Each cleaning business is looking for ways to secure and maintain cleaning contracts. You might be the latest business to be discovered or an incumbent with the highest market shares. However, the end goal remains the same – make more long-term agreements.
Since the beginning, we’ve published tips on how to expand and manage cleaning businesses. A common theme is a constant theme, repeated repeatedly. Recurring customers are the most reliable kind of clients. So, invest in securing regular agreements and keeping them satisfied over the long term. Whether you’re a commercial cleaning service or have residential clients doesn’t matter. The same principles apply.
It’s much cheaper to keep a customer you already have rather than attempting to acquire another one, so your primary goal right from the beginning is to figure out how to obtain cleaning contracts that last for a long time. Here are five practical strategies that can assist you in securing more deals.
Specialize
It’s one thing to have an organization that cleans everything. It’s quite another to be a specialist in a particular cleaning. The more specific you are in a particular area, the more straightforwardeasier it will be for others to provide recommendations.
For instance, if you are a specialist in organic cleaning supplies, it will be easier to get contracts from those essential customers. The secret to specialization is not to confine yourself to a single task. However, it is to distinguish yourself from the rest of your competitors.
Another possibility is if you have a pressure-washer specializing in preparing driveways and cleaning them or the exterior of your house for painting. It doesn’t need to be your only job; it is your calling card to get the referral and shut out your competitors.
Make Booking and Quoting Easy
If you want to make more high-quality deals, you should first consider the ease or difficulty for clients to conduct business with you. When does it take customers to receive an accurate estimate or schedule a project in your calendar? Your website must clarify how potential customers can do business with your company. Contact details should be front and center. However, cleaning software that supports an online reservation system is more effective.
Booking online can make your customers happier and save your sales team lots of work; the advantages do not stop there. If they make a booking online, the task is placed on your calendar, and a record of the customer is made. Regular visits or future appointments are also scheduled. Your history with your customers is saved within your software program with any notes on their preferences or particular locations you can add over time.
Using a good customer relationship history to inform what to do with the customer in the future can significantly enhance the customer experience and save your staff lots of time. The more you understand these customers, the more accessible a competitor can get involved.
Have Social Proof
If you’ve been working on this for long enough, you know the kind of clients you like. Your strategy should be to get more contracts from the type of customers you’d like to have. To achieve this, demonstrate to prospective customers how you think your ideal customer is through social evidence.
One way to prove social proof is through photos taken before and after. It could be an unpolished floor, an emptied gutter, or a pressure-washed driveway. It is essential to show the quality of work you’ve done so that your potential customers can envision that their properties are clean, allowing you to get more suitable contracts. Be aware of the message your pictures convey. For instance, is it a small office or a massive warehouse is it a small office or huge warehouse if you’re taking the image of a polished floor?
The most effective form of social evidence is reviews and testimonials from customers on your site. Don’t just look at reviews on the most popular platforms such as Google and Yelp; however, you must include these on your website. People looking for comparisons trust the opinions of their peers even if they’re not strangers. This is especially applicable when the reviews are fresh and numerous. Asking the right customers for testimonials and reviews can boost your rankings on search engines and make it easier for customers to decide whether or not to work with you.
Learn How to Close Sales
If you aim to understand how to make clean contracts that will last, read about the best way to market those contracts. You can accomplish this by various methods, each of which can assist you in the long run.
One option is to instruct your sales or call center staff on how you can sell your subscription services. Utilizing incentives such as repeat customer discounts or bonus services could assist in making sales, but you’ll only sell them if asked. Be sure that your team members are having these kinds of discussions, telling customers the options available to them in terms of longer-term contracts.
Another option is to evaluate your current performance and identify ways to enhance it. What time does it take for a client to transition from a potential lead to signing a contract? How often will your sales team communicate with the customer before they decide? Could you ask any closing inquiries to convince the customer to determine earlier? How many deals could be lost due to the length of your follow-up or availability? Analyzing the data of your previous performance could be a fantastic method to boost your company’s earnings. You may lead, but you must improve to land the best deal.
Focus on How to Get Cleaning Contracts for the long term
You can reduce the customer’s time during the booking process and increase the speed with which you close deals; however, you don’t have to stop there. Review your customer’s records and identify other ways to improve efficiency or create opportunities. You may have a customer with multiple locations. However, you are contracted with only one. A single vendor solution for all their properties can be a great win for your company.
It could be that you observe another space on a customer’s property that could benefit from a particular type of attention. The client’s needs may only be relevant to the current season. Consider ways to serve the customer better all year and suggest solutions.
Many enhancements don’tcan include something other than upselling, too. Rewarding loyal customers for their loyalty may be an effective way to change the game. Surprise them with a complimentary service and a small amount of SWAG, such as cards for holidays or birthdays, can help you stand out from your competitors and their counterparts in other service suppliers. If you are focused on customer service, it will help you keep longer-term offers and earn the kind of image that can help you secure many more.