Having formed your Commercial Cleaning Services Company one of the most difficult aspects of running it that you will encounter immediately is in getting your quotes correct. Correct from the point of view of the cleaning company in covering all its costs in doing the clean and making a reasonable profit, whilst pitching it at a level which is still attractive to the potential customer.
With small contract cleaning jobs taking place once per week it is not so much of a problem as you can charge a premium rate because of the infrequency of the clean, but as the contracts become larger the problems in finding the right level intensify and it is very easy to be left making very little money out of a particular contract if you get it slightly wrong.
Firstly as a company/business you have to decide at what level you are going to enter the market;
· Are you going to offer cut price cleans in order to secure contracts?
· Are you going for the higher end of the market offering quality cleaning but at a higher price?
· Are you aiming for the high end of the market offering extra services as well as top quality cleaning?
Be very thoughtful before you decide. If you are going for option 3 then you have to ensure that you can indeed offer all the specialist services that the customer may require. Commercial cleaning and contract cleaning is the most competitive area of the cleaning market.
Get yourself an edge over your competitors. What can you offer that is unique? Do you cover a wider area? Do you always answer your telephone? Do you respond to enquiries immediately? Do you have a unique marketing strategy?
Having made your choice of where you are going to place your business in the cleaning industry the next important decision is getting your quoting correct.
Unless you have previously worked in cleaning this can be a mystery at the outset, and you will find yourself drastically under quoting or over quoting. There is nothing like experience in this area and you must be prepared to undertake a steep learning curve.
By: hadleigh
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The author David Smith is the founder of Sparkle Cleaning Services which is www.wesparkle.co.uk“>a contract cleaning company
You may not be interested in learning How to start an Errand Business right now but that is likely because you are not familiar with just how easy this business is to start up and operate. Simple things like grocery and gift shopping, waiting around for the cable guy, and even taking back movies are all things that we have to do anyway, so why not get paid for it? With more and more people busy with their careers and complaining about having more time than money, there is a growing market for people looking to learn how to start a errand business and real money to be made.
Estimated start up costs:
So long as you have reliable transportation, a cell phone, and some basic office supplies to fill out and create invoices for customers, you have all the essential supplies needed to own an errand business. There are starter kits available to you for less than $50 that can set you up with all the materials you will need to prepare professional looking invoices and keep track of your expenses. Other than that, learning how to start an errand business might involve some “seed money” in the beginning to cover miscellaneous expenses required to complete errands.
Pricing Guidelines:
Pricing guidelines are only limited by what your market can bear for the services you offer. Many professional errand services charge by the hour for their time while some prefer to set up monthly or even annual packages so that they get more money up front. On average and depending upon the service, someone learning how to start an errand business can expect anywhere from $15-35 per hour for their services for most residential customers. But, if you can break into the office support services market, then learning how to start an errand business can really turn into a profitable endeavor.
Recommended experience, skills, training:
Having the ability to prioritize tasks and organize your time are probably the most essential skills to this job. As with any business owner, however, you will need to market yourself and your company to people so any kind of sales or marketing background will be very useful. Some general business and accounting courses will prove handy when dealing with the financial and administrative tasks inherent to any business.
Marketing tips:
Success tends to breed more success and that is precisely the way your errand service will grow. As you network and build your reputation, so too will your ability to charge more. In the beginning, word-of-mouth advertising will be what makes or breaks your business. But, you may find it useful to advertise your services and company in the classified ads and be sure to print and distribute business cards every place you go.
Financing sources:
With relatively no start up costs to really speak of, securing financing is not really necessary when learning how to start an errand business. However, you may want to try starting out on a part-time basis as the going will be slow in the beginning and you may still need the income from another job to pay the bills until you get things rolling.
Income Potential:
The income potential for those owning an errand service really goes up if you can manage to break into the office support services market. There are people looking for workers with office skills to just come in and help them once a week or even once a month and they are willing to pay top dollar for this limited time. For people just looking to help others with their groceries and errands around the house, it is nothing for someone learning how to start an errand business to make $35-40,000 a year doing the things that they would normally do for free anyway!