Latest / Cleaning Business Life / LIVE REPLAY | What Does It Really Cost to Get a Cleaning Client?
Transcript
- 0:59SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, it's Wednesday.
- 1:02SPEAKER_00: Yay! Oh my gosh.
- 1:04SPEAKER_00: These weeks seem to be going by so freaking fast.
- 1:09SPEAKER_00: It's like Monday and then it's Friday.
- 1:11SPEAKER_00: And then it's Monday and Friday.
- 1:12SPEAKER_00: It's Monday.
- 1:12SPEAKER_00: It's Friday.
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: I genuinely feel like I'm in an episode of Groundhog Day.
- 1:17SPEAKER_00: I hope that everyone is having a fabulous hump day.
- 1:21SPEAKER_00: Let me see here.
- 1:22SPEAKER_00: I decided to do it this way versus the other way.
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to rotate so I can actually see everyone's questions.
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: Um, Riverside, you can't see them.
- 1:33SPEAKER_00: I haven't figured that part out yet, so I apologize.
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: Uh let's give you guys a couple minutes to come on here.
- 1:41SPEAKER_00: There are a couple of things that I would like to talk about.
- 1:46SPEAKER_00: Um I'm gonna get those here right now.
- 1:50SPEAKER_00: Let's get those here for you.
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: I got the right spot.
- 2:23SPEAKER_00: I'm known to um I'm known to pop into the wrong group and then I start talking and then realize that it's the wrong group, and I'm like, oh, this is so sweet for the other group.
- 2:36SPEAKER_00: Um So let me get this here.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: I um yeah, it's 4.04, so I guess we can get started.
- 2:46SPEAKER_00: I'm doing these lives up until Thanksgiving, and then I will look at and reassess my schedule and see what I have available.
- 2:53SPEAKER_00: Uh lots of changes going on behind the scene um with Prescott Tidy Clean, um Tidy Preskate, not Prescott Tidy Clean, Gilbert Tidy Clean, and then um we're looking at a third location in the latter part of 2027.
- 3:09SPEAKER_00: So that'll be three um in the state of Arizona.
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: So I'm super excited about that.
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: And I want to talk about uh client acquisition costs.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: I know I kind of mentioned it the other day when we were talking last week about client acquisition costs and what it really costs to acquire a client, and there's a lot of ways you can either do them, the non-touch method, which is you you get a funnel, you have either you build the funnel or someone built or you build the funnel, and you have all of these steps that a client can do right online.
- 3:40SPEAKER_00: I can tell you it's exciting to finally see that the cleaning industry is moving into 2026.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: Um, because for a long time we we didn't we were the last, right?
- 3:50SPEAKER_00: Now now that we're cool and everyone wants to be in the cleaning industry, now we're starting to see a lot of things change, which has been awesome and a little bit scary at the same time, especially with AI.
- 4:00SPEAKER_00: We're trying to figure out you know what tool to use, which preferred AI versus non-preferred AI.
- 4:06SPEAKER_00: It's like choosing toothpaste, it's really become that type of thing.
- 4:11SPEAKER_00: But with client acquisition, there's a lot of things that you need to track.
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: Like, where are your clients coming from?
- 4:16SPEAKER_00: Like when I get them on the phone, do you have a dedicated salesperson?
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: Is that salesperson you or is it another person?
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: Um, asking where where you got my number from.
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: Like, I just got a direct referral from another local cleaner here.
- 4:30SPEAKER_00: So thank you, Nicole.
- 4:31SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
- 4:32SPEAKER_00: It's awesome to be able to have established relationships and collaboration over competition is so important.
- 4:39SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you're not tracking where your clients are coming from, you need to start asking, hey, where did you hear about us?
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: So that you can start to see if your Google um leads are working or if AI is working or if it is it the newspaper that you're still doing, or the really pretty print magazine Prescate Women is also another thing.
- 4:57SPEAKER_00: I believe it's$1,500 an episode or something to that effect.
- 5:03SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna start to track that and you're gonna start to count it, and at the end of the month, you're gonna count them all up, or you're gonna put them in a sheet, it's gonna count it all up for you, or AI is gonna do it, and it's gonna tell you where your leads came in from.
- 5:16SPEAKER_00: And then that's when you're gonna put you're gonna sprinkle more fuel to the fire to hopefully get more clients, right?
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: So it if you're the dedicated salesperson, what's your close rate?
- 5:27SPEAKER_00: Asking for the sale.
- 5:28SPEAKER_00: Asking for the sale is super important, and it becomes really awkward, especially in the cleaning industry, because you know you have to if you don't want a discount because then that already admits that you're high priced, right?
- 5:39SPEAKER_00: I heard someone say, Oh, well, we'll give you a discount, that's the best we can do.
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
- 5:46SPEAKER_00: Hey, Kristen.
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: And when you are offering a discount right off the bat, you're you're indirectly telling the client, hey, I'm already high priced, I know I'm high-priced, so I'm gonna give you a discount, right?
- 6:00SPEAKER_00: So then then the person goes, Well, how far of a discount will you give me, right?
- 6:05SPEAKER_00: So then you say, then it becomes a battle, right?
- 6:07SPEAKER_00: A battle to the bottom.
- 6:08SPEAKER_00: Well, 10% is the best I can do.
- 6:10SPEAKER_00: Well, can you do 15%?
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: Or how about 12%, right?
- 6:13SPEAKER_00: Then they then you go, okay, well, I guess I'll do 12%.
- 6:16SPEAKER_00: Well, can you go 22%?
- 6:18SPEAKER_00: Or would you go 17%?
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: So then it's becomes this back and forth game.
- 6:22SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's tracking where they're coming from, not offering discounts, the price is the price is the price.
- 6:28SPEAKER_00: Um, for a long time, and you guys have heard me talk about this.
- 6:33SPEAKER_00: I'm not a big fan of discounting.
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: I never have been.
- 6:35SPEAKER_00: I will discount occasionally once in a blue moon, but we just got done doing 67 free cleanings.
- 6:40SPEAKER_00: Uh, August and September notoriously are free cleaning months for us.
- 6:44SPEAKER_00: It's our way of giving back to our community.
- 6:47SPEAKER_00: And that legit, and that's not through cleaning for a reason or anything.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: It's just we see a need in our community, and this is what we're offering them.
- 6:55SPEAKER_00: So it becomes a whole dynamic of well, can't why can't you give me something else for free?
- 6:59SPEAKER_00: Well, well, there's only so many free items, and there really isn't a lot of free because someone is doing the labor, someone is supplying the supply, someone's showing up and doing the work.
- 7:09SPEAKER_00: Um, this one was a little crazy this year because um you might have caught another live.
- 7:15SPEAKER_00: I don't remember if I did it a live or a podcast where I said I had to give CPR twice.
- 7:22SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna fucking lie.
- 7:23SPEAKER_00: It's been a long time since I've had to give anyone CPR.
- 7:27SPEAKER_00: And um, it was there were some really crazy tense moments of trying to remember how many breasts versus how many pumps.
- 7:37SPEAKER_00: And I have the person on the the speaker phone walking me through, and I'm trying to recollect.
- 7:43SPEAKER_00: The last time I gave anyone CPR was when I was a cocktail waitress in Lake Tahoe, and that was a while ago.
- 7:53SPEAKER_00: So um there there was a recollection and then a boom, right?
- 7:58SPEAKER_00: Because and once you start CPR, you can't stop until the next person comes to relieve you, right?
- 8:03SPEAKER_00: And it it just becomes a scary situation.
- 8:06SPEAKER_00: So we did 67 free cleanings.
- 8:08SPEAKER_00: I wasn't sure if I was even gonna finish because when I had two CPR episodes back to back, it shook me.
- 8:17SPEAKER_00: It gave me like this maybe I shouldn't be doing these anymore.
- 8:21SPEAKER_00: I don't know if we'll do that many free cleanings next year, but two, and I've never had a medical episode in all of the free cleanings we have offered to back to the community year after year after year.
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: But this one I was like, well, maybe I'm gonna start to scale back.
- 8:35SPEAKER_00: I don't know because I I volunteer with them.
- 8:37SPEAKER_00: I'm not um usually people who are showing up are volunteering their time, so I feel you know I am here to support you.
- 8:47SPEAKER_00: So we will go together, and sometimes I'm there and sometimes I'm not there, but I do try to attempt to be present in physical form.
- 8:56SPEAKER_00: But yeah, two two times I had to give CPR back to back, like within a week, and I'm like, please don't let this person die, please.
- 9:06SPEAKER_00: So um there are those types of elements too.
- 9:10SPEAKER_00: Will any of those become future clients?
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: Probably not, but we gave back to the community, and that's what's that's what's important to me is giving back.
- 9:19SPEAKER_00: I believe a lot in reciprocity, and sorry, I'm waiting for the computer.
- 9:24SPEAKER_00: I have this weird glitch going on.
- 9:26SPEAKER_00: I think I need to take it in, and I'm trying to put in the password because it I have a Mac and then my daughter dropped it, and then we had the screen replaced, and ever since we've had the screen replaced, it just stops, it just blacks out.
- 9:39SPEAKER_00: You can still hear things that are being played in the background, but you can't see the screen anymore.
- 9:42SPEAKER_00: So, some sort of weird glitchy thing.
- 9:45SPEAKER_00: Let me see if there are any questions, and then I will uh pull up the other thing here, but yeah, that's that's um some of the dynamics.
- 9:54SPEAKER_00: So you need to know exactly what it cost to acquire one client.
- 10:00SPEAKER_00: Um, back in the day, it used to be about$227.
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: I was listening to a podcast, I don't remember who was in it, but they were talking about their acquisition, and they don't do they just do it online.
- 10:12SPEAKER_00: It was like$534 per client.
- 10:15SPEAKER_00: That was just to get the client, get the call, and try to close the sale.
- 10:18SPEAKER_00: I was like, ouch.
- 10:20SPEAKER_00: So um, you have to start to kind of realize that hey, maybe I'm not seeing oh, there I am.
- 10:26SPEAKER_00: Okay, I am there.
- 10:29SPEAKER_00: I don't think I don't think anybody has any questions for me.
- 10:33SPEAKER_00: So those are some of the questions I had to cover.
- 10:37SPEAKER_00: And then um, are you getting inquiries, but no bookings?
- 10:42SPEAKER_00: I get those some there's some days.
- 10:44SPEAKER_00: Well, let's be honest.
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: Some days I'm getting 100 phone calls, and I used to be like, oh my god, I'm getting a hundred phone calls.
- 10:50SPEAKER_00: Now I'm getting telemarketing calls.
- 10:54SPEAKER_00: How many people have telemarketing calls?
- 10:56SPEAKER_00: Your your warranty's expired, you have to buy the new the latest internet cable.
- 11:01SPEAKER_00: I'm calling because uh the sky is blue and I want to talk to you and take up your time or what whatever whatever the reason is.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: Um, and then other days that randomly I got like eight of them back to back, and every single one of them I have to just follow up and close, right?
- 11:17SPEAKER_00: So um, if are you getting inquiries but no bookings?
- 11:21SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when you're getting no bookings, it means that that's just not your demographics.
- 11:26SPEAKER_00: You have to tweak your words, right, on what you're looking for and what you say and how you say it.
- 11:31SPEAKER_00: And then how quickly do you respond to someone asking for a quote?
- 11:35SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
- 11:37SPEAKER_00: If you are still out in the field cleaning, answer your phone.
- 11:40SPEAKER_00: You're paying for the leads, your clients are just gonna have to understand it's not the end of the world, it's not taboo like it used to be anymore.
- 11:47SPEAKER_00: Just pick up the phone.
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: This is Shani with Castle Keeper Cleaning.
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I'm not cleaning company, but I'm giving this as an example.
- 11:53SPEAKER_00: Uh, how can I help you?
- 11:55SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 11:57SPEAKER_00: That is great.
- 11:58SPEAKER_00: And I'm actually, as I'm I have them on speakerphone, if if this was me, I would go to the bathroom, put them on speakerphone, open up my notes, and I would start to type.
- 12:08SPEAKER_00: You don't have to carry, you can carry a notepad if that makes you feel better, right in your apron that you should be wearing.
- 12:14SPEAKER_00: But you could go into notes and start to type.
- 12:16SPEAKER_00: Okay, what is your name?
- 12:17SPEAKER_00: My name is Shannon.
- 12:18SPEAKER_00: How are you?
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: Right?
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: What is your address?
- 12:20SPEAKER_00: How did you hear of me?
- 12:21SPEAKER_00: What is your phone number?
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: What is your best email address?
- 12:24SPEAKER_00: And then if you're savvy enough, you can do it right over your phone.
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: You can go right to your CRM and send them over a template that you have pre-done.
- 12:31SPEAKER_00: Or they can wait and say, you know what, I've got a lot of calls I have to return.
- 12:34SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to give you a call back this afternoon.
- 12:36SPEAKER_00: We'll close the deal then.
- 12:37SPEAKER_00: But I always would try to close the deal right there on the phone.
- 12:40SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I've had people give me their their credit card information.
- 12:44SPEAKER_00: I have a really trusting voice.
- 12:47SPEAKER_00: As fraud goes on, that's not as much anymore, but those are the good old days.
- 12:51SPEAKER_00: Um, so see where your inquiries are coming from and why you're not getting bookings.
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: Like, I can never close anybody on next door.
- 13:00SPEAKER_00: Not once, not once in all of the times I've advertised on next door.
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: Not once, zero.
- 13:04SPEAKER_00: It's like closing a church for Shannon.
- 13:06SPEAKER_00: I can never close a church either.
- 13:09SPEAKER_00: Um, do you follow up after sending the quote?
- 13:12SPEAKER_00: This is actually part of the sales process.
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: If you give them a quote, are you following up with them?
- 13:17SPEAKER_00: Are you following up with a phone call?
- 13:18SPEAKER_00: Are you doing the passive-aggressive approach through the messenger on your phone?
- 13:23SPEAKER_00: I'm guilty of both.
- 13:25SPEAKER_00: Right?
- 13:26SPEAKER_00: Or it's an automatic email, you're putting them on your email list, whatever you're doing, but you have to follow up.
- 13:31SPEAKER_00: Follow up until you get a firm no.
- 13:33SPEAKER_00: Some people will do it once or twice, usually two to three times, you'll know this person doesn't want me to call anymore.
- 13:40SPEAKER_00: Or I thought I would call and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 13:43SPEAKER_00: We're offering a special.
- 13:44SPEAKER_00: Um, what's getting in the way when you're not closing the deal?
- 13:48SPEAKER_00: Is it price?
- 13:49SPEAKER_00: Is it availability?
- 13:50SPEAKER_00: Is it trust?
- 13:51SPEAKER_00: Um, every once in a while we get someone who is stinky.
- 13:55SPEAKER_00: We've all seen those um videos, unfortunately, of people who are not happy with their lives and they have to make everybody miserable.
- 14:03SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you've all seen them.
- 14:06SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it ask them, you know, this isn't, you're you're protecting your investment, right?
- 14:14SPEAKER_00: What is causing you not to protect your investment?
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: Is it the price?
- 14:18SPEAKER_00: Is it the wraparound that it's just a broom sweep and you guys are just broom sweeping, so you have no formal education?
- 14:24SPEAKER_00: I'm like, but we all have formal education.
- 14:28SPEAKER_00: How much time and money do you spend getting one client?
- 14:31SPEAKER_00: This is important.
- 14:32SPEAKER_00: Start to track what that is for you.
- 14:34SPEAKER_00: It could be that you're word of mouth.
- 14:36SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're rewarding the person who's giving you the word of mouth, especially if you're closing it.
- 14:40SPEAKER_00: Hey, free oven cleaning.
- 14:41SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much, Susan.
- 14:42SPEAKER_00: Whenever you're ready, let us know.
- 14:44SPEAKER_00: We'll add it on to the schedule.
- 14:46SPEAKER_00: An oven cleaning is 95 bucks.
- 14:48SPEAKER_00: That's way cheaper than paying$227, which was my old price, or the$538, I believe, is what I said earlier.
- 14:55SPEAKER_00: For the other person who's doing it entirely digital, right?
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: That person does six or seven million a year.
- 15:01SPEAKER_00: So there's a difference in price for client acquisition.
- 15:06SPEAKER_00: Um, and and starting to time.
- 15:10SPEAKER_00: Time means money.
- 15:12SPEAKER_00: You spending time on the phone with clients if they're not gonna close, is could be a good thing, it could be a bad thing.
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: There's mixed views on if I should spend the time with this person, but I I can't hold my hand and spend 30 minutes with each client if I'm not gonna close the deal.
- 15:28SPEAKER_00: I can't usually figure out in the first five minutes if it's something I can do or not do.
- 15:33SPEAKER_00: So that's something to consider as well.
- 15:36SPEAKER_00: And are you asking happy clients for reviews and referrals?
- 15:40SPEAKER_00: Did you know that Jobber actually offers review?
- 15:44SPEAKER_00: They have a small service, I believe it's 39 bucks.
- 15:46SPEAKER_00: I don't know if Made Central or ZenMade does the same thing that Jobber does, and it sends two em two follow-ups that you can try to get a review.
- 15:55SPEAKER_00: The more reviews you have, the higher you sit in the algorithm and the picking order of the internet, right?
- 16:01SPEAKER_00: And then something to think about are are new clients becoming regular clients?
- 16:05SPEAKER_00: Are you asking them to sign up and get on your schedule on a regular basis?
- 16:08SPEAKER_00: Hey, I think monthly service would be this.
- 16:10SPEAKER_00: Would you be interested in having me put you on your schedule?
- 16:13SPEAKER_00: Asking for the sale, right?
- 16:15SPEAKER_00: Unless, of course, it's a move out, then you know then they're moving out of the usually I ask, are you moving out of the area or are you moving to another location because you found your dream home, right?
- 16:25SPEAKER_00: And then what could you do this week to get your next client?
- 16:28SPEAKER_00: These are things that you should be considering, especially with the busy season, getting ready to kick back in.
- 16:32SPEAKER_00: Let's see if anybody has any questions for me.
- 16:36SPEAKER_00: So, Miss Kristen, how are you?
- 16:38SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen you in a long time.
- 16:40SPEAKER_00: I know you've been busy, busy, busy.
- 16:42SPEAKER_00: Let's see here.
- 16:50SPEAKER_00: Crazy stor Kristen is saying, for those of you who are reading this live, um, crazy story.
- 16:54SPEAKER_00: We had a monthly, it just happened to be our day.
- 16:56SPEAKER_00: I heard her screaming through the window, had to break in.
- 16:59SPEAKER_00: Poor lady had been laying on the bedroom floor.
- 17:01SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh! For two whole days, you poor thing.
- 17:05SPEAKER_00: That is so traumatic.
- 17:06SPEAKER_00: Was she was there blood?
- 17:09SPEAKER_00: Was it just she fell over and couldn't get back up?
- 17:11SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, the poor thing must have just been absolutely horrified.
- 17:14SPEAKER_00: You poor thing.
- 17:16SPEAKER_00: Um, there was an episode with somebody who I know here locally, her sister fell down in Phoenix, and she fell and hit her head.
- 17:30SPEAKER_00: And what caused the injury, well, she got an injury, she's got a black eye and a jaw and a shoulder thing.
- 17:35SPEAKER_00: But what caused the injury to her is she's wearing those banana clips.
- 17:39SPEAKER_00: When she fell forward, her head went back, and the banana clip impaled the back of her scalp, and scalp wounds bleed everywhere.
- 17:47SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, there was uh it was an outside wound, not an inside wound in the scalp.
- 17:51SPEAKER_00: You have to hope that you don't get an inside wound because then they have to drill and do the whole like drain your brain and the whole deal like that.
- 17:58SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty wild, Kristen.
- 18:00SPEAKER_00: So is she okay now?
- 18:03SPEAKER_00: It's um it's it's wild, these medical emergencies that you walk into not realizing that you're walking into what you're walking into.
- 18:12SPEAKER_00: Um, definitely really wild for that.
- 18:14SPEAKER_00: Is there anybody else who's had a medical episode where you walked in and it was like, oh my god, what do I do?
- 18:21SPEAKER_00: Right?
- 18:23SPEAKER_00: And people paint, there are the people who can actually take control of the situation, delegate, start barking orders, and then there's other people who walk around the back yard background who scream like a chicken with their head cut off.
- 18:36SPEAKER_00: So, um, and there's nothing wrong with that.
- 18:38SPEAKER_00: I just we have a different threshold of tolerance for those types of things.
- 18:42SPEAKER_00: I like to say that I get a lot of my stuff from my Lake Tahoe days because I was ski patrol at Heavenly Valley and we would see all kinds of injuries, stupid, they would just make the most stupidest decisions.
- 18:55SPEAKER_00: I'm like, so what were you thinking when you leaped off that eight-foot cliff and thought you were gonna make it to the other side of the six-foot cliff and you missed and you fell 15 feet?
- 19:06SPEAKER_00: What were you thinking, right?
- 19:09SPEAKER_00: They were in there with like shovels trying to shovel them out so they don't suffocate, it's a whole thing.
- 19:14SPEAKER_00: Um, let me see if there's any other conversations.
- 19:22SPEAKER_00: So I don't see any other questions, but I did want to come out here and talk about client acquisition.
- 19:26SPEAKER_00: I hope it's fourth quarter.
- 19:29SPEAKER_00: If you guys have not given any thought about fourth quarter and um planning for 2027, uh it's super important uh to meet your financial goals for whatever plan you have, whether you're solo or you have a team, it's totally okay.
- 19:46SPEAKER_00: Hey, Melissa, and um decide.
- 19:50SPEAKER_00: Decide if you're gonna, you know, are you gonna is next year gonna be your year where you hire a team?
- 19:56SPEAKER_00: Is it the year that you stay solo one more year because your littles are still in school and this works for your schedule?
- 20:01SPEAKER_00: I'm totally okay with whatever you decide.
- 20:03SPEAKER_00: I just want to see you succeed so you can create legacy and make impact and have wealth so that you can have generational wealth, not just yourself.
- 20:11SPEAKER_00: So that it's it's there for you and your family should you choose to do so.
- 20:16SPEAKER_00: I don't see any other questions.
- 20:21SPEAKER_00: Let's get this going.
- 20:25SPEAKER_00: Right, I think that's um all I had to say today.
- 20:29SPEAKER_00: I look forward to your questions.
- 20:30SPEAKER_00: I will check back a little bit later to see if anyone had any more questions who might have missed a live.
- 20:35SPEAKER_00: And it was good to see everyone.
- 20:36SPEAKER_00: Happy Wednesday, happy hump day.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: Take care.