House Cleaning Lead Generation & Marketing Guide

Are you ready to grow your house cleaning business with inbound lead generation? While it can seem overwhelming and complicated at first, a lot of this is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Check out our 10 simple ways to generate new leads and clients for your cleaning business.

A quick word of advice before we get started: Don’t let this list overwhelm you and don’t try to start every one of these all at once. Pick one that you like, get good at it and then move on to the next.

Let’s get started!

1. Reward Clients For Referrals

We all know that referrals are the best leads you can get. You should be able to convert the majority of referrals into new clients and eventually even more referrals.

You only really need to do two things for a successful referral program:

First, you have to ask. I’m sure you have a handful of clients that you can think of right now that are over the moon with your cleaning service. Start with them!

Second, reward clients who send you referrals. This can be a discount or a completely free cleaning but generally, if you’re providing great service clients don’t need much incentive to give you a referral.

The important part here is that you ask for the referral! Generally, when dealing with already happy clients, the reward is less important and it just allows you to start the conversation more than anything. Keep that in mind and don’t over the top with an incentive.

2. Network With Other Professionals

When it comes to getting referrals from other professionals the reward or payment matters a lot more. Asking someone you don’t know is a lot different than reaching out to a long-standing client and you’re going to need to consider your offer. A good starting point is to offer a revenue share at a percent that you’re comfortable with.

A great way to reach out to other local professionals is through Facebook. By reaching out via Facebook Messenger there’s a good chance you’re going to get in touch with the owner which will allow you to talk owner to owner instead of going through whoever answers the phone. It also shows that you are clearly a real and local person and not some far away telemarketer.

A great way to make the deal even better is to approach them with a lead exchange offer or with an existing client that’s looking for a referral.

So who can you partner with?

Carpet Cleaners

You’ve probably been asked several times for a good carpet cleaning company and might already have a company you work with. But have you been getting leads in return?

Window Washers

Again, you’ve probably had to explain to several clients that you don't handle exterior window washing and have had to pass on the leads. Make sure you work out a deal to get leads in return.

Realtors

While these relationships normally bring in deep cleaning and move out leads, and not the more lucrative regular cleanings, they’re still well worth it. Remember these move out leads are generally on empty houses before or after they move in which make them easier to quote over the phone.

Network Groups

Network groups can be a great way to establish any of the above relationships. Usually, these groups (like BNI or Master Networks) only allow one person from each industry in this group. This means you’ll be the only house cleaning professional in the room and thus will get all the leads.

These groups also offer business training designed to help you grow as an entrepreneur and business person. While that’s a great side benefit, we suggest checking out a cleaning industry-specific Facebook group if you want to get the perspective of other cleaning professionals.

Keep in mind, when it comes to local network groups each chapter is different and has its own overall feel. Be prepared to try out a couple before you find a good fit.

3. Use Craigslist

Yes! Craigslist can generate great cleaning leads! Craigslist recently began charging users to post services and this actually a really good thing. It’s only around $5 to $10 depending on your area but it has greatly reduced the number of spammers and scammers present. That means your ad has a much better chance of getting seen and not being seen as guilty by association.

Craigslist is a search engine just like any other so make sure to use keyword rich ads using phrases people would actually use to find house cleaning services. For example, you can include things like:

• Move Out Cleaning
• Monthly, Weekly or Biweekly Cleaning
• Deep Cleaning

The most important part of your ad is your headline. Not only do you want to include an important keyword but you also want to include something that makes your service unique.

Try out a few versions of your ad and see what works. Once you have ad copy that works you can reuse it every week to keep generating leads.

4. Hire A Company To Produce House Cleaning Leads

There are many companies out there that offer cleaning leads and there’s a lot of difference between how they actually work. Digging deep on that could be its own article entirely but here are some common terms you’ll see in the lead generation industry:

• Shared Leads — Providers like HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack offer shared leads. This means that you and several (sometimes more than 10) other house cleaning services have to compete for the lead. While there are some who thrive in this environment many struggle with what turns into a race to the lowest price.
• Exclusive Leads — Providers like our company and others offer exclusive leads which mean we generate leads for only one service provider in a specific area. With this setup, leads go straight to you.
• Qualified Leads — Most everyone offers qualified leads which simply means that the lead is interested in your service. Many providers will allow you to add additional criteria to define what qualified means, typically at an increased cost.

Lead costs vary between providers and this cost has a lot to do with how they actually generate the leads. Most often it’s a combination of search engine optimization (SEO) and paid traffic like Google Ads. For our campaigns, we determine the lead price with a 30-day Google Ads campaign in order to get a market benchmark that is specific to your area. Others (especially shared lead providers) use a standard pricing model.

To find out more about our house cleaning lead generation services check us out here.

5. Get More Reviews On Important Sites

Having great reviews will help in every aspect of lead generation. From finding partners in other industries or getting people to pick up the phone, your reviews are one of the first things people look at and one of the most important factors for them when they make a decision.

There’s a great infographic that goes over the importance of online reviews here.

So what can you do to get more reviews? Besides offering 5-star service the best thing you can do is just ask.

I promise you, it really is that simple.

We’ve worked with many cleaning services that go from one review a month to three to four reviews a week simply by asking for reviews. Whether that’s via email, text or in person you have to ask.

Respond To Reviews

Respond to all reviews, especially from anyone that you specifically asked to review your cleaning company. Not only does this show your appreciation, but Google has acknowledged that responding to reviews can help your rankings in the search.

Flag False Reviews

Unfortunately, there are competitors out there that may resort to posting false negative reviews. There are also bots and spammers out there they may occasionally post a mediocre review. Respond to the review with complete professionalism and follow the steps on the Google My Business dashboard to flag the review.

6. Invest In Search Engine Optimization

Proper Search Engine Optimization can have a huge return on investment. The important part there is the word “proper” because so many SEOs simply don’t have the skillsets they say they do.

Still, if you’re able to find a great SEO agency it turns your website into a 24/7 lead generation machine.

Understanding basic SEO will help you find a better provider. Moz’s Beginner’s Guide To SEO is a good starting point. We’re also happy to answer any specific questions you may have but this is such a huge topic it requires a post of its own.

7. Use Google Ads

Google Ads can be a great way to generate leads but if you’re not careful you can quickly lose ad spend on useless clicks. Google Ads can be complicated but it basically works like this:

You select a group of keywords you want to show up for along with a group of keywords you don’t want to show up for. You set a price that you’re willing to pay for a click and anytime someone clicks your ad you pay roughly that price.

So what does this look like in practice? If you tell Google you want to show up anytime someone in your area types the words “house cleaning” then Google might think you also want to show up for “house cleaning jobs”. Chances are you don’t want to pay for those clicks. That’s why keyword selection is so important!

Realize that Google makes money by charging you clicks so they have more of an incentive to get your ads clicked than they do to get you quality leads. That’s why you have to be very careful of Google Ads Express. This is designed to get your ads up (and spending money) within minutes but it also means you typically have an extremely unoptimized campaign.

If you want to find out more we suggest you start with Google to learn more about the platform. You can also pay different companies to manage your account for you but this will generally cost around $1,000 to get started along with monthly management fees. As an alternative to this, we’re offering a free Google Ads setup at no cost (at least for right now). You only pay for the actual ads and this a good way to see if Google Ads are right for you. To find out more or sign up check out this link.

8. Use Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads are another great way to get your name out there and allow you to use a variety of different media types. While that can be a good thing, it can also feel overwhelming as you have so many options.

But there’s nothing wrong with simply using a still image and a great offer. If you do opt for videos we actually recommend having real clients create videos about your service. This is the kind of native advertising that you’ve probably seen before on Facebook. It does well because it matches how real people would post on Facebook.

Here’s an example of one from Maid Sailors:

You see there’s nothing fancy here but these kinds of ads work. But the most important part is the offer.

The major difference between Google and Facebook is that with Google search ads you’re showing up for someone who is looking for the type of service you provide. But with Facebook, you’re showing display ads while someone browsing other content. While these ads are highly targeted, they still weren’t on Facebook to find a cleaning service. But don’t worry, that just means you need to have an offer that catches the eye. Most often a discounted first time clean will work.

The real power of Facebook ads come from the targeting. You can show your ads to people based on income, education, job titles, search habits, location and more. We recommend writing down your ideal client first then looking at all the targeting options within Facebook. Otherwise, you can get lost looking at all the tiny targeting details you can go for.

9. Partner With A Homeowners Association

Homeowners associations can be a great way to generate qualified leads. Why are they qualified? For the most part, you know the income of the people you’re targeting since you know the value of their home.

But getting in can be difficult. Make sure you look at it as a partnership and not just a request. Try to make the deal a no-brainer for the HOA. That means that in order to get one of these you should expect not to make money on the first clean. Unless you’re offering a rock bottom house cleaning deal, why would the HOA open their doors up (and the doors of members) to your business?

You also need to make sure your business is clearly trustworthy. That means you’re bonded, insured and you have some level of reputation whether that’s through online reviews or some kind of referral. No HOA wants to take a risk and in order to pull this off, you will need some kind of reputation to lean on.

10. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to improve client retention, upsell existing clients or generate new clients.

So how do you get started?

You’ll want to use something to manage and send emails. We recommend MailChimp which is free up to 2,000 subscribers and offers everything you’ll need.

First, you need to collect emails. There are many ways to do this but at a minimum, you need to be collecting emails from existing clients. Make sure you get their consent and make sure they have a reason to actually want your emails.

Next, you set up a series of emails within MailChimp that go out to clients. A good rule of thumb here is to keep the promotional emails at only 30–40% of your total content. No one wants to get sold over and over again. Instead, try to provide real value to your clients in the form of tips and updates.

Then, make sure you have your campaigns scheduled within MailChimp so you can set it and forget it. If you try to clear time in your busy schedule to write emails every week or two it won’t happen. Clear out some time and commit to scheduling them out.

If you need help setting up the campaign, there are many freelancers on sites like Upwork that can set it up for you. This isn't a highly technical task so you don’t need to hire a high dollar freelancer to do it. You can probably find someone for five to seven dollars an hour to do the work.

So what kind of offers do you send? Here are some of our favorites:

• Gift cards during the holiday season.
• Ask who would like to be on a separate list for last minute cleans. Then when you have a cancelation you simply email that list and ask who wants a discounted clean.
• Discounts to long term clients.
• Share information on your referral program and its benefits!

Stack Your Lead Generation

While any of these methods would work on their own, as you continue to implement them you end up with a marketing machine with each step helping out the next. Here’s an example of how this could look:

1. You use Google Ads, SEO or a cleaning lead generation service to bring in new clients.
2. You collect client emails and now you fill in cancelations with last minute offers along with upsells to your existing clients.
3. You use your email list to create and market a referral program to bring in even more clients.
4. You use your email list to ask for reviews which then helps the conversion rate of every other part of your marketing.
5. You use Craiglist, partnerships and Facebook ads to bring in more clients and repeat steps 2, 3 and 4.

Having a system in place like this can help you get the most out of every single client.

But don’t let a system like the one above overwhelm you. Like we said at the start: pick one method, get good at it and then move on to the next. With a slow and steady approach, you will eventually have a well-oiled house cleaning lead generating machine!

Want More?

We’ve just started a house cleaning Facebook group where we talk about everything house cleaning. While the focus is on marketing your business it’s also a place where you can talk to peers and experts about the day to day of running your cleaning business.

Joining is free and you can ask us anything you’d like about generating leads for your house cleaning business.

You can also comment below with any questions you might have. Let us know what methods you’ve had success with as we definitely didn’t hit them all!

Thanks for reading!