Should You Answer the Phone for Your Cleaning Business?

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Five years ago, my sister Jen and I opened Oak Bay Clean. In year one I answered about 70% of every call that came in. This year I answer roughly 27%, and our revenue is higher than it has ever been. The question I hear most from new owners is whether they should answer the phone for their cleaning business, so I pulled five years of data to give you a straight answer instead of a guess.

Last week I connected our phone system to AI and had it analyze every call we have taken or sent to voicemail since we opened in July 2021, then cross-referenced it against our actual bookings. I wanted to know one thing: if I do not pick up, do people still book online? Here is what the numbers showed, and how to decide what is right for your own business.

Why answering the phone is your edge in year one

When you call a cleaning company as a customer, most of them never pick up. About 70% do not answer on the first try, and only 30% ever call back after a voicemail. Do your own research on this. Call the first ten companies that show up on Google in your city and count how many answer. Unless you are in a very competitive market like New York, where they actually do pick up, I bet you will see the same thing we all do.

So in year one my edge was simple. I answered. The data confirmed that I picked up around 70% of the calls that came in and booked people on the spot while every other company in town let the phone ring out. Someone wanted their house cleaned, and I was the one there to say yes.

What I did not understand yet: not every caller is your ideal client. I thought a call was a call, and since I am decent at sales, I figured I just had to be better than the other companies in town. I was. I was also making some expensive mistakes.

Who actually calls a cleaning company, and who books online

Because we run everything through ConvertLabs, over time I could see who our best clients really were. Our best clients do not want to call. They want to pick a day, pick a time, see the price, and book now. The busy homeowner does not care how the work gets done. She wants the house clean and her evening back. We call her Jordan, and I broke down Jordan versus Nancy here and walked through Jordan's full customer journey here.

The people who call and ask eight questions before they will book are usually a different type altogether. They are comparing prices, they want to negotiate, and many of them want a same-day booking we no longer accept. Their lack of planning is never our emergency today.

What happened when I hired two VAs to answer the phone

Somewhere in years two and three, I convinced my sister we needed two virtual assistants. I was sure more hands on the phones and the leads would mean more revenue. It is also the advice that almost every other business owner with online booking will give you.

We made less money instead of more. My whole day went to managing those two VAs instead of running the business. I was busier than I had ever been, and the business was no better for it. So we looked at the numbers again, gave the VAs two weeks off, and watched what happened. We only get two or three calls a day, five on a busy day. I had been spending all my time trying to fill the VAs' time. When I looked back at how often they even answered the phone, the first VA picked up a little more than 60% of calls in her first year. In her second year, once I added a second VA, the two of them combined answered about 35% of the calls that came in. We run the business with no VAs today.

What a phone call is actually worth

Here are this year's numbers, January 1 to July 15, from our phone system cross-referenced against our actual bookings.

More than half of everyone who called was never going to book. And of the ones who did, most wanted a single one-time clean. Our recurring clients, the ones who keep the whole thing alive, almost always book online.

Why I answer about 27% of calls now, on purpose

Today I answer roughly 27% of our calls, and I am at peace with it. Around 70% of calls from new clients go to our voicemail now, the same as every other cleaning company. Five years in, I finally understand why so many owners let it ring. We do not need more clients who call us.

Our edge now is online booking with transparent pricing, which 95% of cleaning companies still do not offer, and clear onboarding emails that tell every new client what to expect before we show up. The Quo autoresponder handles the only two questions 99% of callers have, how much for my home and when can you come, and sends them to the website. Jen and I keep our free time and our sanity.

The ConvertLabs and Quo links are our affiliate links, so Jen and I earn a fee if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

The number that really explains the growth

We run at 81% recurring revenue. We lose a couple of recurring clients every month, and I have stopped worrying about it, because we keep gaining more than we lose. Revenue climbs while the hours I put into the business keep shrinking.

You can see it across five years. New clients per year barely moved, yet revenue still grew to $2,883,754.

Recurring is the difference. If you focus on the 20% of clients that take up 80% of your time, you will drive yourself mental and decide you need to hire VAs, because you will burn out otherwise. Then you burn out managing the VAs. I have seen this over and over.

Flip the thinking. Focus on the easy, recurring clients with cleaners who show up and get it done. That is the model. It takes patience, and a determination to not let the annoying parts of this business get to you. For more on that shift, read the moment we stopped trying to grow fast and the full five-year story of Oak Bay Clean.

So, should you answer the phone for your cleaning business?

You get to choose how much you grow. In your first year, answer the phone. It is your cheapest edge, and it is how you win the clients and reviews that get you off the ground. As you build online booking, transparent pricing, and a base of recurring clients, you can let more calls go to voicemail and point them to your booking page.

The longer you are in this industry, the more you see there was a reason people do not answer the phone. Build the business your ideal client wants: online booking, upfront pricing, onboarding emails that tell them what to expect. Do that, and the phone stops being your job. You answer it when you feel like it, and you let it ring when you would rather be doing anything else. If you want the software that makes this possible, here is the best cleaning business software for running it, and how to grow a cleaning business without adding hours.

Frequently asked questions

Should I answer every call for my cleaning business?

Not once you are established. In your first year, answering is a genuine edge because about 70% of cleaning companies never pick up. Once you have online booking, transparent pricing, and a base of recurring clients, most calls can go to voicemail with an autoresponder, because your best clients book online and more than half of callers never become clients.

Do cleaning customers book online or call?

Your best clients prefer to book online. They want to choose a day, a time, and a price and book in a few minutes without calling. Callers skew toward price shoppers and one-time jobs. In our own data, 78% of new clients who called booked a single one-time clean, while our recurring clients almost always book online.

Is an answering service worth it for a cleaning business?

Look at what your calls are actually worth first. In our data from 212 answered calls, 56% of callers never became clients and 78% of those who did booked a one-time clean. Before paying someone to answer every call, set up online booking with transparent pricing and an autoresponder that sends callers to your booking page.

What percentage of cleaning company calls go unanswered?

About 70% of cleaning companies do not answer on the first try, and only around 30% call back after a voicemail. Try it yourself by calling the first ten companies that show up on Google in your city.

Should a brand-new cleaning business answer the phone?

Yes. With few reviews and no online booking yet, picking up is your cheapest advantage. Answer, book the client, ask for a review, and use that momentum to build. Answering the phone was the entire edge in our first year.

How do I stop spending all day on the phone for my cleaning business?

Add online booking with transparent pricing, set an autoresponder that answers the two questions callers ask, price and availability, and links to your booking page, then let non-urgent calls go to voicemail. Most cleaning companies get only two or three calls a day, so the phone rarely needs a full-time person.

Do missed calls hurt a cleaning business?

Some one-time work comes in by phone, so you will miss a little. Your recurring clients, the ones who matter most to revenue, almost always book online, so a missed call is rarely a lost ideal client.