There are thousands of questions asked every day across the cleaning communities worldwide. I can say experientially that the two most frequently asked questions deal with how to clean and pricing. This is no surprise as both of these questions are asked by newer people and the answers come with actual experience in cleaning and making pricing mistakes over time. I didn't have social media communities to ask. I had to learn the hard way through trial and error. It's my firm belief that social media handicaps newer cleaning owners into relying on other people too much. I would prefer if the groups functioned this way.
A new cleaning owner asks a question. They receive an answer that makes sense. They ask a second question. "How did you get that answer?" Now they learn the mindset behind the question and this new person can actually grow to the next level. This new cleaning owner now understands the what, the how, and the why behind their initial question. That is my precise goal with this pricing series. I have learned so many lessons over my two decades as a business owner. I have shared these lessons in over 400 episodes of this podcast for free. In fact, I have found over 10 episodes with messages themed completely around pricing mindset.
In this first 5-part Pricing Mindset Series, I am helping you build a foundational mindset on price and value. This is essential.
1. Pricing Series I – It's Not Your Prices It's Your Process: In last week's episode, I taught the VERY first mindset about price. Price and value are not the same. People pay a price based on that price being less than the value they perceive the item or service is worth. People perceive a value based on the trust they have in the provider of that item or service. Every time someone tells you your prices are too high. They are really saying that I don't value your service and I don't trust you. You must understand this in order to move forward.
2. Pricing Series II – Do You Charge by the Hour: In this episode, I take you back to an article that I wrote for our local cleaning company. It was written FOR our prospective customers in their language so they understood the win-win in accepting a quote by the job instead of an hourly quote. It's vital for YOU to understand WHY to charge by the job and just as vital for your customers. I didn't unpack the YOU part as much in this repeat episode from 2021. So here is a short addition. Charging by the job is the only way to optimize your solo cleaning business. The entire ISO Model hinges upon charging more per client over time, getting faster at every cleaning, and knowing your numbers so you can constantly increase your take-home profits. Charging by the hour removes your ability to do 2 of those 3 aspects to optimizing. You may ask. "What is optimizing? Why do I need that?" Optimizing is the only way to earn a full time income of $60,000+ per year profit without killing your body, having no time to yourself, and having to deal with the drama of employees. If you don't optimize, you BETTER hire and scale. Otherwise, you will be crushed by the weight of your solo cleaning nightmare. Optimizing is the art of becoming more productive, efficient, and profitable. I learned this an engineer and applied it to my cleaning business. Now it's the ISO Model and the foundation for the Solo Elite Membership.
3. Pricing Series III – Blueberry Pie: This episode is one of the most popular I've made. It's a simple story of a blueberry pie door-to-door salesman. I teach what the word value means compared to price. I also show you that a no isn't a rejection of YOU. They simply don't want your pie or your cleaning service. Develop a Go For No Mindset to win.
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