[angela stone]

hi guys,

I am launching my business next month in the domestic cleaning sector. 

I will not be covering carpet cleaning so if anyone is in or around the huddersfield / halifax / bradford corridor, I would be willing to pass on your details to any potential customers who may ask about carpet cleaning.

cheers

ange

[ianharper]

hi Angela

good luck with your new business.

I have a maid service business so if you need any advise just say.

you should look into carpet cleaning as there is no reason why you cant add it on as an extra service. or build into you periodicals charging a few pounds extra per week for a clean once a year will add up over the year. little extras like this can pay for you hols.

great way is to put them on a standing order stright into the bank.

two bits of advise one, work to a spec that has weekly and periodicals this way you can job and finish, and you will not get customers leaving notes each week can you do this or that. you know what gets done and then can check each week from the spec that you leave.

second dont under value yourself. lots of cleaners get pressured into charging what they would get work for someone else. and work by the hour. you will have the same amount of hours each week as everyone else so there will a limit to what you can earn. by charging by spec your time now becomes your own again. as long as you do a good job and explane to the prospect at the qutoe you should not have any problems.

dont qutoe over the phone as you will be judge on price alone, and i am sure you and worth more that that.

as an example my wife cleans on her own and it works out to about £25 a hour no customer would ever pay this if you quoted it as an houly rate. but for a spec they have no problem with it. my staff wages work out about £10 an hour but they work in teams of two.

dont do more than three jobs a day as you standard will drop and if you are cleaning every day youll get feed up very quickly.

check out this ite for the way to clean

http://www.thecleanteam.com/

stay in control of who you work for and by not working for people that have no respect for cleaners and see them as a slave you should be happy in your work. we got one at the moment that we have just taken on that is like this, she does not know it yet but we are allready looking for a replacment for her. let other cleaners put up with this disrespect, we like nice people and its a joy to work for them.

good luck

Ian Harper

the system is great and works really well.

[DanielWelford]

Angela

email me u2us@thecleanergroup.com.

I cover your area, and dont live too far away from you either.

We could meet up for a chat if you like.

Dan

[angela stone]

Hi Ian,

WOW, that was a reply - wasn't really expecting that!

Anyway, thank you for the open advice. 

Maybe in the future, will we look at the carpet cleaning industry.  Currently, I am trying to keep costs down and also concentrate on developing my skills in one area.  I think that you can take too much on at once.  Also, the training, equipment aspect etc needs researching, and I need to get cracking soon with something!  My husband keeps saying, are you getting started or what...and I keep saying "yes, soon just a bit more research!! "

We decided, pretty much at the beginning of starting this project that we were to charge per clean rather than per hour.  I think there is a lot more scope and also I think it can be sold to the client in a beneficial way.

I suppose like with carpet / upholstery cleaning - you charge per sofa / carpet rather than per hour or window cleaning - you charge per no. of windows / no. of levels etc.  I don't see why domestic cleaning should be more exceptable to charge per hour. 

We rang around when we were looking at the competition, and one in our area were charging £7.50 an hour - HOW ON EARTH?

Basically how we are going to work is we will leaflet drop (which we have designed ourselves and will be printing ourselves to keep costs down).  When we get enquiries we will visit their home and take with us our cleaning checklist.  This is broken down by room, per task.  They can tick what they want doing. and whether they want it doing on each visit of once a month etc. 

We will then take this away and produce a quote from the work they want doing. 

It was nice to know someone else has this system in place and has it working, as we believe it is the best option.
                                     __________________________

In terms of undervaluing myself  - I will not fall into this trap.  Firstly, we have run a bar in Spain before and we sold the cheapest beer in Calpe!   Yes it worked but at the same time, I think we could have had the prices higher and still got them in - cos it is to do with the personality you give the bar. 
I think the same counts in this industry - if you provide a good, friendly, reliable service - people will pay for it. 
Also,  I took my old job back as a Software Tester, when  I came back from Spain and I took the salary that they offered - I know now that I could have asked them for at least 1/3 more!!! 
So, trust me I have learnt my lesson - the expensive way


Sorry I am rabitting, typically woman 

But just a quick question, out of interest -  what do you say to people if you re no longer going to work for them due to their attitude?



Thanks again Ian


Ange

[angela stone]

Dan,

you have mail

ange

[ianharper]

hi angela

we did tell them the truth at first but all this did was upset them and bad feeling, no business need this, so we now say we have had to sack staff and cant come for a few weeks that it. most will go out and find a new cleaner think they are dumping us, great this way they move on with no hard feelings to us.

on the subject of letting them choose from your menu. you will find when you use others to clean for you it will open you up to them forgetting or saying that they where unsure what was to be done in each home. 100 customers all with differant requirements. you will find that no work ethic these days. keep it simple. we have two spec, bronze and silver bronze is what you would do weekly and silver includes monthly tasks, set oue four in each type of area one per week. this way mrs smith know that the first week every mth she get high and skirtings done, etc

i can promise you that there is masive demard and you will not have problems getting work. this lets you choose who you want to work for and the rate.

BTW love calpe. been twice

have fun with your pricing. do yourself a big favor double what you think you worth. just try this, when you have done your walk about and sales chat tell them the price (double) and then say i can fit you in thur or fri then say nothing, do not say anything. and youll be amazed when with a blink of an eye they say yes and then you just doubled what you expected to get.

first time i did this after someelse told me to double my prices i was shaking and as i said the prospect did not evean have to think about it.

anyway i could chat all day about this

respect

Ian Harper

[angela stone]

did you go to Bar Terracota off Levante Beach near the Esmeralda?

[ianharper]

Angela

I am going to show my age not, it was 20 years ago, old age bad memory

I bet you'll be watching the new tv program this week about benidorm

Respect

Ian Harper

[angela stone]

Oh right, we weren't there then - I was only 6!!!

you wouldn't recognise it now, it changed so much in the time we were there.  The day it turns into Benidorm will be a shame - but it is coming!

Might watch Benidorm but I have got a feeling I have seen it all before 



Ange