This is a follow up to last week's post, 7 Reasons Cleaning Prospects Don't Return Your Calls.

How many times do you cold call a prospective customer, only to be connected to their voice mail? Do you leave a message? Many people will not leave messages because they never receive a call back (see last week's post).

So what’s the trick for getting them to call back? A good rule of thumb for leaving voice mail messages that get return calls is to:

1. state your full name and company name and then get to the point quickly. 
2. make a compelling statement that gets them thinking. Use words that describe how they might feel about their current cleaning service: frustrated, disappointed, irritated, annoyed, concerned, overwhelmed, unhappy, skeptical.

Here is an example:

Hi, this is John Smith with All-American Cleaning Company. We work with companies who are frustrated with their current cleaning service, or disappointed in the value they’re receiving for the money they’re spending. If this sounds familiar, please give me a call because I may have some solutions for you. My number is 555-123-1234. I look forward to talking with you.

Challenge yourself to create a list of problems that your customers want solved. Then use this list to create variations of the voice mail message above.

What tips do YOU have for getting your voice mail messages returned? Click on the Comments link below to post your replies.

There are a lot of housekeeping tasks that you can put off doing, but laundry isn’t one of them. So here are a few suggestions for taming the laundry beast. Hope they help–and please add your own suggestions and comments at the end. We all need all the help we can get with this one.

1. Organize your laundry space so that you have a place to fold and hang clean clothes. The ideal folding surface is 5-6′ long and waist high. Be sure you have hanging space and plenty of hangers so you can just hang pants and shirts directly from the dryer. If your laundry room is large enough, the ideal hanging space is a roll around coat rack like people use for large parties.

2. If you’re doing laundry for several people, do at least one load every day. That includes folding and putting everything away. Breaking the chore into these small chunks will make it far easier. You may even reach the point that your weekends can be laundry-free!

3. Keep a laundry hamper in each bedroom. For kids, choose fun ones that they’ll enjoy using. For adults, you may want one with multiple compartments for presorting clothes: white, colored, delicate. A separate hamper or bag can be used for dry clean only items.

4. Whenever practical, wash all one person’s clothes on the same day so you don’t spend precious time sorting the folded clothes into 12 different piles for four differnt people.

5. For kids clothes, consider washing whites and colors together in cold water. A real time-saver. Liquid Tide Coldwater works very well.

6. Fold or hang clothes just as soon as they are finished drying. Toss anything that looks wrinkled back in the dryer with a damp cloth for a few minutes. Wrinkles will disappear.

7. Untangle clothes before you throw them in the dryer for faster drying and fewer wrinkles.

8. Consider how often you wash your clothes and sheets and towels. Is it based on need, or what your mother did, or…? Think about it.

9. Get the kids involved! By the time your kids are 10 to 12 years old, you can teach them laundry basics and let them do their own. Not only is this an enormous help for you, but it is one of the few chores that has natural, built-in consequences if it’s not done! No nagging. No fuss. Works great.

Now it’s your turn.  Please share your time-saving laundry tips with us!

Filed under: housekeeping tips Tagged: cold water, kids, laundry, wrinkles

Many building service contractors have given up on in-person cold calling  and have started doing more prospecting over the phone. But because people are so busy, it's sometimes difficult to actually talk to someone on the phone. Many choose not to leave a voicemail message, but some do.

If you DO leave messages, are you doing it in a way that gets people to call you back or are you doing it in a way that turns people off? Here are several reasons your cleaning prospects may not be returning your calls.

1. You talked so fast they would have to re-play the message 5 times to get your name, company name and phone number so they just didn't bother.
2. You only left your name and phone number. Most people won't return calls unless they get your complete name, company name, phone number and most importantly – the reason for the call.
3. You didn't get to the point within the first 10 or 15 seconds. If you ramble on and don't get to the point quickly your message may be deleted before it plays all the way through.
4. You gave a sales pitch and asked them to call you back if they're interested in your services. This one will NEVER get a call back!
5. You continue to call with the same message asking them to call if interested. This will get you blacklisted. It may even prompt a call back just to ask you to stop calling!
6. You decided to try an automated voicemail system where they pick up the phone and receive a recorded message. This ONLY works if they know the caller and would welcome what they have to offer (and even then, most people won't return these calls).
7. You ask if you can speak to "the person" who handles the cleaning. You should already have this person's name. If not, then the purpose of your call should be to get this person's name and title instead of making a sales pitch to get them to call back.

Give some thought to how you leave business voicemail messages. If your calls aren't being returned, it could be a sign you're turning people off!

Do YOU ever leave voicemail messages and if so, do they return your calls? Post your reply by clicking on the Comments link below.

If you pay attention to search engine optimization techniques, then you know that for years the experts have said that reciprocal links are useless. In fact some experts say that they could even be detrimental to your website.

Along time ago Google stopped placing value on reciprocal linking because people started abusing the practice. "I'll link to your site if you link to mine…"

Recently however, there has been a slight change, and you can now help your rankings with good quality, on-topic reciprocal links, as long as it adds value to your website visitors. The key is that the links must be on-topic.

Here are a couple examples. If you provide cleaning services but don't provide carpet cleaning services, you could add a page on your website for carpet cleaning. Then link to a carpet cleaning service you know and recommend them to your website visitors. They can do the same for you.

If you provide commercial cleaning services and get requests for residential cleaning services, you could swap links with a residential cleaning service.

A couple other tips to making this work to your benefit:

1. Don't fill your website with too many reciprocal links. A good rule of thumb is to limit them to 10% of the links on your site.
2. Don't put a lot of reciprocal links on your website all at once. Spread them out over time.

P.S. If you don't have a website yet or would like to increase the business to your existing website, check out CleaningBizWebsites.com.

Green is the new trend. Every industry is at least trying to convert their procedures to environmentally friendly. One industry that has been investing big to earn the “Eco-Friendly Label” is the cleaning industry with the developments of biodegradable cleaning products and cleaning methods that will keep a place smelling fresh without the toxic effect.

Here at Total Clean we strive to deliver an environmentally friendly office cleaning service by applying cleaning products and methods that are less harmful as possible to the environment.

We also have a great concern for our clients’ homes, reason why every once in a while we publish cleaning tips to help them maintain their houses as fresh and clean as we leave their working place. This time we compiled a list with our top 10 Green Cleaning tips for you to keep your house fresh-smelling without harming your family’s life.

1.Employ green cleaning products
As the health and environmental impacts of conventional cleaning products become more thoroughly understood, more and more brands of healthy, green, and effective cleaning products have started hitting the market and competing for that coveted place of honor under your sink. Many of these products are non-toxic, biodegradable, and made from renewable resources (not petroleum). But if designer labels aren’t for you, home-mixed cleaners can get the job done and then some. Vinegar and baking soda can be used to clean almost anything. Mix in a little warm water with either of these and you’ve got yourself an all-purpose cleaner.

2.Avoid poor indoor air quality
It is not uncommon for the air inside a home or office to be more toxic than the air outside. This is because of the presence of toxic materials and substances and the fact that homes and buildings are better insulated than ever before (which is a good thing from an energy standpoint). Keeping windows open as often as possible allows fresh air in and keeps toxins flowing out. This is especially important when cleaning your home.

3.Be careful with antibacterial cleaners
The antibacterial and antimicrobial ‘cleaners’ that many people think are necessary, especially during cold season, don’t clean hands better than soap and water, and also add to the risk of breeding “super germs,” bacteria that survive the chemical onslaught and have resistant offspring. The FDA has found that antibacterial soaps and hand cleansers do not work better than regular soap and water, and should be avoided.

4.Help your home smell baking soda-licious
Baking soda not only removes those strange smells coming from your fridge, it’s also a great odor-eliminator for your carpet. Just sprinkle on a little baking soda to soak up some of those odors and then vacuum it up.

5.Clean your indoor air naturally
Skip the store-bought air fresheners and instead try boiling cinnamon, cloves, or any other herbs you have a fondness for. Fresh chocolate chip cookies also have been known to create a friendly aroma. Also, plants may not make your house smell different but are good for filtering interior air–pretty much any broad green leaf plant will do. Peace Lilies are a favorite choice.

6.Toss toxic cleaners carefully
When replacing your cleaning products, don’t just throw the old ones in the trash. If they’re too toxic for your home, they won’t be good for the drain or the landfill either. Many communities hold toxics & electronics recycling days and will take all of these off your hands. Throwing chemicals in the trash or down the drain means they might end up back in your water supply and come back to haunt you (see How to Go Green: Water for more).

7.Avoid conventional dry cleaners
Conventional dry cleaners are the largest users of the industrial solvent called Perchloroethylene, or perc, which is toxic to humans and also creates smog. The two most common green drycleaning methods are carbon dioxide cleaning and Green Earth. Seek out cleaners that use green methods. If you do take clothes to conventional cleaners, be sure to air them outside before wearing them or putting them in the closet.

8.Employ a green house cleaning service
For people don’t have the time to clean their own homes, fortunately there are an increasing number of green cleaning services out there to help get things spic and span. If you can’t find one in your area (or their rates are outlandish), call around until you find a service willing to use the products and methods you specify.

9.Leave the toxins at the door
Imagine what’s on your shoes at the end of the day. Bringing that oil, antifreeze, animal waste, particulate pollution, pollen, and who knows what else into the house is not good news, especially for kids and other critters that spend time on floor level. Keep the sidewalk out of your home with a good doormat or a shoeless house policy. Many green buildings now include entryway track-off systems as a means of maintaining a healthy interior environment. Less dirt also means less sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming, which means less work, water, energy, and fewer chemicals.

10.Design with clean in mind
Designing houses and other building with cleanability in mind can create spaces that are cleaner, healthier, and require fewer substances to maintain. In larger buildings, good cleanability can also be a big money-saver as cleaning costs can often add up to as much as half of a building’s total energy costs.

Why not help us extend this list? Share your green cleaning tips and lets make the world a cleaner place without harming it.

Green is the new trend. Every industry is at least trying to convert their procedures to environmentally friendly. One industry that has been investing big to earn the “Eco-Friendly Label” is the cleaning industry with the developments of biodegradable cleaning products and cleaning methods that will keep a place smelling fresh without the toxic effect.

Here at Total Clean we strive to deliver an environmentally friendly office cleaning service by applying cleaning products and methods that are less harmful as possible to the environment.

We also have a great concern for our clients’ homes, reason why every once in a while we publish cleaning tips to help them maintain their houses as fresh and clean as we leave their working place. This time we compiled a list with our top 10 Green Cleaning tips for you to keep your house fresh-smelling without harming your family’s life.

1.Employ green cleaning products
As the health and environmental impacts of conventional cleaning products become more thoroughly understood, more and more brands of healthy, green, and effective cleaning products have started hitting the market and competing for that coveted place of honor under your sink. Many of these products are non-toxic, biodegradable, and made from renewable resources (not petroleum). But if designer labels aren’t for you, home-mixed cleaners can get the job done and then some. Vinegar and baking soda can be used to clean almost anything. Mix in a little warm water with either of these and you’ve got yourself an all-purpose cleaner.

2.Avoid poor indoor air quality
It is not uncommon for the air inside a home or office to be more toxic than the air outside. This is because of the presence of toxic materials and substances and the fact that homes and buildings are better insulated than ever before (which is a good thing from an energy standpoint). Keeping windows open as often as possible allows fresh air in and keeps toxins flowing out. This is especially important when cleaning your home.

3.Be careful with antibacterial cleaners
The antibacterial and antimicrobial ‘cleaners’ that many people think are necessary, especially during cold season, don’t clean hands better than soap and water, and also add to the risk of breeding “super germs,” bacteria that survive the chemical onslaught and have resistant offspring. The FDA has found that antibacterial soaps and hand cleansers do not work better than regular soap and water, and should be avoided.

4.Help your home smell baking soda-licious
Baking soda not only removes those strange smells coming from your fridge, it’s also a great odor-eliminator for your carpet. Just sprinkle on a little baking soda to soak up some of those odors and then vacuum it up.

5.Clean your indoor air naturally
Skip the store-bought air fresheners and instead try boiling cinnamon, cloves, or any other herbs you have a fondness for. Fresh chocolate chip cookies also have been known to create a friendly aroma. Also, plants may not make your house smell different but are good for filtering interior air–pretty much any broad green leaf plant will do. Peace Lilies are a favorite choice.

6.Toss toxic cleaners carefully
When replacing your cleaning products, don’t just throw the old ones in the trash. If they’re too toxic for your home, they won’t be good for the drain or the landfill either. Many communities hold toxics & electronics recycling days and will take all of these off your hands. Throwing chemicals in the trash or down the drain means they might end up back in your water supply and come back to haunt you (see How to Go Green: Water for more).

7.Avoid conventional dry cleaners
Conventional dry cleaners are the largest users of the industrial solvent called Perchloroethylene, or perc, which is toxic to humans and also creates smog. The two most common green drycleaning methods are carbon dioxide cleaning and Green Earth. Seek out cleaners that use green methods. If you do take clothes to conventional cleaners, be sure to air them outside before wearing them or putting them in the closet.

8.Employ a green house cleaning service
For people don’t have the time to clean their own homes, fortunately there are an increasing number of green cleaning services out there to help get things spic and span. If you can’t find one in your area (or their rates are outlandish), call around until you find a service willing to use the products and methods you specify.

9.Leave the toxins at the door
Imagine what’s on your shoes at the end of the day. Bringing that oil, antifreeze, animal waste, particulate pollution, pollen, and who knows what else into the house is not good news, especially for kids and other critters that spend time on floor level. Keep the sidewalk out of your home with a good doormat or a shoeless house policy. Many green buildings now include entryway track-off systems as a means of maintaining a healthy interior environment. Less dirt also means less sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming, which means less work, water, energy, and fewer chemicals.

10.Design with clean in mind
Designing houses and other building with cleanability in mind can create spaces that are cleaner, healthier, and require fewer substances to maintain. In larger buildings, good cleanability can also be a big money-saver as cleaning costs can often add up to as much as half of a building’s total energy costs.

Why not help us extend this list? Share your green cleaning tips and lets make the world a cleaner place without harming it.

When we submit proposals for cleaning commercial accounts we always offer a full package, which includes services like carpet cleaning, hard floor care and window washing. One of the reasons we do this is because these add-on services (or project work as some call it), are specialized services that add a lot of profit to the bottom line.

When we submit these proposals, we know that we can be competitive because we're able to offer the general cleaning at a reduced price. That's because the profit from the project work offsets some of the loss of profit on the general cleaning.

These days, if you just offer general cleaning for commercial cleaning accounts, you may find it difficult to make a profit. That's because it's a very competitive market so you generally need to go in with lower prices; so the only way to make up for the loss of profit is to add additional profitable services.

If we have a prospect who doesn't want any additional services, we go in with a higher general cleaning price. We realize that we may not get the account because of this, but there's no point in taking on a new client who won't add to the bottom line.

Would you agree?  Please post your comments by clicking on the Comments link below.

There are many areas that house cleaners over look when you hire them to clean your home. That is why it is crucial to hire a house keeper with a good knowledge of the house cleaning process. Often times inexperienced house cleaners miss cleaning areas that obviously need to be cleaned.

Baseboards and ceiling fans are often over looked by house keepers. Both of these items tend to collect dust over time. Baseboards are easily missed however they take very little time to clean. Just a quick wipe whit a damp rag as your house cleaner is vacuuming will do the trick. If the baseboards are wood, then the house cleaner should take the time to polish them once a month or so. This will keep them looking nice and shiny. Ceiling fans are easy to keep up with once they have been thoroughly cleaned. A feather duster usually does the trick for weekly cleaning.

Your cleaning lady may also forget to clean your coffee pot and behind your toilet bowl. This is unacceptable, because it is important that these areas be cleaned to prevent the spread of germs! It is important that you communicate with your house cleaning lady that you want these areas clean. It can be helpful to have a house keeper that is fluent in English, so that you can communicate effectively.

Often times door knobs are missed by housekeepers as well. It is important for door knobs to be wiped down with a disinfectant on a regular basis, especially if you have young children. Wiping down the door knobs will remove finger prints from the knobs. Using a disinfectant will help to prevent the spread of germs.

Bathroom mirrors are also one of the things that house cleaning ladies tend to miss or not clean well enough. Bathroom mirrors are best cleaned using a window sprat and brown paper towels. They should be cleaned from top to bottom. Sometimes it is necessary for the cleaning lady to go over the mirror a second time to make sure all toothpaste splatter is removed.

Our service would never leave you will a dull looking bathtub; however many cleaners tend to leave bathtubs dull and gritty. Our service takes pride in leaving a home with a sparkling clean bath tub. We do it right the first time and every time!

Some house cleaners tend to overlook lamps in the bathroom and leave them full of dust and cobwebs. This is ludicrous! It only takes a few minutes to wipe down the lamps and if it is done correctly every time you will never see dust or cobwebs on your lamps.

If you are planning on interviewing house cleaning ladies to clean your home you should check to make sure that they have excellent references. You also want to make sure that the cleaning person is bonded and insured. This will protect you and your belongings while the house keeper is cleaning your house.

If you are looking for a Atlanta Cleaning Lady, don’t hesitate to contact us. We will go above and beyond for you. No neglected areas in your home, I promise.

Solange Andrade is mother of 2 beautiful children. She has been cleaning houses and offices in the Greater Atlanta Area since 1999.
(404) 671-9592 or (404) 551-9979
http://www.ReliableCleaningServices.com Insured + bonded

There are many areas that house cleaners over look when you hire them to clean your home. That is why it is crucial to hire a house keeper with a good knowledge of the house cleaning process. Often times inexperienced house cleaners miss cleaning areas that obviously need to be cleaned.

Baseboards and ceiling fans are often over looked by house keepers. Both of these items tend to collect dust over time. Baseboards are easily missed however they take very little time to clean. Just a quick wipe whit a damp rag as your house cleaner is vacuuming will do the trick. If the baseboards are wood, then the house cleaner should take the time to polish them once a month or so. This will keep them looking nice and shiny. Ceiling fans are easy to keep up with once they have been thoroughly cleaned. A feather duster usually does the trick for weekly cleaning.

Your cleaning lady may also forget to clean your coffee pot and behind your toilet bowl. This is unacceptable, because it is important that these areas be cleaned to prevent the spread of germs! It is important that you communicate with your house cleaning lady that you want these areas clean. It can be helpful to have a house keeper that is fluent in English, so that you can communicate effectively.

Often times door knobs are missed by housekeepers as well. It is important for door knobs to be wiped down with a disinfectant on a regular basis, especially if you have young children. Wiping down the door knobs will remove finger prints from the knobs. Using a disinfectant will help to prevent the spread of germs.

Bathroom mirrors are also one of the things that house cleaning ladies tend to miss or not clean well enough. Bathroom mirrors are best cleaned using a window sprat and brown paper towels. They should be cleaned from top to bottom. Sometimes it is necessary for the cleaning lady to go over the mirror a second time to make sure all toothpaste splatter is removed.

Our service would never leave you will a dull looking bathtub; however many cleaners tend to leave bathtubs dull and gritty. Our service takes pride in leaving a home with a sparkling clean bath tub. We do it right the first time and every time!

Some house cleaners tend to overlook lamps in the bathroom and leave them full of dust and cobwebs. This is ludicrous! It only takes a few minutes to wipe down the lamps and if it is done correctly every time you will never see dust or cobwebs on your lamps.

If you are planning on interviewing house cleaning ladies to clean your home you should check to make sure that they have excellent references. You also want to make sure that the cleaning person is bonded and insured. This will protect you and your belongings while the house keeper is cleaning your house.

If you are looking for a Atlanta Cleaning Lady, don’t hesitate to contact us. We will go above and beyond for you. No neglected areas in your home, I promise.

Solange Andrade is mother of 2 beautiful children. She has been cleaning houses and offices in the Greater Atlanta Area since 1999.
(404) 671-9592 or (404) 551-9979
http://www.ReliableCleaningServices.com Insured + bonded

I can't tell you how many times cleaning business owners tell us about a situation they had with a customer where they had to think up a solution under pressure. In other words, they didn't know how to handle the situation or what to say, so they simply said whatever came to mind to solve the problem quickly.

What happens next is that the cleaning business owner says to himself, "I need to create a policy about that!" Here is an example – a customer that continually asks for more services. To the customer it's just a small request that will only take a few minutes. But as these requests keep adding up, you can feel the profit draining from this account. If you're not prepared for this question, you might agree to do the extra service, but kick yourself for not being prepared with a better solution.

In this example, think about how you should respond to these repeated requests so you are prepared the next time this comes up. For example, you might say, "Yes, I'd be happy to do that for you. Just let me figure out how much time it will take and I'll come up with your new price." Then go get your calculator! (Even if you don't need the calculator, it gets the point across). If the customer was just trying to get free work out of you they'll probably say "never mind". But if it's a service they really want, they'll pay the extra amount.

In this situation, make it clear that this is a service that was not factored into your original price, but you'd be happy to accomodate them from now on at this new rate. This will usually put an end to the repeated requests for additional "free" service.

What other examples can you think of that have you coming up with solutions under pressure? Click on the Comments link below to post your thoughts.