How to Grow a Cleaning Business Fast

1. Improve your networking skills

Making connections through networking helps grow your business, but it can be a challenge to find the right place or situation. These are just a few networking ideas to try:

• Attend trade shows: Consider renting a trade show booth where you can share information about your cleaning services with potential clients and other business owners. You could even run a giveaway for a free cleaning package. (This is also a great way to collect email addresses and contact potential clients later on.)
• Join a community association: Every community has lots of associations, including some that are just for business owners. Joining one of these associations allows you to meet new people, opens up new possibilities for promoting your cleaning business, and helps you keep your finger on the pulse of your community.
• Go to community events: Volunteering at or contributing to a local event can build your company’s reputation while helping your community. For example, you can partner with a fundraiser to provide post-event cleanup, or donate a cleaning package to their silent auction.

It’s not enough to just show up. Be prepared to introduce yourself to potential clients and other business owners, talk about your services, and get to know the people you meet.

And don’t forget to bring branded business cards with your cleaning company name, logo, and contact details. That way your new contacts know how to get in touch with you.

2. Set up a referral program

A customer referral program rewards your clients for telling others about your business. Some possible reward ideas include gift cards, service discounts, or even donations to your client’s favorite charity.

Referral programs are easy to set up. Just leave behind a postcard at each visit, encouraging clients to refer a person they know. Make sure to include an incentive so clients have a reason to participate.

3. Canvas in your community

Door knocking lets you meet potential clients face-to-face and leave a lasting impression. Follow these tips when you’re canvassing for new business:

• Choose neighborhoods where you want to clean homes or businesses. Focus on one area at a time—if you earn new clients, this will make it easier to fit more visits into a single day.
• If you’re a residential cleaner, canvas in the early evening to ensure people are home. But avoid doing it during dinnertime, or when people are putting their kids to bed.
• If you offer commercial cleaning services, knock on businesses’ doors during their posted hours of operation. Avoid visiting at lunchtime, when there might not be anyone around to answer.
• Be respectful of other people’s space. Don’t knock on doors with “no soliciting” signs, and say goodbye if it’s clear the person doesn’t want to chat.
• If nobody answers the door, leave behind a house cleaning flyer, brochure, or door hanger with your contact details. This is also a good opportunity to include a special discount offer.

Not every door-knock will lead to a new client—and that’s okay. Think of it as a learning experience as you get more comfortable talking to strangers about your business and services.

4. Form partnerships with other businesses

Partnering with other service providers can help both businesses reach new clients. For example, a window washing or carpet cleaning company can refer you to their clients, and you can do the same for them.

Partnering with other companies makes your services more valuable for clients. You save them the time and effort of finding a service provider, and you give them peace of mind by vouching for your partners’ quality of work.

Looking for a way to network with local entrepreneurs? Join the Jobber Entrepreneurship Group on Facebook to meet and share ideas with other small business owners.

5. Build trust with potential clients

You and your team will often be working unsupervised in people’s homes or offices. This can make clients nervous, especially if they have valuables or sensitive information.

These are just a few ways you can build trust and help your clients feel safe:

• Quality branding: Clients are more likely to trust a business that looks established. Even if your company is still new, you can seem more experienced with a professional logo, well-designed marketing materials, and a cleaning website with lots of information about your services.
• Client contracts: You can use cleaning contracts with both residential and commercial clients. These contracts set expectations for the working relationship and help both sides feel legally protected.
• Customer communication: Earn clients’ trust with fast, responsive communication. With Jobber’s cleaning business software, you and your team can text with clients while on the go, knowing that conversations are stored in Jobber for everyone’s reference.
• Business license: Clients can request to see your cleaning business license at any time, so make sure it’s up to date. This will also help your business avoid serious consequences like fines and legal action.
• Business insurance: Get cleaning insurance to protect your clients and your business in case of any accidents or incidents. Sign up for a policy that covers your employees, vehicles, office, client property, and any other risks.
• Employee background checks: Always run criminal background checks on new employees, even when you’re in a hurry to grow your team. A trustworthy, dependable employee is worth the extra time and effort.

6. Ask for online reviews

Having lots of positive customer reviews on your Google Business profile makes your business easier to find on Google. Ask for reviews after you complete every visit, and make it as easy as possible for your clients to leave one.

To ensure every satisfied customer has the chance to leave a review, set up automatic review collection in Jobber. Jobber automatically sends a text to the clients you want reviews from.

When you make an invoice in Jobber, you can choose if you want to send the client a review request. After paying their invoice, the client automatically gets a direct link to leave a review on your Google Business profile.

7. Improve the quality of your services

Happy clients will spread the word about your business. Try these ideas to not only satisfy your clients, but delight them so they become repeat customers and stick around long-term:

• Personally connect with clients: Remember birthdays, share a funny joke, keep track of their preferred cleaning supplies, or make a small gesture of appreciation around the holidays. This makes it more likely that clients will mention you to their friends and family.
• Ask for client feedback. Use customer feedback surveys to ask clients what you did well and where you can improve. Provide this survey at the end of every visit. You won’t always get responses, but when you do, they should help you improve your work.
• Always follow up with new leads. Make a quick phone call or send an email within one business day. Don’t be afraid to follow up a few times. People are busy and sometimes don’t have time to respond, so they may appreciate the reminders.
• Use cleaning checklists. If you and your team use a house cleaning checklist at every visit, you’re more likely to complete all the necessary tasks. You’ll also impress your clients with your attention to detail.

Remember, word of mouth can be both positive and negative. If you’re rude or provide poor customer service, you can be sure that clients will tell their friends.

8. Hire a team of cleaners

At a certain point, you’ll no longer be able to complete every cleaning job yourself. This is the time to write a house cleaner job description and hire cleaning employees to take on some of the workload.

Your team will provide consistently good work if they have the right training and understand your clients’ needs. They should also follow your cleaning checklist to make sure they don’t forget any important tasks.

It can be hard to hand over the day-to-day work to your employees. But when you have the help you need, your business is in the perfect position to grow.

9. Contact clients through email marketing

Emails are an effective way to stay in touch with current clients and to reconnect with old clients. You can send updates, special promotions, and even notifications about upcoming availability.

To send effective marketing emails faster, use a tool that prepares email templates and audiences for you.

When you use Jobber to create email campaigns, you can choose from premade templates that are built for specific goals and customers—and that include your company branding.

10. Use cleaning business software

Ready to ​​attract new clients, schedule your team, and track every job detail while on the go? Cleaning business software like Jobber can help with that.

Jobber provides scheduling and dispatching so you can optimize your daily routes, track your team’s progress through the day, and automatically notify them of any scheduling changes. 

Every client has different cleaning preferences, which is why Jobber includes to-do lists for your jobs. It’s an easy way to train new hires, create accountability, and ensure top-quality service on every single visit.

Plus, with always-on communications, you can automatically remind clients of upcoming visits or documents needing their attention. Then, follow up on every job with a request for feedback or reviews.