As a business owner, acquiring new clients will be a movement of joy. That is one way to expand your cleaning business. But the key to running a thriving cleaning business is attracting new ones while retaining the cleaning clients. A steady customer flow ensures the company’s sustenance over the long haul.
Quite the contrary, many cleaning businesses focus on acquiring new cleaning clients rather than existing ones. That is a major mistake many cleaning businesses make. For instance, developing a marketing plan and resources to implement the strategy when trying to reach new cleaning clients takes time. That is why it is essential to retain more cleaning clients.
This article discusses 10 strategies to attract and retain cleaning clients.
1. Ask for feedback from the customers
One of the strategies to attract and retain more cleaning clients is improving your services consistently. You have to assess the quality of the services you offer customers yourself. That is easier said than done as you evaluate the quality of the services. That is why you have to ask for customer feedback.
You will likely receive both positive and negative customer feedback. When you open yourself to scrutiny by the customers, you will understand the flaws in your system’s flaw and the services you offer from their perspective. So you can determine the best practices you should continue to follow and those you should not.
Furthermore, when you ask for feedback from the customers after every cleaning appointment, they will feel that you value their opinion and feel listened to.
2. Customer experience
Many cleaning businesses often ignore how important customer experience is. Every interaction the customers have with your cleaning business counts as customer experience. These days customers highly value the experience they receive from their company interactions. To enhance customer experience, you can automate the appointment scheduling system.
The customers will contact your cleaning business directly to schedule an appointment. Due to their busy lifestyle, they may not have the time to contact you directly. So you can automate the appointment scheduling system with online scheduling software like Picktime. The software has a personalized booking page or widget that you can quickly embed into your website.
The clients can schedule a cleaning appointment easily from the website 24/7. That eliminates the need to contact your business directly. Handling multiple customer appointments may not be as easy as it may seem. To ease managing multiple customer appointments, the calendar feature of the software assists you with a complete overview of the daily customer appointments.
The software sends automated reminders over email or SMS to the customers. That assists in avoiding appointment cancellations. Furthermore, if the customers want to reschedule the appointment, they can do it in a few simple steps.
The software also lets you create a secure database of customer information, history, and preference. So you can quickly personalize the services you offer to your customers to retain more cleaning clients.
As the business expands, you will open offices in multiple locations. You need not make any additional investment for software support. Pictime takes care of all the customer appointments for various locations.
3. The customer is the king
It is a mantra that businesses followed for ages. To attract and retain more cleaning clients, you have to treat them with utmost respect. That is the way to your customer’s heart.
Acquiring new clients is essential for business expansion, but retaining the existing clientele displays your commitment to the customers. Also, that will instill a sense that you will go above and beyond to keep your customers happy.
Furthermore, if you receive any customer complaint, you have to address the complaint as quickly as possible. After resolving the customer complaint, you should request suggestions from the customers to improve the cleaning services.
4. Resolve customer complaints immediately
One of the ways to retain more cleaning clients is by addressing customer complaints instantly. A survey by SuperOffice reveals that prompt responses to customer complaints vastly improve the customer experience.
For instance, if your customers wait to hear back from you. That is a major disappointment for the customers, and you will likely lose them. So if they require cleaning services, they would rather approach your competitors. If you want to attract and retain more cleaning customers, you have to address customer concerns and solve them instantly.
5. Train your staff in a customer-centric approach
Your team represents your business to the customers in the field. So you have to teach your staff to respect the cleaning clients and the values your company stands for. That enables your team to understand what the customers expect of them and serve the customers better.
Remember, you have to respect your employees and ensure they have all the resources to cater to the customer’s needs and concerns. As a result, your team can address customer concerns and come up with innovative solutions. So they may not have to wait for the bureaucratic approval to get things done.
6. Focus on building meaningful relations with cleaning clients
Focusing on fostering fruitful relationships with cleaning clients is a proven strategy to attract and retain them. The key to building a relationship is meeting client deadlines, delivering outstanding services, and asking for honest feedback after every service.
Doing so will instill trust in customers, which is the primary step in nurturing meaningful customer relationships. If the cleaning clients have voluntarily shared their email IDs, you can send them newsletters to stay in touch. That will also help you inform them of any new services you introduce and remain in constant communication.
7. Reward your customers for their loyalty
Appreciating the loyalty of your cleaning clients is another method to attract and retain clients. That will give your clientele more reasons to stay loyal to your brand. Here are a few suggestions to maintain your loyal cleaning customers;
- Offer a discount for recurring bookings
- Develop a point system that your customer can later redeem
- Gift new cleaning products
8. Develop a referral system
It is an effective method to attract new cleaning clients while retaining the existing ones. If you think about how this will work, it is simple. The potential clients will most likely believe the words of another satisfied customer. Positive word-of-mouth from your happy clients inspires confidence in potential customers to avail of your cleaning services.
When an existing customer refers your cleaning business to a new client, you can discount them on the next cleaning booking, give free cleaning products, or offer free cleaning tips. That will encourage existing clients to participate in the referral program.
9. Focus on community building
A proven method to attract new and retain cleaning clients is to create a community around your business. If you wonder how you can create a community around your cleaning business, you can consider hosting events where your customers can interact with each other. That will foster a sense of community among your clients. Not only that, you can utilize such events to introduce new services that you want to introduce to your customers.
Furthermore, such events also give you an opportunity to interact with your clients. So you will gain firsthand insight into what your clients think about your services and where you can improve. If the clients feel that you listen to them, that is all the more reason to stay loyal to the brand.
10. Own your mistakes
Let us admit that we are all human, and we make mistakes. When you discover that you are at fault, instead of denying it, admit it. That will only enhance your brand image. You may wonder how the customers will understand that you are willing to rectify your mistakes. So they will be likely to remain loyal to your brand.
Hopefully, the tips we have shared in this article will help you attract new cleaning clients while retaining the existing ones.
