Maria Green decided
to start a maid service business in
July 2005.
She
wondered what skills and training
she’d need to be successful
in her new venture. She decided to
explore a variety of options. It seemed
she had three choices open to her.
First choice: she could join a national
franchise – there were several
possibilities she read about in Entrepreneur
magazine. The second option was to
simply start up, and then learn how
to make the business successful as
she progressed – the trial and
error method. The third option would
be to hire a consultant or trainer
who would teach her what she needed
to know and guide her through the
start up phase of the business. She
considered the advantages and disadvantages
of each approach.
If she joined a franchise,
they would presumably help her get
started by giving her the appropriate
training. She’d heard that a
good franchise organization would
help you learn office and organization
procedures, as well as learn the essential
skills one would need to ensure the
service being provided (house cleaning)
was delivered efficiently. This meant
that the business owner would need
to have enough familiarity with the
fundamentals of cleaning as well as
the ability to train and supervise
others in learning and carrying out
these fundamentals to provide a high-quality
service to clients.
She’d read studies
showing that franchisees had a lower
rate of business failure than people
who went into business using the “go-it-alone”
approach, so she felt this would be
a good path to take. She interviewed
several franchisors, and met some
of the franchisees from a few of the
major maid service franchises. Some
franchisees spoke favorably of their
franchisors, while some others were
not so positive. These disaffected
franchisees generally complained of
the hefty monthly fee they had to
pay; many felt they were not getting
anything in return for the money they
paid. Some complained that the franchisor
demanded additional fees for marketing
and other fees. They felt that these
services should have been included
in the basic royalty fee.
There were some clearly
evident drawbacks to the franchise
option, although there did seem to
be advantages! One drawback was the
initial cost of starting the franchise
– the franchise fee. Another
was the limitation of the territory.
She wasn’t sure exactly how
far she wanted to spread her net in
the New York City area. Williamsburg,
where she’s based, is close
to Brooklyn Heights, a high-end residential
apartment area, but it’s also
close to downtown Manhattan, where
there are pockets of high-end residential
buildings positioned amongst the office
towers of the Wall Street area. There
were, of course, other areas of Brooklyn
which seemed like they would be good
targets for residential cleaning services
– areas such as Greenpoint,
Fort Greene and Park Slope, to name
a few. Each district had a good percentage
of high earning couples inhabiting
apartments, which would need to be
cleaned. Of course, one big drawback
remained the monthly royalty fee she’d
have to pay to the franchise operation
– if she didn’t have to
pay this fee, the money could go towards
providing a more competitive price
to her clients and/or to increasing
profits!
So, the go-it-alone,
learn-by-experience method seemed
to have several advantages: She wouldn’t
need to limit her marketing boundaries,
and she wouldn’t have to lay
out tens of thousands of dollars for
a franchise initially.
However, several friends
and associates, and her accountant
had counseled her not to go it alone
entirely. They saw the need for a
guided approach, a business growth
path which would be guided by someone
who knew the ropes – someone
who’d studied the residential
cleaning industry in depth and knew
of the advantages of doing things
the right way, as well as the perils
of going the wrong route.
She wanted to get her
business going as soon as possible.
But she’d been warned by people
she’d spoken with not to move
too quickly in expanding a new business.
There are many dangers in over-fast
growth – the most significant
one being the possibility of running
out of precious capital, and not leaving
yourself enough working capital to
continue to run day-to-day operations,
meet payroll on a regular basis, pay
the rent, and so on.
After carefully analyzing
the options available, Maria decided
she would take the “self-education”
route. Rather than purchase a costly
franchise, which would limit her to
a particular geographical area, and
commit her to paying a significant
percentage of her monthly earnings
to the franchisor, she decided she
would find someone who would train
her to run a successful cleaning business.
She spent some time
looking around, and finally found
someone who was selling a package
which contained a comprehensive set
of tools and resources which could
be used in starting and developing
a residential cleaning business. The
package included several videos, books,
sample forms and computer software.
It also included a certain amount
of free consulting from an industry
expert.
Maria had also read
some books about starting businesses
in general and she was aware that
she would eventually have to be consciously
concerned with developing, managing
and optimizing four aspects of the
business.
The first covers those
parts of the business involving the
delivery and performance of the service
the company is planning to provide.
She reckoned that it would be important
to provide an excellent service, one
that she would personally feel proud
of. If she was delivering an excellent
service to her clients, they would
be happy and continue to hire her
and, importantly, recommend her service
to their friends. She wanted to use
the “networking” approach
to marketing, as much as possible
– that is, get significant amounts
of new business through recommendations
from existing clients.
Secondly, there existed
the questions of managing the day-to-day
operational organization – that
is, the fundamentals of the day-to-day
business operations. Someone would
have to be fielding calls from prospective
customers, and handling calls from
existing clients – requests
for additional services, complaints,
etc. Then someone would have to be
responsible for managing the cleaning
staff – setting up their schedules,
organizing pay, making sure they know
their schedules, and the details of
what to do and what not to do in each
location.
Some clients would want
special attention paid to specific
areas of their homes or apartments,
some would want the cleaners to avoid
the pets, and so on and so forth.
Third, there would be
the financial aspects of the business
– ensuring the business had
enough capital to get started, and
there would be enough money on hand
to employ and train a few employees
initially when the business was in
startup mode. There would also be
a need for money for all the normal
business expenses – rent of
the offices, telephones, computer
and other technical equipment, payment
of secretarial help, etc.
Fourth, there is marketing
and sales. A concerted effort would
need to be made to ensure new clients
were acquired on an ongoing basis.
She realized that the costs associated
with this aspect of the business could
be considerable. She also recognized
that this would be a critical aspect
of the whole system (the business
as system). She figured it would make
sense to have a significant marketing
budget initially to get the business
started. Somewhere down the road,
it would be necessary to allocate
a certain percentage (to be determined)
of sales each month for ongoing marketing.
The package of items
she purchased through Thoughtful Systems
helped in every aspect of the business.
Firstly, there were several video
tapes and manuals which explained
the proper methodology for cleaning.
She could use the video tapes to train
new employees. It would simply be
a matter of sitting new employees
in front of the TV to watch the videos,
and then testing them to ensure they
had absorbed the essential elements
of the required cleaning tasks. This
would aid efficiency, and save time.
For office organization,
she realized that she needed to hire
someone who would be a reliable backup,
someone who could multitask initially
– speak with the clients, interface
with the employees from time to time,
and manage the paperwork. Of course,
Maria knew that she would have to
do all these tasks herself initially,
but she thought she would be able
to hand certain amounts of the work
to the office person as things got
busier.
As part of the package
she purchased from Thoughtful Systems,
she received a starter version of
the Scheduling Manager, a computer
program designed specifically for
the management of cleaning businesses.
She would be able to upgrade this
software package as her business grew.
This was a valuable plus, as some
other software companies charged a
single fee. She checked up on the
software company, and found out they
had a very good reputation for customer
service, support and training. This
was, of course, important to her.
Having software without training is
like being on the river in a canoe
without a paddle.
This tool – the
computer software – proved to
be an invaluable ingredient in the
development and growth of the business.
It enabled her to systematize all
sorts of tasks that needed to be performed
on a regular basis – daily,
weekly, monthly or annually.
Essentially, she could
enter a great deal of information
about each customer into the software,
including a wealth of detailed information
concerning their cleaning schedules
– including:
• How often the cleaning is
to be performed.
• The charge.
• Method of payment –
credit card, billing, cash, etc.
• Any special details, including:
• The number and type of rooms
in the customer’s residence/location.
• Any special cleaning requirements
– rooms or sections to which
special attention should be paid.
• Start date for the cleaning
contract, as well as end-date (if
any)
• Start and end times for the
job
• List of employees assigned
to the job
• … and much more.
At the end of each day
it would be important to record which
jobs were successfully completed,
and if they were completed, who completed
them, whether the customer had paid
and, if so, the amount and method
of payment used.
She’d also need
an accounting package that would enable
her to print invoices and statements,
track amounts due to her by clients,
provide sales reports, and so on.
She was familiar with Quickbooks,
so a package that was compatible with
Quickbooks would be an advantage.
She knew she wanted
software she could grow with –
as the business grew, she didn’t
want to have to start trading in the
software for a different one –
which would involve having to learn
a whole new system and pay out significant
amounts of money, not just for the
software but for retraining the staff
and establishing new procedures as
well.
She found that Thoughtful’s
Scheduling Manager was easy to learn
and to use. Maria had never felt reticent
about asking questions. She regularly
called the consultant from whom she’d
purchased her start-up package to
ask her advice about one aspect or
another of the business, and she wanted
to be able to get similar support
from the software company.
She’d call frequently
to ask “How do you do this?”,
or “How do you do that?”.
Then, marketing: She
actually found she could give Thoughtful
some ideas, which they adapted and
integrated into the software. Now
it’s a fantastic marketing tool
as well.
Now, four years later,
Maria’s business is flourishing,
despite the recession. She added on
additional services recently, and
she’s moved to new, larger offices
in Williamsburg. She hired a new general
manager, and she’s upgraded
the software several times since she
started. She now has a networkable,
10-user version, with many enhanced
features. Some of the features she
uses regularly are ones she requested
specifically from Thoughtful Systems,
and they programmed specifically for
her. Although there was a nominal
charge for the custom changes she
needed, it was well worth her while,
as all the changes have more than
paid for themselves, whether in terms
of increased efficiency, or better
customer service, or improved marketing
tools.
She feels that the self-education
method was the correct way to go,
and she’d readily recommend
it to others. However, she warns that
it takes a bit more self-discipline
and research in order to use the professionals
you pick well. However, she points
out that this applies when using the
services of any professional –
for example, your lawyer or accountant.
She still spends some time regularly
talking to various experts in the
industry to fine-tune her approach
and procedures to running her very
successful maid service business.
She says she would never have been
able to accomplish the success she
has without the consulting advice,
the software that enabled her to structure
her business operations efficiently,
as well as to perform a variety of
marketing tasks, and the support and
training she received from the people
at Thoughtful Systems.
©
Copyright, Murray Gordon, Murray Gordon
Consulting, 2009
Some
names and places have been changed
in this report, to protect certain
people’s identities.
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