If you’re running a commercial cleaning company, you’ll know that one of the biggest obstacles to growth is getting more clients for your cleaning business. As a result of helping multiple cleaning businesses significantly grow their customer base, we have put this brief guide together which gives you some useful tips on how to get more commercial cleaning contracts for your cleaning business.
Decide what cleaning services you will offer
Before you can start getting new clients for your cleaning business, it’s important to decide exactly what cleaning services you will offer. This will help you focus your marketing efforts around those services and target the potential cleaning clients that would be interested in those particular cleaning services.
Many start-up cleaning companies fall into the trap of trying to offer too many types of cleaning services. Remember ‘the riches are in the niches’ so make sure whichever cleaning services you are providing, you are able to deliver exceptional results whilst making a healthy profit. You can always increase your cleaning services offering as your business grows and expands.
Get yourself a good cleaning website
Studies have shown that 53% of consumers research a business online before making a purchase, and 57% of web searchers won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile. So having a good website for your cleaning business is crucial as it could be the first place your potential customers will look.
Here are 3 questions to ask when it comes to deciding if you have a good cleaning company website:
- Does the website demonstrate trust and brand authority?
- Does the website display well on mobiles?
- Does the website have a clear call to action for potential customers?
Market yourself online
Okay so you’ve got yourself a good cleaning company website, now what? Well, although having a good website is essential for potential clients wanting to find out more about your business, how do you actually get your website in front of potential customers in the first place? The answer is digital marketing.
Now, there are various methods of digital marketing which enable you to market your business online e.g. social media posts, paid ads, SEO, and more… and whilst all of these methods can work to promote your website, it’s important to choose what’s right for you. Here is an example of some of the different types of digital marketing methods and the pros and cons for each.
Social media marketing
Pros
This is great if you have a following and want to market your services to your audience. You can do this by creating relevant posts and uploading them to your social media accounts. Posts could include client testimonials, before and after cleaning photos, special offers, etc.
Cons
Unless you are paying to advertise your posts to an audience outside your followers, you’ll need a decent amount of followers in order to see any real tangible conversions from this method of marketing.
Paid Social Media Ads
Pros
Paid advertising on social media platforms is a great way to reach potential customers outside of your current audience/followers. You can even specify who you want to see your advertisement based on geographical locations and user demographics.
Cons
Paid advertising, of course, is not free and you’ll be paying to display your ad in front of potential customers, which isn’t a problem if you are getting a decent return on the investment, however, paid ads usually work best over longer periods of time once you have run successful campaigns and refined exactly who to target in order to increase conversions.
Remember social media is more of a disruptive type of marketing. Meaning that you’ll be displaying your services to someone who might not necessarily be interested or searching for your services at that time.
Google Ads
Pros
86% of all internet searches are performed on Google. So it’s hardly surprising that getting your website to the top of Google’s search results is so effective in bringing in new clients, especially within the commercial cleaning industry. This kind of marketing is called ‘intent-based’ meaning that you’re advertising your services to potential customers who are actively searching for them.
Google Ads allows you to advertise your website and commercial cleaning services at the top of the search results pages whenever someone searches for one of your target keywords e.g “commercial cleaning company London” “office cleaning services near me”.
Cons
Google Ads works on a pay-per-click model or PPC for short. This means that you’ll be paying Google for every click on your website. The amount you pay per click is called cost-per-click or CPC, and the more competitive your target keywords are, the higher the cost-per-click will be.
Another drawback to Google ads is that studies have shown that 70-80% of people skip past the ads and click on the results underneath, known as the ‘organic’ results.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Pros
Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of getting your website to rank high in the organic search results. When it comes to finding an effective way on how to get more commercial cleaning contracts SEO is not to be overlooked.
SEO is a great way to market your cleaning services to potential customers who are actively searching for your services. At Kwayse, we helped a start-up cleaning company in Sheffield generate over £250,000 worth of new revenue using this method so we know it definitely works!
Another great thing about ranking top in the organic Google search results is that you do not pay per click on your website, potentially saving you thousands in paid PPC advertising costs.
Cons
As with all great marketing strategies, SEO takes time to see the results. Google themselves states “typically from four months to a year from the time you begin making changes until you start to see the benefits”. So although the rewards can be huge, it’s certainly not going to happen overnight.
Market yourself ‘offline’
Whilst we live in a digital age with more and more tasks being completed online, there are still ample opportunities for you to get more commercial cleaning contracts for your cleaning company by using traditional or ‘offline’ marketing methods.
Some examples of offline marketing methods include printing and distributing leaflets/company brochures, attending local networking events, reaching out to potential clients via phone, and advertising in the local newspapers.
Partner with local organisations
One of the best tips on how to get more commercial cleaning contracts is to partner with other local organisations. The key here is to partner with local organisations that share the same target clients as your business but are not in direct competition with you. For example, you could partner with local estate agents that work with landlords that often require end-of-tenancy cleans, or you could partner with office equipment suppliers that could also introduce your cleaning services to their clients, etc. Think outside of the box and don’t be afraid to create partnerships with other companies.
Provide an excellent service throughout the bidding/tendering phase
Whilst your price will often be a big consideration factor when you are being evaluated by any potential cleaning client, you also want to go the extra mile by providing exceptional service before even winning the cleaning contract.
You can do this by quickly responding to any inquiry, and making sure to provide a well-presented proposal that includes a detailed breakdown of your cleaning services and costs. But don’t stop there, make sure to follow up on the proposal and offer any further assistance as may be required.
An important thing to remember here is that, although the price is a big issue, people buy from people, and a potential client would reject working with a company that has terrible service, even if they are the cheapest!
Create a referral program
You’ve likely heard of, and seen, many referral schemes offered by companies, and there’s a good reason why companies continue to offer referral schemes because it works!
Encourage your contacts to spread the word about your amazing cleaning services by offering them an incentive to do so. There are many incentives you can provide to those that bring new paying clients to your cleaning business such as a one-off commission payment, Amazon gift vouchers, or a reduced rate on their cleaning services!
Get reviews
Our final tip is to make sure you acquire reviews and testimonials from your existing cleaning clients which you can use to promote your services and build trust in your company brand.
You can get your customers to leave you a review via your Google business page by sending them a link via email.
Once you’ve got some reviews from your clients, don’t forget to publish them on your website and social media channels. This demonstrates what’s known in the marketing world as ‘social proof’. This means that you are demonstrating to other potential clients that you are a trusted cleaning services provider who can deliver fantastic results.
Conclusion
We hope you found this brief guide on how to get more commercial cleaning contracts useful for you and your cleaning business. If you have any comments or additional tips, please leave them in the comments section below!
