1 - Not visit the site in person – What's what?
2 - Not talk with the person who will be paying you – Who's who?
3 - Not knowing the state of access to the site, or the degree of clutter – Little things add up.
What's what?
For a moment, put yourself in your customer's shoes. You are on the phone with your new housecleaner. She asks you how big is your home? You tell her it is a two-story house with two bathrooms and a family room. And you ask the housecleaner: how much do you charge?
Now, put your own shoes back on. How do you answer? If you have no or little experience in cleaning for a living, your answer will give you away. And your customer is going to decide, right then, if they will hire you. Or not.
The number of rooms is one factor in your bid. So is the size of the property. And letting your customer describe her house over the phone will give you some idea of what to expect. And you will still be surprised when you get on the job.
Communication is key. It will give you an idea of who this person is that you might be working for. You can learn a lot about each other in a brief phone call. And you still won't learn a thing about the house.
This is not because the customer isn't telling the truth. The customer is giving you a picture of their residence from their perspective. Even pictures are only a snippet of what you will see in person. The picture-taker is choosing what goes inside the frame. Whatever lies outside the frame is unknown. Until you get there.
Weekly Business Advice
Sign up for the CleanZine Newsletter and receive free Action Plans and a Quick Start Guide.
Learn 8 mistakes to avoid before
starting your cleaning business.
Who's who?
You
go to the house and have a comfortable chat with the person who greets
you at the door. He takes you from room to room. You ask questions about
the furnishings and he gives you specific answers. It's a pleasant
meeting, and after the tour is over you leave.
And
then you discover that the person you talked with for half an hour is a
family friend visiting from out of town. Not the person who will be
hiring you.
You might meet
the entire family that lives in the house you clean. You may never meet
anyone in the house, except one person. It is a big mistake to assume
the person you talk to is the person who has the power to hire you. You
would be surprised how often this occurs.
An
experienced housecleaner does not commit this faux pas. They know how
to reach and how to communicate with the person who will pay the bill.
Little things add up
To
get the job, one more bidding mistake must be avoided. Checking access.
Is there difficulty gaining access to the site, or is clutter going to
add significant time to the job?
Access
to the property itself includes the time it takes you to drive there.
Ask yourself how the job fits into your schedule. When first starting,
professional cleaners can be tempted to take every job offered. And the
burnout rate for those cleaners is high.
Before
you agree to a job contract, consider the location. Where is the job
located in relation to you? How much driving time will it take, both
ways? Cleaning for three hours and driving for one hour just to get
there may sound alright at first, but then become difficult the busier
your schedule gets. The time it takes you and your crew to reach the job
should be considered in your bid.
Once
you are on the job, another type of access is important. Some
environments are too filled with clutter to clean effectively. Moving
clutter from counters and tabletops to gain access for cleaning is not
only time-consuming, it is risky. Items can be broken or damaged through
moving them around. The only way to get a realistic picture of the
clutter, and understand the access to surfaces that must be cleaned, is
to see for yourself.
Visiting
the property in person, negotiating with the person with the power, and
ease of access to the job are just a few of the factors you need to
consider when giving bids. Mistakes can be easily avoided when you have a
bit of guidance.
Read more articles on cleaning for a living
Dec 30, 20 01:40 PM
Order by Midnight New Years Day and receive the Clean Up Now System for $99! The lowest price in our 17 years in business!
Oct 05, 20 01:57 PM
Learn how to set up a cleaning business website. It is not as easy as you have been lead to believe.
Oct 05, 20 01:35 PM
Start a house cleaning business and earn an excellent living providing much needed and aprreciated services to home owners.