Latest / Cleaning Business Life / Why People Really Book Deep Cleans Ep. 221

Transcript

Why People Really Book Deep Cleans Ep. 221 · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, Shandon Miller here from Cleaning Business Life.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're gonna talk about why people really book deep cleanings.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it really is more about than just getting the clean house.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people get deep cleanings, or what we see a lot of is sorry, I didn't adjust this before.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're usually going through a huge life transition.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Something has usually triggered an event where they are required to have a deep cleaning.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, we've got a bunch of glare from there.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: We go.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is maybe a little bit better.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying to not see the there's nothing I can do about it, I guess.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll just live with it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe if I maybe if I sit back.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe that's a little bit better.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: If it drives you nuts, I don't want to hear about it.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: One purple eye, one blue eye.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So so when you have a deep cleaning, there's a lot that goes into it.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's an emotional toll.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not only is it a monetary thing, there's an expectation that you're going to reset the home to where it needs to be so that it's livable again.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: What I have seen this last year is I've seen an uptick in the last three years with MERSA cleanings.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the only person in my area that's actually certified to do this.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: You it's a biohazard cleaning.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So depending on the size of the room that needs to be decontaminated, depends on the price, right?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, and there are people who've attempted to do it.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I hope that you didn't crawl back in your car or that you ate lunch with your hazmat suit on because it's contagious.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's a life-altering event.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes mom and dad dies, and mom is really good at fudging it on the phone, and then you walk in, you're like, oh my goodness, right?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like the painting.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So there are life events that usually happen.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they are behind and no one visits mom and dad for a while, or you have someone who has a, I don't want to say medical episode, but they have some sort of mental thing that has happened that has caused them to not participate in life as much as they could.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot, we won't get into the philosophy behind why, who did what.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, as cleaners, we just get to see the aftermath, right?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: We how many times have we all seen the videos of it's usually trash, trash and laundry, right?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: You come in and there's just DoorDash, fast food restaurants, convenience everywhere, Coca-Cola cans, Mountain Dew bottles, bottles filled with pee, floors ruined.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I just watched a video, I believe I shared it today, and it was two gentlemen who were living by themselves, and they only had they didn't have electricity, but they had running water.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: But they were on a well, so I'm like, that that doesn't add up.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe the person who was doing the video didn't get it all right.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But in any case, there was a rescuer there, and the property was pretty bad in dire straits, and they were both 88 years old, two brothers.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: One of the brothers had to be hospitalized, came in with a relative.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it was a son or daughter.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: They so they took him away, so they left this other gentleman who was also 88 years old to kind of fend for himself, and there were animals that no one could care for, and then it became this the whole.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: So they lifted up, they show the scene and they lift up this container of water that looks muddy mercury, murky sea cells on the seashore.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you can hear the it's clearly not a cleaner.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, ooh, that's gross.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Oh, those are just dead cockroaches.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: We'll just dump them out here.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if he dumped the water inside the house, outside of the house, but my eyes were this big.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that would be a life-altering event.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And typically, regular household cleaners are not gonna do a cleaning like what I just described.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we have the dirt scale, right?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: From a one to 10, 11 is like, woo, we've got to recheck this.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: 15 is like, oh my God, I you cannot be left here alone.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, you know, then there's 20, 25.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen everything, but we're starting to see the more convenience we have, and this is just my opinion.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can tell me to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's just an observation because remember, I like to watch for patterns.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So what I have seen, and this has nothing to do with Amazon, but it's a consequence of having Amazon, is we have all these people shopping and shopping and shopping and consuming.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying that's good or bad.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just watching the patterns.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't purge anything when they consume.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're not purging each time, they're just consuming and then distributing it right there on the floor, and it becomes this whole dynamic of what to do, where to do it, how to do it, how what, you know, what how do I get this person help?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: So there are a lot of emotional tools that come with doing a deep cleaning.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And as a matter of fact, we had one the other day, and she was living with her older husband, and her older husband, who is he was 96, 97, and she proceeded to, we were gossiping because we both lived in town a long time, and she proceeded to tell me about her husband, and we were talking about his Tesla and how the technology has made it easier, if you can afford it, to get around without having to be dependent on extra family members because your Tesla is self-driving.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You just verbally tell it where you want to go, it plugs it into the map and it drives you over to your location.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do anything, right?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, which is great if you're in your 90s and your license has been taken away, right?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Not everyone has that luxury, but I believe in the near future that we will have, we'll see more of that.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: But getting things caught up, you can only physically do things for so long, and then your body starts to say, Hey, you know, you can't do this anymore, and then you require help.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: So babies, divorce, caregiving, illness, downsizing, upsizing, kids moving in, kids moving out, kids moving back in with other kids, younger kids versus older kids, grandbabies.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So they're they're often much more than just cleaning, they're about transitioning, restoring peace, control, and giving everyone a fresh start.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing more satisfying, and I haven't worked on a deep cleaning in a while that comes actually in August, September.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: But in any case, I haven't seen anything in a while that doesn't give me more satisfaction than doing a before and after of a total, this is what your house looked like before, and this is what it looks like after, and you can smell the difference.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: The energy feels different, the homeowner feels different, the kids feel different, everything is in its place, and you just have this right, not necessarily just like that, but something similar.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's very satisfying to see the before and the after.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And there's usually the biggest transformation when you're doing those types of cleanings.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes, because of whatever's going on in their lives personally, taking on a deep cleaning can be daunting.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Taking on for a homeowner, taking on a post-construction cleaning is daunting.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: They don't realize that they need to vacuum several times to get it up.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: They vacuum, wet, wipe, and dry.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Vacuum, wet, wipe, and dry.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a repeated process.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And the, you know, most homeowners don't know that.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: That doing helping someone get their house caught up when they're already overwhelmed is overwhelming to them.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: So they're not going to be able to facilitate, okay, what do I tackle first?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: A, B, C, D.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: They're just going to go, oh my gosh, this is just a lie, and I'm not going to be able to do that.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're just trying to regain control.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting to see the dynamics and the change after.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes with a deep cleaning, they can maintain it.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: They've they've got a reset, their backs are normal and everything's good.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: But then, you know, it's up and down.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's we have a lot of mental health stuff going on with society, and there's nothing wrong with that.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Just that, you know, some people can maintain it and some people can't.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: I often have felt that home act should be brought back into the schools because we have a lot of people who went through the school system who don't have basic cooking skills, who don't have basic household skills.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we see it a lot.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing wrong with that.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's just something that should be learned.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, things to consider about like what is my client truly looking for when they call.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Usually, when, and we all have learned this, right?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: When someone's calling, they're wanting to solve their problem right then and there.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: They're not waiting, wanting to wait for you to call them back at the end of the day or the following day, or the following, following day.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: With the exception of your closed office hours, I would try to answer the phone if you can, even if you're inside a client's home.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't want your current client in their home listening to your conversation, step outside, say, I'll be right back.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Get your notepad out of your apron, take a note, or type it into your notes on your phone.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that way, you know, you can get them a price, get all their information, get the credit card on all that stuff.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then there is always how can I provide value beyond the cleaning itself?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there are other things that you can do.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Would you like to set up on, would you like to get set up on a regular schedule?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have a couple monthly spots, I have a couple bi-weekly spots.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I think the price would be.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, then they have to decide whether it can fit into their budget.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Am I pricing deep cleans in a way that reflects an emotional and physical labor involved?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes and no.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke to someone this morning who was charging 15 cents a square foot for a deep cleaning.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a four-bedroom, one bath.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was an in the on the East Coast, everything's compact, right?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was 1,300 square feet, but it was a four-bedroom, one bath.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's different than Texas size or even an Arizona size.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So she was pricing it at 15 cents.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you're not making any money.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have a minimum.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we went over all of the protocols of that.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's hoarding cleanings.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're seeing a lot.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost an epidemic.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: How much hoarding cleanings we are starting to see?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if it's the algorithms and because I see it because of the industry I'm in.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I we're, we have a lot of hoarding issues going on right now.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people don't want to let that stuff go because they think they're gonna recover from whatever it is and they're not going to.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's this whole battle of trying to meet in the middle to try to, you know, make it sanitary for them.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then there are a lot of boundaries.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I see this with Home Glow.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're inside that group.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not allowed to make comments, but I do stay in the group because there's lots of interesting things that go on in there.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: You ever want to think that you're having a rough day, just go to HomeGlow and you're like, oh my God, those poor people, those poor cleaners in there.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's bad.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: HomeGlow is just like, because they're all the marketing is based for price, right?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Every single attribute, every touch point in HomeGlow is all based on price.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're marketing to people based on price.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're people are working them trying to get their feet wet, trying to figure it out, and they're based on price too, but they're not a very high price.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So there's this whole going back and forth like this, left and right, left, right, which way do I go?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to have clear boundaries.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I have the contract and clarity bundle.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: That move out cleaning contract has been used over 20,000 times.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: It has been to court dozens of times.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I have won every single time when I've used that contract.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And those boundaries are specific.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like we need, you know, even though you're telling the client when you're signing them up over the phone, we need to have running water and electricity when we arrive.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you failure to have that will cause us to charge you for a show fee.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, what?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: We showed up.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: We prepared, you know, the cleaner went from their house to your house, prepared, ready to go to do the job, and you're not ready for the job to start, it's not their fault.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: They still need to get paid.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we charge you a show fee.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that is whatever the deposit is, is what we use as the show-up fee.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we usually get a 50% deposit on day of booking to secure your spot on the schedule.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then the cleaning tech doesn't care because they're still getting paid regardless of the if they do the job or not, right?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So then if they get it together enough by the afternoon, if the cleaner still has time, the cleaner will go back and it starts again.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: They have to send another payment link, they have to give another 50% deposit.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Not everyone's happy with those decisions, but I have learned along the way it is not our fault.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: We did everything we were supposed to do on our end.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was the client who did not do anything on their end.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then those are some of the boundaries that you need to have.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, are you is the homeowner going to be present when you're doing the deep cleaning?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going to smoke the entire time because you are allergic to cigarette smoke?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Does it need an ozone machine treatment before the deep cleaning because there's nobody living there and it has this really bad odor?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many variables that can happen with one-time cleaning.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So just make sure that you are establishing what those boundaries are.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a story about a premium deep cleaning or a life transition that changed the way you see your business, I would love to hear from you.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe to Cleaning Business Life.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: It tells the algorithm we are worthy, and it'll actually show it to more and more people.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I would totally love and appreciate you doing that.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if this episode resonated with you, I highly recommend that you listen to episode 212.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Your customers don't pay you for your hard work.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a mindset shift that needs to happen, and I think that you'll thoroughly enjoy it.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning in, you guys.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.