A crucial step to starting or expanding your business is writing a cleaning service business plan. Most of the time, people think a business plan is only required if you need to get financing for your business or need to present the business idea to someone else. The primary purpose of a cleaning service business plan is to create a map that helps determine where your business is and where you’d like to see it go.
Although there are multiple business plan formats and none that are perfect for everyone, there are some key things to consider to make sure that your cleaning service business plan best serves you.
1. Company Description
In this section, describe what your cleaning service business mission, vision, and values are. Go into detail on the problems that your business solves. Identify your target customers and explain why they should choose your services.
2. Market Analysis
Carefully review the other cleaning services in your area, what prices they are charging, what customer base they serve, and where these competitors hit or miss the mark. Understanding who your competitors are and how much market share is out there for the taking will help you position your business effectively.
Read: How to Start a Cleaning Business with Bethany Jean of The Professional Cleaner
3. Legal Structure and Organization
Declare which legal structure will work best for your cleaning service business. Maybe you’ve already decided to be a sole proprietor and take the full burden of the business on yourself. Or perhaps you’ve decided to partner with someone so that you can divide tasks and conquer the market. Maybe you have bigger dreams for your cleaning service business, and you would like to become a corporation with future aspirations to franchise. No matter the size of your organization or the legal structure of your business, you still want to have this information documented.
4. Service Description
Describe what services your cleaning business will provide. After looking at the market, you may want to offer additional services that your competition doesn’t. Include details as to how you decided on the services and how they best serve the market. This is ultimately where you make your value proposition, a clear and compelling statement about the unique value your company brings to the market.
5. Marketing and Sales
A marketing and sales strategy can be simple, especially when just starting out. In this section, note how customers are going to find your cleaning services business and then how you will retain customers. Look at the different channels that customers use to find cleaning services, such as Google search, websites, social media, and friends and family referrals. Start building out your network to get the word out there about your services and implement strategies to make it easier for your information to be found.
6. Financial Projections
This is where you add the dollar amount to your dream. It’s important to create a prospective financial outlook for the next five years. For the first year, make sure to get deep in the details and show quarterly or monthly projections of what you expect to make. Show the cost and the income you expect.
Cleaning service business plans can be difficult because there is no way to know for certain what the future holds. The exciting thing about writing out a plan is that you are documenting your dream of what your cleaning service business will look like. Each year, you get to pull out this documented dream business, see what is working or not working, and add another aspect to your vision to build on it. No matter how you look at it, your cleaning service business plan is just a steppingstone to the next achievement for your cleaning service business.