This week I had two conversations with readers of Same Day Turn (FYI there are now more than 8,000 of you!)
Jake and Kevin are both at the beginning stages of starting an Airbnb cleaning business. During our calls, questions came up like “Where do you find leads?” “Should I sign up for Turno?” “How much do you pay your cleaners?” all classic questions that you think about before starting.
Those conversations with Jake and Kevin inspired this newsletter - how I would do it all over again from zero.
$0 → $55k per month
Like I said in the subject line, last month we did $55K in revenue. Our net profit for the year has been solid at 31%. Our cleaning business is in a good spot. But it wasn’t always like that. I’ve made a ton of mistakes, lost good customers, lost good cleaners, etc.
Here are a few things I would do if I was back at $0 today.
Build your reputation
If you’re looking for your first few customers, I would not get them on Turno. Turno is a race to the bottom. Hosts who are looking for cleaners are Turno are (a lot of times) price shoppers. They want the cheapest price.
That’s not you!
You’re a premium cleaning company. If you go on Turno, you’ll be competing with solo cleaners who will charge $20 - $30 per hour. In order for you to be profitable, you need to be charging at least $50 - $60 per hour (sometimes more depending on your location).
Here’s what I would do instead.
Go to Facebook and search the Groups section
Look for “Airbnb hosts of (your city)”
Join the group and build relationships
Position yourself as an expert and THE premium option
The magic happens in the DMs. Please don’t join the group and then spam everyone with your business information. Airbnb cleaning is relationship-based. There needs to be a high level of trust.
Build relationships through DMs or coffee chats and when the time is right, offer to be a “backup cleaner”. When the day comes that their cleaner calls out (and they will) you’ll be top of mind because you’ve built a level of trust.
You’re playing the long game and trust me, it pays off.
Know what you’re worth and why you’re different
Anyone can set up a cleaning business. But not everyone is willing to invest in building a 5-star cleaning company. Because anyone with a mop is a “cleaner” you have to set yourself apart.
Here are some of the things we offer our Airbnb hosts that allow us to charge a much higher price than every day cleaners
5-star guarantee
If any guest rates the cleanliness of the property less than 5, we will refund the clean
Quality control checks
The majority of our cleans come with a quality control inspection to ensure 5-star work
Automated scheduling
All our cleans are scheduled automatically with Breezeway. We never miss a clean because it’s fully automatic (say goodbye to Google calendar!)
Supply restocking
For an additional fee, we will track a property’s inventory and purchase supplies when they are running low. Host doesn’t lift a finger
Trash jobs
Our cleaners will make separate trips to the property to take trash bins to the street and back (additional fee).
All these things add up in the mind of the host. All of these things justify our high price which is why we are pacing to do +$600k with 30% net profit margins.
In Summary
The way you succeed in Airbnb cleaning is by standing out. You have to differentiate yourself from all the other cleaners. You have to invest in the systems and processes to provide a quality and premium service.
If you provide a premium service, you can command premium prices. Avoid the trap to compete on price. Create a top notch service and then charge the prices your service deserves.
P.S. - I’m considering setting up a paid community for owners of Airbnb cleaning businesses. But ONLY if people want it. I would do 2-3 weekly webinars with everyone in the community, include all our checklists, processes, systems, etc. and even help train your VAs. If that sounds interesting to you, fill out this form and let me know!
Until next time!
Logan
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