One of the most common problems I have seen carpet cleaners run into over the years is ‘workflow consistency’.One month you are struggling to keep up with demand. You may even be forced to turn away clients.But then a few months later your phone sits silent. The jobs are rare as hens’ teeth… and you have no money coming in to pay the bills.
This up-and-down project cycle can be an absolute nightmare in terms of paying bills and wages.
Even worse, it can spill over into your personal life. If you happen to get a lot of work in a week you were meant to take holidays, you often have no choice but to sacrifice your vacation. So that’s the problem.In this lesson, I want to talk to you about one potential solution. I’ve mentioned this briefly in another lesson, but today I want to go into it in depth.
This solution is building a cash upfront subscription business and I believe it is the single most powerful way to make a lot of money as a carpet cleaner. Here’s why…
Building A Subscription-Based Carpet Cleaning Business
In almost every industry including carpet cleaning, there are clients who want a regular service without the hassle of booking it.
These people are happy to pay a subscription because they are busy and don’t have time to manage everything. That’s why you should always offer a maintenance program.What is that? A maintenance program is a subscription service where the client’s credit card gets billed at regular intervals and you turn up on set dates to do carpet cleaning.
If a client uses your services regularly, it’s a win-win situation for everyone.The client saves time booking carpet cleaning. They also save energy because they don’t have to think about getting their carpets cleaned.You get a steady, predictable cash flow. You can plan your schedule months in advance and you don’t have to spend money marketing to them.
TODAY’S TASK: Set Up A Maintenance Program
- Design a maintenance program: Here’s an example of the type of maintenance program you can offer:
- 1 traffic area cleaning in 3 months
- 1 full house cleaning in 6 months
- 1 traffic area cleaning in 9 months
- 1 full house cleaning in 12 months
- Decide how clients will pay. You can charge them month to month, you can charge them a few weeks before cleaning, or even all up front. I recommend to get as much money as quickly as possible. The more cash you have now, the faster you can grow your business.
- Have an up sell option.If clients want the primary subscription, try to sell them additional services like upholstery cleaning.