Target your market when starting a house cleaning business. Decide on a territory and target your market by choosing the homes you want to clean. It will save you drive time on the commute, wear and tear on your car and gasoline.
We Ask a House Cleaner tips and tutorials to target your market through business growth and expansion.
Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says a savvy cleaner can grow your cleaning business by working smart not hard.
Today’s sponsor is https://HouseCleaning360.com
#HouseCleaning360 is a focused referral database of home service providers.
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Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.
Question: Target Your Market When Starting A Cleaning Business
“Hi Angela. I have a question for you. I just posted on Facebook today that I was starting my own company. And I already have two people interested. These people are not in my area that I want to work in though. They are about 20 minutes away.
Should I start seeking just about anybody? Or should I concentrate on my sectors that I was hoping to concentrate on? Is it worth the drive? Should I be refusing customers since I don’t have any right now? Or should I be taking anybody interested in my services? “
Answer: Target Your Market When Starting A Cleaning Business
That is an excellent question. And since you’re just 24 hours into your business, I want to say congratulations. It’s an exciting time for you because you get to decide and make up all the rules as you go.
Now, there are two schools of thought about where you go to create a territory for your business. You could accept the customers or you could target your market to close to home.
Accept the Customer
So you have people interested that are 20 minutes away.
You could argue that since your schedule is wide open, that yes, it would make sense to accept them.
Because it would give you some money coming in and some cleaning experience.
Here’s the catch. If you start cleaning for them and they love you, they will refer you to their friends and neighbors. Referrals are good things, right?
Well, in this case, maybe not. Because now you’re driving 20 minutes to meet all your customers, not just one. This is the snowball effect.
We want to do such a great job that our customers give us recommendations and referrals. But it’s a 20-minute drive from your home. You will need to decide this today.
So if you’re just getting started in the business, and you’re only 24 hours in, today’s the day you decide. “Do I want to travel 20 minutes for all my customers, or do I want to work right here near my home?”
Target Your Market to Your Area
The other school of thought is working near your home.
Because wherever you live, unless you live way out in rural America, there are houses all around you. And all those houses need house-cleaning. Determine your market and choose a hub that works for you.
Yes, some of them may already have house cleaners. But we all know that house cleaning is a rotating business. People might switch house cleaners at some point for various reasons.
My Suggestion Is Target Your Market
So, if you live in a neighborhood, my suggestion would be to stay near your home. Stay close to home for a variety of reasons.
We don’t get paid for time and travel in the business. So if you’re driving 20 minutes each way to a customers house, you are spending 40 minutes in the car. You don’t get paid for this time.
You can say, “Sure, I bill the travel cost into my business.”
That’s fine. But it’s a lot of wear and tear on your car. And you also have to consider gas prices. So my suggestion would be to define your market and work near your home.
Benefits to Target Your Market
Now, if you work right at home, here are a couple of things that are kind of cool.
You can have a one or two-minute commute. And if you forget something, you can run right back home and get it.
Or if you want to run home to switch cleaning caddies before going your next client, you can.
Let’s say that you have a short break between clients. And maybe you want to swing back by the house and grab a sandwich. You have the chance to do that as well.
If you’re 20 minutes out, you’re going to have to bring your lunch with you. Or you will end up driving through a drive-through and eating whatever’s available.
So these are a couple of different reasons why I suggest that you work near your home and your own starting point. Working in your own neighborhood is as easy as running flyers and picking up a couple of accounts nearby.
Franchises Might Be a Different Story
Now, for the person who has purchased a franchise, your situation is different. You have purchased into a particular territory.
Now, this is not the case for you, because you’re just starting your own business. But any readers that have purchased a franchise, pay attention here.
Franchise owners are locked into that territory. You don’t get to choose what area you’re going to work in. So if you have to commute to that area every day, those are the rules for you.
But if you’re independent, you get to choose. My suggestion would be to choose to stay close to home because it’s always going to be more convenient.
Target Your Market Is Good for Time Management
And here’s the beautiful part. Let’s say for some reason, you get to a customer’s house, and the customer cancels on you. Like right then and there. Because this happens.
You have driven 20 minutes one way for nothing. Because if you did, you would have to drive 20 minutes back. And then you can’t resell that time. And it’s not like you can just buzz back home because it’s costing you 40 minutes of your time.
If they live in your own neighborhood, you can say, “Well, I’ll go clean my house right now.”
And you can swap out your own cleaning time with a customer when you have to reschedule.
Keep Me Posted!
Keep me posted, because I do want to hear how this works out for you, and again, congratulations!
24 hours in the business is brand spanking new! And there’s so much that you’re going to be learning over the next few weeks and months. And so I do want to hear how it goes for you.
Anyway, that’s my two cents for today. Anyway, until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.
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Resources For This Episode
The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Target Your Audience! Get Out Your Message! Build Your Brand! – http://amzn.to/2jvB574
Profile Your Target Market: Build and use an avatar of your ideal customer or client – http://amzn.to/2zMkRSo
Customer Avatar: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (Exploit Facebook’s “Audience Insights” to Discover Exactly Who Your Customers Really Are – http://amzn.to/2iWZDGY
How to Determine Your Target Market: So, you don’t waste ad money on trial and error approaches – http://amzn.to/2BwacIC
Foundations of Success: Marketing: How to Tell Your Story to The World. Finding A Target Market, Adding Value, And Building an Audience – http://amzn.to/2k5YrV8
How to Determine Your Target Market – http://on.inc.com/2wE1qpm
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HOUSECLEANING360 – Referral database of the world’s most prominent home service providers and the homeowners they serve. https://housecleaning360.com
