The numbers don’t lie.
One good thing about numbers is that they do not lie. It is essential that you have all of the numbers associated with what success looks like for your cleaning business. The numbers are the key to help you reach your potential and goals. Otherwise, you’re just guessing at success, reaching in the dark toward building a cleaning business that runs itself. I want to give you a path to success broken down by a set of numbers to guide you.
First off, how familiar are you with some numbers in your own business? Are you paying attention to the numbers or are you just grinding it out, putting out fires all day and cleaning every day?
Value of a recurring cleaning customer
Do you know the value of a single repeat customer for your cleaning business? Do you know what the average recurring cleaning customer pays your business annually? I have analyzed the weekly, biweekly, and monthly recurring cleaning customers and found that the average recurring client is worth about $3200 annually to my cleaning business. If you don’t know that number for your own business, start calculating it and pay attention to what the value of a single recurring customer is.
Let’s just go forward with my own calculation of a $3200 annual value for an average recurring cleaning customer. Now it’s time to figure out how many customers you turn away every week because you don’t have the capacity to take on new clients. If you can’t service the demand because you are a solo cleaner who manages your business in addition to doing all of the cleaning, do you know how many clients per week or month you are turning away? Or maybe you have a few employees but both you and the employees are completely booked. You’ve got to figure out the value of the lost opportunity.
Value of a lost opportunity
People know the value of what they have, but they usually don’t pay attention to the value of a lost opportunity. Let’s assume you’re losing two opportunities a week, that two people have called to request cleanings and you weren’t able to accommodate their schedule because you don’t have anyone to send them or no time of your own to go clean. Let’s also assume that 50% of your first time cleans turn into recurring cleanings. So if you turn down two opportunities, you’ve lost 1 recurring client that week. And if this happens each week, you’ve lost 52 recurring clients, in addition to the 52 other one-time cleans that would have helped to cover the costs of your advertising to get those customers.
So what’s your lost opportunity cost? If 52 recurring clients are worth $3200 each, you lost out on at least $166,400 in annual revenue. This is why cleaning businesses get stuck and plateau— because of lack of capacity, because of losing opportunities. When your cleaning business doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to handle new clients, you are losing real opportunities which equate to real dollars. If you’re turning down 2 opportunities a week, you are missing out on $166k in potential revenue for the year.
Value of your cleaning employees
How expensive are your employees? If you have no idea, you need to figure it out. When you think it’s a painful number, it’s easy to ignore the question and avoid looking at it head on. You have got to know how expensive your cleaning staff is. A lot of you might not be paying enough and that’s why your employee turnover is extremely high.
What is the cost of your employees as a percentage of your revenue? Is 50% of your revenue going to labor costs? Is 65%? The numbers don’t lie, even if you lie to yourself. Look at your bank statement. If you deposited $10,000 in revenue but you wrote $7,500 in payroll checks, 75% of your revenue is going to labor costs. Those numbers aren’t wildly different each month. They end up being a very specific % of your revenue. So take a look and calculate it.
How much revenue are your employees generating for your business? If you don’t know that number you’re not paying attention to the right things. If you have 10 employees, divide your annual revenue by 10. If you bring in $500,000 in revenue each year with 10 employees, they’re bringing in $50,000 each. Again, the numbers don’t lie. As long as you can see the picture, you can fix it and improve it.
How to get a handle on your numbers
This is why coming to CBF Live is so important to the success of your cleaning business. Just getting around other excited entrepreneurs who want to be challenged, who want to stretch and grow, will help your business. What is the rest of your life worth? If it’s worth staying home and saving $1,500 but cleaning homes for the rest of your life, then do that. But if you spend that money, I can show you how others are creating a six-figure income for themselves and how you can, too, with the right steps in place. Is that investment worth it, for something that will change your life?
For three full days, we’re going to talk about vision and potential for your cleaning business, putting the right systems in place, and hiring the right team. I have some very special things lined up for you, and you’re going to be love being in a room with people who “get you.” Your friends and relatives don’t get it, they’re not in the cleaning industry. But we get you, we are your peers. My own residential cleaning business did $1.8M in revenue last year. How did I do it? It’s not because I’m the smartest person in the world, it’s because I have the smartest system in the world. Cleaning Business Fundamentals (CBF) is the #1 cleaning business program in the world and I’d love for you to join us in March.
