7 things you can do in your cleaning company right now to hit the ground running after this pandemic

Seriously, what day is it? The days are blending together to the point where when my (hero) girlfriend gets home from working at the hospital and asks 'how was your day?', I simply respond with 'I don't know.'

So many of us are feeling this way through this COVID-19 situation and without an end in sight it makes everything feel very uncertain.

However, one thing is certain.

This will end.

It has to, these things always do.

I put a video out a little while ago about how we have been gifted time and I still believe that. But, how should you be spending your time right now in your cleaning company?

What's the absolute best way to make use of this time?

Here's a promise for you - whatever you do now, will have a huge impact on what happens the other side of this pandemic.

There will be a massive amount of opportunity out there after all of this - it's up to you to be in a position to seize it.

Here are 7 things that you must do now to be on the forefront of this opportunity on the other side of COVID-19:

1. Review your processes. What does this actually mean though? Everyone talks about processes! It means this - analyse the way that your business does everything. From the first interaction with a lead to the final call where you close the business. From the moment a candidate shows up at your premises for an interview to them being hired into your company. Look for things that aren't congruent with how you want to run your company, look for ways to save time, to save money and look for ways to improve upon these things.
2. Get better at cleaning. The single biggest thing that will limit your growth is the quality of the service that you provide. No amount of sales funnels, marketing campaigns, coaching sessions, courses, seminars, processes and systems will make up for bad cleaning. Look at all of the complaints that you've received in recent memory and take MASSIVE ACTION in fixing it. Does this mean introducing a new way of training your staff? Does it mean investing in better cleaning equipment? Does it mean monitoring sites more closely? The focus must be on how you can improve what you do.
3. Prospect. "people aren't buying at the moment", "people aren't interested", "people aren't around to talk to". I've heard all of this chatter and quite honestly, it's a load of rubbish. Start prospecting now - reach out to people that may be interested. It can take between 5-12 touch points to close a deal so remember that by starting now you're setting yourself up to close more deals more quickly in the future. If you don't continue reaching out to people now then you will lose out to the businesses in your area that are. Don't fall behind!
4. Update your website and start working on your SEO. I've spoken to many people recently who have told me that they need to update their website. Well, what are you waiting for? If you don't get this sorted now then it means that you're going to miss the many many people searching for cleaners via Google on the other side of this pandemic! This goes for your SEO too. It can take time to start increasing your rank, so the best time to start this was yesterday! In terms of your website itself, make sure that you're really focusing your attention on optimising it for conversion. There's no point in driving loads of traffic to a poorly created website that will lead to low conversion.
5. Set goals. Someone told me recently that they don't set goals because they don't want to put pressure on themselves. The whole point of goals is to create pressure, to give you a push and to give you direction. Setting goals for your company is essential to growth. How are you supposed to know what strategy to put in place if you don't know what you're trying to reach? What's the point of shooting an arrow without a target? Take this time now to set yourself some goals to reach in these areas: revenue, gross profit, net profit, customer satisfaction, staff satisfaction and retention.
6. Become an expert. COVID-19 won't last forever, but we will all be feeling the effects of it for a long time to come. Businesses will speak about it for a long time to come too so become the expert. Learn all there is to know about the disease, how to stop it, what cleaning agents work best, what you need to do to contain it etc. While you're at it, learn everything there is to know about all the different types of bacteria and diseases - make sure that your clients see you as the person with the most knowledge so that they trust you even deeper and will stick with you no matter what because leaving you could mean risking their health.
7. Relax. If you have down time then use it wisely. This means working on the business, sure, but it also means to take the time to truly unwind, spend it with loved ones, take time for yourself and to make sure that you're prepared mentally and physically for the rush on the other side of this. Don't burn yourself out at this stage and find that you have nothing left for when this calms down. Take your time to rest and recharge. The cleaning industry can be tough so make sure that you have the energy to last!

As an extra bonus suggestion, invest in yourself. Take the time to look at what you need to become a better leader, a better salesman, a better businessman; a better version of yourself. There are courses, programs and coaches that can help you.

And if you need someone who knows the cleaning industry like the back of their hand, I can point you in the direction of a great coach.