Best Practices
After years of helping pros, we have developed a set of suggestions on how to set up your account and interact with clients to maximize success. We like to talk through it like a pyramid. Each thing you do as a professional with your clients builds on the next. We generally recommend working on the bottom, then working your way up. Your business is your business, and your clients are your clients, so you should manage them how you like. However, when we are asked for suggestions, this is what we suggest.
We think of these as the categories where TIDY can help with in your business.
The first thing that many people don't take advantage of is to be bookable for clients. If a client can't book you, they likely won't. Here are the key ways to be bookable and competitive:
- Service Areas - If a client is outside your set service area, they can't book you. Make sure your drive distance covers areas with clients. We typically recommend at least 30 minutes from your home. But you want to be able to sustain business, so you probably don't want over 60 minutes. Some people decide they want to set a low max drive time. This is fine, but typically reduces your clients a lot.
- Schedule - If a client is looking for repeat business, they will probably only look for pros with a regular schedule. So make sure your schedule is open for times they want to book, consistently, each week to get these clients.
- Rates - Make sure you set your rates as competitive, particularly before you have much history. You can always change your rates later. People are willing to pay more for quality pros with a great track record, but want to pay less while you are unproven.
To be successful with clients, we suggest showing up reliably. Many pros suffer from high cancellation rates, or frequent reschedules. If you show up to over 95% of the jobs people book with you, you will be in an elite group of reliable pros, and more clients will want to book you. Here are the top suggestions we recommend to improve your show up rates:
- Keep your Schedule Updated - If your schedule is accurate always, clients will only book on the times you want them. This makes it easier to show up.
- Manage All Clients in TIDY - If you manage all your clients in TIDY, it makes sure your schedule is automatically updated, so clients from one platform can't book over someone else.
- Use Your Team - Many people have teams or backup people to help serve clients when you can't make it. Adding them in TIDY is an easy way to improve reliability.
- Think Long Term - Some pros occasionally have a job that just isn't optimal for them right now. Clients dramatically prefer reliable pros, so by helping clients even who don't make short term sense helps build your reputation and scores. Over time, you can become more picky. But when building your business, being reliable helps build your business.
Some pros only do part of the job. Sometimes a client will book a block of time, for example a 4 hour cleaning. If they book a set amount of time, most clients will want you to stay for the full time. If you ask them to leave early, some will have trouble asking you to stay the full time, and will still give you a negative review later. You can of course do what you like, but just note that a common negative review pros get is "leaving early".
We have our digital to-do list and other tools to help clients express what they want to you. These are just tools for you and your client, and you should use your best judgement with them. We always recommend listening to your clients and their needs. If they ask you to do the bathroom, and you don't do it, then they probably won't ask for you back.
Next, clients typically expect tasks to be performed well. We recommend knowing your craft and continuously learning the tasks involved in the services you provide, to ensure you can do tasks effectively.
Finally, clients love great service. In fact, this can often be the difference between a postiive and negative review. There are many great service touches you can make to ensure your client loves your work. These include:
- Being responsive to them and how they act. If they want to chat a bit, then chat. If they want space, give it.
- If you are having any difficulties, texting and calling them repeatedly to solve the issue.
- Texting them a thank you for their business before you leave.