Even A Home-Based Business Needs A Professional Image Too
A home-based cleaning business may be one of the easiest businesses you can establish. However, even the smallest businesses need to look professional in order to capture more clients and maybe have room for expansion in the future.
Before you start your home cleaning business, it would be best to first look into your cleaning skills. If you are relying on the strategies you have learned from your parents, these might not be enough to turn up quality cleaning work. There are ways that you can sharpen your cleaning skills; one is to attend seminars that focus on cleaning methods that are more efficient than traditional practices, another is to research on cleaning methods over the internet. Having these skills would ensure more clients that will be impressed by your vast knowledge of cleaning.
Another area that you would need to develop is your managerial and administrative skills. Your cleaning venture, just like any other business, would need management and a structure. You cannot just pretend to organize your cleaning schedules and appointments by using a calendar. You will also need to ensure that you are following up on your clients, taking care of your equipment, managing cash flow, and continuously advertising your services. Those are a lot to handle and if you have had little or no experience in running a small business operation, then you might find yourself dazed and confused.
Additionally, you will also need to assess your people skills. Because you are in the service industry, you would not have a choice but to relate to your clients. The way you answer the phone, handle scheduling, take on complaints and other customer-related activities will determine if a potential client signs up with you or if a present client hires you on a regular basis.
Aside from the ones mentioned, you also have to create a professional looking advertisement or sales page. You can just give out fliers, brochures and business cards instead of having a formal company profile that bigger businesses have. Nevertheless, these ad materials still need to look serious and should be able to capture the attention of future customers. Although you would not want your ad material to look boring, you also would not want it to look like a teaser for a comedy show or a country fair.
There are a gazillion ways you can research on a suitable copy page for your advertisement fliers and brochures. You can research your competitor’s fliers and brochures, or you can research over the internet. Of course, you should not copy the ad page line by line, the purpose of your investigation is to create better materials but if you do not have a template you would not be able to start. That is exactly how you should treat other businesses’ ads, as a template that you would need to improve on.
Professionalism is something that every business should aim for. Whether you like it or not, a good reputation comes from an excellent image that you project for your company.
For more: How to start a home-based cleaning service
