What an interesting thread!
As a male cleaner myself i have had no shortage of work BUT.............mine is ALL reccomendation and so i've little or no need to explain or sell myself as the person recoommending me does this on my behalf. They know my background etc already.
Then again, i work alone, and clients know that what they pay me (less expenses) is my salary. I am not at all cheap (though by comments on other sites i've been told i'm cheaper than a lot) and the clients are satisfied i am paying mysefl well.
However, if you employ a 'big' company or agency you know that the staff only get a fraction of the price charged. Call it a stereotype, call it sexism, call it what you like, is still a widely held belief that ladies who have children of school age are drawn to part-time local jobs (such as cleaning and supermarket work etc) and as such people will consider a woman working for £5.50 - £6 an hour quite 'normal'.
The same cannot be said of a man, where the belief is that he will activily seek well-paid full-time work and to be told that you'll be sent a male cleaner to do your housework (for the typical wage) is a bit of a worry for many.
Now, please please please dont get me wrong and dont try to second guess what my own opinions are in this matter (so far i've not shared anything). I am simply explaining part of the issue.
It is very hard to explain and understand where folk are coming from without being rude and offensive to cleaning personelle. But to summerise a man cleaning houses on his own (or running a company) should have no problem attracting work, but one working for a company will raise questions....
Having read your post again i see that you are working alone, so these people who call you, how do they get your details? Also why are you giving prices out before you meet them? Dont forget that that by being TOO cheap you will put people right off, in my experience (and i have much of it) 99% of people who want a cleaner are quite aware of just how much it will cost before you even quote them, and i've yet to work for anyone who begrudged paying the 'going rate'. My clients see it as a 'commitment' on their part and see no point in paying a few pounds less for a crap service if they can pay a bit more and get better.
Let us know what you service entails. My service is a completely no-obligation one where i quote a price per job (i could not afford to work by the hour and thats not the only issue with hourly rates) and i take all equipment and products. When the client needs me to go i go, when they dont need me i dont go and i dont charge any or all of any job that is cancelled before i begin it. But thats just how i do it, you may prefer a different way.
I never give prices out until i have met the client and seen the house, and then its usually a written quote.
Whenever the phone rang from someone who'd not been reccdomended personally (doesnt happen often, in fact only when i first put leaflets out years ago) i never mentioned i was the cleaner (unless asked, and only one ever did) i just made an appointment to visit the client and made sure that when we met we 'hit it off' before they knew it was me who did the work.
But then again as i said i've only advertised in the early years as the work found me. Most of my clients at teh begining were friends or aquaintainces, or friends-of-friends etc, it is simply amazing how many people i knew needed a cleaner or knew someone who needed a cleaner. Once i'd got the first 6 or 7 the rest just found me at a steady pace.
I suppose you just gotta make a good name for yourself.....anyway tell us more about your service. Cheers.
Stephen