Smart Cleaning School

This week started amazing. Lead #2 Kim (from Erika's recommendation) hired me for cleaning. The story of the hire is worth sharing. They were weary of keeping their old cleaner as they were uninsured and minor property damage occurred. I educated Kim on the risk of hiring uninsured cleaners. This lead to a great in-person discussion and estimate. I sent the proposal directly after and they hesitantly agreed. The hesitancy came from her husband that I didn't speak to. He was strictly comparing prices and said I was higher. I pushed back and recommended that they don't allow the current cleaner to come back into their house without proof of insurance. Kim took the advice and her cleaner gave an excuse. They hired me right away.

The main topic of this episode is to know your numbers. When I used to buy leads through HomeAdvisor, I paid $20-$40 per lead. In this case, I paid Erika $50 for Kim's referral (only after they booked). This is a far better investment. Paying per lead depends on your trust and closing rate. 

HomeAdvisor Example: 1 lead costs $30, 10 leads for $300. I closed 20% on average. A closed biweekly house cleaning client was worth at least $3,000 per year in revenue. Thus, 2 closed leads at $300 cost created $6,000 in new revenue. This equals $150 per new client or 5% marketing. 

Paying for Referrals: Paying per client from a referral has built in trust and you close many more, but only pay on the ones that hire you. When I paid Erika $50 for a new client, I gained $3000 in new revenue for $50. This equals $50 per new client or 1.7% marketing.

As you can see, it's way more cost effective to pay for new clients verses paying for leads or ads. A few other significant updates happened this week. I had a 20 minute call with Lead #3 Monique (from Erika) and an in-home estimate that went very well. She has had issues with other cleaning services ranging from no-shows to poor quality and wanted a change. Speaking of paying for clients, this could be the second $50 I pay to Erika! I also wrote my monthly cleaning newsletter called "Dirt + Disorder = Overwhelm + Anxiety" after adding my entire Tuesday local networking group of 27 members. My newsletter went out to 77 people local to me. My hope is to have over 100 subscribers on this email list by the next newsletter. I also repurposed this content to Facebook (personal & business), LinkedIn (personal & business), Google My Business, and my website. Lastly, I completed the proposal for Asher's Chocolates and referred my friend, James Hardy, for floor & carpet cleaning.

Perfectionism is a big problem in the cleaning industry. It took me over 15 minutes to say it in the podcast. It's really not that complex. Perfection is working hard to make YOU as happy as possible and you may never get there. Excellence is working hard to make THE CUSTOMER as happy as possible and you absolutely can get there. =

How do you know if you've made them as happy as possible? You ask them how you've done. I consult with cleaning company owners all over the country and so many struggle with perfectionism. It cost them time, which equals money and profit. I believe that Perfectionism and Excellence are on opposite sides of the same spectrum. You've got to work to the best that you can. but doing it with excellence is different than doing it with perfection. Your customer will feel the difference and so will your bank account!

I alluded to this story in "There is a Huge Difference". If you'd like to hear this full story, listen to the episode. The quick version is this. I was working from home and noticed a car in our driveway. They were upset and waiting for something. After a half hour, I knew action needed to happen. But what would I do? I chose to assume the best in this person and it paid off big time. The stranded motorist was the owner of a local chocolate factory. Six months later, they remembered me when they needed cleaning. This week, I was able to get the estimate done for Asher's Chocolate. It was a blast! The best part was meeting the 4th, 5th, and 6th generation owners. Great people. Great culture.

There were several other interesting things that happened this week. Lead #3 Monique from Erika's recommendation on Facebook reached back out to me. We set up a phone call to discuss cleaning. I completed and closed my books for 2019 using Quickbooks! This was a huge burden lifted. I sent the packet to my CPA! I also had to file W2's, pay sales tax, and payroll. I mention this in the episode. We are a S-Corporation, which provides incredible tax benefits. If you're just starting out, I recommend a DBA. It's simple and very inexpensive. As your business grows, you may want to consider the entity upgrade.

The week started with a text referral. I had no idea who the client was until talking to her and connecting the dots to Erika lead #5. Here's the text. "Hello Ken, my daughter got your info from FB about cleaning. Can you send me information about your services?" I could have easily called her, but I used what I learned from "70% Happens Before the Phone Call", asked for her name, and then sent her my website to learn more about our company. She responded with her name, Diane, and thanked me. By the end of the day, she had done her research and wanted to talk, so I scheduled a phone call. The phone call lead to an in-person estimate and emailed proposal by the end of the week. 

After the estimate, I had a realization. This customer house was 1 mile from my own house and my new house cleaning clients have been forming up in local neighborhoods. As I grow, my total drive time will be less than 15 minutes between any two houses, allowing me to optimize. I did NOT do this well in my last business in New York. I had clients in 4 counties that I did my best to play calendar Tetris to optimize. What's the difference? I did NOT target market last time. I used HomeAdvisor and real estate referrals for my entire area to identify the right clients within that geography. This time around, I am niched to local Harleysville moms. Thus, I am getting hired my local Harleysville moms.

I had an opportunity to test my character and excellence this week. I completed the vacuuming of my weekly 5,000 square foot office client, wrapped up the cord, and put away the gear. Then I discovered a tiny office that I forgot to vacuum. What would I do? Would I skip it and say, "I'll get it next week. No one will notice." Or, do I suck it up and suck it up? The answer was clear. Character is who you are when no one is looking. I vacuumed the room and left for the next building. It's similar to "You're A Cleaning Guy" when I went to pick up the tissue.

In Marcus Sheridan's "They Ask You Answer", the author makes a powerful statement. "On average, 70% of the buying decision is made before the prospect talks to the company." This is amazing news. 

I have a solo cleaning marketing system with 5 key steps:  "Profile to Win", "Creative Marketing", "Using the Phone as a Filter", "Art of the Estimate", and "7 Strategies to Close the Sale". As a system, these lessons help to activate your sales funnel to filter the wrong clients out and the right, high paying clients in. Without realizing it, I have been incorporating Marcus's 70% Rule for years. This book and this one statement from Marcus makes me realize to a much deeper level that my "winning" system of 5 steps is 70% "Profile to Win" & "Creative Marketing" and 30% from the other three. I had no idea how vital the first two were. I knew they were important, but not this much!

If you want to access my system, it's available through our premium membership.

This week started off great! I got the email back from Doug Floro that they are ready to start me this week. Yay! I've added my 3rd new house cleaning client. Another email came in early in the week from Scott from Asher's Chocolate. They were looking to get a window cleaning estimate. I connected with Scott, he wanted to get quotes on office deep cleaning, floor cleaning, and window cleaning. At the end of the conversation, he said something about his owner recommending to call me and something about being stuck in my driveway. Oh, there is a great story here that I touch on in the podcast but I'll reserve the full story for a later episode.

Just when I thought the week couldn't start off better, I got a message from Erika (my first new house cleaning client). She recommended my company on the Facebook local mom's group. Obviously, I couldn't see it so I waited for my wife to tell me about it. Over the course of the week, 6 moms connected with either my wife, me, or my Facebook business page. I made sure to chase every lead like I taught early in this podcast.

• Lead 1: Krista is Erika's friend, who she referred directly through text. I answered all of her questions over the phone and thanked her for her interest. They may hire me down the road as I gave them enough information to start the budgeting process for cleaning.
• Lead 2: Kim saw Erika's post on the mom's group. She has an uninsured cleaner now, but had some damages that will not get resolved. We had a 15 minute phone call for me to answer her questions, especially about insurance.
• Lead 3: Monique saw Erika's post liked my Facebook page. I friended her and messaged her personally to thank her for liking my page. I also asked if she had any cleaning related questions. She wrote back later in the week. I added her to my newsletter and scheduled a phone call.
• Lead 4: Stacey also saw Erika's post and liked my cleaning page. She never responded to my friend request or personal message.
• Lead 5: Lindsay saw Erika's post and reached out to Teresa through Facebook private messenger. Teresa thanked her and forwarded my phone number so she could call me.
• Lead 6: Shahrzad also saw Erika's post and reached out to Teresa on Facebook. It was hard to connect, but we'll try again next week. 

It was a great start to the week. Let's switch gears to the title of this episode. We did speed networking this week at our MCBA group. The goal was to score a "date" by getting a good referral from each member. I chose to use my time to learn about the members by asking each one the question Why? It lead to interesting conversation and I learned more about the others. At the end of the experience, the moderator asked what we learned about other members and my name came up twice.

Marsha said. "Do you know that Ken is a consultant to other cleaning businesses and has a podcast!?" 

Susan Sloane of Real Health Quotes said. "I learned that there is a huge difference between a regular cleaner and a presentation cleaner."

This was awesome. Susan goes above and beyond to serve her clients with high touch medical insurance service. She knows what it means to be excellent in your work, so when she heard me explain what I do as a presentation cleaner, it clicked. Susan realized that most cleaners can clean well, most are detailed, but few understand the art of presentation. That's where I shine and she recognized that in our speed networking. Thank you Susan for that massive plug at the MCBA!

I had so many quality influences growing up, but not many in the entrepreneurial path until my mom remarried Paul Tibbitts when I was 10 years old. Paul grew up with entrepreneur parents who owned multiple businesses, held real estate, owned an airplane, and understood excellence in all they put their hands to. I didn't understand this until later in life and this episode shares my journey.

Monty & Shellie Tibbitts were wonderful to me as a step-grandson. I watched them and always wondered HOW they had so many people working for them, how they had two new Jags in the driveway, how they had a beautiful main house and beach house, how they could afford their own private airplane, boat, and wave-runners. I wondered WHY they entertained so extravagantly, inviting family and business associates to their homes & boat. I wondered why they were members of private golf clubs and yacht clubs. To be honest, I never connected my wonderings of HOW to WHY. It never struck me that they purposely lived their lives with their family and people of influence to better their life and the lives around them. I never understood the extraordinary efforts they took in presenting their home for parties with classical music in the background, jumbo shrimp bowls, perfectly matched table decor, a clean home, fine clothing & jewelry, and even a live-in cook to care for the family & guests. If I was wiser as a kid, I would have noticed that the way they lived their lives is the reason why they had what they had. Instead, I viewed their life through the wrong lens thinking they were "Rich People" who were flaunting. That mindset wasn't often, but I'd be lying if I didn't think it. The truth was this. They weren't flaunting anything. They just understood something about relationships and excellence that I did not. Plus, their character and the way they treated me was always first class. That's why I was so saddened when Pop-Pop Monty passed away last year. 

Over Thanksgiving, we finally fulfilled a promise to visit Grandma Shellie for brunch. When we arrived, I was brought back to childhood with the smells, sounds, and appearance of excellence all around me. It was something to behold. This time it clicked. I am a Presentation Cleaning Specialist with over a decade of training by realtors & stagers how to prepare a house for sale. I've used this in real estate cleaning, office, and recurring house cleaning to great advantage. Therefore, I asked Grandma Shellie.

"Why do you go through such effort to make everything look so good even when it's just your family coming over?"

Grandma Shellie replied. "Kenny, you eat with your eyes before before you eat with your Mouth".

That was all I needed to hear. I understood everything I ever witnessed as a kid. I understood that every wonder I had aligned. You must be congruent. If the way your live your life at home and with guests is exquisite and excellent, your business products & services must also be excellent. Monty & Shellie knew that they were public servants as business owners and therefore they wanted the community to know that they cared so much that even the finest details were covered in excellence. This is why they were so richly blessed with growing companies and employees that loved them.

The proof of their lifetime commitment was during Monty's Memorial Service when so many shared their memories. I was so impressed with a life well lived. Honestly, I am not sure that I can attain the level they ascended, but I can start now and so can you. Be excellent.

In 15 years of solo cleaning, over 75 families have hired me to clean for them. However, I sold my business with 17. What happened to the others? It's simple. This is a seasonal service for some and a lifetime for others. I never tried to figure that out. I just served. I have lots of experience getting "let go", "moved on", "fired", etc. Some let me know face-to-face with a month's notice. Some stopped immediately through email, phone, or text. Others just disappeared (literally a UFO got 'em)! There was only one time that I fired myself. For the sake of privacy, we'll call this customer "Bob".

Bob worked from home as a consultant and his family lived in a beautiful 4,000+ square foot home in a new development. They had a son 1-year older than my son, Kenny. Bob and I had awesome conversations and many were from opposing viewpoints. Some were political and some were religious. We had a mutual respect for each other and our beliefs. The cleaning itself was tough. The master shower had two glass doors, the kitchen island was 15 feet long, and the oven was HUGE! The knobs on the range top would turn to the 'On' position on a hairpin trigger, so I always had to check to the level of OCD to make sure the gas was off. On November 2, 2016, I cleaned and didn't do a good job inspecting!

When I got home, there was a text from Bob's wife. She is stressed out as the gas was left on for at least 6 hours after I left and she had to call to get help to make sure it was safe. Thankfully, everything was okay. But the family was in shock and I was feeling a level of guilt I've never felt in all my years in this business. **Cleaners** I urge you to check the oven knobs every time you leave!

You'll have to listen to the episode, but here's what happened. I fired myself. When Bob and his wife talked over what they should do, he came to me and just wanted to have another civil conversation. I had prayed and thought about it for a whole day and literally told Bob. "I am SO sorry. This is literally a irreconcilable offense. I put myself in your place with your wife and son as my own. If a cleaner had done that in my home, I would lose all trust and fire them immediately. I think you should do the same. I don't want to lose your business, but I want to do the right thing." Bob was amazed. "Ken, I respect you for your response and care of my family." Ultimately, they did let me go and they should have. I talk about building trust. In this case, I lost all of my trust in the turning of one oven gas knob. I knew it would be harder to go from a 1 Trust Factor to the 10 I had before THAN getting a new client at 6 and getting to 10. 

After the smoke cleared, I remained friends with Bob. We still connect to this day and he left a glowing review of my cleaning service on Google.

I break down the numbers in this episode. If you remember, I was at a low point in "Broken Record", making the connection between average SMART goals and average results. I wanted 2020 to connect great SMART goals to great results. Therefore, I had to make a critical change. For the previous 10 years, I've been creating ACTIVITY & OPTIMIZATION SMART goals on my main business and GROWTH SMART goals on my side passion project. This wasn't fruitless as I optimized my solo cleaning business big time, sold it, and we got debt free. However, I left a lot on the table. What could have happened to both my main cleaning business and side business if I reversed the way I set up goals? That's what 2020 would be.

Carfagno Cleaning - Add 15 houses and 2 offices (to increase my cleaning revenue by $10,000 every 60 days) by 12/31/20. This is a growth goal and forces me to focus on achieving it.

SMART Cleaning Biz - To produce twice weekly Solo Cleaning School podcasts, send a monthly newsletter (and repurpose), run the Solo Cleaning School & provide the training they need, and run the SMART Cleaning Tribe & provide the resources they need by 12/31/20. There is nothing here about growth. It's more about maintaining.

Let's examine. I know how to earn over $100 per hour cleaning and could fill up the available days. My earning power is NOT as high in my side business yet. However, I was investing more time and energy for the past decade into the side. Why? It was emotional. It was preference. I didn't want to clean. 2020 is going to be different.

The next step was to determine how many leads I would need to get each month in order to hit my growth goal. Let's keep this simple. We've been in PA for less than 2 years and I've passively received 9 house cleaning warm leads (referrals) and 40 office cleaning cool leads (self-generated). I've closed on 4 houses and 3 offices, which translates to a 1/13 office cleaning closing rate and a 1/2 -1/3 house cleaning closing rate. I've already shown that I needed to invest into my most profitable business. That's my main cleaning business. Within my cleaning business, house cleaning through warm referrals is very effective. Thus, I determined that I would need to generate 30-45 warm house cleaning and 25 cool office cleaning leads or 5 warm office cleaning leads. When I break that down monthly, I need to generated 3-4 house leads per month and an office lead every couple months. Therefore, I would focus my marketing on acquiring house cleaning leads and continue local networking and some LinkedIn to get the necessary offices. If I do this action plan, I will hit my growth SMART goal for Carfagno Cleaning. Seeing this on paper energized me big time! I went from depressed with 10 notebooks to fired up with a plan!

If you'd like to learn more about SMART goals, check out my 5-part podcast series.

1. What is Your Why
2. Why Set Goals
3. Make Your Goals SMART
4. The Accountability Roadmap
5. Kill Parkinson

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

In my last two Carfagno Cleaning updates, I shared the story of Doug Floro and how a seed turned into an opportunity. I started this week by completing his house cleaning proposal with 6 options and hit send! Like I always say, you never know! Right after the proposal, I wrote, published, and repurposed (to social media) a new cleaning newsletter.

I also sent out my monthly invoices and something amazing happened. One of my office clients asked if I would be willing to bill ahead for 6 months instead of one. That was an easy answer... "YES!" I read three things into this request:

• They are very satisfied with my service to book me for 6 months.
• 6-month billing protects them against a price increase and locks me in for 6 months at a time.
• Their company is so financially responsible, they are paying 6 months in advance. This is the type of company that is mega stable and a wonderful client to have!

Now, let's get to the meat of this week's episode. In 18 Gutter Balls, I shared the story of my infamous bowling game of 12 when I was 12. My 83-year-old Pop-Pop still heckles me about that day! The final question I posed was this. "Have you learned yet?" I was doing the same thing, over-and-over again, and expecting a different result. This is the definition of insanity by the late, great Albert Einstein. I was guilty of it that day with my engraved bowling ball and now I get to answer the question.

I shared a detailed account of how to wrap up your year in review. It's called Think Week. I have followed this process every year and even published the podcast episode ahead of my 2019 version. Let me get real and transparent. "I haven't learned yet, Pop-Pop." I started to do Think Week by reflecting of my 2019 goals and comparing them to what I accomplished. I achieved about 67%. Not bad. But I dug deeper and saw something that demanded explanation. So I pulled out my 2018 notebook for Think Week and saw the same pattern. To make matters worse, I pulled out every year back to 2012. This revealed that I have been a broken record.

I've been doing the same thing over and over and over, expecting my end-of-year results to change. But at the end of each year, I threw a 6 instead of a strike (using the bowling analogy). Some years, I did throw a gutter ball. Here's what I realized. I am a dreamer, an optimist. I love working on my passion projects and I've always had one. Early on, it was an Amway business with Teresa. Then it was writing a novel for dads to read to their kids, followed by coaching & consulting cleaning company owners. The mistake I repeated was setting my SMART goals to grow my passionate side-hustle, while setting the mark for my main business for "just enough". Whether I was an engineer or a solo cleaning owner, I have not set SMART growth goals to raise our level of income past 'just making it' to 'prospering'. I chose to set my SMART growth goals on my side-hustle, that I WANTED to do, yet had no proof of concept! My optimism kicked in as well because I made many assumptions that weren't realistic or attainable. So I'd complete a year with the same main business income and a side income that barely increased. But I was happy and rationalized that I did good because I loved doing it.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website