5 Levers To Pull to Get Quick Money in Your Cleaning Business

Have you ever faced that situation where you need a cash injection but you already invoiced your clients for the month? Is there more month than money and things are a bit tight? Or are you goal-centric, like I am, and just need a little more to hit that next goal?

We've all been there. I was reflecting on my past experiences and recall a situation a few years ago where I was projected to fall short of my financial goals. In fact, this happened one August. I needed to raise $10,000 extra in a single month and I my leads in my pipeline just weren't going to do it. I could either roll over and wallow or take action and press on. It's this recollection that inspired this post. I'll share what I did and other things you can do if you find yourself in any of the above scenarios.

Upsells

Right out the gate, this is what I did to hit that $10K goal. I upsold my clients. I made a list of every single thing I could offer them to win more business, even if the work was only 1X. 

Here are some examples:

• Appliances - If your commercial (or residential) client has appliances like refrigerators, microwaves, or even toasters, and you're currently not cleaning these items, then pitch it to them. 
• Stripping and Waxing - if your commercial location has a tile floor, it needs to be stripped and waxed annually typically. Go in and pitch it. We typically charged $0.40 to over $1 per sqft, depending on size, humidity, whether we're moving stuff, etc. If not you, then who? You can always bring in a sub, get a quote, and charge an upsell for added profit, even if you're not the one performing the service.
• Floor scrubbing - It wasn't always about a strip and wax. Sometimes the floor just needed a quick scrub. If not part of your SOW, why not offer it as an upsell. Toss a pad on your 20" swing machine, create a bucket of floor solution, and scrub away. Easy peasy work.
• Carpet cleaning - Like with tile floors, carpet cleaning is important. You don't always have to go all out. You can always use the bonnet method for a quick clean, or go all out. Or even outsource it like stripping and waxing. 
• Junk Removal - I had this school client that saved EVERY SINGLE DESK they ever had in their facility. There was enough junked desks to build another school. I don't know why they saved these things, and in the end they didn't want it tossed, but moved to another part of their campus. So, a few hundred extra on a Saturday afternoon helped the finances with a high rate for the employee and a higher gross profit for us.
• Disinfecting - COVID hits. We already had experience in disinfecting. We performed services disinfecting cold/flu, MRSA, ringworm, Norovirus, and more. We made it a policy to never pitch on fear, but if the client wanted disinfecting, we're there for them.
• Snow Removal - Ok, my FL peeps, cover your eyes. But if you have a weather situation and your landscaper or snow removal person isn't coming through to your client, you can be the hero. We used to offer snow removal every season, though we have stopped. I know if I need extra cash, it's there for the taking. 

There are plenty of other upsells you can offer like pressure washing, HVAC vent cleaning, deep cleaning, high dusting or light fixture cleaning, window cleaning, and more.

In terms of targeting, approach current clients first. They're easier to pitch. Then go after past clients or 1X clients, and see what happens. You'd be surprised. The easiest customer to get is the one you already have.

Past Clients

If you're needing an influx of cash, hit up past clients. I'm going beyond the upsells mentioned above. Go after them with the goal to win big recurring contracts. You should have a CRM set up of all of your clients. I have a list of all of our past clients, with their revenue range, dates, and why they dropped us (or us to them). Even if they're on our list, I market to them from time to time. There's already a relationship. Trust is already there. It's a matter of finding needs and fulfilling those needs. 

Or run a special. Offer a "Welcome Back" discount of 25% off their first full month, or something like that. Offer an irresistible offer and entice them to return.

Past Prospects

Not everyone will say yes. Go back to your CRM or prospect list and rehit every single one you ever gave a proposal to. Our model is such that we only want to win 20% of our bids. That means for every 5 we send a proposal to, we'll lose 4. Those 4 are a "no" now and can be a "yes" later. There are hundreds of these on my list from the last 27 years. While it's my goal to retarget these, I'll always revisit the list and make them my priority for a month, and I will win some of them.

Rate Increases

You need money? Raise your rates. Sounds silly, but it works. If you have a contract that's up for renewal, propose a slightly higher rate. We keep P&Ls for each client and review those. We'll take the lowest 20% and propose rate increases after we fulfilled the end of our agreement. If you're pulling in $100K and you raise 10% on the lowest 20%, that's an extra cool $2000 without doing anything (assuming they say yes). There's an art and finesse on raising rates. Definitely build a warning system into it all and add value behind those rate increases. 

Subcontracting

Need extra money, but you're stuck with current staffing? Hire subs. They can help offset your cash flow woes and you can warn them ahead of time that you'll take over the contract you gave them at a later date. Imagine adding $100K between now and the end of the year and you have experienced subs maintaining it for you before you take it over, with little or no impact to your cash flow. 

BONUS: Cash Flow - Payment Terms

I added this as a bonus. You're not producing real income here. but if you were to change the terms to your agreements, or even just invoice a little earlier, you'll be in a better position for cash flow. We ran into a cash flow situation once and overcame it. How? We changed our payment terms from Net 30 to Net 20 on new contracts, we added a bigger and bolder font to our invoices, and we called all of our clients who didn't pay by the 15th of the month (invoiced on the first). For those clients who were opposed to narrower payment terms, we sent the invoices a few days early. Same money, but we got paid faster. It's almost toooo easy. 

Whether you need an extra cool $5K in the next month or an additional $50K, you are now armed with the knowledge to win more business in a short window of time, like a month. 

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Next on Deck: Winning Through Marketing - Podcasting (8/28/24)