Smarten up your act with CRM technology

The overall cleaning industry contributed over £24 billion to the UK economy last year according to figures released by the British Cleaning Council. 

It’s big business right now and competition is fierce. 

Whether commercial or domestic, cleaning companies need to differentiate in terms of services and the customer experience in order to survive and scale in this cluttered but growing market. 

How CRM software can bolster growth

Relationships with customers, prospects, partners, suppliers and employees sit right at the heart of business success, so it’s essential to find the right technology solution to help manage them effectively.

A customer relationship management (CRM) system will automatically collect key information for each client or prospect, creating one big picture of customer relationships, sales opportunities, performance reports, daily task assignment and even staff rotas and cleaning audit outcomes. Critically, all this information can also be accessible to both the cleaning workforce and sales team 24/7 from a mobile device. 

Sales pipeline

A CRM solution will show cleaning providers their sales pipeline at a glance, so they can see exactly where their future revenue is sitting and, critically, what daily and weekly tasks are needed to nurture each sale opportunity.

Automation features allow cleaning companies to follow the same process each time a given action occurs. For example, whenever they sign up a new customer or record a hot lead from an event, a CRM system can trigger automatic welcome emails or an invitation to a follow up meeting.

Cleaning team management

When clients feedback on their cleaning preferences, it’s much easier to store the information in one place that’s accessible by all.  As most CRMs have a mobile app, if feedback is given directly to your cleaners, they can record it directly into the CRM using their phone or iPad, leaving clear instructions on any relevant tasks for the central team to follow up on.

Instead of manually making a note of any client issues and bringing them into the office to be actioned, supervisors can now enter notes from inspections, view previous client history and send site audit reports directly to the client and management from the client site.  A CRM will therefore provide a clear process for accurately tracking the status of an issue from identification to resolution. 

A cleaning company may set high initial standards but it can be difficult to maintain that level of quality across multiple clients. A CRM app can give your cleaners a clear framework to follow for each client or a detailed step-by-step process to follow, helping you maintain a consistent level of service across all your accounts.

If a client decides they want to use a different cleaner, or any of the team are unavailable to work, having all customer preferences and details in one central place also makes it much easier to brief in to a replacement employee.

Data-driven marketing 

Through integration with email distribution software platforms like Mailchimp or Marketo, CRM-powered marketing campaigns can play a pivotal role in winning back lapsed customers - and making existing ones spend more. 

Cleaning companies can use the detailed client information captured by a CRM system to segment customers, so marketing content can be tailored to their specific needs.

Emails promoting the right kind of seasonal deals and offers can be sent using customer knowledge held centrally within the CRM.  When a client is due to relocate, for example, or is approaching the end of a tenancy, a special 'office deep clean' offer could be sent.

Reminders can also be set up to alert a cleaning provider when an annual or bi-annual clean is due a month in advance, allowing them to assign a response team in good time.

Automated prompts can be set up within a CRM for recurring tasks, or reminders to get in touch before a business calendar opportunity - such as budget reviews, the major cleaning shows or contracts up for renewal. 

Customer insights

The results from incentivised customer surveys can easily be recorded in a CRM to better understand evolving client demands and tailor packages or improve standards accordingly.   

They can identify what is being done well - and what isn’t - or to confirm, for example, whether a prospect is more interested in bottom line savings than eco credentials for future marketing campaigns.