Cleaning 4 Profit

everything you need to start your own cleaning business

Your cleaning business flyers need to be on target.

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Zero in on your target market when creating a flyerUPDATED 10/18/2021: The commercial cleaning flyer is a tried and true method of getting customers for your cleaning business.

You pass them out by hand, include them in your direct mail pieces and leave them wherever your customers can find them.

The goal of the sales flyer is to zero in on its target market and create just enough of an emotional pull to get the prospect to act. To just about everyone else, the sales flyer will be the most boring piece of paper they ever saw. But that’s fine because…

We ONLY want to speak to those interested in what we have to offer!

So in essence your business flyers act as an army of salespeople working hard behind the scenes to get your phone to ring. Unfortunately most of the flyers I see out there couldn’t attract any business even if it had a ten-dollar bill attached to it.

I know that sounds a little over the top, but it’s true. The vast majority of people get the whole idea wrong when creating a flyer. They just bold some type with the words CLEANING SERVICES thinking that they are on the right track.

They go on to add the words cheap, discounted or some other adjective hoping to grab people’s attention. This of course not only doesn’t work all that well, it attracts all the WRONG types of potential customers. Who would that be?

The cheapskates who give you nothing but grief!

Of course you don’t want to get hired by a cheapskate, do you? I didn’t think so! You only want to get hired by those who appreciate what you do and are willing to pay to you a premium to clean for them.

When you follow this approach you’ll have fewer customers, but EARN MORE MONEY. The hidden benefit is that you will also work for a better group of people, as you get to avoid the cheapskate crowd. Not a bad deal in my humble opinion. So how do we do that?

Well…it all starts with the headline. A good headline speaks directly to the target market, every last word resonating with the reader. Take a good look at the example below. You’ll notice the headline asks a question that many office managers are thinking about.

Once the reader gets pulled in by the headline, now you need to talk about the benefits that your service offers. These benefits will add an emotional element to the flyer because the reader can “imagine” how your benefits can help them personally.

Take notice of how I turned the bad habits of inferior cleaning services into a benefit of my service by asking the sub-question of “Are you looking for?”. Then I go on to list all the small details that I already know matter to the people who make the decision to hire a cleaning service.

By doing this I “imply” that poorly run cleaning companies can be defined by the following list of requirements. This in turn makes the customer go two different routes in their perception of the cleaning company they now have.

  1. It “confirms” to them that their current cleaning company is no good and they need to change providers. When this occurs their current company was probably “on the fence” anyway, and are now “out the door” because of your prodding.
  2. It makes them look more closely at what level of service they are currently getting. Odds are their current company is dropping the ball on at least one of the items listed. When this happens you may not get the job right away, but it puts you in a clear path to assume their job once their “probation” ends.

As you can see, either way is good for you!

Now lets get back to the flyer for a moment again. After the benefits I throw in the line “Let us solve your problem once and for all!”. This text is meant to give an extra push to the reader, as it makes no bones about the fact that I can solve whatever problems they are having for good.

After that I add a few short paragraphs to further connect with the reader. If you notice, each paragraph touches on a slightly different topic. The first one just touches on the fact that we will work hard to come to a win-win price when it comes to bidding.

The second paragraph just points out that the size of their facility doesn’t matter, as we clean just about everything. Finally the third paragraph mentions a monthly special. This is a must! You need to give the reader some incentive to act.

Then to finish I add a “deadline” for the reader to make the call. This deadline is probably the most important part of the process, and must be included. If you have no deadline, you are inviting the reader to PROCRASTINATE, and that is not good!

Now to be fair, the “special offer” could have been highlighted even more prominently. Perhaps instead of placing “No Long Term Contracts” in the big red star located at the top right, I could have put “25% off your first month!”.

The moral here is to be creative and TEST what works. You will not know what type of layout works or doesn’t work until you send it out and see what happens. Try different headlines, try different benefits, try more text or less text. In short test everything.

I am making this flyer available as a download below so you can start the process of testing this particular layout free of charge. Just click on the download button to get the file. Note: Removed “star” image and replaced with “100% Guarantee” image.

Click Here For Download Page (LOOK FOR FILE #5A)

The above file is in PDF format, so if you have Adobe Acrobat, you will be able to modify it right away by putting your name and phone number on it. If you don’t have that program, just take the file to your local printer and they will change what needs changing for a minimal fee.

While I don’t guarantee this flyer will make you rich, or even get the phone to ring for that matter, I can guarantee it has all the elements of a successful flyer in it. It will be up to you to modify it and make it work for your given situation.

UPDATE: September 6, 2012 – Due to numerous requests, I’ve made available a second download option that is in “OpenOffice” format. This format is FULLY editable by everyone who has the FREE OpenOffice software. NOTE: Picture of “star” was replaced by a picture of a “100% guarantee logo”.

Click Here For Download Page (LOOK FOR FILE #5B)

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. How is work today, Mr watson? You are God sent for we cleaner. God shall continue to reward you in all area of your life, Amen. Please I need some samples of creative Flyer for my Cleaning services. Thanks for your consideration.

  3. Hi Adeboye! All is well and thanks for the kind words. I’ll be working on more flyers shortly and will share one or two in a another post!

  4. Started a cleaning services company based in West Midlands, UK but i am struggling to get clients. I think you flyer is professionally designed and i am going to use it. Is there any help you can give besides the flyer. I dont mind being subcontracted by other companies as well. You contact me on reach223@hotmail.com if thats fine with you.

  5. Hi! The only real way I can help is through the purchase of one of my courses. They walk you through the entire process one step at a time, plus they give you all the important “little details” that most beginners never think of (and cause them to have trouble as a result). They have the forms, cleaning business flyers as well. You can find them here… http://cleaning4profit.kinsta.cloud/start-your-own-cleaning-business/

    To recap, you really need to learn the ropes form someone who has done what you are looking to do. Trying to make it work without any instruction is a tough road to go down.

  6. Thank you so much for the information. This is very helpful. I am trying to edit the free flyer in Adobe and for some reasons it will not allow me to. I am trying to enter my company’s name and cell number. Also since I am first starting off, do I need a website?

  7. Hi Sade! Download the OpenOffice flyer and modify that (OpenOffice is FREE), then convert to PDF. As to a website, if you have the money it’s something you should do. People go online for everything, cleaning services included.

  8. What is a good name for a cleaning service? My husband and I wanted to use our initials but they were taken? But in another state. Is it still possible for us to use our name? Also the state I live in said we do not need a business license if we do not make over 3k a year…. so should I get one anyway? Also Tom thank you for the flyer it worked in the office.org for me.

  9. Hi Sade! Happy to hear the cleaning business flyer worked out. I’m not sure about your two questions (company with same name in other state and business license). You need to go to the county clerk in your area to find that out (that is all I did to find out).

  10. Hello Tom:
    I have been following your podcast for some time.
    I’m interested in buying from you a flyer or postcard to advertise my business. I started back in April this year. I like knocking on doors and this is the way how I have got 4 contracts so far. I’d like to take something with me I could leave with the prospect, beside my business card.
    I’ll be glad to hear from you soon.
    Andres

  12. Hi Tom, the flyer looks great! i used your other commercial sales letter to get quite a few real estate jobs, now going to take this one hopefully it will get our business some office cleaning jobs.
    wondering shall i put my business card in it to post together to the potential customers? or fridge magenets work better?

    Thanks
    Lynn

  13. Hi Lynn! Happy to hear you have had success with the cleaning flyers. To your question… you could use one or both if you like (you can’t go wrong either way). I’m a big fan of including the magnets, as people just love them.

  14. Wow!! amazing flyer with impact, just what I needed to find 🙂 thank you for sharing, it really is very impressive to me and can’t wait to get these flyers ready on off I go. Really appreciate what you are doing here, especially for ones like me who are new and could use the free tips and advice. Thank you.

  16. How would I pass out this flyer to offices? Would I go to each one and ask for office manager? or leave with reception? or would i have a sales letter as well?

  17. Hi Kevin! You’ll probably never get the office manager (too busy and protected from sales professionals by the staff who works for them). So… you have to leave it with whoever sits at the front desk. In my opinion, in this case a sales letter should go with it (a flyer by itself isn’t enough in this situation). A flyer is great for leaving at networking functions, real estate offices etc… (situations where you can BE PART of the sales call. ie: you get to talk about your service). When your material has to do ALL the heavy lifting, a sales letter to go with the flyer is highly recommended.

  18. Hello,

    I came across your website and found it very informative. I am a new business owner and in the process now of trying to obtain a few contracts. Really need some guidance. Any direction would help. Thanks in advance.
    -Shiree

  20. Please help….My mother and I have been cleaning for a while just starting to do commercial, started cold calling landed to jobs….except the first one said ” i don’t know if you can match out last cleaners price” 7offices one bathroom on kitchen twice a month for 200 dollars….but i am so desperate what do i do they want to sign a contract for one year? help please asap

  21. Hi Naima! I can’t give out advice on bidding of accounts… too many variables (I need to SEE the job in question IN PERSON). With that said… is what the job pays WORTH IT to YOU? Do you think you will make a wage that is acceptable? Decide HOW LONG the job will take you then go from there.

  22. hello,

    I am a new office cleaning business owner and I wanted to get some tips and subscribe to your free 9 part series but when I tried to put in the security code , I got an error message that the code was wrong. I then tried refreshing the screen and closing out the screen but now I do not have an option to put in a code even though the site is asking for one. Is there another way I can subscribe?

  24. i find the flyer templates very useful,God bless you mightilly, i intend going into big time commercial or industrial cleaning services, any start up advice sir.

  26. Hello i would like to start my small commercial cleaning company, but i don’t know how to bid, and how to do a janitorial proposal, could u help me please with some samples. Thank u

  27. Hi Glenda! Signing up for my mailing list is a great first step. It’s on the homepage, and it will help you out a lot. Bidding is not something I can cover in detail in just a paragraph. I have a whole chapter dedicated to that in my courses (the same goes for proposals).

  28. Thanks for sharing!This is one of the best strategies for business: organizing which markets to target. In cleaning business, it doesn’t only mean that it should be organizing the things in client’s homes. Bunch of cleaning services flyers, some planning to be sure we can deliver the type of flyer that will get a response.

  29. Thanks Brad! And YES… different flyers serve different purposes. Ideally you should have tons of different ones so that you can touch on different topics (and even ones for all the holidays etc…).

  30. I would like to start Toilet cleaning services during ceremony/occasions. I would like to come up with a flyer and good letter head may you assist me with ideas.

  33. Hi Thor! I did an emergency software update and the download links were deleted as part of that process. I will be putting the links back up over the next week or so. If you can, email me on the contact form and I’ll send it to you over the weekend.

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