Turning COVID-19 Cancellations into Work - Part 1

COVID-19 is shaking the world.

But you already knew that.

Not only is the Coronavirus shutting down schools, gyms, public places, etc., but it is also closing down offices and businesses. This pandemic is shaking the cleaning industry as well. Which seems surprising, shouldn’t we need to clean now more than ever?

Yes, we do.

Many are afraid of the Coronavirus especially when it means bringing someone close to their home, maybe their kids, or their older loved ones. Enough so that they are shying away from work, even calling to cancel routine cleans by people they have known for years. How a window cleaner turned around his cancellations into more work
We’ve been talking to some of our customers who have been coming in to our office consistently the last few weeks.

Here’s how a window cleaner in NJ has managed to retain many of his current work who had called to cancel.

He had begun to receive call after call with customers looking to cancel their regular work. Even long term customers he had a great relationship for years were beginning to cancel. He was surprised, yet understanding. He knew there was something he had to do.

After hearing updates from the CDC about sanitizing and which chemicals were listed as effective against COVID-19. He made several changes to his offering.

He started to carry SH in his bucket and sanitize the surfaces he was already cleaning along the way. He would add in the frequently touched areas like door knobs and entry ways. He included kitchen surfaces into his service. He added this into his offering in a similar way others have done in the past with cleaning mirrors, or chandeliers, etc. This became part of new offering.

He changed his message. He went from cleaning, to cleaning and sanitizing your building. This turned his calls around from cancellations to essential work. His customers responded incredibly well and he was able to keep most of his work. His service is now a full cleaning and sanitation of the building. How do I incorporate this into my business?1) Investigate where essential services and companies are operating. Target them as customers. They need cleaning and sanitizing more than ever.

What Sectors are identified as essential critical infrastructure:

Healthcare/Public Health
Law Enforcement, Public Safety, First Responders
Food and
Agriculture
Energy
Water and Waste water
Transportation and Logistics
Public Works
Communications and Information Technology
Here is the full list of each sector in more detail.

2) Pivot your offerings. We are already cleaning surfaces, add in sanitation as an essential step to to your process.

3) Update your message. Include your new offerings in your message to your customers. We will sanitize your surfaces, inside and out. Explain the differences in cleaning and sanitizing and what you will do to sanitize their building.

4) Carry SH with you. Bring it along to the job, add it to your bucket.

If you haven’t seen our last two emails, here’s a blog on them both. They help provide important information on these topics.

Critical Infrastructure Guide
Cleaning and Sanitizing with Bleach (SH)