Holiday Cleaning Tips for Home Cleaning Companies
The holiday season can be a tough time of year for residential cleaning businesses. Rescheduling to avoid cleaning on holidays, adding extra services for customers hosting events, juggling employees' vacation time, and end-of-year administrative tasks are more than enough to keep you on your toes.
With good planning, you can find calm in a chaotic time. Use these tips to nail down your schedule early, and bring in a little extra revenue before year's end.
Reach Out to Your Cleaning Clients Early
Take time to connect with each of your customers to ask about their holiday plans, letting them know that your holiday schedule fills up quickly!
Either call them directly or email an electronic form they can fill out at their convenience. Find out whether they plan to travel during the holidays, if they'll be hosting events in their home, and about any specific service requests they have.
For customers who will be traveling for an extended period, offer to let them skip a cleaning or change their appointment so they will return to a sparkling clean home.
Making schedule changes also helps your business. It makes your customers feel like you truly care about their needs, which builds trust. It also allows your cleaning technicians more flexibility to assist other customers who require extra services over the holidays. Finally, customers who opt to skip a cleaning can free up time to accommodate your employees' requests for time off.
For customers hosting events, offer to change their regular appointment so their house will be spotless for their guests. This is also a great opportunity to offer an extra cleaning service or upsell them on premium services they might not normally purchase.
Prioritize the Calendar for Holiday Cleaning
It's a good idea to touch base with all of your customers, but you want to be especially mindful of those whose regularly scheduled cleaning days fall on a holiday.
The last two weeks of the year can really upset your normal schedule. There are likely at least two full days of appointments—those on Christmas Day and New Year's Day—that will need to be rescheduled. Many clients also may not want technicians in their homes on the days immediately before or after those holidays.
Failing to reach out early to clients who have scheduled cleanings during those weeks may result in more requests to skip services. Calling on those customers now to reschedule their appointments can mean the difference between losing several days of income and ending the year strong.
Offer Seasonal Cleaning Services
With so many people hosting guests during the holidays, your customers likely have a heightened interest in making sure their homes look great. That's why the weeks before Christmas is among the best times to offer services that your customers aren't interested in on a regular basis.
Early in the holiday season (or any time in areas without snow), offer extras that spiff up the exteriors of your customers' homes. Window washing, doggy-waste removal, and power washing can be lucrative add-ons that homeowners busy prepping for the holidays may be more willing to pay someone else to tackle.
Once the weather turns colder or as the holidays get closer, focus on selling specialty interior services. Let customers know that you are happy to make their homes sparkle before guests arrive with add-ons like light-fixture cleaning, ultrasonic blind cleaning, or appliance cleaning. These extra services can provide a nice boost in your business' end-of-year revenue.
Be on the Lookout when Cleaning
Train your technicians to watch for areas in your clients' homes that might provide an opportunity for an upsell and to understand each client's unique pain points. This allows you to pitch services that solve real problems and that are far more likely to be well received.
A homeowner who has a tall foyer, for example, may be grateful when you approach them with an offer to polish their chandelier. A homeowner with a large kitchen may be more willing to pay for help with organizing their pantry before guests arrive. Techs can also learn to look for opportunities to propose carpet/upholstery cleaning or leather care if you have the proper equipment.
Also, don't upsell only during the holidays. Customers will be more receptive to add-on services when they've heard about them a few times during the year. You'll get shot down more often if your offer just feels like an end-of-the-year money grab.
Remember the Post-Holiday Cleanup
Don't forget that holiday cleaning continues after the presents are opened and the champagne is popped. Remind clients that you are there to help with post-holiday cleanup, too.
This is a good time to tell your clients about your premium services, with specifics on how they can take advantage of January Specials. For example, carpet and upholstery cleaning can take care of stains from Christmas dinner, mattress cleaning can refresh the used guest room, and garage organizing can restore order as holiday decorations are put away.
Tell your customers about these services before the holidays so you can make the necessary adjustments to your schedules. Homeowners who return to a normal work schedule immediately after the holidays will appreciate knowing that these tasks will be handled.
Think Ahead
While it's helpful to focus on the holidays with customers, you also want to avoid overscheduling your technicians. Let customers know you'll continue to be available to them in the new year, and try to push less-urgent requests to January.
New Year's resolutions can be just as powerful a motivator as the threat of holiday guests. In fact, Google Trends shows that people search “home organization” in late December and January more than any other time of the year.
For customers who showed interest in adding holiday extras, but ultimately opted out, offer to help them reach their household goals in the new year, when business is typically slow. Organizing, deep cleaning, and other home maintenance tasks are common resolutions.
Your customers depend on you to keep their homes clean year-round. Their needs may increase or shift during the holidays, however, so it's important to reach out and make any necessary adjustments. It's also a great time to remind them that you're a trusted partner by letting them know how you can help make their holidays less stressful.
Customer Care Training Program for Residential Cleaners
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