Smart Cleaning School Ken Carfagno

In this part 5 episode, I sum up the cost and value concepts with an excerpt from the Solo Elite Membership. It's a clip from a membership call that allows you understand the mindset needed to price effectively.

I want to invite you to join the Solo Elite Membership. What is it? It's the only system for solo cleaners to optimize your solo cleaning business to earn six figures  without the drama of employees! Or if you want to earn full time income through part time cleaning without employees. Get access to this game-changing training for only $97 per month or $997 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, live Q&A community calls, access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and more!

 The first lesson of Blueberry Pie covers the 3 types of Buyers:
Those that want your product or service and value it enough to pay what it's worth.Those that want your product or service and do not value it enough to pay what it's worth.Those that don't want nor value your product or service.The sooner you can learn to accept this and focus on finding Buyer #1's, the sooner you will hit your goals. Do you remember how my interview with Marcia Davidson went? I didn't answer her question about the ones that wouldn't pay her prices. They were Buyer #2's.

​The second lesson of Blueberry Pie is the ability to separate the emotional from the logical.

Buyer #1 and #2 will NEVER buy your pie. When they say no, they are not saying no to YOU. They are saying no to your product or service. They are not offending you, judging you, or belittling you. They just don't want what you are offering. Once you accept that, you can gain the confidence to start saying "next". Beth Lane referenced that most solo cleaners (from her point of view) are introverts and empaths. This makes it extra hard for them to accept this second lesson. 

 I was talking with Robert Pierce from my Solo Cleaning School Elite Membership. He's doing amazing. Robert works as a manager at Target and it's been in retail for 25 years. He found me on the Side Hustle Nation Podcast and decided to start a solo cleaning business. Robert understood the value of investing into his new business as he wanted to shortcut years of trying to figure it out himself. He joined the Elite Membership and has subsequently built his solo cleaning business in 6 months to a lean, professional, and profitable company. I was so impressed talking to him as he shared how close he is to achieving his goal and dream of getting out of retail! I was so excited to hear this. We talked about his plan and how many clients and profit he needs to hit this goal.

​The main reason for the call was for strategic coaching. He was taking on 1-time and recurring house cleaning clients, but like me, he wanted to get into commercial more. He had a recent opportunity with a tool & die shop. It was set up like any industrial building. Picture a large steel box with offices in the front and huge warehouse and/or manufacturing space in the back. There's a filthy bathroom in the warehouse area and the office space isn't the most pristine either. These are blue-collar workers, running a useful service to the community. Robert did an estimate for cleaning the offices and warehouse restroom 3 weeks ago with no feedback. He wondered if his prices were too high. Our conversation was excellent and I knew it would help others as well.

Robert gave a very realistic price of $200 per visit. He estimated the job would take 4 hours per visit and he wanted to charge an hourly rate of $50. Thus, he gave a flat rate price of $200 per visit. I agreed with Robert on his method and the price was reasonable for the work he was proposing to do. However, I knew it was overpriced! Listen to what Robert shared next. "Ken, I found out that this facility had a janitor that cleaned prior. I figure he was there for 8 hours to clean the place and made $12 per hour. I'm guessing the tool & die shop paid $100 per day to have their facility cleaned. I'm asking $200. I figured it would be fine since I'm an outside contractor and would be fully insured." Robert already knew why they weren't calling him back. This was all the opening I needed. He is absolutely right at his $200 price is completely reasonable. I taught him that in the Elite Membership. But... there are two angles to come in on a price. One is COST PRICING and the other is VALUE PRICING.


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 There are thousands of questions asked every day across the cleaning communities worldwide. I can say experientially that the two most frequently asked questions deal with how to clean and pricing. This is no surprise as both of these questions are asked by newer people and the answers come with actual experience in cleaning and making pricing mistakes over time. I didn't have social media communities to ask. I had to learn the hard way through trial and error. It's my firm belief that social media handicaps newer cleaning owners into relying on other people too much. I would prefer if the groups functioned this way.

 A new cleaning owner asks a question. They receive an answer that makes sense. They ask a second question. "How did you get that answer?" Now they learn the mindset behind the question and this new person can actually grow to the next level. This new cleaning owner now understands the what, the how, and the why behind their initial question. That is my precise goal with this pricing series. I have learned so many lessons over my two decades as a business owner. I have shared these lessons in over 400 episodes of this podcast for free. In fact, I have found over 10 episodes with messages themed completely around pricing mindset.
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In this first 5-part Pricing Mindset Series, I am helping you build a foundational mindset on price and value. This is essential.

1.      Pricing Series I – It's Not Your Prices It's Your Process: In last week's episode, I taught the VERY first mindset about price. Price and value are not the same. People pay a price based on that price being less than the value they perceive the item or service is worth. People perceive a value based on the trust they have in the provider of that item or service. Every time someone tells you your prices are too high. They are really saying that I don't value your service and I don't trust you. You must understand this in order to move forward.

2.      Pricing Series II – Do You Charge by the Hour: In this episode, I take you back to an article that I wrote for our local cleaning company. It was written FOR our prospective customers in their language so they understood the win-win in accepting a quote by the job instead of an hourly quote. It's vital for YOU to understand WHY to charge by the job and just as vital for your customers. I didn't unpack the YOU part as much in this repeat episode from 2021. So here is a short addition. Charging by the job is the only way to optimize your solo cleaning business. The entire ISO Model hinges upon charging more per client over time, getting faster at every cleaning, and knowing your numbers so you can constantly increase your take-home profits. Charging by the hour removes your ability to do 2 of those 3 aspects to optimizing. You may ask. "What is optimizing? Why do I need that?" Optimizing is the only way to earn a full time income of $60,000+ per year profit without killing your body, having no time to yourself, and having to deal with the drama of employees. If you don't optimize, you BETTER hire and scale. Otherwise, you will be crushed by the weight of your solo cleaning nightmare. Optimizing is the art of becoming more productive, efficient, and profitable. I learned this an engineer and applied it to my cleaning business. Now it's the ISO Model and the foundation for the Solo Elite Membership.

3.      Pricing Series III – Blueberry Pie: This episode is one of the most popular I've made. It's a simple story of a blueberry pie door-to-door salesman. I teach what the word value means compared to price. I also show you that a no isn't a rejection of YOU. They simply don't want your pie or your cleaning service. Develop a Go For No Mindset to win.

4.     

 ​I shared this exact post in a free Facebook cleaning group and thought it valuable enough to include on the podcast. Here's the post.

I'm new to this group but not to cleaning. I love this industry and helping newbies. I see pricing posts all the time and wanted to share some insights that I just shared with another member on her private question. The question goes something like this... "Is this price too high, too low? "People are so cheap. How do I get them to value what I do as a professional cleaner?" Here's my response that will help you overcome these pricing objections. It's not your price. It's your process. When people ask for price first and quibble over price first, one of two things is happening psychologically. 
They don't trust you yet. SOLUTION - Remove your price list first. Don't lead with that. Lead with YOU. Lead with your unique solution to the community. Lead with your personality. Lead with how your service will make their lives better. This builds trust. The price question will come up, but not right away. In my experience, my best and highest-paying clients didn't even ask about price until the end of a phone call or in-person meeting. They were so excited to get their problem solved through my service.They don't respect cleaning as a craft or field of expertise and are treating it like shopping around for the cheapest widget. SOLUTION - Either EDUCATE these people through your content (Google, FB, website, blog, in-person presentations) or AVOID them to find better clients. They are easy to identify! There is an abundance of potential clients that want a professional cleaning service that solves their problems.It's nice to be here. I pray that speaks to you. This is good for solos to hear as they consider scaling or those already doing it.
 
This post was well received with many exclamation points in agreement. I want you to study the 2 reasons you are struggling with  cheap prospects. Have you dealt with each scenario? How did you deal with them? Did you try to appease or lower your prices? Did you get mad and complain to someone on Facebook? Did you learn what you could from the scenarios and become a stronger business owner? Do you realize that knowing who you don't want is many times more valuable than knowing who you do want?

Are you struggling with pricing and cheap clients? Would you like to find the best ones that appreciate you and pay your prices? You need the ISO Model and the Solo Elite Membership! You can optimize your solo cleaning business to earn over $50,000 profit cleaning less than 20 hours per week without employees or subs or drama! Get access to this game-changing training for only $57 per month or $597 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com/elite. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, plus access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and additional courses at 50% off! You can also sample the membership with our brand new "Backstage Pass", which is found at smartcleaningschool.com.


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 In early 2020, I was a brand new podcaster and member of my local chamber of commerce. My solo cleaning business was not making us much money and the pandemic was mere weeks away. That all changed with one breakfast with Ken Byler when he taught me the mindset to "Get a Name for Doing". I highly recommend listening to this original 2020 podcast to get a sense of where I was mentally at this point.

I didn't just sit on that advice. I took action right away. Fast forward to 2024. Last week, I was asked to speak at a chamber event for new member orientation. My topic was to share this advice I got from Ken Byler and how it helped me. I stood in front of the room as the 2023 Small Business of the Year award winner. Our local company, C3, has tripled in the last 2 ½ years. Our family was able to go to Florida the past two Februarys. I can attribute so much of this success to Ken's advice and my action.

This podcast is the recording of my chamber talk and serves as a follow-up to my 2020 episode. You'll notice the slight title change from "get" to "got". I now have a name for doing in my community. I also want to stress the value of you joining your local chamber and following this advice especially if you plan to serve commercial.

Would you like to get a name for doing? If you answered yes and you want to optimize your solo cleaning business to earn six figures  without the drama of employees! Or if you want to earn full time income through part time cleaning without employees. Get access to this game-changing training for only $97 per month or $997 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, live Q&A community calls, access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and more!