business insurance is worth a mention. Also, if a homeowner is worried about the poor condition of their floors, then the carpet cleaning and floor waxing services might be of special interest to them.
Tailor the pitch to what will most appeal to that customer. Listen to the potential customer and ask questions to better understand their needs. Then any pitch can incorporate the right information to entice them to hire you.
Try Not to Pitch Cold
While the cold elevator pitch through email or over the phone can work, it’s better to be prepared first. Avoid pitching cold because unless you know the person or business well, you won’t know what will appeal to them. As such, your pitch will be broader and feel less specific to what they need. Develop a fast business relationship with potential customers. Learn as much as possible as quickly as you can. It will help to appreciate what works with this market segment and improve the success rate of your future pitching too.
Learn to Love Pitching
There is this feeling that pitching is bad or wrong. That’s a completely incorrect perspective to have about it. Pitching your business is one of the most effective ways to grow it. See it in a positive light as a growth engine. You wish to help people and companies to make their lives easier. Providing cleaning services lets you do just that. So, reframe pitching in your mind. Learn to love pitching because it brings you into contact with new people and greater opportunities to be of use.
Pitching and promotion of any kind require the right mindset. When you’re not convinced by your services, then other potential customers won’t be either. Hone your pitching approach and how you find new people to pitch to, and you’ll improve your business results.