A house cleaning business is based on trust… after all, you’re in private homes surrounded by the possessions and irreplaceable items your clients can’t live without.
For this reason alone, the easiest way to attract people to your business is when you’re out and about in your city. There’s no faster way to introduce yourself and build instant trust than with a house cleaning business card.
Grocery lines are a gold mine for starting conversations (and handing out business cards). Indeed, this is one of the most accessible times to start a conversation with someone else waiting to pay for their groceries. You could start a short conversation by stating, “I’m buying supplies for a business I run. Busy time of year!” This is a good starter for the other person to ask you what type of business you have.
The person checking out your food may be interested in side work or even finding a new job. A natural conversation starter would be, “How long have you worked here?” You could follow up their response with, “Would you be interested in additional work?”
Both of these scenarios is the perfect time to hand them your business card as you say, “Call me!” Even in the age of smartphones, house cleaning business cards are a faster way of exchanging information than menu diving on your mobile device.
When you hand them your house cleaning business card, they’re bound to find it later, rattling around in their purse or stuffed into a shirt pocket.
They’ll instantly remember your conversation. If you did everything right, you could be getting a call for new client or a new employee.
Even if your new acquaintance doesn’t need cleaning, maybe they know someone who does. It could be their neighbor, relative, or friend. Imagine all the missed opportunities if you’re not handing out business cards for your house cleaning business.
Why Business Cards Are Better Than a Brochure
Handing out a house cleaning business card is more subtle than handing out a brochure to people you don’t know. Think of a brochure as a direct pitch – the business card for your cleaning services is the soft pitch.
People are used to making the mental connection between a business card and a contact. Business cards are an acceptable form of introduction in personal situations. Conversely, a brochure makes people cringe, as it’s associated with a sales pitch.
Any place you frequent for personal and business… the local store, a trade show, networking groups, medical appointments… is a marketing opportunity for you to expand your brand.
Discover Why Business Cards Still Matter – Click Here
Hone Your Elevator Pitch
Every good marketing campaign needs a good pitch and a better close. When you’re networking, this is referred to as your elevator pitch. It should be short and succinctly explain what you do and why someone should care. You typically only have up to ~10 seconds to get your pitch across. Here’s what you need to know:
I recommend having a standard pitch for those people you meet when you’re running errands around town and a different pitch for when you’re in networking groups.
Once you develop a pitch and start making it, you’ll find all sorts of scenarios where a variation would be good. Do enough pitching, and you can cobble a pitch together on the fly. Until then, have one or two standard pitches to use when you are out and about.
Click Here for the 7 Steps for Writing a Powerful Elevator Pitch.
Download my free Elevator Pitch Worksheet to start attracting new customers for your house cleaning business as you meet new people around town!
Once you have a good pitch, you need a good close – and that’s your house cleaning business card.
The business card provides all the information people need.
This allows you to focus on building relationships (as opposed to selling) in social situations.
All you need to say is, “Call me – I have a few openings in my schedule and could get you in.”
This does two things – it nudges them towards a specific action and implies that you get booked up quickly. Scarcity is a strong trigger for action.
Another way to pitch your close (after handing them your house cleaning business card) is to say, “Give me a call if you’re interested in a free quote.” This also leaves them with an incentive to call. It captures their attention if they wonder how much a house cleaning service costs.
How to Design an Effective House Cleaning Business Card
You can quickly, easily, and for a low cost order your house cleaning business cards online through Vistaprint, GotPrint, or MOO. If you are in a local networking group, someone in your group may have a lead on a local print service you can contact for a quote.
A simple business card for your house cleaning business could be as easy as this if you’re targeting busy families:
If you’re interested in upgrading your business cards or ordering for the first time, there are some basic principles and elements of design you should consider.
Use Visual Design to Create Order
You’ll need to design a house cleaning business card that can grasp attention without being confusing. The brain likes order and actually prefers organization in sets of three. If the brain gets confused, your carefully designed business card will be meaningless to the people reading it.
Elements of Cleaning Service Business Cards
Business cards for house cleaning companies have three main elements: the heading, middle and lower torso. Therefore, you have three sections to tell your story. There are the traditional methods of plotting basic information into these sections, but to get more attention for your card, be unique with your card layout.
Keep it Simple
Even though you have three main sections to tell your story, stay focused by listing only the most important information. That means you’re going to have to write a business benefit or problem that will capture their attention and hold it. Remember, people don’t want to know what you’re selling as much as they want to know how it will benefit them. This is what gets your prospect’s attention and makes them want to call you.
Be Unique
You don’t want to be the same as everybody else, you want to STAND OUT from them. It’s called your USP or Unique Selling Position. People do business with people, not a product or name.
Less is More
Take a minimal approach, especially in the small spaces of a business card. Just because you can select from many colors and shadings, you still need to keep it to one or two colors; and definitely not more than three.
Include Your Website and Social Media
You don’t need to use your business card to relay everything about your business. This is what your website and social media accounts are for. Thus, you just need to tell them where to go to get more information.
Use Both Sides of the Card
Also consider using the back of the card for a special offer. This could be a new customer special, it could be a discount that is good for a limited time – in this case leave a spot open for you to write in the date, it could even be a multiple discount for ongoing service.
Don’t waste this space as it is a valuable marketing tool – it’s an added incentive for someone to call.
Use One, at Most Two Fonts
Unless you have design training, when it comes to font selection, keep it simple. Choose a font and vary the size, using not more than three different sizes. New Times Roman is great for newsprint but not great for selling. Choose something easier the brain can handle like Ariel, Tahoma or Verdana.
Spell Check Everything
One of the most important things you can do for your success. People expect immaculate spelling on house cleaning business cards. Grammatical errors and spelling mistakes will ruin any trust or credibility you earned during the conversation leading up to handing out your house cleaning business card.
How to Order Cards Online
Your order form will have pre-defined spaces for your business name, your name, phone number, etc. This is only a guideline for the information you may want to enter. You DO NOT have to enter your data in these pre-defined spaces. To be unique, you can enter your benefit in the area they define as your business name. Usually this is larger and in bold print. A benefit or problem makes more sense in this larger print area than your business name that people don’t recognize! Remember – people are attracted to the benefit, not your business name.
If you want to learn the details of how to create a winning house cleaning business card design, check out our article on the topic.
Consider Ordering Business Cards for Your Employees
Consider having a separate house cleaning business card supply for your workers. This is a good way for them to spread the word about your service when they’re working in a neighborhood. Don’t include a name on the card – just your business information. All you need to put is, “Call for a FREE Estimate.”
Having unique and well-designed business cards to distribute locally sells you as a professional cleaning business and provides a way for you to sell your services wherever you are. They are low-cost, easy to order, and may help you grow your new business faster and cheaper than other advertising methods.
If you want to learn more about marketing your house cleaning service, check out our comprehensive guide on starting a successful house cleaning business. We cover everything you need to know to start and run a thriving cleaning service.
One reply on “Why You Need House Cleaning Business Cards”
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