Need an influx of cash or customers? These cleaning sales strategies are irresistible.
You probably didn’t think about hiring a commercial cleaning sales department when you opened your cleaning business. However, for many small cleaning operations, the owner or manager handles tasks like accounting, sales, payroll, and all those other jobs that are wrapped into running a business.
Whether you gave it much thought or not, you’ve probably realized by now that commercial cleaning sales is on your task list. While you may be a natural salesperson, most cleaning business owners aren’t.
That’s okay because there are, luckily, several tried and true approaches that are all but guaranteed to work.
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These commercial cleaning sales tips are pure genius
1. Figure out how to help. Sales isn’t about selling a product or a service; it’s about filling a need or solving a problem. So what is your potential customer’s problem? As an example, let’s say you run a green cleaning company. Your customer may not know it, but the harsh chemicals they’ve been using on their own to clean may be contributing to poor air quality and employee absenteeism. By switching to a green cleaning program, they could improve air quality in the building and potentially reduce employee sick days. In other words, you aren’t trying to sell your natural products or earth-friendly cleaning methods; you’re selling a more productive workforce.
2. Limit your availability. This doesn’t mean actually reducing your hours. It does mean that when someone inquires about your services, don’t tell them you’re available anytime. You could say that right now, you only have X number of slots available in your schedule. Or you could simply say that your openings are filling up quickly. Scarcity sells. If you have limited availability, the implication is that you must be good. You could even send out an email or share a social media post stating that you just had two client spots open up and would love to have your readers take them before you open them up to the general public.
3. Add prospects to your waiting list. This goes along with the idea of scarcity, but it does carry some risk. By adding prospects to your “waiting list,” they may be more inclined to jump on your bid when that spot opens up. Of course, this presents the possibility that they could sign a contract with another cleaning business while they sit on your list for a week or so.
4. Be polite. Of all the commercial cleaning sales tips out there, this might be one of the most underrated. Sure, it seems boring and perhaps dated. But being friendly and polite is a sure way to make your customers take notice. A little “please” and “thank you” sprinkled into your conversations can work wonders. Say hello to the receptionist. Tip when you get coffee with a potential client. These things add up, and people notice. And who do you think they’re going to want in their facility after hours when no one is around? The polite business owner or the gruff salesperson who couldn’t be bothered to talk to anyone?
5. Make it easy to say yes. Even the best sales pitch can crash and burn when it’s too complicated for a customer to sign a deal. Offer on-the-spot proposals. Add additional services that add value to your customer’s life, such as basic facility maintenance or even groundskeeping. Take credit cards. Anything you can do to help a potential client get on board will help boost your commercial cleaning sales success. Any friction will slow things down and make it that much more difficult to sign a new client. If you have to go back to your office to generate a bid or figure out if you have the supplies you need to start a job right away, you’re going to risk losing the sale.
Though it’s not necessarily a sales tip, remember that your customers are choosing to do business with you as a person. Yes, it is a business transaction, but ABC Commercial Cleaning doesn’t mean as much to them as Joe or Mary from ABC Commercial Cleaning. Your business doesn’t have kids in school or taxes to pay or a favorite local charity, but you do. That’s what people relate to, and that’s why they want to hire you.
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