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Most businesses, including those in the cleaning industry, find that they get the majority of their business from just a few key clients. And these companies soon realize that this has something to do with the 80/20 rule. Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist developed this rule in the 1800s. Simply stated, the 80/20 rule means that 20% of your resources (or cleaning clients) bring in 80% of your results (sales). It's also important to understand the reverse can be true - activities that take up 80% of your time produce only 20% of your results. This means that you could be spending a lot of time and effort on clients who generate little income for your business. So what does all of this mean for your cleaning business? It means you should identify those few important customers that generate most of your income and target your marketing to suit their needs. Paying attention to and catering to these few "select" customers can pay off big time. The cost of gaining new customers is estimated to be 8 to 10 times more than the amount you spend keeping your current cleaning clients. So by doing the math it is easy to see there is a bigger return on investment when you focus your marketing efforts and dollars on your most important customers. Another thing to remember is that your best customers may not necessarily be the ones that get the invoices with the largest dollar amounts. What you are looking for in your best customers are the ones that generate the most profit. This may be something you know right off the top of your head, but you might also have to do a quick analysis to see how much you are spending in labor and materials to figure out your profit. Also, even if you make a good profit off a customer, consider if they are more trouble than they are worth. Are they extremely demanding and always insisting that your employees do more? Are they always calling to complain about every little thing? If so, they may not be prime candidates for added services, so don't target them with your marketing efforts. To help find out who your best customers are, you need to keep track of the services you provide, what supplies they buy from you and the total amount they spend with your cleaning company. The best way to do this is to set up a customer database. Your database should include the relevant information about your customers - geographic location, size of business, type of business, and for residential cleaning include age and gender. You may already have this information in your files or on your computer. There are many computer software programs that can help you in setting up a database of your customers or you can easily set up an Excel spreadsheet. Include the following information: *Customer name, address, phone number, contact person, and e-mail address. *Annual amount spent with your company. *Annual profit. *Types of services provided. *Products purchased. *Notes on special offers acted on or customer service history. *Special requests for services. Once you have this information into a database or spreadsheet you will be able to determine who on that list makes up the best 20% of your clients. With this information in mind you can start tailoring your marketing efforts to increase your sales and provide your customers with value added products and services. Some marketing ideas you can set up include: Cross-sell or sell added services like carpet cleaning, carpet spotting, upholstery cleaning, hard floor care, and window washing. Give rewards or discounts to your best customers. Talk with your customers to find out the best way to tell them of your special offers; e-mail, postcards, bill inserts, phone calls or an on-site visit. Create time sensitive offers (such as carpet cleaning or floor stripping in your slower time periods or during seasonal peaks). Package or bundle services and supplies that will fill all of your cleaning customer's needs through you. It will take a little work to get your database together and your best cleaning customers identified. But once you become focused and start marketing to your prime candidates you will see the benefit in increased profits! Copyright (c) The Janitorial Store (TM)
Article Source: http://www.cleaningarticles.com
For more cleaning tips and information on starting and running a successful cleaning business, visit Jean Hanson at www.TheJanitorialStore.com. And while you're there, sign up for Trash Talk: Cleaning Tip of the Week. Read cleaning success stories at www.cleaning-success.com.
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