You may be thinking about growing your company once you’ve established a steady flow of income, consistent commercial cleaning contracts, and a solid staff. This can be an exciting and overwhelming time so Action Unlimited Resources is here to help you with a few simple ways to start the process off. Before we start handing over these informative tips we want to emphasize the most important part of this process. DELEGATION. Growing a business cannot be done alone or overnight, unless you can function on no sleep. As you are reviewing these suggested tasks – consider which employees would be a good fit to take on the responsibility of assisting with each. Maybe offer a bonus, incentive, or raise for their help with this. A growing business means growing income, so it is worth the investment!
This is going to turn your already loyal customers into your free advertisers. Offer your current customers an incentive to recommend your quality work to others and send you new business. This is cheap, easy, and a great foundation for starting your business’s growth efforts. The incentives can be anything from a free or discounted service to a gift card. Regardless if the referred individual uses your service, always remember to send your current customer a thank you card for sending someone your way. Doing this will make them realize their efforts weren’t wasted and you are happy to accept more referrals in the future.
Standing out in busy markets can be difficult. Try to remember that everyone is trying to sell something, the way to stand out from that is to simply not try to sell something…. yet. Build relationships and get to know someone and their business first. By getting to know them you will get a better feel for what is important to them and how to strategize appealing to their wants and needs. For example – if you get to know someone who expresses that they like to use natural products personally you could use that as a jumping off point to promote your services using green products.
The first step to this is building an email list if you do not already have one. The best way to do this is to inquire about your current customer’s email addresses and if they consent to be added to your email list. You will want to offer them some sort of incentive to encourage them to join like a free E-book, great deals, and any other creative ideas you find relevant.
After you have an email list built you will want to start sending out content. There are plenty of websites that make this process easy for you such as Constant Contact, Drip, Sendinblue, ConvertKit, and Mail Chimp. All you have to do is import your email list and use their services to send out aesthetically appealing messages such as; newsletters, offers, explanation of the referral system, blogs, local happenings, and more! Most of these email campaign websites have advisors that guide you through how and what to send, as well as track the results of each message so you know what is working and what is not.
These are some things that you will want to be directly involved in, instead of delegating it out. People LOVE to meet the face of the company. Having a boss interacting out in the community makes you seem more relatable and trustworthy as a business. Networking can consist of anything like breakfast networking groups, your local Chamber of Commerce events, meeting someone in a coffee shop, and connecting with individuals you already know. A great way to do this is to connect with business owners of services you already use personally. They will be more likely to use your services in return. Also, try to connect with professionals who have a need for your services regularly or are connected with those who do. For example; commercial property management companies, Commercial Real Estate Agents, Painters or landscapers.
Pens, shirts, flyers, and social media are the cheapest way of advertising to use while still making an impact. These four things will build what is known as brand recognition. It is said that someone must see something seven times before they remember it. The rule of seven is used to grow every type of business. It might not yield immediate results, but once someone remembers your company’s name you will be their first choice if they ever need your services or know someone who does.