Tips to Successfully Grow your Cleaning Business During and After the Pandemic

For cleaning professionals working primarily in commercial and residential areas, operating can be challenging during the COVID-19 crisis. Businesses have been disrupted; customers are afraid to let employees into their offices and homes. Some companies have temporarily stopped providing services to keep their teams safe, and others may be forced to close due to local laws. Ironically, in a pandemic, cleanliness and hygiene have become more critical than ever. But what if you could grow your business during that time? Here’re a few simple things you should include in your cleaning business checklist to ensure you grow your business.

• Understand the regulations or guidelines for the cleaning business

One of the first things you need to do is study the rules and regulations for running your cleaning business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both local and state governments frequently deploy guidelines and updates to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Therefore, it would help inform yourself and your employees of the latest procedures and rules to safely offer your cleaning and cleaning services in this critical situation.

• Enhance marketing activity

Improve your marketing, invest as much as possible in your regular marketing channels, from social media to instant messaging, and incentivize new clients and customers who may have cut costs in 2020.

• Double-down on leads

Part of your marketing initiative should focus on developing new leads and ideally double what you usually download in a month. While this is a significant increase and likely won’t last forever, more opportunities will arise in the short term. Hence, COVID is expected to return to sales levels sooner rather than later.

• Strengthen existing relationships

One of the goals your cleaning company serves at all times is to maintain relationships with current customers, especially those who have had to step back a little in 2020. Keep in mind that most of the layoffs in the past year were related to COVID. So now is a good time to re-engage these customers and plan to get back to work if they haven’t already.

• Demonstrate COVID-19 expertise

Show clearly how your cleaning company’s goals include experience in fighting COVID-19 in the workplace. Include clear notes with a link at the top of your website. Emphasize your readiness for COVID for new offers and customer connections. Make sure staff are aware of your cleanliness while COVID-19 is still there. This gives customers a greater sense of security and helps you beat the competition that is not focused on their pandemic strategy and advice.

• Expand your market

Another way to make more money is by expanding into other markets. With so many people practically working in the world today, there may be more opportunities than ever to reach people outside of the geographic area you currently operate. Just make sure your cleaning staff is equipped to cover longer distances, and you don’t spend more money going to new places.

• Think about what services you’re selling

More than 80% of small businesses have switched to their usual services in response to the pandemic. Think about your customer base and demographics, along with ways you can boost your business in the coming times. Maybe you can attract customers with a frequently visited home like a vacation home or just those who are hygiene conscious. 

• Offer “Zero Contact” services

The next tip is to implement policies and procedures that prevent all contact between your employees and customers. Establish policies and procedures that prevent all communication between your cleaning team and your customers. For example, you can set rules for your customers to leave the house or occupy a room that is not cleaned while your team is on-site. In addition, if customers or family cannot leave the house, ask them to wear masks and maintain a social distance of at least two meters.

• Look after your fellow members and employees

Employees should use medical-grade nitrile gloves, masks, and other personal protective equipment to ensure proper protection. Your employees spearhead all the efforts to curb the pandemic, but many domestic workers are not covered with medical or health insurance. It is mandatory to take the necessary steps to protect the health of every employee as it also means you are watching the health of your potential customers. Frequent and timely medical checks and providing essential safety gear like PPE kits, masks, and gloves must. It is also necessary to change and dispose of the PPE kits after each visit and use a new one before cleaning the next house.

We know how important it is to keep your business running. But even as you work toward these goals, remember that this is all going to take time. So be very clear about how you are doing your business in this pandemic and the new policies and procedures you have introduced to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Companies and experts anticipate that heightened cleaning standards will be in place for the long haul.

Author Bio:

Akhil Rajan is a Customer Success Specialist at Zuper, an intelligent workforce management platform for service-oriented businesses. Working with customers on a daily basis, he has a deep understanding of their needs and pain points and so he is able to contribute to the marketing strategies for Zuper with the content he writes. He writes on topics like how to increase workforce utilization, how to reduce the service turnaround time and increase workforce efficiency, customer adoption, cost reduction strategies, etc – to name a few. He is often found buried in books or playing chess in his free time.