Latest / Cleaning Business Life / Episode #7 - Closing the Sale and Up Charges

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Episode #7 - Closing the Sale and Up Charges · Cleaning Business Life

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Welcome, welcome, welcome, everybody.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: This is Cleaning Business Life, Profit Strategies for Success.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: My name is Shannon Miller, and this is Kimberly Gonzalez.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: Kimberly, take it away.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: Hello, everyone.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: We are doing this again.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Shannon and I tried this last week between internet problems and I don't even know what else is going on.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say full moon eclipse, whatever you want to call it.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: But we're doing a redo today, and I'm excited because we're both on our game today and I'm happy and we're ready to rock and roll.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: So today we're going to talk about how to close the cell and do upsells.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: And if you guys know how important upsells are, you guys are going to want to bite the bit at this one and grab onto everything you can because we got some good ideas for you.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: So we all know that closing a cell can be nerve-wracking.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: We know, like when you have your first one and you're excited, you're just like, oh, I'm ready to go.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: And then you have that butterflies in your stomach and you kind of feel like you want to get sick.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, Shannon, but that's how it was for mine because you're nervous because you want them to grab it.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: And it's exciting when you get your first sale, like you, you did it.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, congratulations.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, do you remember your first sale, Shannon?
1:11
SPEAKER_00: That you I was just reflecting back on that.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: And my first sale was someone that I kind of knew through somebody else.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't have a lot by default, it landed in my lap.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: So there wasn't the anticipated excitement of closing a sale.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, but there have been experiences in the past where I've closed big deals like$30,000 deals or$50,000 deals.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: And those I was like, oh, right.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: That's impressive.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Like$30,000.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: Man, I can't imagine 30 closing$30,000.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I've ever closed$30,000 in sales.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: That's impressive, Shannon.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: The larger contracts, I there, I believe the largest contract ever closed was$67,000.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: And that was done in segments.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was an apartment building here that they were building.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: So we did the rough, the the smooth, and the finish.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: They don't even do that anymore with post-construction cleaning.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: It's now it's two, and they're trying to combine it into one.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: We won't talk about post-construction cleanings in this one.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: We will just laugh at that fact.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: But that's exciting.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: Like, that is awesome.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: This is why you guys need hint hint to hire Shannon to be your cleaning business coach.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: Right.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: She can help you with these kinds of things.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: I can help you with the product part of it, but she can help you with that part.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: I remember the first time that I had closed my cell and I was so excited about it.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: And it gone into a house.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: And again, like all of us newbies, you know, were like$20 an hour, but that was exciting to me because I didn't know better.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: But I went in and I got this house, and this house is a big house, and the the couple were super sweet.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: The husband was a slob, I'm not gonna lie.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, but the wife was super sweet, and um, I closed that cell and I was just so excited, and I would clean for them every other week.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: And then I got another one and it was exciting, but then I started realizing like, oh my gosh, this is not worth it for$20 an hour.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm tired and I want more money.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm like, I need the money to pay my bills, right?
3:06
SPEAKER_01: So um this is kind of why we're here to help you.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna teach you how to do all this and closing the sale.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, I know for me, um, not only with, and I was actually just talking to somebody in one of the groups about this, and I don't know if you were in the same group with me, but they're talking about how to get clients, how to get the sales.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, it is all about building the relationships and building the trust.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: You can't just go in.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: You can't just go in and go bada bing, bada boom, got it.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: No, it would be nice if it happened that way, but it doesn't.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Right.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that was a quickie.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I'm like, no, it doesn't work that way.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: You gotta build up that relationship, you know, have a little love and trust.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, that's that's what it comes down to, you know.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: And and I've got my secret sauce and how I do that.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure Shannon, you've got your secret sauce and how to to close sales.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: And I'd love to, you know, help each other out so we can help all these these these peeps out and how to close sales and stuff.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I know relationships is huge.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: So sorry, I thought I turned off my phone.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: It's officially off now on airplane mode.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: Sorry about that.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't hear it.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: I hit the button, but I didn't hit it all the way, clearly.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: I forgot my water this morning.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I'm like I hate that.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: Button mouth.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: There's little rituals that happen pre-show that you know, there's this conversation that we have.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: We kind of get close to it, and then we have to have water, there's all pee-pee breaks, you know, all of the weird dynamics that have the behind the scenes, like making sure the dogs are quiet.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: I've only got two dogs, so four dogs right now.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where the other two are.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Just silly stuff, right?
4:51
SPEAKER_01: I was just yelling at my dogs and like, you two, behave, go lay down right now.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: I've got to do my podcast.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: Right.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: So they're they're both underneath my table now, sleeping.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: So my desk.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: And then until someone comes home and makes them bark, and then you're like, shh, no, we're yeah, it's gonna be salesmen today because of our hail storm and our weather.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm just waiting for knocking on my door for all the salespeople, like, we're here to repair your roof and your car.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, I'm I'm waiting for that today.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: So, but how about we do a mock version?
5:20
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah, having a mock version of what to say um and saving yourself gas and time.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, you who are new probably don't realize that some homeowners are thrifty shoppers, so typically not your ideal client, yeah, but they they're the group on crowd.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to disseminate from the group on crowd and your demographic, but the group on crowd is um they're the couponers, right?
5:44
SPEAKER_00: They're the ones looking for the sweet best deal.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever done a group on house, it is a nightmare every single time.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, you look back and go, oh my god, I can't believe these people live this way.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: And so they're getting this special deal and they're looking.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: So when you're doing in-person bidding, it's great when you're new because you're getting the experience and the engagement, the human-to-human engagement.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: However, there comes a cutoff point where you're like, I don't, I have to do payroll, I've got to pay my vendors, I've got I'll do all these things.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't, and you don't, you know, your person who normally does that is out, or maybe you haven't trained somebody, you're not there yet.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: So learning how to do something over the phone is gonna save you your time, it's gonna save you gas, wear and tear on your car, and it's gonna save you from having to go to a homeowner's house who's gonna get 15 other bids.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: I have legitimately more this year than last year.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: So people are shopping, right?
6:37
SPEAKER_00: So save yourself time and effort, be able and learn this skill of how to do a bid over the phone, how to close the sale.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: And it really does come down to price and if they like you, what what you have to say, right?
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: And time is money.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: When you get start getting bigger in your business, you're really gonna start valuing your time.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: I know I do that right now, and I know you do that right now, Shannon.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, and when you guys start getting bigger, then you really love any time that you have extra because that time is so precious to you.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: And driving, if you think about driving to home, like for me, I live out in the middle of nowhere.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: So if I were to go do an estimate and it's 20 minutes, 25 minutes for me to go easily places.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: And so if I drive, that's 25 minutes there.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: And then if I'm there for 45 minutes, then driving 25 minutes back, how much of my day has been gone?
7:25
SPEAKER_00: So two hours, three.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: And you and you only accomplished one thing.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then the question is did you close the sale?
7:32
SPEAKER_01: So was that worth the money?
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna teach you some secret sauces to um doing a I call it, I don't know what you call it, but I call it a client intake um sheet, and I just keep it with me.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Um and I know you can do it digitally.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: I like to have the paper just because electronics and stuff just will fail you, as we know last Wednesday.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, so and I like it because I can always go back and write cards.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, I just have it.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: I like it.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: And I have it in the computer as well.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: So two copies.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: Yep, exactly.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: So Shannon, do you wanna like be the customer?
8:09
SPEAKER_01: Do you want me to be the I guess I could be the you want to be the customer?
8:12
SPEAKER_01: Sure, I'll be the customer.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pretend we have my phone.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't have oh wait, here go ahead.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Ring.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna do the ring ring ring?
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, you're gonna do the ring ring ring.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: You can do the ring ring ring.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Ring ring ring, ring, ring, ring.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: Hi, this is Evergreen Eco Clean.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: How are you this morning?
8:31
SPEAKER_01: I am fantastic.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: How are you?
8:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm good.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for asking.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: And can I get your name first?
8:38
SPEAKER_01: If that's okay.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: My name is Shannon.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Hi, Shannon.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: I love the name Shannon.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: That's so pretty.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: I was named after the river in Ireland.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: That is so cool.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: I've never heard of that.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: That is so awesome.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: So um, where are you located at?
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Just for your general so I can make sure you're in our service area.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm right in Milton.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: I think that is your location, right?
9:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's right in the area.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: I just want to make sure because we do have a service area that we have to stay in.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to make sure you're in my service area because if you're not, I can refer you to one of my friends that is.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
9:15
SPEAKER_01: And then I'll give you an idea.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of interested in maybe a deep clean.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I need regular service.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm maybe bi-weekly, but I'm not sure.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, I will help you and we can figure that out for you.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, can you tell me a little bit?
9:32
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys have kids, pets?
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, goodness.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, yes, I have four kids, and um, we have a lot of pets.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: You do.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: What are the ages of your kids if you don't mind me asking?
9:44
SPEAKER_01: I have kids of my own, so I have to ask.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, uh, let's see.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: My baby is uh seven and my oldest is 28.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's a good range.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: That's a good range.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: I have teenagers at the point, so I can feel your pain if you have teenagers.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then tell me about your pets.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: How many pets do you have?
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, I have a side hustle that we um sell exotic birds.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: So right now we have 23 birds in the house, and then I have four dogs.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: So your house has a lot of singing going on, huh?
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, it's like jungle in the afternoon.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: See, you could just close your eyes and you can pretend like you're in the jungle experience.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Who needs to go to the, you know, jungle when you could just do it in your house?
10:31
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: And then for your dogs, what do you think your dog level hair is?
10:35
SPEAKER_01: So between a one and a ten, ten being like you can knit sweaters with all that dog hair.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, it's probably a one or a two.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: We actually have to um mop daily and then we vacuum at least twice a day, um, just because of the amount of bird and bird dander we have.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, thank you for letting me know that.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, and how did you hear about us?
10:57
SPEAKER_01: Was it through Google?
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I did a frugal search and I found you popped right up.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: You had fantastic reviews.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's great.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to hear from that and hear about our reviews.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, tell me a little bit about your house, your square footage, the number of rooms you have, the bathrooms, how many bathrooms you have, including half baths.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I have a five-bedroom, three-bath home split level.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: So there's three levels.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: And um, just the it's a great room, kitchen, dining room area.
11:31
unknown: Okay.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: And then the upstairs has two bedrooms and a bathroom or two bathrooms.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: I apologize.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: And then downstairs has two bedrooms, which are converted into offices and a bathroom and a utility room.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: And then what do you think the square footage is for that?
11:47
SPEAKER_01: No, I believe it's 2,900.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: That's okay, as long as we're close.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then do you have any um bathrooms with glass shower doors by chance?
11:58
SPEAKER_00: Um yes, we do have one bathroom with glass shower doors.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, perfect.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: And then I always like to ask for the flooring, like what kind of flooring you have, and then the percentage of floors for and carpet.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Like, what do you think percentage of it?
12:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, there would be carpet in the bedrooms, and everything else is tile.
12:17
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and we just installed um new floor where the utility room is, and that's the new um LVT, I believe that's what it's called.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: The fake wood floor.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: And then can you just tell me like the general condition of the house?
12:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, I know you said you have birds and you pets, but you guys do probably a good job cleaning up everything, and but just like the condition of the house.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: Like, do you feel like it needs a little extra love or a little bit more love?
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, um, we do hit it pretty hard weekly.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm just looking for some extra help bi-weekly.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: And you said do you want to do bi-weekly possibly?
12:56
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm gonna do deep clean.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: Because we always so what we do is when we go into our houses, we always require an initial clean.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just part of our agreement because we don't we just have to go in and start fresh from a blank slate from our perspective.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, it doesn't mean your house is overly dirty or anything.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: It just means that that's just our standards for what we have to do.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then from there we would start your service um biweekly.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: Does that sound okay?
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I I definitely probably need a um more deeper clean the first time.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: And then what is a good way to um enter?
13:28
SPEAKER_01: We do not keep keys um just because it's an insurance liability.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: So we can either do a garage code or you can hide a key for us.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we'll do a keypad on the garage.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything um that you do not want clean, like um rooms and pro like is there anything that you just don't want clean?
13:49
SPEAKER_00: I would say the camera room has a lot of equipment in there.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I might have you dust it every once in a while, but um, it's pretty much maintained by myself.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: I got a lot of equipment in there.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't want you to knock over a lighting or speaker equipment or any of that other stuff.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that sounds good.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: And then um, yeah, is there anything else that you'd like to add for extras?
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, we do have a lot of um a la carte extras.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: So we do, and you can add this onto your service.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Um you can add this on to your phone.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Is your hand hurting you, Shannon?
14:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes, my hand is getting heavier.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: I could put it down.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: We could this one.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: Um I'm like, do you have any other like um extras that you'd like to clean?
14:31
SPEAKER_01: So anytime that you want to add on an extra, you can add it on for your deep clean.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: These are separate from our deep clean, but if you want to add it on to your bi-weekly service, we just need to know two weeks in ahead of time for scheduling purposes.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: That would make sense.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we offer um an up like an upsell, we do like cleaning the inside of a dishwasher, we clean the inside of wash machines, windows, and tracks.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: We vacuum all the couch cushions and remove them and vacuum the couch.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, we hand wipe baseboards, cleaning inside the oven, cleaning inside the fridge.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: Those are some of the things we do.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: So um baseboards aren't included with the deep cleaning?
15:06
SPEAKER_01: We do dry, um do a dry like dusting on them and stuff like that.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: But if you do want them hand wiped, we do charge extra because it's done wiping the whole thing.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: It's really tedious work.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, no, I think I'm good for now.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: So I have you down.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking at your um your first time cleaning is gonna be this is just a general estimate.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: I always do a range, um, just because you know, until we get in there.
15:35
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just gonna give you a general estimate of a range.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: But for your first time cleaning, you're looking like right around like 800.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that sounds fair.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: $800 for uh first time cleaning.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm thinking bi-weekly, I'm looking at probably right around, I would say probably about 400 for bi-weekly, just because we have, you know, the pets and stuff, and we just want to ensure that we're cleaning and we're taking our time, especially around your birds, because I know how important they are to you.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: So we want to make sure that we're really just taking our time, you know, with around your birds and being careful with our products.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: And everything we do use is very natural, and we use very natural products so they're safe for everything.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: So you know that all your animals are going to be safe and your kiddos.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: I I love that.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: So we can do a first start date.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: Let me look at my schedule.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, it looks like I can get you scheduled probably next Wednesdays, and your day after that would be every Wednesday right around nine o'clock.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Would that work?
16:38
SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: And will you be sending me paperwork or is this verbal?
16:41
SPEAKER_00: How does that work?
16:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, yes.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: So on our first time that we come to clean, we are gonna bring our agreement for you and then we'll just have you read over it and sign it, and then we just take a picture of it and we upload it on our system.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, and we do keep credit cards on file.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: Payment is due at the time of service.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, I do require 50% down for the initial cleaning.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: Would that be an issue today?
17:03
SPEAKER_00: No.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: No, okay, perfect.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'll just we we'll do a credit card over the phone and then I'll book you for um next Wednesday at nine o'clock.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: And um, would you like to pay a credit card continuing on or would you like to do check?
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, we'll do a credit card since you're going to keep it on file.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: So okay, that sounds good.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: And we'll run your credit card the day of the cleaning.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: So perfect.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: And I'm excited to meet you, um, Shannon, and all your birds and your jungle and um your puppies.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: I hope you have a wonderful day.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: And I'll send you an email shortly.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: All right, thank you.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Bye-bye.
17:42
unknown: Click.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's uh ladies and gentlemen, that is the um basis of something over the phone.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people are trying to incorporate the AI, but if you haven't been able to grasp the concept, I'm still kind of waiting for them to work out the kinks, the chat bot and everything else.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: You really do want to learn how to close something over the phone.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, as we progress into the future, that that dynamic is going to change at some point.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: But I think we're good to go probably for another 12 to 18 months this way.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like it just, I feel this is just my my feeling, honestly.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: I think when COVID happened, I feel like it really disconnected a lot of people.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: And I really feel like people are wanting that connection again.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: Totally.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: I like the the face-to-face.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things I don't know if you guys noticed when I was doing the estimate, I really got her to engage and I really got her to like laugh.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing is like when you start doing estimates, you're so tense, and they're tense because it's like the awkwardness.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: But when you start asking about their family and their birds, you know, or pets, and you get them to laugh, it's kind of breaking that ice.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I do that first is to break that ice and then it gets them more comfortable down the road.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: And you're welcome to talk about your family a little bit just so they can start feeling that trust being built up and definitely.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, like knowing and trusting is part of the process.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Learning how to close a sale is part of the process.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: There are several books um on Amazon.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: You can go to your Lycal library if it's not in the budget to buy the books.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, we have a great library system.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: You could buy a MasterCard down in Phoenix and they'll actually ship it up to you in anywhere in Arizona, absolutely free.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: It's just part of your membership.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: I believe it's$100.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: So look for whatever um library system you have wherever you're located.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: That might be the same deal.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, so you can have access to a larger library, so to speak.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: And then really knowing facts.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, when I say I've done over 7,000 move out cleanings, you have to give them pause to absorb what you just said, right?
19:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying that I've done a lot of move out cleanings and this is how I do it.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: And then you give them the 10-second pause as part of the sales process.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: So when you say something that might be, I don't want to say explosive, but you have to count.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: So when someone is saying something to you and you give your response back, you have to count in your head to 10, which is probably the hardest part of the sales process because you'll you want to go on to the next step because you're in a rush, right?
20:09
SPEAKER_00: I want to rush through the process, I want to close the deal, I want to move on to the next thing.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: Because it's having the sales process is uncomfortable, no matter who you are, no matter what you're doing, no matter what you're selling, it's uncomfortable.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: No one likes rejection.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: So learn the nuances of language.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: We get so focused on these that we forget that there are pauses in languages when we're doing things over the phone.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: There are pauses in language when we do it in person.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, we we forget how to engage, like you just said, because COVID kind of made everyone retreat into their homes.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't wait to get out.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Right.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to go to in-person networking events and I wanted to do all these things.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: But we, as we kind of move along through this new chapter of our time that we are living in, remember that speaking face to face or over the phone is a novelty.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: And people, especially the ones who can afford house cleaning, are older, they appreciate the old ways.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: And I hate to say that like they're elders or something, but technically they are.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that you can kind of figure out how to communicate with them.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't appreciate all the ways that everything I don't like checking my messengers, I don't like checking my DMs, I don't like checking my emails.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: And I have nine email accounts.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: I don't like checking all of the other things I have to check because you know what it's time consuming.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: It is, you just funnel them all in one area.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: That way you can find them because then someone gets upset because you missed it the one time.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, how many email accounts do you have?
21:44
SPEAKER_01: And you're right about the pausing because it's so important.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: Because think about it if you were to drive there again, 25 minutes there, and then you go there and you come back, how much time was that versus the time on the phone?
21:55
SPEAKER_01: So even if you're on the phone for 20 minutes, that just saved you gas and time and you're
22:00
SPEAKER_00: investing time in them and they love it and I don't know about you Shannon but I know when I talk to people they love it when you ask them questions and they get to speak and you get to talk and it's not all about you it's about them like let them talk um with cleaning most of the time it is about them all of the time but it's even more about them when you take the time to learn what the nuances are and there are red flags.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: We could probably address them in this um podcast or we can go over red flags and another podcast but there are red flags and I will just give one a little snippet.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: So if you get someone on the phone and they say oh my god I've tried every cleaning company in town I can never find anyone who can clean that is a red flag that I am difficult.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: I am OCD and I cannot control myself.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Don't feel sorry for them and try to be the one who's like I can prove them wrong.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: I'll be the one because you'll never be able to scale because you'll never be able to hand it over to another cleaning tech.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: And if you want to get out working on your business instead of in it don't take those clients on or the next red flag I could say is that the the things are and I've seen these in our group posts for the moms groups and they're looking for a house clean like I'm very picky.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Right.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: That's a red flag.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: If you're saying if they're saying they're picky, you need to pass that up and let it go because you will never be at their satisfaction.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah it never people get caught up in their minds and they can't help themselves they're trying to work out whatever their issues are and the cleaners in the in the industry it's it's known every every cleaner knows that everybody who is a client is working on their issues or whatever the fate that whatever it is they're working on.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: And try not to have people work on their issues through you.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Exactly and I know if if for instance Miss Shannon with the 23 birds and then the dogs you know that that's going to take up more time.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: The more pets they have the more time that means your price needs to go up.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: So definitely don't be afraid don't be afraid to price it so if you were going to do a regular price at the 29000 you know not 29000 square feet oh my gosh 2000 I wouldn't want to manage that.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like I if you have a new fucking house excuse my French if you own a if you own a 29000 square foot home then you need a live in house made at that too and I'm not I'm not doing that.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: That's my red flag right there.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: But no even at a 2900 square foot home and if they didn't have any pets then the price would go down.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: But because they are adding all the pets and cats and birds and dogs then that is so much more time that you're gonna have to clean all the dandruff and the pet hair and it's just you know um and one of the things I know with my case you wouldn't have to touch any of that because we maintain it ourselves because I wouldn't want if if you wipe something off and one of the birds got it and they died because we have parrots that are worth eight thousand dollars I wouldn't want it you know the responsibility is too immense.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: So no but yes I get where you're totally going with yes pets is a lot of work I have two golden retrievers and um shedding season is upon us and we vacuum daily and we could probably vacuum twice a daily and we'd still get the same amount of hair.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: My carpet guy says that you should vacuum um for everybody inside the house and I'm like okay so there's four of us four dogs and 23 birds we would need to vacuum like dozens of times every day.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm like it's not possible.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: I know like yeah I'm like I'm lucky if I can vacuum daily at this point but right yeah so if you when you do your estimate that's why it's so important to ask for pets and ask for the hair level right um because I know for me my hair level would be at a 10 you know with two golden retrievers.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: So and I know that I need to charge more.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: So don't be afraid to charge more um depending on the animals and kids you know kids are messy.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: So if you've got four kids and they're all under the age of you know 18 expect a messy bathroom you know granted their stuff needs to be picked up because that's in my agreement but you may find toothpaste or the toilet may be nasty.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh the toothpaste is everywhere or if they're teenagers the mascara in the mirror I don't know who or when they're teenagers there's um feminine products I'm like do you not know where the trash can is do you not know how to wrap it so yeah so that's why it's so important to ask these detailed questions because this is really going to help you out um in your your thing and you want to do just do an estimate and I forgot to do that to give you like a range.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: So like 800 between 800 to a thousand and then you can even do 400 and there's been times where I've walked in the house and I've quoted them high.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: So there's this one house I did it was like I want to say it was like 1600 square feet and they had um a new baby and a you a younger boy and I quoted them 170 um every other week and they had one dog but the dog didn't really shed.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't like there was hardly any hair and I ended up going down on their price.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: I think I quoted them one I took back I quoted them like 190 and I ended up going down 170 because it does happen.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: It does and you know he was so appreciative that I was honest with him and took that time and do you know that they tipped my employees the difference that's awesome because they had already anticipated it in a budget so that that's awesome.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: So um let's talk a little bit about upselling um I know you had mentioned some upsells in your your bidding process with me that we just did but let's let's talk about what we should be charging for the upsells.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Yes so for example um the inside of an oven or the inside of a refrigerator for me right now because I still have a cleaning and I can't even talk a cleaning company is um it's it's$95 a unit.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: So and I'm finding right now that most people because of how high the price of food is of the date of this podcast most people have a freezer and then they have either two to three refrigerators.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: So learn from my mistake when I said$95 for a refrigerator or refrigerator I didn't say plurals they expected all four items to be cleaned for the$95.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: So please don't let people overstep their boundaries that's when you say no that's per unit.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: Because they'll and you know and then they're a hunter and then you look in one of them and it looks like a whole murder scene you're like that's not going to be$95.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: That's going to be$200 or what was there in the group the other day there was someone who cleaned something with bugs in it that had been it was um it was an RV they let sit in the woods or something and the guy didn't clean out the refrigerator or any of the food so it all rotted so when the poor girl went in there I was just like oh my gosh bless her heart.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: People don't put any thought into what that's just disgusting.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
28:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah so ask questions right ask questions about that.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: So if they're saying yeah I have a refrigerator and I'm like well how many refrigerators do you have and what is the state of them it's okay to ask these questions over the phone you know get just to let you know all food needs to be removed prior to the arrival of the cleaning tech.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: If not we were we're gonna charge you to remove it.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah and if I have to have a cooler delivered we're gonna charge you to have that done if it's in or you know I service the whole state now so I necessarily can't do that in maybe in my immediate area but I couldn't go down to Phoenix or Tucson and drop off a cooler there's no way I could even have foot feet on the ground right so be realistic in your expectations of yourself right so um cleaning the inside of the oven for us to chemically treat and the inside of the oven is$95.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: I actually have one scheduled on Friday it's a wolf oven and they have the little um pull out racks um we're actually going to charge um the cleaning tech who's gonna clean it um I usually split 50-50 with them so I'm charging the homeowner 150 bucks there's extra precaution that has to be done because they have the wolf the wood floors you don't want that dripping there I mean there's a whole thing that goes along with how that's supposed to be done right um another upsell especially with spring coming is um cleaning off the patio furniture I want to before the mosquitoes become the jungle where I am no matter how many mosquito plants I have and how many burners I have they all they just want to come and feast on you.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh it's already here I got a nice I got a nice book bag on my tattoo.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: We do oh every every year it's just like this it's like swampland.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where the mosquitoes come from I don't know if they drop them from the sky I don't know how they get here.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: We're sending them so aggressive and some years they don't even touch me because I I eat a lot of turmeric.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: So um that seems to do the trick for me but another people like my my husband takes turmeric and they still eat him so it just depends on your body chemistry but in any case getting off track here with the patio furniture you can charge someone 150 bucks you can go out there and play with the hose soap and get a pressure washer you can even invest in a pressure washer you could you could do that make sure you test that before you go and do something else's yep yep and I make good money um I know like like you're talking about the outside stuff too um I know some of my upsells um let me think for a second which one of them are my brain's not functioning this morning so it happens when you stay up till two in the morning for storms right um you know like we had talked about some of them for um vacuuming the cushions and the couches I had a lady I had quite a few people that had dogs and that was my biggest upsell was how much did you charge?
31:31
SPEAKER_01: I charged per couch um I'm trying to remember how much I charged because it's been a while it's I want to say I charge 25 per couch.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: Um and it only took a short time to do it, you know, because we were there every other week and they wanted it done every other week.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: So it was just like sometimes the inside if we took the cushions out they weren't even bad.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: So right but they wanted it done every other week as part of their service.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: And and that should be an upcharge I have had some um I hate to say it I've had some little old ladies over the years who obsessed over the couch and how much pet tander there are and it would take like you know there weren't any um not gram crackers goldfish crackers but there was like you know and it was just like it would take like depending on the material that the couch was made from it could take 25 30 minutes to get the couch where it needed to be that was acceptable and it's just like this was a waste I I'm not I'm charging flat rate I'm not charging and by the hour I need to start upcharging.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: It's just like changing the sheets yeah um changing the sheets should be an upcharge in a home we actually used to include it I legitimately before COVID had two to three girls at any given time they literally went from house to house house because I have a huge senior community and that's all I did and I split everything with them.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: So if I got 30 bucks a bed they got 15 of it and they just drove around it was a nice day for them they didn't have to sheets were left on the bed if they had to hunt for sheets they would just make the bed because and I would still charge the homeowner yeah and oh I forgot I'm like too bad.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah that's part of the that's what needs to be in the I know that's in my agreement that if you want your sheets changed that the street the sheets have to be stripped so they had to remove the sheets and they had to do it some I have exactly once yeah and I just know but for like my my demographics and again this is when you do your interview right um you know I always my requirement was to have the sheets removed and there was some that didn't remove it but that was fine because they are older right and they had to leave sheets out for us.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: And that was you need to charge that as an upsell that is an upsell so do not include that in your especially going forward and if you open up someone's like linen closet and it's a total shit show you're just like I don't know where a I don't know where the fitted sheet is because they don't fold it like a hotel and have everything grabbed out and you're trying to look for matching pillowcases it just don't don't time is money.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: You're spending time looking for sheets and that's not your responsibility that's their responsibility I actually spoke with um another cleaning business owner and he's starting to charge for the vents like we used to do that and I'm thinking about actually making that an upsell like and he doesn't charge very much it's only four bucks but if you have 15 vents it adds on to your cleaning yep because they're already there right they're already high dusting but I'm thinking about going in that direction so that is another opportunity for an upsell would you like to have your vents high dusted while we are there right exactly be creative think outside the box like you know there's so many opportunities for upsells you just have to think outside the box things polishing silver around the holiday time.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Yep or um I know one of them that I do an upcharge is conditioning the wooden furniture so if they wanted their furniture condition then you know we would um you know we would do that I'm gonna pull up my and Shannon if you want to give a few ideas I'm gonna actually pull up and I think I showed you um one of these days I think one of these days I showed you my my uh what was it my upsell sheet the one that I designed I believe I have something but I don't recall I remember something when we talked about it at one point and then conditioning the furniture aka polishing the furniture should also be an upcharge um you shouldn't expose yourself to that chemical unless you absolutely need to please wear gloves when you do so your skin absorbs so many things and use natural products like Kimmy's project um project product sorry articulation but um it it's important to upcharge for it it shouldn't be included anymore in the price um we just discussed with her bit about how it was an upcharge to um hand wipe the baseboards on the deep cleaning it it's it should be considered an upcharge at this point sometimes it's included and we bill it in and then sometimes it's a separate service like if they want regular cleaning and they want the baseboards wet wiped we chart we start off at$100 depending on the size of the home you should be charged for your time your cleaning text time this is where you make money.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: Yep and people like the upcharges they like to know because if you don't tell them what it is um and if I find my my little it was an a la carte list I remember something but then I had to wipe my computer clean I don't think I have it anymore.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: But if I find it let me know.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah if I find it then I can share it with you guys as an example um you know and if that's something too Shannon we could talk about if they want me to design their a la carte sheet I don't mind um since I already know how to do it all.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: But you know it's it's it's something that you can give them and I what I did is I printed out a little card and when I went a rat card if I I believe it's a rack card.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: Yep it's a rat card and what I did is when I went to go see them I gave them that and it had my information QR code um this one I don't think had the QR code I think my newer ones did but and then they could see the a la carte list and they could pick from that and it was on their fridge and I would walk into my clients' homes and I would see that on their fridge.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: So it's good marketing.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: So totally fine it again I will you know share it with everybody and I think I remember having this conversation with you and then we talked about how the lifetime um of a refrigerator magnet lasted on a refrigerator.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: I think we I remember that's our first episode I think that's our first one I think so and we talked about the life time expectancy of a refrigerator magnet is 12 to 15 years believe it or not.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: So if you make refrigerator magnets it's a great marketing tool my husband does it he's a plumber and he slaps his magnet on the um water heater when he changes other water heater.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: So it it does it is a little bit of marketing you'll see it when they have guests people will see it go oh you know um Kim is my cleaner or Shannon is my cleaner or whoever is the cleaner right so um that's definitely great marketing.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: And then that's it comes back to the branding too.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: So make sure your brand is good because mine stood out because it's like a retro hippie you know retro look and people loved it and it's it caught their eye.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: So if they saw it in the fridge or if somebody of their friends came over it caught their eye.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: So yeah upsell is is huge you know think outside the box.
38:00
SPEAKER_01: I would I invite you guys to take you know even like 15 minutes out of your day today um and sit down and really think outside the box of the extras the a la carte extras and make a list and get creative you know it it could be anything just think about it.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't know you can get creative there's so many different ways and in reality I and I for those of you who've not taken the pricing blueprint master class the I talk about 2019 I don't talk about 2020 because that was such a ooh but I I talk about how you know charging extra for the refrigerators brought in an extra$34,000 to my bottom line.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: You know refrigerators wasn't quite so much but ovens for sure um brought in extra money to my bottom line and when you you think about the bigger picture that 34 grand was went all to marketing and then it just it made me have leaps and bounds.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: So you you don't want to leave money on the table.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: I know there's a few of you out there who have been charging the same amount I know I've referenced this particular cleaning company a few times she hasn't raised their rates she's been their they've been her client for 20 years.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: They have a brand new Corvette every single year but she hasn't raised her rates and when she tried to he flat out refused I go he doesn't get to decide no no and it's like oh you know sorry I can't afford you but I have a brand new Corvette in my driveway every yeah sorry you suck right yes this whole dynamic and I still never figured out if this particular person ended up losing them as a client because I would have been like sorry you either pay or go by what yeah it's like I had this one client um and I think I'd talked to him in about him in other podcasts he's a bachelor and he lived in this huge million dollar home and it was just him and he didn't have any pets and he was meticulous but and I still didn't you know what his house was meticulous like it was clean like he was OCD but he still wanted me to come in and clean.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: So I did but you know again every year you need to raise your prices up every year.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: And every time like I would be like okay I'm sorry um I'm just gonna do a fake name because I don't think he's listening but obviously um we'll call him Johnny.
40:11
SPEAKER_01: Johnny, you know, was like I'm like hi you know Johnny I just want to let you know that this is going to be your new rate you know um starting this time and I usually give them about three weeks um notice I don't know what you do for your notice but I know I do like three weeks um for their next cleaning two to three weeks and he would seriously question me why I had to raise up the rates.
40:33
SPEAKER_01: He's like well well can you explain the reasoning behind um your your rate and I'm I'm actually copying exactly the way he's talking can you um can you uh you know just try to justify why you need to uh raise your your rates because I I don't think that my house is a mess because things don't go up in price right I'm like and I was like so I and I explained it to him I said so Johnny I'm like when you were working because he didn't work anymore he's retired at I think he was retired at 49.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah right because he made millions of dollars off everybody else working really hard yeah we already I already know the story yeah so like you know and he I was like so in your job I'm like didn't you get raises and I was like so I need to give myself a raise because everything is going up and I need to be able to pay for those things.
41:22
SPEAKER_01: So he would literally question me and then year three came I can't believe I cleaned for him for three years and had my employees there too for three years.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: And year three he was like questioning me again and I was like I'm done I do not need to be questioned and if you guys are being questioned about raising your rates that is not okay.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: I should have said goodbye to him long time ago.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: So it's uh interesting the thought process behind how they think that everything should stay the same when in actuality last year you should have raised your prices at least three times and then there's the annual increase that you would have done automatically I actually don't ask my clients anymore.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the year they know that they're getting a bump but with the other subsequent price increases I said just to let you know as you know everything has gone up my grocery bill which used to be$80 for produce is now$225 a week.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: So you can tell me all you want until you're blue in the face that inflation is only at 8% or whatever it is they say it is I know it's not so you can I'm not gonna believe you so it doesn't even at the farmer's market you because you're like I you know so you have to pick and choose what what your hookup's gonna be right if you know the people at the farmer's market and you're paying cash then that could be a different deal than going to Safoi or Ralph's or Smith's or whatever your grocery store is mother's market but it's there's this there is this dynamic that you deserve to make more money and they want to keep you in this capsule and and and we do it once in a while one of them will slip through and I'm like oh my god I haven't given you a raise in three years and they won't say anything right because they don't want to pay more and I'm like hey it looks like oops sorry we haven't given you a price increase in three years oh yeah you get around to it some point I'm like just let you know it's not gonna be a small bump.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: So and I immediately bump them up to where they should have been right yeah and though ho and ha but the reality is everything has gone up in price everything.
43:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah this is upselling is important when you do your when you do your estimates and your client intake sheets get all that information and charge your worth it's gonna save you time and I try to close the sale by like let's get you going.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: So I never say well let's let what days work good for you.
43:35
SPEAKER_01: No, because when you do that for me I know when I do that at least room for let me get back to you.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: Let me talk to my husband.
43:42
SPEAKER_01: So if I were to go in and be like okay this is the days I have I have Wednesdays open we can schedule you for Wednesday.
43:47
SPEAKER_01: Right.
43:48
SPEAKER_01: Let's get you scheduled and that's my key word let's get you scheduled let's make and I use the word I like to and I should have used that in our example let's reserve your date because when you say reservation or reserve your date it's kind of sounds like it's more high end that it's reserve is um a key word that is used especially in restaurants that it's it's special like this is only a time that they have right um and and you pick the dates and then if you realize as you grow and you need to shuffle around your schedule because of gas because gas in some states right now is five, six bucks a gallon.
44:21
SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna have to cluster your houses together so that your cleaning techs aren't driving this way because you're and then driving way over here and then coming back here.
44:29
SPEAKER_01: It's expensive who wants to pay all that extra money and mileage I don't mileage and time too you know you're paying your employees for drive time right so you know that's that's just how to close the sales and get up sales and stuff like that.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: So practice it it's okay to practice it and you know um we'll Shannon's got her blueprint pricing so reach out to her for for questions and how to price and stuff and if you guys need help and I'm working on something um for a lot of new people which is having a complete cleaning starter kit bag.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait till those come out that's going to be exciting.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: I am working on it today after I take care of the flooding and chicken coop and I'm gonna be working on that today.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: And that's something I'm gonna offer because our goal for Shannon and I for you guys is to really simplify your cleaning to make it easy.
45:21
SPEAKER_01: We're doing the back end of the hard work and we're doing the hard stuff to make it easier for you guys.
45:27
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we want you guys to invest in us not only subscribing to our podcast um and sharing it but to trusting us to letting us help you get through the process of making your job easier so you can grow your business you can scale it and be where you need to be definitely so but well I I think that's all for today.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: I feel I think so too.
45:51
SPEAKER_00: Yep thank you guys and we'll see you next week with our guest we have a guest coming up I'm so excited about that it'll just gonna be a lot of fun so excited I cannot wait for you guys to meet her.
46:02
SPEAKER_01: She's amazing um we're not gonna tell her who it is yet but I've known this gal for man since 2014 I've known her and she's a sweetheart.
46:14
SPEAKER_01: She's an absolute sweetheart um and I've watched her business grow.
46:19
SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited to um have her come on.
46:23
SPEAKER_01: So I hope you guys enjoy your day don't forget to sit down for like 10 to 15 minutes and think of an a la carte list and we hope you guys have a wonderful fabulous day.
46:33
SPEAKER_00: Yes take care everyone bye for tuning in bye.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: Cleaning business life is sponsored by Clean Freaks University that's cleaning with a K.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: And my signature program the Structure Scale and Profit Cleaning Business Academy if you need help with your business please reach out.
46:51
SPEAKER_00: Take care