How to Deal with Drawbacks When You Start a Cleaning Business

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.  

Setbacks are part of any business.  These instances, however, do not have to be the end of your businesses.  Deal with these setbacks properly and you will find your business growing at a steady pace.