As stated in my other thread, I am looking to start my own carpet cleaning company. I am not planning on doing this for possibly at least another year, but I want to be ready to the fullest extent when I start this.

The biggest problem I know I am going to have is finding clients. At first I plan on doing this part time because I will have to keep my current job until my business starts making enough for me to quit. Saying that I am thinking of doing commerical clients at first because I can sign contracts with them and do there carpets when I have the time.

When I have enough commercial clients to supplement my current income, I plan on quitting my job and running my business. That will allow me to start residential as well, and then hire 1 or 2 people to assist me.

Right now I am looking for the best marketing ideas, and how I can obtain clients.

Who would be willing to sign contracts to have their carpets cleaned monthly?

Thanks!

Go around to small businesses.

Yeah defintely one of my targets is franchised restaraunts and small businesses. I believe these businesses will be easier to sell my service. Plus with franchises I could possible earn all sites they own.

There's obviously phone book advertising which I think makes sense for your business as well as putting up a simple website to let people know a little more about your business. I get the feeling that word of mouth will be one of the better sources of finding new clients as well as approaching businesses like you are already planning on doing.

It might not happen all at once, but each new client will take you one step closer to going full time.

Since you're going to be competing with some big name companies (Grimefighters, Stanley Steamer, etc) I, too, would target small businesses.

Paychex (payroll company) started targeting businesses with 100 or less employees. Most of their clients have 10 or less employees and some have only one. This was very successful for them.

Starting out small like this may be successful for you as well.

Oh, and think about hirning a partner to go with you right away. Doing work like that by yourself will kill you physically and once you're back or knees are gone, so are you.

I also think doctor's offices - dentists, eye doctors, medical buildings - would be a great idea because these people don't just WANT clean carpets, most of the time they are required by law (or their own sense of hygiene) to maintain certain standards of cleanliness. Carpets included!

Wow some great ideas, the more the better. Never thought of places that might actually be required by law to have their carpets cleaned. Someone else here gave me the idea to contact daycares. I really believe if I hit these businesses really hard with fair pricing and show awesome results it would really make me successful. And the best part is this is just the commercial market.

As far as a partner goes, I would really be interested in doing this but I hate the fact that I would have to split the profits, not to mention it would take away from being "my company." I eventually want to expand into residential and commerical, plus possibly window cleaning and pressure washing. However once I am making enough money to afford it, I hope to have employees plus even an operations manager that can basically run it for me as I move onto possibly another business venture.

Ok, partner was a bad choice of words. Try to find an employee. That way you just pay him/her an hourly wage. You don't have to split profits or anything.

Yeah I defintely plan on doing that. However I am not sure if I should at first or not since I will be doing it part time while I am still at my current job. If I have enough clients though I could do that. I really want to find someone that I know I can trust and has a professional image of himself. That way I can trust them with the equipment by themselves to do jobs when I cannot.
Intead of hourly I was thinking of maybe per job, plus a commission for bringing in new clients. Unless I have enough clients for them to do back to back, then maybe hourly would make sense

1) Apartment Complexes.... The Management Company needs to clean the appartments before renting them again.

Also, They are often a source of "preferred providers" when a tennant needs a service.. See if they'll put your business cards in their lobby

2) Develop a relationship with Real Estate Agents. Especially the ones who represent sellers, as opposed to buyers. A sellers agent is going to make the house they are selling as marketable as possible, and they will often make their clients get their homes professionally cleaned before showing it.

A Great Resource would be to join a BNI Chapter. (Business Networking International) But you'll want to do this once it's your full time job... They don't take part timers. Learn more at www.bni.com