7 Deadly Sins Guaranteed to Ruin Your Janitorial Company
How many of you got into the janitorial business because it seemed like a quick and easy way to make a buck? You clean, they pay… repeat! What could go wrong? Easy peasy!!
Not so fast… There are plenty of ways for this simple concept to go very, very wrong. Curious how you can muck things up like a champ? Let’s get this party started…
Deadly Sin #1 – Charge Like a Chump
Having personally coached hundreds of entrepreneurs, not charging enough is the number one mistake owners of janitorial companies make!!
Everything good in your company- amazing customer experience, client attraction, ability to deliver like you said you would (i.e. keep your word), and my favourite…profit (not a dirty word) all come from charging your customer the right amount!!
On top of that, when it comes to proper pricing, the only ones who complain are usually the cheap jerks that are going to make your life miserable (see the third deadly sin) anyway! The worst part? Just about every owner knows they aren’t charging properly, but they don’t do a blessed thing to fix it. WHY you ask…
Because they are afraid the customer will quit. Which can be a problem… unless you have a steady stream of the right customers coming to you for help day in and day out. Which leads us nicely to…
Deadly Sin #2 – CHASING Customers
Desperation. Whether it’s trying to get a date or a customer- when they can smell desperate, it’s over.
Yet that is exactly what so many owners of janitorial companies do. They chase, they beg, and they lower their price. Aside from being a huge time and energy suck, this attracts the wrong people!
Your secret sauce should be to attract (not chase) the right (we talk about this shortly) customers.
Move from chasing and selling, to bringing value and attracting.
You can do this by creating amazing content (like this fine piece of awesome you are currently reading) to solve their problems for free. So you can build a relationship with them, continue to bring value, and when they are ready, to buy,. They come to you, and only you, ready for your help!
It’s way too big of a topic to cover in one article, so if you want the full skinny, you can get all the details on exactly how to do this at www.growmycleaningcompany.com for free!
Once you get this amazing skill down, you will be in a position to never again commit…
Deadly Sin #3 – Letting Jerks Into Your Life
When you only get a bid every third full moon, it can be sooo tempting to take anyone that even thinks about wanting your services.
The problem is, the wrong customer doesn’t want to pay profitable rates (Deadly Sin #1), and they do want you to do way too much work for way too little pay. They’ll bust your chops, complain, and generally make your life miserable.
Not only is the misery index high, they are often a “scope creep”- paying for some work, and demanding more. They don’t pay on time (or at all) and they suck the life out of you. This makes giving the amazing service to your GREAT customers, who often get ignored for the squeaky wheel customers ruining your life. This leaves the good customers open to wander off to greener pastures, making you even more dependant on Mr. Wrong!!
Want more?? The wrong clients also tend to burn out your best employees. They try hard to make impossible people happy, which we all know is never going to work. Things really get out of control when you do this, and fall for…
Deadly Sin #4 – Only Hiring When You “Need” To
If you own a janitorial company and you want to grow, repeat after me: “I am ALWAYS hiring!”
As you grow, competition for customers slows, while competition for good employees heats up. Newbies hire when they need, grizzled veterans know you can never have too much talent. Employees quit in bunches! Sometimes good, bigger jobs go to those who can take them on right NOW. Be that company!
Deadly Sin #5 – Let your Customers Pay When They Feel Like It
How often have you heard, “we ONLY pay Net 30” and “this is just how it’s done”? Did you believe them? These types want to intimidate you and make you feel stupid for NOT letting them treat you like a bank!
The reality is, they’re trying to manage cash flow (at best), or looking to steal from you at worst! When you have all the right customers coming to you (Deadly Sins #2 AND #3 averted), you know how to handle their pain points better than your competition, and you can dictate how and when customers you choose to accept pay!
Most small businesses don’t go out of business because of lack of profit. They fail because of a lack of CASH. When you let customers pay you weeks or months AFTER you provide the service, not only does it kill your cash flow and your ability to grow, it puts you at risk for debt.
One way to mitigate these issues is to accept as many forms of payment as possible. As of 2019, 59% of all B2B (business to business) payments were made electronically. So if you are still taking cheques and IOUs, you are putting yourself at a massive disadvantage. Adding credit card payments can help. Curious how? Check out our article on: 5 Ways Accepting Credit Card Payments Will Help Your Janitorial Company.
Deadly Sin #6 – Follow the Leader
So many of the people I help commit so many of these sins because (drum roll please)…
“That’s what the competition is doing”.
I have some bad news for those folks… (not you of course).
I talk to YOUR competition (nearly 100 owners of janitorial companies every month). They have no clue what they are doing… They are likely trying to follow YOU!!
Just because your competition’s website is “professional” (i.e. boring and forgettable) YOURS doesn’t have to be!!
Just because THEY charged based on fear or think they have to pay top dollar to get the best talent doesn’t mean YOU can’t attract customers AND employees based on culture and core Values (a different topic for a different day- get the full scoop here).
THEY chase and beg and hope- YOU should attract. THEY grow “only on referrals”, YOU need a REAL plan for growth that includes SEVERAL dependable, scalable, repeatable lead sources!
So quit “following the leader” and not only will you make more money and have more freedom, you will avoid…
Deadly Sin #7 – Going It Alone
I bought my first business ever (a Servicemaster Commercial Cleaning Franchise) when the internet was just coming of age (I’m old). Long story short, I couldn’t find ANY successful mentors, business owners or guides to help me figure this crazy business out.
That gave me the opportunity to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars, and YEARS of frustration, making awesome mistakes that older, wiser (and I can only assume better looking) people had made before me.
The future is here! YOU do NOT have to “figure it out” on your own!! You can leverage other people who have put in the time, and made the mistakes, to get the coaching you need to supercharge your growth. Help you build the business you were put on this earth to build!
If that sounds as amazing reading as it did typing, go to www.growmycleaningcompany.com for a complimentary online training of the BEST of my hundreds of hours of janitorial company GENIUS in under an hour. See you there!
