Latest / Cleaning Business Life / EP 235 | Would You Like Fries With That? Why Cleaning Companies Need to Start Asking for the Add-On

Transcript

EP 235 | Would You Like Fries With That? Why Cleaning Companies Need to Start Asking for the Add-On · Cleaning Business Life

1:08
SPEAKER_00: If you keep telling yourself you'll finally get serious about your cleaning business when things calm down, I need you to hear me.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: Things are not going to magically calm down ever unless you do something.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: The clients will keep calling, employees will keep needing answers, fires will keep popping up.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: And if your business doesn't have the structure, every new opportunity will feel like one more thing that you have to carry.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: That is exactly what the Structure Scale and Profit Cleaning Business Academy is designed to change.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Over 400 businesses have gone through the program.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: This scholarship isn't for the person with the saddest story or the most perfect application.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: It's for the cleaning business owner who is ready to stop winging it, start implementing, and build a company that can actually support the life that you want.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: You do not need to have everything figured out before you apply.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole damn point.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Applications close on Veterans Day, November 11th, and the recipient will be announced on Black Friday.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Stop deciding for me that you won't be chosen.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: Fill out the application.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: Tell me where you are, where you want to go, and why you're ready to do the work.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Talk to you soon.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone! I forgot to make sure this was up before I pressed start.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Shannon Miller here from Cleaning Business Life, and today we're gonna ask I'm gonna tell you and I'm gonna give you my reasonings why you would you like fries with that?
3:08
SPEAKER_00: How many of us have heard that tagline in any commercial at any given time in the last two decades?
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Would you like to for me to give you a general on where that evolved from?
3:21
SPEAKER_00: It was actually McDonald's.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Would you like fries with that?
3:24
SPEAKER_00: Would you like to upsize it, right?
3:26
SPEAKER_00: They were the masters of getting you to buy more, to eat more.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: We won't go down that rabbit hole on fast food and um why you don't need to eat more.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: But it's the whole premise behind would you like fries like that with that is to talk about add-ons.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: I was having an interesting conversation with someone, and we were talking about pricing, always pricing, pricing and profit, pricing and profit, pricing and profit equal better customer service, pricing and profit equal better work environment for the cleaning techs, which makes them stay around long term and that the employee retention is longer.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Subsequently, that kind of equates to customer service because the cleaning tech's around longer, then customer service is better because you're not constantly having to put a new cleaning tech in someone's home, right?
4:12
SPEAKER_00: See how this whole evolution comes.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: So I'm having a shower because the shower gods always deliver.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, it just popped in my head.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: It said, would you like fries with that?
4:23
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh my god, that is brilliant.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: So here I am talking to you today about would you like fries with that?
4:29
SPEAKER_00: Cleaning companies like to say that we have add-ons.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: If you've taken the pricing blueprint masterclass, I don't remember how many people have taken that course.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: I want to say close to five or six thousand cleaning businesses have taken the course.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: It's 10 bucks on my website, the pricing blueprint masterclass.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: I can leave the link.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, but they like to talk about and say that they they offer add-ons, but they're not actively engaging and asking for the add-on in the sales process.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, and there's different dynamics, obviously, in the sales process because depending on your size, right?
5:05
SPEAKER_00: If it's just you and you have room on your schedule, you're obviously gonna have time for an add-on, right?
5:11
SPEAKER_00: But if you have crews and cleaning techs going to homes because you're no longer doing it, you might not have time for the add-on, but your salesperson is gonna have the time to ask.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: And these are could be, you know, getting the customer to buy more frequently is gonna be your best bet to getting higher ticket sales, and that's gonna equivocate to your bottom line, which is gonna give you more profit.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: And then your your productivity level is gonna go up, and that's gonna be a KPI you're gonna want to watch, right?
5:42
SPEAKER_00: So we put ovens, refrigerators, interior windows, blinds, baseboards on our websites and service menus, but there really is a major difference on having add-on available and actively selling it.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: So having your salesperson when they're closing a deal, yes, it's easy to upsell an oven cleaning when you're doing a move out.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: But the holidays are coming or right after the holidays, depending on if they have family in town or not.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: There's this whole dichotomy with how everyone will have their clean house cleaned for Thanksgiving versus they won't necessarily want anyone in there before the holidays because then there's family everywhere and they're not really there to impress the other relatives, so to speak.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: It'll be more intimate because Christmas is forgiving, right?
6:29
SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna have more immediate family there where Thanksgiving is not an immediate, intimate affair, depending on how you work it, right?
6:37
SPEAKER_00: So there's that side of what as well.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking for fourth quarter and you're going, well, how am I gonna get more sales?
6:46
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna offer add-ons.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna be part of the sales process.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna do that one of two ways.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: I just mentioned that move out cleaning is really easy to upsell the blinds, upsell the baseboards.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: We typically will add on baseboards to regular maintenance, but it's it's actually included in the price that's given for a move out cleaning or top to bottom deluxe cleaning.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: But if they want all of their windows done in one of those cleanings, it's an add-on charge.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: We're charging by the window.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: So remember, if the window opens and closes, counts as two, right?
7:18
SPEAKER_00: French doors that have the little teeny windows, you know what I'm talking about.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: They're like eight inches by eight inches.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: You've seen them, it goes two, four, six, eight, ten.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: It's either ten or eight, unless it's a custom door.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: Those are charged individually.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you charge a dollar for both sides in and out because you're able to reach it, right?
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Then there's an additional add-on charge if they want screens done.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Don't mess with screens if you don't know how to get them on and off.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: But if the homeowner pulls them off and puts them back on, you can add on a screen for two bucks, right?
7:47
SPEAKER_00: If they have heavily soiled tracks, you could wipe that out two bucks extra, three bucks or five bucks, or whatever it is you decide, those are add-on charges.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: So when you have regular maintenance, every quarter at least, you should be looking at who has not had any deeper cleaning.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: You should be offering a deeper cleaning to your regular maintenance clients at least annually.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: And you should also be reaching out to say, hey, would you like to?
8:14
SPEAKER_00: We're offering a special on oven cleanings.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: It's normally 105 bucks.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: We're offering it for 88 bucks today.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: If you buy it today, we'll add it on to your very next clean.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Boom.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: Right?
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Sometime just the refrigerator cleaning, same deal.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: It works the same way, right?
8:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we're having a special today if you buy your oven cleaning and they have a whole year to use it, right?
8:34
SPEAKER_00: So they can use it right away.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: They can they and I would like if you could allow it to be gifted, I would, but just know that you wouldn't go to someone's house just to clean the refrigerator unless it was a sub-zero, because then it would be worth your time because you're charging 250 bucks.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and this all goes down to your your minimum.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: So when when McDonald's asks, would you like fries with that?
8:58
SPEAKER_00: It it immediately correlates, at least for me it does, back to McDonald's.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Would you like fries with that?
9:04
SPEAKER_00: I of course I want.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: If I'm gonna eat and indulge in a cheeseburger, because that's what if I'm gonna eat fast food, well, first of all, let me promise this.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: So I'm completely transparent.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: I stopped eating fast food three years ago when I almost died in 2023.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: And I won't go into the all the gory details, but I don't eat fast food.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: There's one place here in my town that I will eat that is fast food, and that is Chick-fil-A, and that's because I know the owner of the franchise.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: So I just don't eat it.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: But if I were to sit down and I would go to Jen's cafe, Jen, I love you, mmm, the best cheeseburgers.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: And typically those cheeseburgers are coming with French fries, but maybe they're not coming with sweet potato fries, right?
9:44
SPEAKER_00: That's an upcharge.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: So these are things to think about when you're doing closing the sale and calling and asking.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: They can say, no, thanks, Shannon, for calling me.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you reaching out, but not at this time.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Or they're like, oh my God, I just would love to have my oven cleaned.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: And there's stipulations, right?
10:01
SPEAKER_00: You can't chemically treat a blue oven.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to have that conversation here, but eventually I'm gonna have the blue oven podcast at some point when I catch up to everything.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: So, some more add-ons, besides the oven, the refrigerator, the windows, the blinds.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: It could be maybe you don't do ceiling fans on a regular thing.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you cut them out and you only do them because they have to be accessible, you know, with or without a four-foot ladder.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: It depends on your workman's compound, who you have.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Light fixtures, um, cabinetry interiors.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we had a lady the other day who wanted her 960 square foot home redone.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: She wanted it reset.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm still waiting to see if I got that, but she wanted everything pulled out of the cabinets, reorganized, and put back.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, that's like a three-day project.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: Purging, organizing, and then cleaning.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, pantry cleaning.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Pantry cleaning is a great add-on.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: I highly suggest that you start off at$300.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: And the reason for that is because they always will ask you, can you pull out that contact paper?
11:04
SPEAKER_00: Have the homeowner pull out the contact paper if they want it out so bad.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a pain in the butt, especially the waffle stuff.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: You guys know what I'm talking about.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: It looks like cheesecloth, but it's got big holes in it.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: And the moisture and the weight will stick to the actual paint because dust accumulates in there.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: It's really hard to pull off and it's pretty labor-intensive.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: And just know that it's gonna take you a minimum, depending on the size of the pantry, six hours.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: So you need to make sure that you're getting at least that at a$50 rate, which is low.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: It's a specialty cleaning.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: So, and you have to have someone who knows what they're doing.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: And it that there's not even like bins, we won't even go into bins and labels for pantries, right?
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Linen changes are an add-on charge, laundry is an add-on charge.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: We're working on something right now where we're offering cleaning with laundry on site, and I'll let you guys know the final result of that.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: Organization I just mentioned, we had this little lady who wanted her whole little house, her 960 square foot home, reset.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: But she had had piles and piles and piles of things that she had neglected for the last three or four years.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: So patio, glass doors.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Now that it's fall in Arizona, we actually I walked outside this morning with Paisley and it was cool for the first time in many months.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: It's been a really hot freaking summer, and it's been humid on top of it.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, ooh.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me started on humidity.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: And so you could offer an add-on charge, we'll hose down your patio furniture and dry it for you, right?
12:34
SPEAKER_00: We'll sweep off the pine needles like in a short-term rental.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times in the fall, after it starts to cool down, you could add oil, depending on the cabinetry, obviously.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: You could add oil, furniture oil, to the outside of the cabinets.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: That could be a nice$75 upcharge.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: They don't know what you're doing to it.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: You could just go buy the Murphy's oil, whatever it is, not the soap, but the actual furniture oil.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Get a rag, throw the rag in a zippy bag, and every time they want it, you could whip it out and give them a nice shine, right?
13:04
SPEAKER_00: Someone requested that the other day for their they have a vintage, it's from 1876 dining room table that they use every single day.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: And once it starts to cool down, they would like to have it oiled.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: So they I you know, I'm like grab the oil kit and get this done.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you wear gloves, right?
13:47
SPEAKER_00: So these are all up charges.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Seasonal cleaning projects sometimes during the holidays will help people take down their Christmas trees.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: If that is not your forte and you don't like tedious little tests like that, don't do it.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: Because we know that Christmas and Valentine's Day and birthdays all bring glitter.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: The glitter gods deliver glitter, and I hate glitter, but it's great money.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: Then there's pine needles, right?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: And then there's, you know, do they have a real tree, a fake tree?
14:15
SPEAKER_00: There's this whole concept of what to do and when to do it.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we finally broke down last year and bought a brand new in the box, and I've never had a brand new in-the-box Christmas tree.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: We've always just bought whatever they had at the thrift store because the kids were little or the dogs would knock it over, and I didn't want to invest three or four hundred bucks and like let's just get the 12.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: I think they had a special on Christmas trees, and it had to be jimmy rigged this Christmas tree with like cords.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: It was way more complicated than it needed to be, but it got us past the time.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: And then this last year, when we went to go and do the Christmas tree, it wouldn't light.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: I was like, okay, it's just not working anymore, so we need to get rid of it.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: We put it in the trash.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: I let the kids like take the wires, we took wire cutters and made little projects out of it.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they messed around with it, and then we put it in the trash.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: And so, with all of these add-ons, I've realized, and because I've had several conversations with people, there is a big difference between these are my add-ons and actively asking.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: And if you're still going into homes or if your cleaning techs are still going into homes, depending on how remotely you're working, you could actually have them printed out.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: It's a la carte menus.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's seen them.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: You can leave an a la carte menu in a non-laminated form um with the customer, or they could have a laminated form if they want it to be a little more sophisticated.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Hey, it's just like reminding you guys that we do offer these services.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: We're having a special right now, blah, blah, blah.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: You could reward your cleaning text for getting the most add-ons.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: And just because they say, okay, I'm gonna do the add-on, doesn't mean that you have to do it that day.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: You can do it on the next visit or the visit visit after, depending on the schedule.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: But the whole point is to close the sale, right?
15:59
SPEAKER_00: So, and customers are busy, they're wanting you to take care of them.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: I when I go out to eat, I'm looking for someone to wait on me.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking to have to do it all myself.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: There, there's no point in going to a restaurant where I'm going behind the station, the drink station, to get my own drink refill.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: There's no point in getting roll-ups from another table because my server is supposed to get them.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, I need an extra plate, so I have to go to the other buser station and get an extra side plate.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: There's all of these things I shouldn't have to do because the server, I'm expecting the server to wait on me.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: And it's the same mentality with cleaning companies, right?
16:35
SPEAKER_00: And they also might not ever go to your website.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: I had someone the other day go, I haven't been on your website in like five years.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know you changed it.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, usually about every two to three years.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: We kind of update it, change the colors, change the photos out, add new pages, our offerings change.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: These are all ideas and concepts that you could do to change your website.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: And you need a website.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you are actively acting.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And then when your add-on is sitting on your website, it's kind of passive, right?
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Or if it's it's at the bottom of your website, it's very passive.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: It's like I offer these, but only if you happen to see it, right?
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Waiting for the customer to bring up the add-on is passive.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Actively selling means intentionally presenting a relevant option.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: So doing that is asking, present, preventing um preventing, presenting visual aids, either laminated or not.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: And usually this happens during the initial sales conversation, but it could be that we offer we're offering a quarterly top to bottom since you're so well maintained, we're offering a deeper clean.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: And if you buy this, you get this bonus of this add-on.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: So that could add more to it's a order bump, is what it's called.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: You can do also do while preparing the quotes.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: When um it's also mentioned, you know, uh pick one of our a la carte autumns in the email when there's something in email.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: It could be done through an email campaign.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: If you guys are not marketing via email, you need to.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: You just need to.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: It's so important.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Through a text message campaign.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: I am not a fan of text message campaigns, but there are several people, hundreds, if not thousands, of them that really like them.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: I usually myself, I just because my phone rings all the time, I just don't want to be bothered with anything else, so I just hit stop all the time because I get legitimately 50 calls from spam.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: Let's look real quick here.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: I think I'm on 16 or 17 and it's really early in the morning.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: Let's see here.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: Calls one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: Yep, 17 so far this morning.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, don't hang up.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: Your Google blah blah blah, or your car warranty is expired, or this is expired, or your da da da da da da da da da, right?
19:00
SPEAKER_00: So uh I just think this is just my opinion.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: So if a text message campaign works for you, by all means run with it.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: You can also do quality control calls.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: So if you're not, if you don't have a QC person, um you can call and say, hey, I'm just calling to miss, you know.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: If you know them, you can say, Hey Betsy, how is Sam?
19:19
SPEAKER_00: That's the dog.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Just reaching out to see how things are.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: I haven't heard anything.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Just want to make sure that you're happy and blah, blah, blah.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, we have this, right?
19:33
SPEAKER_00: When the cleaning tech notices an obvious need, sometimes the office can call in their place because the cleaning tech's gonna get nervous.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to put it all on them.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: But if they end up closing a deal and the add-on is done, they get a bonus, right?
19:45
SPEAKER_00: They get a slice of the pie.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole point.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: And the question doesn't need to be complicated.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Would you like us to add it on the inside of the oven or the refrigerator before your guests arrive?
19:54
SPEAKER_00: We're scheduling interior windows this month, right?
19:57
SPEAKER_00: We all know that August and September is spider mating season.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you guys can get the extended high duster instead of the normal high duster, and you go and you get all of the spider webs that have accumulated because they're making they're gonna make babies, right?
20:12
SPEAKER_00: That's always depending on if they like spiders or not, that's always a good sale.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, babies, baby spiders in my house, right?
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, would you like us to take care of the baseboards during your next visit?
20:26
SPEAKER_00: And in when you're asking that, they're gonna say, well, aren't you already maintaining it?
20:30
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we run a high doctor across it, but we're not wet wiping them.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Would you like that added on, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_00: It's a hundred dollars to start off, depending on the square foot and the scope of the job.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: So if they're really awful, you're gonna have to wet wipe them and then run a long finger brush and then wipe them again.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: It's a big labor-intensive all-on your knees, right?
20:48
SPEAKER_00: For the cleany tech.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: And you want to build the add-ons into your sales process so that it's part of the thing and that the person, the salesperson, also gets a cut of the add-on if you're not already doing that.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: And then giving customers better options.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people will try the laundry service and go, this isn't for us.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: And other people are like, oh my god, you're a lifesaver.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: The laundry fairy never comes.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: So add-ons give customers more choices, they allow customers to customize the service around what their home actually needs, and frequency and length of time inside the home matters.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Some customers will choose basic servers, service, other customers will happily purchase a more complete service.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: You'd never know what you can sell in a package.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you can when you clearly present an option, you can also create good, better, and best service levels.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of times you'll see bronze, silver, and gold.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: Our gold package has this, this, and this, right?
21:42
SPEAKER_00: A basic cleaning, a cleaning with one or two upgrades, a premium service with several um detailed items.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, the mommy reset sold really well this summer, so that is a really good upcharge.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: It's a catered reset of the house to include laundry and all the bells and whistles, and it's usually geared towards young families who are busy, right?
22:03
SPEAKER_00: They just don't have time to keep up with their home.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: So you're going in there and you're make you're giving it some love, right?
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, you can also create a higher ticket appointment.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: The add-ons will increase the ticket price, and the ticket price will allow you to generate more revenue, another customer, a house, another opening on the schedule.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: And these are just examples for math.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: Reoccurring clean is 160.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: The customer purchases a$40.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: The ticket now becomes$200.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: And right now that's where you should be, regardless.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: Minimum is$200.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: I remember when tickets used to be$120.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Woohoo! That what was that like five years ago?
22:38
SPEAKER_00: Six, yeah, it's$120, no problem.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: $140 was like, ooh.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Now everything's like$200,$210,$225,$240,$250.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: If 25 customers purchase the$160 with the$40, it will generate an extra grand of revenue, right?
22:56
SPEAKER_00: If you do that 12 months in a row, it's extra$12,000 for doing nothing but talking for 30 seconds.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: And so and you didn't need to acquire 25 more clients.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: You just needed 25 existing clients to purchase the deal.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, when add on services are priced correctly, the higher revenue will also generate an additional profit margin for you so that you are having higher sales and you're gonna get your you're gonna meet your sales goals, right?
23:22
SPEAKER_00: The goals.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: Create a higher value, higher ticket, and more profitable appointment.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: That is definitely the goal, especially now when the economy is so wonky with things that switches this way and it goes back that way.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: If you're a solo cleaner, this may be especially easy because you you own your own schedule.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: So whether you have an extra 20, 30, or 45 minutes, depending on the extra task, make sure that you tell them and sometimes they'll ask you for the add-on.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Hey, can you do this for me?
23:51
SPEAKER_00: Say sure, I'm happy to add it to your bill, right?
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Don't, or you can say, I'll do it for you this time, but next time I'm gonna charge you, right?
23:59
SPEAKER_00: So that way it gives you like an opportunity to say no.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Um it's there's examples to give and always get approval before performing and charging for additional work.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: It's always nice to get the permission because sometimes they have an appointment coming they haven't discussed with you and they want you out of the house.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you just don't want to be, you don't want to infringe on their space.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Make sure that you're clear on how much each add-on service costs, how long each add-on service will take, whether the offer office needs to approve it.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: If you're not, if you're not solo and you operate with teams, then they need to call the office or they can call the office and you can get the customer on the phone and just add it on your jobber.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: They just have to approve it and it just gets, you know, over there.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: Your technician might notice dirty blinds, an oven, interior glass, or another need.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: If there's time, the service may be completed during that appointment.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: And that is all dependent on how many homes.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, if someone is cleaning three homes in a day, do not give them an add-on.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: They will freak out, and it's too much.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: It's too much to ask.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: An opportunity doesn't have to be completed immediately because it becomes a sale.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: So you can, you know, it doesn't have to be on that cleaning.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: Say we're gonna get your oven cleaning for you in two weeks.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: I look forward to seeing you then.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Or the office can take care of that.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: And you need to make sure when you're doing the add-ons that you're protecting your schedule and that you're protecting your cleaning client, not your cleaning client, your cleaning tax because they are your golden uniforms.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: That's how you generate revenue.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: And it so that you're not making your schedule total chaos, because if you make it total chaos, they're gonna be like, why did you have those add-ons?
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Right?
25:45
SPEAKER_00: So your current clients are a revenue asset.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Think of that.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: And and this is this works for any service-based industry.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: Your current clients are your even with a dentist, or when you buy a service with the nails, right?
26:02
SPEAKER_00: You go to the nail lady.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Would you like you get the acrylic nail?
26:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't have obviously have acrylic nails.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Would you like acrylic nails?
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, would you like gel, right?
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Because that's enough charge.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, would you like gel with the sparkly things?
26:13
SPEAKER_00: And how about uh a design underneath the sparkly?
26:16
SPEAKER_00: Those are all add-on charges, right?
26:18
SPEAKER_00: My nail lady, when you go to get the pedicure, she has a basic pedicure and then she has five deluxe packages, and that's where she makes her money.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, you would you like and she it's all on a visual aid.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you like this one, it's all laminated, so you don't get it wet or anything.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, well, gosh, I want a 10-minute foot massage, right?
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want that?
26:38
SPEAKER_00: I want to be pampered with wax and have my foot massage and my foot moisturize and all the crazy things that go along with it.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: I want that.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: So normally I would pick the more deluxe package.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna pick basic.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: For my daughter, I will pick basic because I don't really want them messing with her feet.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: She's 11.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: So there's a difference there.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: But if I'm um left to my own devices, I'll pick the premium package every single time because I'm like, I like the foot massages.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: And make the offer relevant.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: So when you're adding the add-ons, make sure it's a big deal.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, really, thank you.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: We'll add it on to your thing.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes as business owners, too, we'll think of an extra task and it'll only be a couple minutes.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're allowing that the proper amount of time for your cleaning tech to complete the task, right?
27:26
SPEAKER_00: We all know that cleaning an oven takes at least an hour to two hours to go through the whole process of getting it clean.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: You got to wait for the chemical, or if you're using steam, and don't tell me that you've done a blue one with chemical inside of it, don't want to talk about it.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: A few unpaid minutes multiplied across multiple homes and appointments becomes a significant amount of unpaid labor.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: So make sure that your cleaning techs are not hustling add-ons for tips at the demise of the company because and we I've talked about this in several podcasts.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: If you have a crew of 15 and they're all taking an extra 15 minutes a day times a week, right?
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Here, let's do the math.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: If you have 15 minutes a day, this is just one house, right?
28:09
SPEAKER_00: 15 and you have 20 texts, so that's 300 minutes divided into 60.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: So that's five hours a day times 25, because it's five days a week.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: So that's 125 extra labor hours because someone was hustling for an add-on for a bigger tip.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you and they understand that if they're doing an add-on, we need to charge.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: This is why I strongly encourage that they either get a cut of what the add-on cost is or they get a bonus for it, or you have a contest or wherever you're at with your business.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: And make sure that you're preparing your cleaning text but the proper language because people feel pressured and not everyone likes sales, right?
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Don't tell your team, go sell more.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Go sell more! I want you to go sell more.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: Why aren't you selling anything?
28:57
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty vague.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you want me to sell?
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Get my smile, right?
29:01
SPEAKER_00: Give them a comfortable, non-pushy way to identify the opportunity.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Mrs.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Smith, I noticed the patty door glass give you some additional attention.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: That isn't included in today's service, but I can have the office contact you with a price.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, that would be great.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, I've been meaning to get to it and I haven't done it, right?
29:19
SPEAKER_00: We offer oven cleaning as an additional service.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: Would you like the office to give you more information and have the office call?
29:25
SPEAKER_00: We may have enough time to complete the refrigerator today.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: I'll check with the office and have them confirm the price with you.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: The technician can identify the need.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Your system handles the pricing, approval, and documentation with the scheduling.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, again, consider an incentive.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm really big into incentives, makes life way easier.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: If technicians help identify or sell additional services, consider adding an incentive, either part of a cut of the actual add-on cost or a bonus.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe they get put in the weekly drawing for a$50 gift certificate for dinner at this fancy schmancy restaurant.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's not going to cover um very much if it's a fancy schmancy, but it could be, you know, a medium restaurant that will get them something.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe they win them twice, right?
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Keep it simple, the incentive should not encourage employees to pressure customers into unnecessary services.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: And let me say this caveat.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: Wells Fargo Bank got in trouble, had to pay a huge amount of money.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember what it was, and it became a sales machine.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: So Wells Fargo made their, I don't, I was gonna say cleaning tax, their tellers.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: They had to open up so many new accounts a month or they would be written up and or fired.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: So people were creating fake accounts with people's information so that they would meet their sales quota.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: And it was it's illegal to do that.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: So they were, you know, transferring funds here without anybody noticing it, putting it into the new account that they didn't know they had.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: And then they were, you know, doing it over and over and over.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: And at one point, I believe how the whole thing became unraveled was someone noticed that they had like a hundred accounts.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: And Wells Fargo, like they were trying to cover it up, and then they did this huge investigation, and they didn't just do it to this one individual, they did it thousands, hundreds of thousands of times.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: They got this huge fine for operating unethically.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: There's a whole thing about it, you can Google it.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: But make sure that your cleaning crew, your cleaning techs are not pressuring people like Wells Fargo did, right?
31:25
SPEAKER_00: So they put so much pressure on their tellers and their managers to produce this unrealistic sales goal that people were gonna be fired.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what that's just that's not fun, right?
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Don't do it that way.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: And then track what happens, test one campaign or add-on at a time.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: Don't give them 52 add-ons.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: It's like choosing toothpaste.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time anyone chose toothpaste?
31:48
SPEAKER_00: Like I like toms from Maine, the non-fluoride kind.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: There's a charcoal kind, it's not my favorite, but I do like toms from Maine.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: It's supposed to be all natural.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm hoping that it is.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: But there shouldn't be 52 options of toothpaste, in my opinion.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: Don't give your client too many options, they'll be unable to choose.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: Just one.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we're gonna promo the uh we're gonna promo the extra high high duster method that we're gonna come in and spend 15 minutes and high dust all of the high areas, the super high areas, because we know that the ceiling is normally eight feet or 10 feet, depending on how they built it.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: But some people have a foyer that has 25 feet, so you would you know make sure that you're charging accordingly.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: How many customers received the offer, how many responded, how many purchased, how additional revenue, additional labor time, profit, whether it affected the schedule, whether customers requested requested the service again.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: And it could be that you, if your CRM is capable to remind you, hey, so-and-so is coming up for that service they got last year.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to call and get it for them?
32:54
SPEAKER_00: Your customers will show you which offers they value, and they may discover a service needs a higher price.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: You might have like low-balled it because you're like, well, no one's gonna buy this.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: When in actuality everyone bought it, but it wasn't enough money, you you broke even.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: You may discover it works better as a scheduled project than same-day add-on, which I like because then it doesn't stress anybody out.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, a lot of the the people that work with us are moms.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: They have drop off and pickup, and to add one more thing puts a lot of pressure on that individual.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Just something to think about.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: Increasing your average ticket can grow revenue without increasing your customer count at the same time.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: So that's an easy way for you to earn more income without taking in more clients for those of you who are listening to me while you're doing your thing.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: And then here's some questions for you to think about.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: What add-on services do you currently offer?
33:48
SPEAKER_00: So you can write this down after you listen to it.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: Are you actively presenting them or are they merely listed somewhere?
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Something to think about.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: When did you last contact any of your recurring clients with a specific offer?
34:04
SPEAKER_00: For many of us, it'll probably be no, I'm not doing it at all.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm just here, I can barely hang on or whatever.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: And so that might be something that you consider to do, right?
34:14
SPEAKER_00: You'll finish fourth quarter with an extra 20, 30, 40 grand, 50 grand.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: Your company can accept same-day add-ons without disrupting the schedule.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: Very think, think very carefully before you stress out your cleaning techs.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: How much revenue are you leaving on the table?
34:29
SPEAKER_00: Because you never asked.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: A lot.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: I guarantee you're leaving money on the table every single time.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: Or you'll come in, your cleaning tech will come in and arrive, and Mrs.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Smith is having the foyer high dusted by another company who offered it because she didn't think that you guys did it.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: And that other company is charging them 350 bucks.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: Just something to think about, right?
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Your customers cannot buy services if they don't know about them.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: They may not remember what they saw on your website six months ago, three months ago, four years ago.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Get around to looking at your website.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: Stop waiting for them to bring it up.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: You bring it up.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: And in schedule, like January, you're gonna offer this.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: We all know that right as soon as school gets out, move out cleanings.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're gonna offer top to bottom over spring break, right?
35:14
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want these are things that you can go in your schedule and offer?
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm gonna do this in January, I'm gonna do this in February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: And then give them better options, better packages.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Some stuff will be like, yes, this is really easy.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: I love this, and other stuff.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh my God, what was I thinking?
35:34
SPEAKER_00: Right?
35:35
SPEAKER_00: Make a specific offer, protect the schedule, price the work accordingly, track the results, and start asking would you like fries with that?
35:42
SPEAKER_00: I look forward to your questions.