Congratulations! If you’re reading this, then your cleaning business is doing pretty well. Opening new locations is a big step in your entrepreneur career. But, as you may know, there’s a lot of factors you have to consider to make sure you recover your investment in the shortest possible time. Keep reading to know the five-step guide to run a successful cleaning business.
Step 1: Know your strengths and weaknesses
First of all, you have to be sure if expanding is the right move for you. Opening a new location means that you surely obtain more profit, but you must be honest with yourself and be sure your business is in the right shape to enter a new market with more competitors. Also, you have to decide who’s going to run your company in this new location, perhaps sending a trusted employee or hiring a local in town. If you don’t have the answers to these questions, don’t worry, keep reading the following steps.
Step 2: Figure out your cash flow
If you manage a cleaning service business, you must know that opening a new location is like starting all over again. You have to estimate the investment and time needed for your new place to start making revenue. Be sure to make realistic projections and analyze if your current location is making enough income to support the second location, in case it doesn’t maintain itself on time. It always better to consider that scenario.
Step 3: Know your new market
Another factor you’ll want to think about is your new market. Although the general needs of your customers will stay almost the same form place to place, the demographics, socioeconomics, and even psychological characteristics will inevitably vary. If you’re opening in a bigger city, are you ready to provide your service to more sophisticated or demanding customers? Not to mention, you’ll have to deal with new competitors. Analyze your business core and make a plan to overcome these possible situations.
Step 4: Standardize
Before venturing into a new city, your processes have to be standardized. What does this mean? It means that your cleaning staff has to give the same quality job in every place they go, no matter the city. Your cleaning times, the products and equipment you use, your availability, everything has to be done the same way it has worked for your business all of these years. If you can’t do this, then opening a new location is a risk that you probably don’t have to take.
Step 5: Replicate your company culture
Similar to the last step, keeping your culture intact is essential to sustaining your cleaning business in the long run. Your vision, values, and ideology are what makes your business unique, and your customers and employees perceive it as valuable as the cleaning service itself. Because trust and royalty are vital actives that make any business grow. You need a leader in your new location that can replicate your company culture the best way.
These five steps may seem like negative thoughts, as “viewing only the bad scenario,” but surely it’s necessary to make the right decision while planning your next expanding move. If you want to learn more about how to grow your cleaning business the right way, keep reading our blog or contact us for consultation.
