Last Updated on August 11, 2023 by The ZenMaid Team
In every business, there are key numbers that you should know to make sure that you stay profitable and grow. If you know how key numbers work, it makes it easier to track and measure them, which can explode your profits and give you a better understanding of how your business operates.
Numbers such as how much you spend acquiring customers, how much each employee brings in, and how well you convert leads can tell you a lot about what decisions to make to keep your business profitable. This post will go over what marketing numbers you need to know and how knowing these numbers can help you build a more profitable and scalable cleaning business.
How much do you spend to acquire one recurring customer?
Knowing how much it costs you to acquire one customer will tell you approximately how much you need to spend to hit specific goals. Itโll also show you how profitable your marketing campaigns are. But understanding this number doesnโt stop there.
There are two parts to knowing this number. You need to know how much it costs initially to bring someone on as a customer. Then, you need to understand how much youโll have to spend to retain this person as a customer.
What is your customer lifetime value?
Retention is the key to getting the most out of your marketing dollars. To justify how much you spend acquiring one customer, you need to make sure that number doesnโt exceed your customerโs lifetime value. This is the amount that they will pay you over the entire course of their time as your customer.
You should be willing to spend 15-30% of your customers lifetime value on marketing to acquire and retain them as a customer.
How much is too much to get one new recurring customer?
Once you know how much you spend to acquire a recurring customer and your average customer lifetime value, this should tell you whether or not youโre spending too much to reach new customers. If you run into this issue, there are a few things you can do. You can shift your focus to make sure that youโre doing everything you can to retain your existing customers. The marketing shouldnโt stop once youโve acquired a customer.
Then, look at how many customers you need to sustain your desired lifestyle. Decide how much you want to make as an owner to achieve your personal or business goals. If you want to grow, you need to invest in marketing and continue to increase your marketing budget to get more cleaning clients and retain your current customers.
If you realize that you want to run a lean operation, that might mean scaling back on your new customer acquisition strategies and focusing on nurturing your current clients to increase your customer lifetime value.
The lifecycle of your marketing campaigns shouldnโt stop once youโve acquired a customer. You need to market to your existing customer base to retain them as long as possible.
How much do you spend on marketing?
Itโs important to know exactly how much you spend every month on marketing on all of your platforms. Document how many new leads and how many new customers youโre getting from each marketing platform. This will help you understand where your leads are coming from and which source makes the most financial sense for you to continue pursuing.
Conduct an audit to see which platforms are getting you the most of your recurring customers, and put more energy into those platforms. Itโs not worth it to spread your marketing budget thin by investing in platforms that arenโt paying off. Marketing changes so fast, so you need to understand the marketing channels that are the most successful for your maid service.
What is your conversion rate?
What percentage of the people you talk to end up becoming customers? For every person that goes to your website, how many fill out a form, call, or book an appointment? How much does it cost you every time they click your ad? To answer these questions is to understand your conversion rate.
Your conversion rate is one of the key marketing KPIs you need to measure to know how well your marketing works. If youโre spending a lot of money to get leads, but have a very low percentage of leads who actually become paying customers, then there is a gap somewhere in your marketing process.
Having a better understanding of your target audience can help you create more specific messaging to target your ideal clients. This can help increase your conversion rates and make your marketing strategies more profitable.
Who is your target audience?
We know what youโre thinking — this isnโt a number. But knowing who your target audience is will show you how much you can charge, which will inform how much you should be willing to spend. It will also reveal gaps in your branding and messaging and can help you figure out why youโre not closing as many new customers or retaining existing ones.
When marketing to potential customers, you need to make sure your offer is as specific as possible to your target audience. This means knowing details about them that help you understand their buying habits.
For example, itโs important to know how much money they make, what kind of home they live in, if they are single or have a family, and what types of services they are most interested in. Once you have a general understanding of who they are, you can tailor your branding and messaging to appeal to them. Youโll be able to create more specific marketing campaigns that market yourself as a fit for their needs and lifestyle.
For example, if youโre targeting high-end luxury clients, donโt offer discounts or talk about affordability. If youโre marketing yourself as an affordable solution, you need to make sure your prices are as competitive as possible compared to other competitors in your area.
Creating a unique customer avatar and only marketing to this avatar will help you get clients that align with what you offer as a company. When your brand aligns with your target customers, youโll end up with customers who pay more, complain less, and refer you to their friends. Theyโre also more likely to use your service for longer because you understand each other.
How much does each team member bring in?
Lastly, you need to have a solid understanding of how much money each team member brings in. Retaining hire quality team members is just as important as keeping repeat customers. Paul calls this โthe hidden customer.โ
The only way you can scale and grow your maid service is to have team members committed to growing with you. When calculating how much each team member brings in, look at how many houses they clean every month and how much revenue you are making from their clients. Subtract their salary from how much revenue they bring in, and youโll see just how much each team member contributes to your earnings every year.
Then, use this number to create a budget that is solely to spend on recruiting and training to continue to have the best people on your team.
Knowing your numbers and understanding how they contribute to your success can put you in a position to spend only what you can, and invest in smart strategies that will make your maid service more profitable.
About the presenter
Paul Auguste is a cleaning business owner, marketer and has studied directly under marketers such as Billy Gene and Alex Mehr. In this post, youโll learn the numbers Paul thinks every business owner should know to create the most successful and profitable maid service business possible.
This talk first aired at the 2020 Maid Service Success Summit.
The Maid Summit is an annual online event that brings together the most successful leaders in the cleaning industry, like Debbie Sardone, Angela Brown, Courtney Wisely, Amy Caris, Chris Schwab and more. Get free access to masterclasses and workshops that will help you to grow, scale and automate your cleaning business so you can get more leads and create more profit. Make sure youโre on our email list to find out how to get free tickets to the next event.
If you found this article helpful for your maid service, check these out too:
- The Day I Said Goodbye to 9-to-5: My Journey to Starting ZenMaid
- Cleaning Business Supplies: What You Need for Residential and Commercial Cleaning
- How to Market a Cleaning Business: 10 Strategies that Actually Work
- How to start a cleaning business in Kansas
- How to Start a Cleaning Business in Mississippi
