Prospective business owners often learn when starting a new cleaning business that striking out on your own isn’t always the best way to go. There are many facets to a cleaning service that business owners don’t necessarily comprehend until they’re in a little too deep. With a franchise, however, these facets are set in place right away, with a perfected plan they can plug their business into.
Creating Your Brand, Your Identity
Brand development is sometimes an afterthought, when instead it should be part of the initial business plan when starting a new cleaning business. Before the first job is scheduled for this cleaning service, the owner must have a plan in place for trademarks, an image, a logo, and perhaps even a slogan. These things not only secure new clients—they ensure those clients will become regular customers.
When starting a cleaning business as part of a franchise, these significant elements in the business plan are part of the overall package—saving the cleaning service owner not just money, but precious time as well. And time, as everyone knows, is money.
Who Do You Serve?
It’s imperative to understand exactly whom your cleaning business serves before touting the merits of your service. Conducting market research is key to the success of a new business, to know and understand who your clients are. With a franchise, experts will help you define your marketing niche, determining well ahead of time exactly what kind of clients your business will serve.
When you identify your clients, your cleaning service will soon be tailored to their needs.
What’s Your Strategy?
It’s not uncommon for new cleaning business owners to put the cart before that proverbial horse. They want to schedule clients before their business is even close to ready to get off the ground. They have their broom in hand–ready to clean–but quickly lose sight of what else they must have perfected before venturing out into the community. By operating the cleaning service through a franchise, these perfections are very clearly laid out—simply awaiting the plugging in of those facets that make your business unique.
A weak strategy or lack thereof can drive any business down the tubes before it is even well established. Poor planning can be any business owner’s downfall. A franchise will help ascertain which markets are already saturated with cleaning services, and which ones show a definite, ongoing need.
Human Resources
As any new cleaning business owner knows, hiring employees is an integral part of their overall success. But hiring involves way more than running an ad in the classifieds and asking prospective employees a few questions.
Hiring involves a bevy of legalities, including forms to be filled out. Because this is a cleaning business, employees will be entering client’s homes. This means background checks are mandatory. Cleaning business owners must know their clients have clean records before allowing them inside their client’s greatest asset.
In addition to hiring exemplary employees, business owners must also have a training program in place. This ensures their employees all learn the proper home cleaning protocol the same way, and that the protocol is reviewed periodically to maintain the highest quality services available.
The human resources facet of running a cleaning business alone is a full time job. When operating as part of a franchise, this is taken care of for the business owner, as is risk management.
When a risk management system is in place, trained mentors are available for the business owner to confer with when serious questions or potential problems arise.
Licensing Requirements
Licensing a new cleaning business is a must, but not every business owner understands that part of running a cleaning service. There are state and federal obligations that must be met before servicing even one client.
A franchised business falls under the not only the licensing agreement of the franchise company, but the insurance policies as well. Not only must the business itself be insured against a wealth of unforeseen obstacles—each and every employee must be bonded as well. Getting licensed, bonded and insured is a great way to provide peace-of-mind to your prospective clients.
Operating Systems
Operating what? That’s right. Many new cleaning business owners are unaware that an operating system is yet another integral part to running a successful enterprise. A franchise produces a custom built and highly efficient model that is tried and true—and more importantly, reliable. Having a defined operating system for your business is a key for success. It’s important to choose right as these systems can take many years to develop.
Online Presence
Creating and maintaining an Internet presence for a new cleaning business is a full time job in itself. How can a business owner do all this—and run the cleaning service, too? It’s practically impossible to do both efficiently and correctly, unless that business is operated within a franchise.
When a franchise maintains the Internet presence, the new owner need only update a few specifics regularly, then watch a bevy of website articles and blog posts effectively grow the business. This is how a business owner engages with the community and both new and regular clients when face to face engagement isn’t possible.
Don’t forget there is always liability where publishing is concerned. The franchisor is responsible for those liabilities, once again freeing up the cleaning business owner for running the business.
Starting from Scratch with Your New Cleaning Business
If these important considerations have discouraged you from becoming a solo cleaning business owner, it’s with good reason. There are so many facets to running a successful cleaning service that a business-savvy owner would need to have countless behind the scenes people—so many, in fact, that he or she would never turn a profit.
Starting a business backed by a user-friendly franchise system wraps these issues—and more—up in one very neat package, meaning cleaning business owners will soon be earning the money they deserve.
Read how to convert your existing cleaning business. Take our self assessment and find out if you’re ready to own a house cleaning franchise.
Not enough information about starting your new cleaning business? Read this book from authors Laura Jorstad and Melinda Morse.