Most people get into house cleaning to earn some extra

money. You may have family, friends and neighbors as your

regular clients. Are you ready and motivated to take your

part-time business to the next level?Growing any business takes time and patience. And if you

have a loyal client base now, set aside a portion of your

gross revenue for advertising, custom business forms and

your own products and equipment. Expanding your business also takes planning. How can you

start getting new clients without a large advertising

budget? A small one-time investment in custom business

forms is the first step. So what's wrong with not using business forms? Absolutely

nothing if you're satisfied with your client base right now

and not interested in making more money. But I hear from a lot of professional house cleaners that

are struggling in their business. They wonder why they

don't get more of the jobs they bid on. They ask why people

won't pay their rate and instead want to negotiate the price

down. If you're not presenting yourself as a professional

business, your prospects assume you just need to make some

extra money; you don't have their respect and they think

you'll be happy to take whatever they offer to pay. Now think about this for a minute. Who would you be more

likely to hire: the plumber that shows up to estimate your

job with a clipboard and custom business forms or the

plumber that shows up with a flyer? Be honest with

yourself; you are going to trust this plumber inside your

home around your personal possessions. What if this person

were to break or damage something? Do you think about this

issue with the plumber with the clipboard and custom

business forms, or is it more of a concern with the plumber

with just the flyer?Your prospects are judging you and forming an opinion from

the moment you answer their call. And you know what they

say about first impressions? It's absolutely true in

running a business. Not only are they judging you before

they hire you, but they judge you again when you arrive on

the scheduled service date. - Use the Service Agreement to define your terms of doing

business and to document the service for each client. This

forms performs dual purpose as it is also your estimating

form that you use during your in-home or telephone bidding.

You will discuss the content with your prospect and then

have them sign it, not as a contract, but to provide you

and them with an understanding of your terms and the

service start date. - The Customer Checklist records your estimate for your new

client and has all the cleaning tasks listed that you

perform. This form alone can get you the job immediately or

even later after your prospect has tried other services. - The Work Order is created from the important notes you

recorded on the Service Agreement during the walk through

or telephone interview. It specifies the client, the

address and phone number, information pertaining to pets in

the home, client specific requests and directives,

including important notes you documented about the home. - The Service Checklist is used by you or your team on the

scheduled service date. It is a reminder of the regular

service tasks that are to be performed and is used to

maintain quality. One of the biggest complaints from

clients is that quality deteriorates over time. If you're

not using a Service Checklist, you're not instilling trust

in your clients, especially new clients. They will auto-

matically check your work on every appointment to make sure

you didn't miss anything. And if you did, you'll hear about

it - quick!When you start to use business forms for your existing

clients, they will probably ask you why the sudden change.

This provides you with a chance to tell them that you're

expanding your business and would appreciate referrals. This

leaves them impressed and knowing that you are serious about

running a professional business and will be more likely to

make referrals. Custom business forms speak loudly to your prospects and in

the long run land you more jobs, referrals and larger

profits!Gail Metcalf built her cleaning business from the ground up.

Learn more with The House Cleaning Pro Turnkey System and the Pro

Tips and Tricks. Site Map available on The House Cleaning Pro

website. Permission is granted to reproduce this article but

credit must be given to the author. No part of the article

content can be modified, and a link must be provided to:

http://HouseCleaningPro. com

Author:
Gail Metcalf