Just as in any business, there are setbacks that you
might experience when you start a cleaning business. When you are
aware of these setbacks, you can have a plan that you can simply kick into
action at the right time. This will
prevent you from closing shop even before you finish the rinse cycle on your
first customer.
Here are a couple of the setbacks that you are likely
to experience:
1.
Slow Start – You can have a lot of your
customers during your opening week and then have a dwindling number
afterwards. Worse, you can also have a
dearth of customers from day 1. This is
largely a result of poor marketing planning.
Before you even get started with your business, you need to do your
market intelligence homework. Know your
market, find out who your competitors are, and craft powerful marketing
messages to convince your market to hire your services. Don’t take this step for granted. This could make or break your cleaningbusiness.
If you have already started your
business without a marketing plan, it’s not too late to salvage things. Find out what market you want to serve given
your current setup. Get more ads running
in areas concentrated with people from your target market. Don’t rely on mass marketing especially if
your services are localized. You’ll end
up with wasted resources when you send marketing materials to people who will
not have use for your services. You can
make use of the internet for a cost-effective way of marketing your
services. Use geo tagging services to
reach potential customers in your service area.
2.
On-the-Job Injuries – In a businesses that
requires manual labor, it is not unlikely that you will have instances when you
or one of your employees might get injured.
Occupational back injuries may result from regular strain on the body
while doing their job. Or, there could
be other accidents while on-the-job that would cause various injuries. Needless to say, these injuries cause a lot
of missed work days and health expenses.
There are ways to prevent accidents,
although there is no absolute guarantee that they can be prevented from
happening. Hiring people who are highly
trained in performing their job with the proper body mechanics is one way to
reduce the risks of accidents. You also
have to ensure that they are using only the best and most durable equipment for
the job. This includes sturdy harnesses
for jobs that involve going up to high places.
Another way to reduce the risks of
accidents and injuries is to ensure that the cleaning personnel are physically
cared for. This means giving them ample
time to take short breaks so they can rest and recharge. For “big” cleaning contracts, it is advisable
to have the right number of cleaning personnel working on the project. If necessary, setting up a shifting work
schedule is recommended.
