[Jan K]

Before you read on this is a gripe post!!

I think I must live in a town full of lazy people! I am offering almost top rate wage and yet can I get cleaners? NO!!

I am not looking for miracles, just someone who is prepared to do a decent hours work for decent pay!!

I have advertised in the local press and the one person I decided to employ because she had references, today decided after 3 weeks she just wasn't going to work any more leaving me with 4 Clients with no cleaner. Not only that I have in the last few days signed up 2 new ones, and have 2 more to sign up at the end of the month.

My only reliable cleaner (who is a friend of mine) cannot take on any more, and if I take them on myself I will be forced to drop 2 of my long standing Clients (although one is a friend and the other her sister). If I do that that leaves me with no time to look for Cleaners and no room to take on any more new Clients!!

I have advertised in the Jobcentre (3 weeks now) and have had one reply from someone who wants 20 - 25 hours domestic cleaning per week, but isn't sure she really wants to be travelling around all over the place!!

I cannot afford to employ an employment agency, yet I cannot afford to leave things as they are!!

Have any of you experienced these problems, and if so how did you overcome them?

Please bear in mind I am but a shoot growing in the garden of domestic cleaning, and do not have any experience in employing people, so am learning as I go. I have tried to book an appointment with my Business Advisor twice now to find out where there are courses I can go on to learn these skills, but I have had to cancel these both times as I have had to cover for the person who let me down.

Would any of you more experienced people be willing to pass on some of your experience to a little peep like me?

Thanks in advance

Jan

[martin19842]

hi there,

first question-- what are you charging the clients.??

i would advertise in the local papers.

i have more people ringing me than i have sites to put them on at the moment.

i would offer above top rate in your ad.

and then create an economy of scale for the profit.

regards

martin

[Jan K]

hi i am charging £7.50, paying cleaners £5.50. Clients won't pay more than that and pay I am offering is towards top end. Ad in local paper brought me the one person who let me down.........no joy there. I am loath to advertise again as I just cannot afford to pay the cost for the poor response I had!!

Can you send me down some of your peeps lol!!

Incidentaly My mum's partner is supervisor for a commercial cleaning company and he employed 7 people to start a new contract on the same night and none of them turned up even tho they had accepted the job.

It is a mare of a job trying to get cleaners..........people approaching me with jobs, who I am having to turn down are asking me if I know of anyone I could recommend.............answer there, is no I'm afraid I don't........

it is getting rather demoralising......... 

[martin19842]

hi there,

ok

firstly i would charge more, that does two things,

1) the clients that stay, and the new clients that come on board will bring oin more revenue, and therefore will provide further funding for more advertising.

2) clients that go, will provide slack in your pressure point at the moment.

3) by charging more you will stem the rapid increase in clients, and if you dont then you can pay morre to cleaners.

4) you charge £7.50 you pay£5.50 therefore you are earning £2.00 per hour gross profit. therefore cutting up the gross profit, into materials, advertising, admin, insurancei totally agree nothing left.

the only commercial decision that you have to make is to increase the client cost, and the labour charge.  i personally would be looking at paying cleaners £6.00 per hour and then charging the cleint £10.00 to £12.00 per hour.  you need to see a larger differential between the two amounts so that you can make a profit.

Profit is the only thing that you should be interested in, second to the fact that the clients are happy with the service..

i hope that this helps in some way

regards

martin

[sfpcleaningservice]

hey jan

never mind we have all been there, have you tried asking friends and neighbours if they want some extra cash, or what about other mums in your area they all like a bit of extra cash, I find that it is better to have a lot of people who want a couple of hours here and there.

everyone on here will tell you if they could get the staff they would be rich.

I agree with martin, you need to be charging at least £10 per hour and pay the cleaner six. You have got to make money out of it. and when you do spring cleans charge the customer about £150 for ten hours cleaning then you give the cleaner £70 and you take £80 for materials and insurance and wotnots and as long as you do a good job you will keep getting the work.

[maggie67]

Hi Jan

Poor you! What are other larger cleaning companies in your area charging? Believe in yourself & charge almost as much per hour. Have an instant list of reasons ready as to what makes your service better. Are you supplying materials?
Target the right people. I've got a lot of work from advertising on notice boards at health clubs & private schools/nurseries etc., where people have more money to spend & don't want to get their 'hands dirty'
Being a smaller business you are sure to be able to provide a far better and more personal dedicated service than those larger competitors (Sorry folks) thats your sales pitch anyway!
There is always an element of risk. In all areas of life you win some you lose some. Take a gamble. Like Martin says put your prices & wages up. I have some great cleaners they are paid well but I get a great return! You will find by doing this you have very appreciative staff that you can trust & rely on to hold the driving reins while you invest more time in your planning, marketing, training etc., This in itself is really important!
If your'e apprehensive about response to your charges advertise them from the start & see what response you get!

Go for it girl

Maggie

[Ian Gourlay]

I was involved in network marketing for a few years.

We used to leaflet advertising for people to join us.

Placed leaflets on cars, doors handed them out in streets.

We even went canvassing door to door asking if they new anyone who wanted to earn extra income.

However I do not think your Margin between what you pay your staff and charge clients is high enough.

I do not know if you ever study Carpet Cleaning Section but if you take time to research it you will find lots of tips on how some Carpet Cleaners obtain higher prices, Which in my opinion could convert to the higher end Domestic Clean

[Fox]

I've always said we are not in the 'cleaning business' but in the 'people business'!

To expand and grow we all have to rely on other people, recruiting is the biggest part of our business and definately a pain in the butt! 

Before advertising for staff think about what kind of person you are looking for and why they will want to work for you.  In your business I'd say you would be looking for the more 'mature' person (meaning not 16yr old school leavers).  Because domestic is carried out during day hours someone with school age children would be attracted to the hours you could offer.  Bearing this in mind taylor your advert to suit stating hours, eg: flexible hours between 9.30 & 2.  If you know anyone who picks their children up from school get them to hand out leaflets.

How do the cleaners get to their job?  Think about setting up rounds for two people, one driver and one non, paying the driver a higher rate, alot of people like to work in twos and if one should let you down you have the other to carry out at least some of the work.

What is the unemployment rate like in your area?  I am lucky to have one or two people answer an advert but my partner in London has over 100 every time!  I rarely advertise for staff now as I have a decent pool and they always seem to know someone who is looking for work, I even have a waiting list!  

The others who have replied are all correct, staff cost so you need to look at your rates to the client.  In the meantime use what I call 'cardboard cutouts' to fill the gap (meaning anyone and everyone you can persuade to do the work even though you know they won't do a brill job!) I'm sure everyone on here understands what I mean and have been there!

Welcome to the world of the employer.

Fox

[Tim Downer]

Jan

It was a very interesting comment posted by Maggie:
"Believe in yourself & charge almost as much per hour. Have an instant list of reasons ready as to what makes your service better."

At the end of the day, making a living is what drives us all and when it starts to get you down, something is not going right. I think as do the other posters here that it boils down to not getting much in the way of money for yourself for the obvious hard work you are doing.....otherwise the odd person not turning up would not be such a problem! We all here on this posting have been there, have learnt from experience and have had to change!!

Maggie said to believe in yourself...how much are you worth? Are you worth the £0.50p per hour you make on your staff after expenses, insurances etc?? I think not.

To quote from a Marketing tool kit book I had when I was carpet cleaning: "If you are able to deliver your service with such convincing authority and perceived massive value you will be able to charge higher prices.....to charge great prices you need to give great service..." and if you believe in yourself that you are the best, you can do this.

Along with this thought...think: You do not merely want to be considered the best of the best.....You want to be the only ones who do what you do....
You need a USP  =  Unique Selling Proposition, that one distinct, appealing benefit that sets you apart from every competitor you have. I am not in the Domestic cleaning side of the business, so only you will be able to come up with one for you....try it and see what happens.

The more money you can charge, you will be able to raise the wages up a bit to entice the type of good cleaners you require, thse that are reliable and regular.

Take note of what everyone has said here....then take the plunge in whichever direction you want to go.

I hope you get through the next few months ok and look forward to hearing from you soon on how you get on...

Regards

Tim

[Jan K]

Hi Guys!

Thank you all soooo much for your valuable advice. I met my business advisor today, and he covered everything you have all said here. I am indeed undervaluing myself and my business and therefore will be putting my prices up. Unemployment is low down here and therefore no matter what line of business you are in it is difficult to get the staff, and keep them. I am now in the position to be able to offer a job to one of the ladies who applied to me for work. My uniquie selling point is the fact that I ONLY offer domestic cleaning/ironing services, whereas most other companies down here are more commercialised, incorporating domestic. Teir overheads will be higher than mine so I should be able to match or even increase on the prices thety charge but offer the more personalised service. I signed up a Client yesterday who told me straight I got the contract purely because the other company she was considering had more than 30 employees, whereas I am me and 1/2 others.  I shall start new contracts myself for the first coupler of cleans, introduce the cleaner and work alongside them for the thirs clean and leave them to it should I feel they are ready on the fourth clean.

I will be aiming to put 2 cleaners into each job, moving away from cleaning completely myself asap so I can concentrate on 'everything else', but step in should there be any absences, or large one-off, more profitable cleans which my partner and I can do. I need to emply a base of 5 or 6 casual, step-in at the last min' cleaners and 5 or 6 regular's.

I am contemplating contacting a local employment agency (depending on what fees they charge) with a view to them finding cleaners for me.

Yesterday was a frustrating day, today is much better..............I feel, once again, I can move onwards and upwards, whereas yesterday I felt as tho I was going around in circles.

Thank you all again, and keep on cleaning!

[Mepco UK]

Dear Jan

Please confirm where you are based as I might have a solution for you. I have a number of reliable cleaners on my books and depending upon your location it may well possible for them to commute.

Regards
Jay

[Jan K]

thanks Jay,

I am in Plymouth, down here in rainy South West!

[Mepco UK]

Hi Jan

Location is not really a problem and I think you will be surprised at how inexpensive contract labour is. I specialise in cleaning/hygiene personnel and providing you have a requirement for at least two full time staff I would be more than happy to discuss this further with you.

If interested please feel free to contact me.

Regards
Jay

[Jan K]

Hi Jay!

At the moment I have filled my requirement for full timers, I am more in need of casual workers and those I can call on at short notice to fill in...

thanks for you offer anyway

Jan

[Mepco UK]

No problem Jan

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you get stuck again. I can normally provide staff to virtually any location in UK, they normally work in teams of 2 and are available on weekly contracts.

Good luck with your recruits, it's a headache we could all do without