Over the next six-months, the House Cleaning Alliance will offer, mostly for free, its own details about how to operate a scaled maid service enterprise. Keep an eye out for the forms to appear in the Maid Service Co-Op Shop, over the next several weeks, at fantastically low prices. Until a complete package is made available, the following (along with Articles included in this site) will have to suffice to summarize our main points of dissent.

Your Father’s Marketing Plan Any guru offering a marketing plan which doesn’t mention web-based marketing is either headed for the bone yard, or has just arrived from the moon. Traditional marketing methods are passé. With a fully-developed web-based marketing plan, your next customer will seek and find you, and each new customer will cost you just pennies on the dollar, as compared to traditional methods proposed by the gurus. And you will add new customers at a rate which will astonish you.

Specifically, we don’t agree with making door hangers the cornerstone of your marketing plan. Since the no-call lists have served to eliminate those dinner-time telemarketing calls, door hangers have taken their place as the new fly in home owner’s ointment. Use door hangers sparingly, for operational reasons, and with discretion.

Mailings certainly have a place in your overall marketing scheme. They should be incredibly focused in terms of content and target, and we would never again have a third-party distribute them on our behalf, without independently verifying that they were indeed mailed.

Phone book and newspapers ads are passé. We don’t intend to ever spend another nickel on either.

Mind Your Phone Manners The Gurus advise: End every sentence with, “So when’s the In-Home Visit going to be then?” Such hard-sell techniques have no place in our industry. If a prospect phones your office, it would be remiss for you not to offer an In-Home Visit (or an hourly price over the phone, if the Prospect prefers), but to do so more than once would insult the Prospect’s intelligence. If the Prospect has called for information, then give it freely over the phone. Selling house cleaning services requires instilling a sense of trust, and acting like a high-pressure used car salesmen is not going to give her that warm and fuzzy feeling she is seeking. Consumers are weary and wary of high-pressure sales techniques, so relax a little. The difference is subtle; it depends on adopting an attitude different from that of your mediocre competitors. Exude confidence, not desperation. You offer exceptional services, and your services are highly sought after. This Prospect is seeking your services. Be a facilitator. Invite her, don’t scare her. Be the spider sitting back in your web, not the hawk swooping upon its prey.

When fielding calls from Prospects, you want them to finish the conversation thinking that you are polite and competent. Respect the Prospect’s process, rather imposing your own. Your objective for each call from a Prospect should be to satisfy the inquiry, with a secondary objective being one of a number of possibilities: 1) the Prospect visiting your website for more information about your company and services; 2) the Prospect phoning back the next day (or next month) to inquire further; or just maybe 3) booking the In-Home Visit while the Prospect is on the phone.

In-Home Quotes: Leave your Plaid Jacket at Home The purpose of the In-Home Visit is firstly to describe those tailored services you are offering to this particular prospect. The process offers the chance for you to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Indeed, if it is a mediocre service that you are offering, then it might be altogether better for you to skip In-Home Visits and quote everything hourly over the phone. But if your service is exceptional, then it’s going to be a natural sale. You can simply walk around, listen, and, with complete candor and confidence, make 20 promises to your Prospect about the baseboards, under the beds, cobwebs, etc. Collectively, the promises represent your sales pitch.

When you are done, and have established (and documented!) the scope based on your walk-through with the Prospect, then give her the prices. Hmmm . . . I have loads to say about how to arrive at the prices. It won’t fit here. Suffice it to say, we go about it altogether differently than the gurus. If you want to chat about our pricing method sometime, I may be happy to do so. We are presently developing a statistical tool to help you price house cleaning assignments. It’ll be ready this calendar year.

Aside from arriving at the price, we disagree with the gurus’ Living Room techniques. Better to assume your Prospect has an IQ of 150 and will appoint a house cleaning company precisely when she is ready, and not before. Make your offer, then describe your method for having arrived at the price (it’s a function of the time you estimate it will take to clean the home, based on the agreed-upon scope).

The offer is followed by a pregnant pause, not by the obnoxiously insulting question, “So what’s it going to be then, weekly or every two weeks?” At this point in the visit, you will have a good sense for whether or not you’ve won over the Prospect. The price might astonish her. That’s OK, you’ve already described your premium services, and now you’ve given her your premium price. Maybe she needs a moment to digest it. Be calm and polite. Of course, you’re ready to book it on the spot. But if she seems indecisive, I always say, “These quotes are good for one year. If you get three quotes from three companies, I will expect that ours will be the highest. It’s not that we charge more per hour for our services, but rather that we spend more time in our clients’ homes, and our prices reflect that. If you are uncertain, then choose one of our competitors for a lower price. Once you’ve tried them, you’ll find that they either satisfy your needs, in which case you’ve saved money, or they disappoint you, in which case you will be more appreciative of our services, once you appoint us six weeks hence.” The most common response: “Wow (what confidence!), why would I waste my time with the others? When can you start?” Of course, over time, this only works if you can actually deliver what you’ve promised.

The gurus track close rates. To them, a sale equals success. To us, a sale may very well represent the worst-case scenario, if it is based on a bad price. An orangutan dressed in a plaid jacket can sell premium maid services for a bad price. We monitor close rates, but we emphasize accuracy in pricing. The difference may seem subtle, but beware, the results can be remarkably different.

Let the Market Dictate Your Operating Profile The gurus say three person teams are “the Best.” That’s like saying a Cocker Spaniel is the best. The best for what? When it comes to Operations, think outside the box. Flexibility is the key to meeting customer demands and optimizing the big Scheduling Puzzle. One of the benefits of being an independent maid service company is that we don’t have to abide by one of those pesky operational manuals, and we’re not about to impose superficial operational rules on ourselves as a substitute.

We happily and intelligently run one-person, two-person, three-person, four-person teams, depending on the clients, the location, and the circumstances (maybe even five or six-person teams for special assignments). We do it to please our customers, optimize the schedule, minimize drive-time, facilitate training, and because we have the systems which enable us to do it.

The gurus, with their manual forms and pencil sharpeners, sacrifice flexibility in order to simplify and solve the Scheduling Puzzle. To them, “a Team” is a static concept. To us, it is dynamic. On Monday, Maria manages a two-person team. On Tuesday she manages a separate three-person team. On Wednesday she manages an altogether different four- person team, and so on and so forth. What’s the difference? Well, to Maria’s Monday clients, there is none. She has the same Monday team each Monday. But from an operations perspective, the difference is remarkable. Firstly, evaluations: every Cleaning Associate works with, and is evaluated by, multiple Team Leaders every two-weeks. Yes! Another relative performance parameter on which to base pay! Secondly, flexibility in matching the perfect personnel package to the perfect assignment. Thirdly, flexibility in solving the Scheduling Puzzle. Fourthly, camaraderie across teams, not just within them.

The gurus’ specialization concept? Yech! Who wants to become a bathroom specialist? Why would anyone introduce yet one more constraint into the Scheduling Puzzle? Get real. Everybody does everything-the Team Leader trains everyone, and uses her discretion in assigning tasks. She mixes it up amongst the team so as to make their lives more bearably interesting. And it would be naïve to imagine that quality won’t suffer from the gurus’ undue emphasis on efficiency. Give your house cleaners some credit for being intelligent enough to work out efficiency among themselves, monitor quality carefully and continuously, and you may be surprised at the results. Rely on your pay schemes to reward your employees for a combination of efficiency and quality. What pay schemes, you ask? Well, that really is the million dollar question, isn’t it? Please see the Forum.

Please check back to read about our plans to send a maid to the moon.

Cleaning industry has two market groups, the consumer market group and the commercial market cleaner. The residential maid services, window cleaner, carpet cleaner or any other related cleaning service belongs to the consumer market group. Or on the other hand, janitorial services which provide a wider range of services including big cleaning companies of carpet belongs to the commercial market group. Before you decide which cleaning business you select, make a necessary research and plan on which service you will tackle.

This business is in demand and profitable. It can generate revenue more quickly. Other cleaning services operate full time or part-time basis. This business has flexibility with its wide range different cleaning purposes needs.

The good thing about this cleaning service is that you can build your own company that suits your talents and styles. You can even do this job by yourself or hire some staff to do the work. Cleaning service is abundant. This service is a great opportunity because big companies want their homes to be clean.

Most big companies and other businesses need cleaning services for their buildings and homes. In running this business you must have determination to make the business work. Give quality service and willingness to please the customers and dedication with your work allows you to clean their homes. It is your duty to maintain their trust on you and your cleaning service. You must have the knowledge in operating equipment for cleaning and you need to train your staff in proper handling and cleaning of the equipment. Janitorial services and carpet cleaning businesses, for example require equipment in cleaning. Even the proper use of chemical solutions is needed.

If you want to gain lots of customers, you have to provide best service. If they will have satisfaction with your service, they will definitely recommend you with their families and friends, leaving you will more and more customers.

If you want your cleaning business to gain success, you have to give quality service. You have to bear in mind that customers would want to make sure that they will have clean homes or offices when they hire your service.

For more info see: How to start a cleaning service

Dolson McArt – Author of: Types of Cleaning Services

Contributing to EzineArticles.com since March 2007

Once costs have been forecasted you can then look at sources of funding so that you can get together the necessary startup capital for your new venture. For a well set up cleaning operation these costs are likely to range anywhere from a few thousand dollars up to around ten thousand dollars.

Let’s take a look at some of the sources of business funding that you may have available to you.

1) Fund it yourself. This is a good idea as it shouldn’t take you too long to save a few thousand dollars. Avoid going into debt if possible and consider delaying your business for six months or so if you need to save more.

2) Friends and Family. A small loan from someone close to you could be just the ticket but be careful that you don’t damage relationships by being slow to repay it.

3) Investors. While it is likely that you will be too small for venture capital funding you may know someone in your social network who would consider backing you financially. Be careful here though as they will probably want to have some input into management decisions and they may clash with your way of thinking.

4) Small Business Bank Loans. You will need to offer the bank some form of guarantee or collateral to qualify for credit line. You also may need to prove that you have a solid business plan and show a willingness to take on some of the risk yourself by at least providing some of the necessary funding.

5) Government loans and grants. Look into the opportunities offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and other government agencies. If you meet their criteria then you may qualify for a small business loan or grant.

6) Credit card financing. As a last resort, getting a cash advance on a credit card or multiple cards offers you quick access to funding when you need it. Risks with this option are high due to the interest rates that you will have to pay but if you are confident in your business plan and feel that you will be able to start paying back the debt within a reasonably short period of time then this option could work out well for you.

No matter which source of funding you decide to go with to get your small cleaning business off the ground just remember that every dollar counts and should be put towards the best possible use.

Author: Steven Sutherland
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty tariff

1. Set Goals for Success

Setting goals will help you stay focused on what you want to accomplish within your home business. Start with long-term goals for where you would like to be financially five, ten, even fifteen years from now. Next, create short-term goals for daily, weekly, and monthly achievements. To attain financial freedom is a great long-term general goal, but it will take many small goals to reach this level. You’ll need to set small goals to create a steady cash system. A home business will go nowhere without goals, so take this step before starting any other tasks.

2. Create a Pleasant, Professional Home Office

Evaluate your home business workspace. Do you work in a corner of your bedroom with a desk and computer? Is your office usually the kitchen table between meals? Do you try to work in the living area while the rest of your family enjoys conversation or entertainment? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’ll probably need to make some changes.

Create an office space that is for work only. Even if it’s in the corner of another room, block its view with office sectional walls or some type of barrier wall to give a sense of privacy. An office should be just an “office” and nothing else. When you arrive at your office, you’re ready for work. When you leave the office space, the workday is over.

3. Get Organized

Once you have a defined work area for your home business, fill it with supplies and tools to make work easier and more efficient. Choose a desk and chair for comfort as well as back, neck, and arm support. Desks with shelves and cabinets can make organizing your office a cinch, especially if you have limited office space. Also, keep a daily to-do list, calendar, and schedule book to prioritize tasks.

4. Stay on Schedule

When you work at home, it’s easy to get off schedule because of interruptions or the temptation to take time off for leisure activities. Keep in mind that every moment wasted today usually means more work the next day. Eventually, you’ll be working around the clock and never seem to accomplish anything. For home business success, keep a steadfast work routine daily and set a work schedule you can stick with every day. Develop a mentality that every job is actually a pay-by-the-hour job. Every hour spent working will help you make money and gain financial freedom.

5. Separate Business from Personal Tasks

Once you set a schedule, stick to it. Don’t allow personal tasks to get in the way of work. These can be anything from cleaning the house to visits from friends or relatives to watching television. Take breaks from your computer, but try to avoid getting involved in personal tasks during your breaks. Many women confess to washing dishes, ironing clothes, vacuuming, and other personal tasks while on break from their home business. Personal tasks can cause your mind to be off-focus, and it will be difficult to return to a regular work routine afterward.

Find other things to do during breaks that won’t take your mind too far away from work. Take a 15-minute walk. Sit and read a self-help book related to your business. Or, take a quick snack break, with a healthy snack of course!

Once you take these steps, you’re ready to enjoy a steady cash system at home that works. You can earn money doing what you love most, and your home business can soar to heights never imagined if you stick with these basic principals. Get ready for a bumpy road, but also look for the financial freedom that awaits you just over the horizon!

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about 5 Tips to Financial Freedom or Majon’s Business and Entrepreneurs directory.

Obama’s government offers a variety of grants starting from individual grants to fulfill personal necessities, business grants to establish new business, education grants to fund education. Grants may be termed as a feasible option for supporting an already existing business to establishing a new business. Though it is true that the government of the United States doesn’t provide direct grants to support small business, yet there are a couple of non-profit organizations, state development agencies as well as local government that provide the needed grants to enhance and expand small businesses.

You can avail government small business grant if you are a resident or a citizen of the United States. And the good thing is that you don’t need collateral, credit checks, co-signers or security. Moreover, for availing these grants you need to be more than eighteen years old. Once you qualify for these grants, there’s no looking back. Just apply for these grants and wait for their approval. You can avail these grants to take your business to a further level. So, why worry, avail the privileges offered by Obama’s government and see the result for yourself!

Author: J. J. Brown
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cool mobile gadgets

Every new entrepreneurs dreams to take his business to the Forbes 100 List but most of them fail to realize realistic goals. One of the largest contributing factors to this is a lack of startup capital or initial investment. Running your own business is expensive, something that is easy to miss-judge. For this reason, the Government offers free grants that are available to boost new business here in America.

So how can I get one of these small business grants? Simple, you need to search one of the many thousand offers available to find one that fits your needs and requirements. Some guidelines regarding that process as well as some tips on what to look for in a grant offer can be found online. Once you’ve found the offer that fits your company you then need to submit a business plan/grant application.

Some important things to keep in mind when applying to offers:

1. Presentation of the business plan -

The first important step is the presentation. Any small business grant distributor will be interested primarily in how you tend to use the money if they give it to you, and also how you plan on using the funds to make a profit. The difference between a bank loan and a federal grant is you don’t have to show them how you’ll repay it (grants are cash gifts), which means you should focus on the ultimate goal of your business rather than the small steps you plan on taking to generate revenue along the way.

2. The message conveyed in the business plan -

The business plan is the cornerstone of any grant application This plan give a clear idea of your goals and vision as well as a rough timetable for accomplishing these goals. The potential in your business is shown in your business plan and it is the plan itself, which increases the confidence that the grant distributers will have in you.

3. The Eligibility for small business grants sanction -

* Small business grants are readily extended to small business industries to help them grow, only if they have a potential.

* Small business grants bodies have their own objectives and give grants money to those satisfying them in the best possible manner.

* The location of the business is one big reason for sanction of small business grants. The government wants decentralization of industries in order to avoid migration toward cities. For example, you’d have an easier time securing a government small business grant if you planned on being headquartered in upstate New York rather than downtown New York City.

Author: Tom Conrad
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty tariff

A man who started his cleaning business had started with no money. He just borrowed a vacuum and a spray bottle, and makes his way to homes who called him up for his service. During the first month of working for himself, he was taking home $4,500 dollars a month. A big amount of money that came out from no investment. And take note, he only works four hours a day, five days a week. He has a wonderful free time for his family and friend. You can utilize your own equipments at home to be your service equipments also.

Thinking to go big time but does not have enough money to invest? There are grant makers that can provide you the money you need. All you need is to present your proposal and wait for their approval. Most grant makers offer loan programs to those who want to start-up and expand their cleaning business. Grant makers are usually trusts, foundations and local governments that finance business ventures.

Involving yourself in ventures does not require lots of amount of money. All you need is to maximize the use of your resources and you can start earning with the use of them. Also, need not to worry if you lack financial resources to start up or expand your business, there are lots of lending agencies on your locality that are willing to help and support you grow up your business

Author: John F Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rate

Why not get in on the act now, take advantage of this demand, and start profiting from your own home-based house cleaning business!

Below are the main points you need to know to start-up as an Independent Cleaner.

Choose a Business Name

For advertising purposes you really should give your cleaning service a name. It could just be your own name, i.e. ‘Joan Walter’s House Cleaning’ or you could give it a more generic name i.e. ‘Your Sparkly House’. Well, you get the idea anyway!

Having a business name forms an identity for your business. If you are serious about making a profit and an income from this, then you need to take your little business seriously and it all starts with a name.

Choose Your Territory & Customers

You need to know who your customers are going to be and where they live. You might not have your own transport, so this will have to be taken into consideration. If you have a car then you will be able to travel further a field and be able to do more cleans per day.

If you don’t have your own transport, then you should try and target people near where you live. But you will also need to identify if the people in your area have the money to pay for a cleaner.

So basically you need to know who can afford to pay for a cleaner. You also need to know if there are enough of these premium customers within a certain proximity of each other? Ideally you would want as many customers as close to each other as possible. This way you can do more cleans per day and not lose too much time traveling from one customer to another.

Set-Up Costs

As an Independent Cleaner, there is very little you need to buy to start your own business. Most Independent Cleaners tend to use the cleaning products and equipment of their customers. So you won’t need to buy any cleaning products. This is the main reason why you will make a healthy profit!

The following are what you will probably have to spend some money on:

o A tabard/apron
o Advertising
o Travelling costs

Pricing

You need to set yourself a price structure. The best way to do this is to ring around the local cleaners in your Yellow Pages and find out what they are charging. You can also get this information from your local job center.

You can then set your hourly rate in proportion with your competitors. Whether you choose to undercut them, charge the same, or set your prices slightly higher is totally up to you.

Advertising

If you don’t carry out advertising activities, then know one will know about your cleaning service. The best and cheapest way to do this is to create small flyers and to put them directly into your potential customers’ mailbox.

Simply type up your flyer in a word processing document, or get somebody to do this for you. Try and put at least two flyers on one page. Take these your local library or wherever has a photocopier. Get them copied as many times as you can afford.

Put your flyers out by the hundreds if you can. You will be surprised at how quickly this actually takes. Hopefully by the time you get back home, you might even have your first phone call.

In addition to flyers, depending on your budget, advertise your cleaning service in the Yellow Pages. If you cannot afford this from the onset, once you start making some money you can then think about placing an advert then.

Expanding

Once you are well on your way of having a full, jam-packed diary you might want to think about expanding your cleaning business. By now you will be beaming with confidence of what you have accomplished all by yourself. So thinking about hiring a cleaner to help you expand should not be too daunting.

Put an ad in your local newspaper advertising for a cleaner. Once you have chosen a satisfactory candidate take him/her with you on your cleaning rounds for him/her to get used to your cleaning methods and techniques.

Once you are happy and confident that he/she can go and clean on their own, you can then either have some free time to yourself or double your customer base.

Once you are totally confident with managing cleaning staff there is no reason why you can’t hire more cleaners.

Claire Bowes runs her own Starting A Home Business website where she shares experience and information from working from home. Claire also shares information for anyone wanting to run their own House Cleaning Business

Every new entrepreneurs dreams to take his business to the Forbes 100 List but most of them fail to realize realistic goals. One of the largest contributing factors to this is a lack of startup capital or initial investment. Running your own business is expensive, something that is easy to miss-judge. For this reason, the Government offers free grants that are available to boost new business here in America.

So how can I get one of these small business grants? Simple, you need to search one of the many thousand offers available to find one that fits your needs and requirements. Some guidelines regarding that process as well as some tips on what to look for in a grant offer can be found online. Once you’ve found the offer that fits your company you then need to submit a business plan/grant application.

Some important things to keep in mind when applying to offers:

1. Presentation of the business plan -

The first important step is the presentation. Any small business grant distributor will be interested primarily in how you tend to use the money if they give it to you, and also how you plan on using the funds to make a profit. The difference between a bank loan and a federal grant is you don’t have to show them how you’ll repay it (grants are cash gifts), which means you should focus on the ultimate goal of your business rather than the small steps you plan on taking to generate revenue along the way.

2. The message conveyed in the business plan -

The business plan is the cornerstone of any grant application This plan give a clear idea of your goals and vision as well as a rough timetable for accomplishing these goals. The potential in your business is shown in your business plan and it is the plan itself, which increases the confidence that the grant distributers will have in you.

3. The Eligibility for small business grants sanction -

* Small business grants are readily extended to small business industries to help them grow, only if they have a potential.

* Small business grants bodies have their own objectives and give grants money to those satisfying them in the best possible manner.

* The location of the business is one big reason for sanction of small business grants. The government wants decentralization of industries in order to avoid migration toward cities. For example, you’d have an easier time securing a government small business grant if you planned on being headquartered in upstate New York rather than downtown New York City.

Author: Tom Conrad
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile device news