Just a quick wipe" (and other realtor red flags)

The same approach that still works four years later.

# "Just a quick wipe" (and other realtor red flags)

The same approach that still works four years later.

I have been thinking a lot lately about stages of cleaning business growth , and how much easier it is to know what to focus on when you know which one you're in.

Someone in The Leap ($0 to $10k/month) is trying to fine-tune things they don't have enough data to fine-tune yet. One loud client or one bad day can feel like a signal when it's really just noise. At that stage, the goal is to keep going and collect data. You say yes to most things, find out what the red flags are for your market, your cleaners, your clients, and keep the bookings coming.

Some red flags are universal. "Just a quick wipe" is one of ours. We hear that most from realtors, and it's almost always a booking that comes with panic energy, a last-minute timeline, and no respect for what actually needs to happen to get the job done. Which is funny, because realtors are also how Jen and I got to $10k/month in the first place.

In our first month, we couldn't afford to test paid lead sources or pay for clicks. So we went direct. We found realtors in our city and sent personal, specific emails to each one. Here's the exact copy we used:

Hi (first name),

With spring on the horizon, the demand for reliable, efficient, and easy-to-book cleaning services is higher than ever. That's where we come in:

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We're a locally owned, sister-operated business that believes booking a house cleaning service should be as easy and convenient as online shopping

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Customer service is just as important to us as top-notch cleaning. We've been in your shoes and we understand your needs. Life's busy. Let us make it a little easier.

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Satisfaction Guaranteed. If you're not happy, we'll come back to make it right.

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We communicate honestly and openly. No upsells or hidden pricing.

We'd love to clean your homes and have set up a discount code to give you 15% off your first cleaning: Realtor15

You can see our pricing instantly on our booking page by plugging in bedrooms, bathrooms, and any extras (inside the fridge or oven, for example): oakbayclean.com/book-now/

Give us a call or text at 778-800-2767, or book online in just 60 seconds.

To a busy and productive spring,

Vic and Jen

When we started teaching this approach to others, we said: email 20 realtors a day, make it personal, if you know something about them use it, be genuine.

Somehow that became people buying 5000 person lists off Fiverr and sending the same message to everyone with just the first name swapped out. They wanted to save time and just email them all in one attempt.

Then the posts: "I tried that. It didn't work."

By then their emails were in spam folders and the thing that changed was how little effort went in. The email works. The personal part is not optional.

The first realtor who replied to us was Wendy.

This was our first month in July 2021. Jen and I had launched and we were terrified. We didn't know if our pricing was right, if we understood how long the clean would take, if our cleaner was any good.

We trusted the process because Rohan Gilkes, who taught us, had shown us enough people who'd done it that we believed we'd figure out what we didn't know.

On Wendy's first booking, Jen took herself out for a walk for the entire clean and blasted music to drown out the loop in her head: what if we break something, what if she asks for a refund, what if we get a one-star review, what if someone gets hurt. If you worry like Jen does, you can probably add ten more to that list.

Nothing bad happened.

Here’s a screenshot of Wendy’s first booking with us:

"Oak Bay Clean, and in particular Olivia, did a great job getting a property ready to go on the market on very short notice. My clients and I are grateful and will definitely recommend both Olivia and Oak Bay Clean, in fact, we already have."

Wendy Moreton, Google Review

We put that exact quote into the next round of realtor emails. In our city there are over 1,500 realtors. Wendy is well connected and has been around a long time. When we emailed others like her, some replied: "Oh, I know Wendy!" and booked.

Some of the realtors we found that first month are still working with us today. Some have moved to other cleaners. All of that is fine. They got us to $10k/month.

Here’s our revenue table for context:

Our first month was $1,613. Fourth month, $11,475.

If you're in The Leap phase and the numbers feel small, I want you to look at that table. That's what it actually looks like. The model works, but it works over months, not days, and if you compare your week two to someone else's year three you will drive yourself crazy. Stay in your lane, keep the bookings coming, and fine tune the engine when you reach over $10k/month.

Do something every day. For us that was emailing 20 realtors a day because that's what we had in our energy tanks. For you it might be $500 into Google Ads, or Yelp, or Thumbtack, or flyering your neighbourhood. The specific step matters less than the daily habit of taking one. It never stops. It just changes.

Chris Koerner, a serial entrepreneur I follow, posted something recently that we've been saying in different words for years.

We say it this way: copy, paste, repeat. Success leaves clues. Turn off your entrepreneurial brain. This business doesn't need it.

Your journey is your journey. Use ours to remind yourself that it is, in fact, a journey.

Vic

P.S. What's the thing your brain loops on when you're waiting for something to work? Hit reply and tell me.