Recurring work is the business
A one-time deep clean or a single spring cleanup pays for the visit. A household on a biweekly clean, an office on a nightly schedule, or a lawn on weekly mowing pays for the truck, the crew and next year. So the question for a cleaning or landscaping company is not only how to get more clients, but how to get more clients on a schedule, close enough together that crews are not driving across the county between stops.
This article applies our guide on how to get more clients to these two trades. Cleaning comes first, then landscaping, then one 30-day plan for both.
How cleaning customers choose
Homeowners search for the job and the town: “house cleaning” plus a town, “move-out cleaning,” “deep cleaning,” “Airbnb turnover cleaning.” They want three things quickly:
- A price signal. A “from” price or a range for a standard clean by home size. A form that says only “request a quote” loses people who wanted a number.
- Trust. Recent reviews that mention the same cleaners and that nothing went missing, whether you bring supplies, and whether you are insured.
- A time. Whether you can come this week, and whether the same team comes each visit.
The first visit is your sales call for the recurring plan. Before the cleaners leave, offer a schedule (weekly, biweekly, monthly) with the price for each, and book the next visit on the spot.
Commercial cleaning is a bid business
Offices, medical and dental practices, gyms and property managers buy differently. They compare bids, ask for references, want proof of insurance and need cleaning after hours. Build a one-page capability sheet with your services, the hours you work, your insurance, three references and a sample scope. Walk the building before you quote. Follow up every bid after two weeks, and ask what the current cleaner is getting wrong; that answer is your proposal.
What to bring to a commercial walkthrough
A facility manager is comparing you with the current cleaner and with two other bidders. Arrive with answers, not questions you could have prepared:
- A scope sheet by area: entry and lobby, offices, restrooms, kitchen or break room, floors, trash and recycling, with the frequency for each (nightly, weekly, monthly).
- Who will be in the building: the crew size, whether the same people come each night, how they are trained, and who holds keys and alarm codes.
- Supplies: whether you supply consumables such as paper and soap, and at what price.
- Quality checks: how often a supervisor inspects, and how the client reports a problem.
- Proof: the insurance certificate, references from similar buildings, and any bonding you carry.
Medical and dental offices may ask about cleaning exam rooms and handling waste. Answer only what you are trained and allowed to do, and ask what the office’s own procedures require.
How landscaping customers choose
Landscaping customers search for the service and the season: “spring cleanup,” “lawn mowing service,” “mulch installation,” “leaf removal,” “snow removal.” They choose on the same signals as cleaning customers (price, reviews, availability), but the decision happens weeks before the work. A homeowner who signs a mowing contract in March is not shopping in May.
Sell packages, not visits:
- Spring startup: cleanup, edging, mulch, first fertilizer.
- Season maintenance: weekly or biweekly mowing, trimming, blowing, with the number of visits stated.
- Fall cleanup: leaves, cutbacks, bed preparation.
- Winter: snow removal, where you offer it, sold before the first storm.
Put each package on your site with a starting price and what is included. In late winter, send last season’s clients the new dates and a sign-up link. In colder regions, including most of New England, the season opens when the ground thaws, so the sign-ups need to be in before then.
Route density: grow street by street
For both trades, a new client two streets from an existing route is worth more than one across town. Use that:
- After a finished job, leave a door hanger or card with the two neighbors on each side, saying you are already on their street on Tuesdays.
- Ask for a yard sign on finished landscaping jobs, where the homeowner and any HOA agree.
- Look at your client map each month and focus referral asks and local group posts on the areas where you already have crews.
Your Google profile as a service-area business
Most cleaners and landscapers go to the customer, so Google’s guidelines say to hide your address and set a service area instead. Use as few categories as needed to describe the core business. Google says complete and accurate information makes a profile more likely to show up in local results, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. List each service, name the towns, add photos of your own work, and reply to each review.
On your website, give each main service its own page, and name the towns you serve in the text. Do not build a page per town with copied text; our article on service area pages explains how to do town pages that are not thin. Our cleaning company website design and landscaping website design pages show the full layout.
Google Local Services Ads covers house cleaning and landscaping, with owner and business checks, state license checks where they apply and general liability insurance listed in the screening, several marked for select users.
Referral sources
- Real estate agents and property managers: move-out cleans, turnovers, yard clean-ups before a listing.
- Short-term rental hosts: turnover cleaning every week and yard work each season. One host with several units can fill a crew’s day.
- Office managers: they know who cleans the building next door and whether it is going well.
- Neighborhood groups on Nextdoor and Facebook: post something useful, such as a spring yard checklist, and follow each group’s rules.
Your 30-day plan
Week 1: Price and profile. Publish a price range for your standard services and your landscaping packages. Set your service area and hide your address on the profile. Upload ten photos of recent work. Ask your last ten clients for a review, the same way.
Week 2: The recurring offer. Write the recurring options and prices on one card or screen your crew lead can show at the end of a first visit. Track how many first-time clients sign up.
Week 3: Routes and referrals. Map your current clients. Do door hangers around your three densest routes. Send your capability sheet or package list to five property managers, agents or rental hosts.
Week 4: Bids and sources. Follow up every open commercial bid. Record where each new client came from and how long your first reply took. Fix the slowest step first.
What it costs with us
A 5-8 page site with a page per service costs from $3,500; a single landing page for a seasonal package costs from $1,200. Texting back missed calls and reminding recurring clients costs from $500 to set up, then from $99/month. Domain and hosting, new photography, third-party software subscriptions such as Jobber or Housecall Pro (billed at cost), SMS carrier registration and message fees are not included. See pricing for details, or ask for a free demo and we will show you how customers see your business today.
Published . Updated .