“A million pounds in profit. After tax.”
- Andrew Lynch
That’s how important a niche is for your cleaning business.
Once you identified the right market for your cleaning business, niching down and committing to that niche will make you far more money.
You want your cleaning business to be ‘the cleaning business’ that services ‘this type of person’ or solves ‘this type of problem’.
I connected with Andrew Lynch on Twitter. He spent 3 years working in the finance department of a boutique facilities management business that focused on cleaning, security, and maintenance.
Andrew shared this blog post with me. It provided a fascinating insight into how he helped to create £4m of wealth for the business.
It also highlights the importance of choosing a niche.
“The big thing for that company was being very clear on their niche — we targeted high-end corporate offices only. (We) concentrated on people for whom experience and quality are more important than price.”
The business became more strategic in which contracts to bid for rather than chasing any opportunity they came across.
The result was that a business worth around £60K when he joined was worth around £3.3m when he left.
The Riches are in the Niches.
Here are 5 concepts to help you clarify the niche for your cleaning business:
- Any niche is better than no niche. A niche makes everything easier
- What service(s) to provide
- Who to target
- How to promote
- What to sell
- How to measure progress
2. A niche creates a context that makes your cleaning service more likely to appeal to the right people.
In test screenings, a movie scores better when the audience is told the genre of the movie before seeing it.
Because it gives them context.
A defined niche will do the same for your cleaning business.
3. Your niche is rooted in your "ideal" customer.
It's not your "only" customer.
Don't hesitate to focus on a niche because you worry it will limit your cleaning business.
It won't.
Defining who you most want to serve simply makes you more likely to attract the right customers.
4. By definition, every niche is small and focused.
There are lots of general cleaning businesses in the market.
Unfortunately, when you talk to everybody you talk to nobody.
Your niche should be specific.
Your cleaning business should provide a particular kind of cleaning service that appeals to a small, specialised segment of the market.
It helps you better understand your ideal customer and create a compelling service offer for them.
5. Use the 80/20 Principle to define your niche.
Andrew identified which existing contracts were the most profitable for the business. High-end corporate offices.
They knew that the rest of their existing contracts “could keep the lights on”.
So they targeted more of these types of contracts without focusing on other opportunities. It was these niche contracts that added to the top line of the business.
Andrew’s example proves that clarifying a niche for your cleaning business will increase profitability.
It allows you to provide a service solution that is much more valuable to your niche.
Bigger value = More money