How to Start a Natural Cleaning Service

Starting a natural cleaning service has the possibility to be a lucrative business venture. Using all-natural cleaning products when cleaning your clients' homes helps reduce their carbon footprint. In today's day and age, environmentally conscious services have a unique selling point that will increase the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Things You'll Need

• Target market
• Business website
• Before and after photos
• Hourly rate or price per foot
• Marketing plan

Instructions

1. Analyze your market. Most newcomers to the cleaning industry fail to realize just how broad the market truly is. Possible markets that you can target are: residential homes, college dorm rooms, office buildings, restaurants, small businesses, nursing homes, day care centers and vacation homes. Decide which markets you would like to pursue.

2. Although it is true that the market for a cleaning service is large, it is beneficial to carve out your niche. Carving out a niche allows you to market yourself as a specialist. If you have chosen a niche, you can market yourself as an "all-natural restaurant cleaning service" or an "all-natural nursing home cleaners." Target a market that will be receptive to your 100 percent natural spin on a traditional cleaning service. Some prospective clients will turn you down simply because they are skeptical of the effectiveness of cleaning solutions without chemicals.

3. Create a website. Creating a website will allow you to portray your all-natural cleaning business in a professional light. Make it a point to place on your website before and after pictures of homes you have cleaned. This will allow clients to see that you can deliver immaculate results. GoDaddy.com is an efficient and cost-effective website creation service that will guide you through the entire process of creating a website for your business.

4. Price your services. Due to your unique selling point (environmentally friendly cleaning services), you can charge substantially more that your generic competitors. Check out the going rate in your area for generic cleaning services and raise your price by $10 per hour or $0.10 per foot. For example, if a generic cleaning service charges $30 per hour for a residential cleaning, you can charge $40.

5. Market your services. In order to build a stable of clients, you must market your services. Marketing your environmentally friendly cleaning service doesn't have to be expensive; it just has to be effective. Vehicle lettering has proven to be an effective marketing method for cleaning services. What better way to advertise your business than to have potential clients staring at your rolling advertisement at a red light, right? Additional marketing methods are: radio advertisements, fliers, billboards, Yellow Pages and newspaper ads.

Tips & Warnings

• Use your website to link to information about the benefits of environmentally safe cleaning products.

Resources

• Hot trend: Eco-friendly cleaning services