Episode 1: Announcing: Cleaning Business Television!

Episode #1 – Welcome to the first episode of Cleaning Business Television!

CleaningBiz.TV is a free, interactive Web TV Show for commercial and residential cleaning company owners.

We talk to cleaning business owners every day who are hungry for information to grow their business, but they just don't have much time to search the Internet for answers to all their questions. Each episode will have two segments that will cover topics like marketing, business strategies, green cleaning, employee management and product reviews. Viewers will get actionable ideas in a short time frame – 10 minutes or less.

The first episode demonstrates body language signals you should understand when talking with prospective clients and a great tip for building trust using body language. Part 2 of the episode explains how to implement a Referral Program with a complimentary business.

We are Jean and Steve Hanson, co-founders of several cleaning industry-related web sites and blogs  (see the links to our websites over on the right). We are also publishers of the popular email newsletters, Trash Talk and House Cleaning Profit Tips.

Viewer participation is also encouraged! Feel free to ask questions, discuss episode topics with other viewers, and let us know what you think of the show. We look forward to connecting with you and hearing your thoughts!

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Episode #1 - Video Transcription

[Start with a body language demo - arms crossed & frown on face - smiling with open arms]

Ok, you're probably wondering what that was all about! We wanted to show you that most of our communication with other people is all about Body Language! When you saw me smiling with open arms, you probably thought something like, "she's nice and approachable." When you saw Steve with his arms crossed and scowl on his face, you probably thought, "man, what a grouch!" Am I right?

Body language is basically an "unspoken language" and most people are surprised to realize that the majority of communication is done through body language. As a cleaning business owner who is trying to sell cleaning services, it's important to be able to read the body language of your prospective client.

For example, if you notice that your customer has his arms crossed and isn't maintaining eye contact, then you know you've got a problem. Steve is going to demonstrate some basic body language characteristics for me, and we're going to start with POSITIVE body language. Here are some of the things people read as positive:
- head is up or tilted
- shoulders are upright
- posture is erect
- smiling
- eye contact
- open arms
- firm handshake
- and when sitting, hands in the lap or at the side.

Here are some examples of negative body language:
- head is down
- shoulders dropped
- posture is kind of slouchy
- no expression on the face
- no eye contact, maybe shifty eyes
- arms crossed
- weak handshake
- and when sitting, legs crossed, hands in the pockets or fidgeting

Here are some more tips for reading body language in certain types of people. A Warm person smiles, has a warm tone of voice, has an open posture and respects your personal space. A Controlling person tends to invade your personal space, they interrupt you, they have a loud voice and may talk fast, and they may try to intimidate you by pointing fingers. A Submissive person allows their personal space to be invaded, they allow interruptions, they have a soft voice and eyes are downcast, and they appear nervous - maybe rubbing their hands or using gestures.

If you are in the situation where you are the submissive person and your prospect is a controlling person, then they are going to control the situation. Most likely what will happen is that if they DO go with you for their cleaning service, they're probably going to argue price and you'll probably cave in and give them what they want. Can you see how important body language can be in the whole sales process?

Here are some tips for how to handle certain situations. If you're talking with your prospect and he suddenly folds his arms across his chest and starts shaking his head "no," you'd better make a move fast. You might want to try going back and picking up where the conversation took a turn for the negative and see what you can do to change things back to a positive direction.

If your prospect is stroking his chin, this means he's making a decision. When you see this, don't interrupt. Give him a minute to think. If what happens next indicates he's NOT ready to make a purchase, then you know you've got more work to do. If what happens next indicates he IS ready to make a purchase, then you can close the sale.

Think about your own body language during the meeting too. You want to convey a positive and confident attitude during prospective client meetings, so make sure you're using the positive, warm body language signals I talked about earlier. Oh, and here's a GREAT tip: you can build TRUST by mirroring the body language your prospect is using. It's a way of showing that you like them and agree with them.

And here's a little experiment you can try when speaking with a prospective customer. If he has his arms crossed, subtly cross your arms. After a few moments, uncross your arms to see if the prospect will mirror you. If you notice that he unconsciously matched your movements, this indicates that you're developing trust. On the other hand, if the prospect DOESN'T mirror you, then you have NOT gained their trust yet and you know you have more work to do.

I'd like to hear YOUR thoughts about body language and what works for you. And if you have examples of body language horror stories I want to hear about those too! Just post your comments below the video at CleaningBiz.TV.

Episode 1 Referral Letter - Video Transcription

We recently had a member of MyHouseCleaningBiz.com ask how to get a reciprocal referral program up and running. Here's what she wrote: "My next door neighbor's brother in law has a carpet cleaning business and she raves about him all the time. I'm thinking I should talk to him about using him as someone I can refer my clients to who need carpet cleaning. In return I would ask him to promote my residential cleaning business. What can we do to get this going?"

Well first, I recommend that you find out just how good this carpet cleaner IS. Your neighbor might think he's the best carpet cleaner in town, but you don't want to stake YOUR reputation on what your neighbor says about him. She might be trying to help out her sister by getting her husband work, for all you know...

So let's assume that he IS a good carpet cleaner and you feel comfortable referring him. An easy way to to get started with a reciprocal referral program is for each of you to send out a letter to your customers recommending your referral partner.

Now the key to making this work is to give your customers an incentive for picking up the phone. THEN you need to make sure they tell the carpet cleaner that YOU are the one who referred them -- this will help to make sure you get your referral fee. So here's how to do it. Tell the customer that if they mention your name when they call the carpet cleaner, they'll get a free bottle of carpet spotter when he comes to clean their carpet. And then make sure that he does the same thing for you. He should send out a letter to his customers recommending your services and they can get a free microfiber cloth (or something else you can give away) if they mention him as the referrer.

Once you get this up and running with ONE referral partner, it will be easy to suggest this to other potential referral partners! Before you know it you'll have a steady stream of referrals for a very low cost!