hi both!
I am 4 months into my new business, still cleaning myself but have 2 other cleaners.........in my limited experience, i tried the getting work first bit, but I was getting too much and had to turn potential clients away....not good!! I decided I needed to have a small base of cleaners first, so advertised in my local rag. It cost me a bit over 65 quid, but i got 5 calls. I told them all that there wasn't actually any work straight away and that when it did come in it would be gradual. All 5 were happy. I sent them all application forms which were a bit basic, I should have asked for CV's (if they are keen they will send one) The first person to reply already had her CRB check so I was covered there (although I have registered with them, it costs £300.00, and they take months to sort it). She has cleaning experience, but on an industrial level. She started with me last week. I wasn't able to go with her to her first cleans as I am still cleaning too.....bad move.....out of the 4 people she cleaned for, 2 of them picked her up on stuff......nothing serious but if I had been with her it wouldn't have happened. This week she cries in sick and I have to cover her job today....luckily I could, it was one of the ones who picked her up.....what she had been picked up on was not any better when I cleaned (shower, probably not been cleaned properly for years.........very old bathroom suite, plenty of condensation and mould/mildew in grout and sealer...in fact you couldn't see the sealer for the mould!!)
I have never employed people before, and in my inexperience, probably didn't ask the questions I should have of my new lady when I interviewed her. I have learned very quickly from that. I had 4 jobs to fill and couldn't do them myself so took on the first person that came along.....not wise!! I think she will work out, but it may take time (which we don't really have, clients want it all done last week!!!) it will take encouragements and support from me (she is getting penty of that) and most of all I will not let the Clients push me or my cleaners around....if I feel they are making ridiculous demands I won't clean for them........simple!!
In a nut shell.......get yourself a base of 5 or 6 cleaners who are CRB checked, have plenty of cleaning experience (especially domestic), can supply 2 checkable references, are genuine (so far as you can tell), reliable, trustworthy, hardworking, confident (after all they do have to meet the Clients too).
Give them plenty of encouragement and support, make yourself willingly available to both Cleaners and Clients at virtually any time of the day or evening, both during the week and weekends. Build slowly and graduallt introduce your exisiting Clients to your new cleaners, leaving you free to market your business, meet prospective Clients not looking like a tramp (as I do most times bearing in mind I am going straight from a previous cleaning job), and allow yourself to be the one to step in in an emergency should one of your cleaners not show up. Also ensure you have other Cleaners who you can call on to do the same at short notice!!
I am not making a mint, but I do have 2 cleaners and 15 very happy Clients so far, even with the teething problems that have occurred!!
Have I deviated off the subject???
