How to Create a Trustworthy Cleaning Brand (Even if You’ve Messed Up)

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Introduction

Hello everyone. Welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. I am your host, Stephanie from Serene Clean, and in today’s episode, we’re talking about branding, and we’re talking about naked cleaning guys. If I have your attention, keep listening.

No, it’s not something that I would be considering, spoiler alert, if that’s what you were wondering, but it is something that is top of mind in relation to our brands and our reputations and the actions that we take in our cleaning companies.

The Inspiration Behind Today’s Topic

The reason I’m even recording this, this was not planned, but yesterday I watched just an amazing video from Leila Hormozi. You guys know I am so inspired by her, and the video was all about rebranding yourself and reinventing yourself.

I’m going to extrapolate a lot of those lessons to something else I saw yesterday, which was in one of the cleaning groups on Facebook, which it was not the ZenMaid Mastermind, which is the best one. It was in another one. A lot of people jumped on it, and I thought it was really interesting reading all of the comments. It was someone broaching the topic of topless cleaning, naughty cleaning, sexy cleaning, whatever you want to call it.

The Reality of “Naughty Cleaning” in the Industry

This exists. This exists in our industry, and it’s not something probably ever talked about, but it’s really important from the topic of branding. I want to bring an example that Leila took from her video and relate these two things, and why consistency 100% of the time is so vital when it comes to our reputation, and that one mistake or one poor choice can irrevocably change how people perceive you.

We may think, “Oh, it doesn’t matter what people think.” Are you freaking kidding me? For running a business, it really does – that’s actually 100% what matters is what people think, in a lot of ways, about the right things. Of course, you know, but for real, we cannot exist if public view of our business or of us is negative. It’s not going to happen, or it’s not going to be really successful, and it’s really hard to right that ship when it’s wronged.

The Faithfulness Example

The example that Leila gave when it came to this topic was, if your partner is faithful 364 days of the year, but on that 365th day they cheat, and they do this once a year, all of a sudden, are they not faithful anymore? Yes, they’re not. They’re not faithful anymore, and even though they were perfect 99.9% of the time, it’s all gone. All of that’s gone because of that one thing.

That reminds me so much of this naughty cleaning, sexy cleaning, and I am all for “Go get that bag girl, go get that bag boy. Get your bag.” But you need to be ready and willing to take on the consequences to your brand from getting that bag, from choosing that route.

Brand Consequences of Your Choices

It’s definitely something I’ve joked about internally in my company, like, “Oh, if we ran the wrong business, we could make so much more money.” But would I ever consider that? Absolutely not, absolutely not, not just from a safety perspective, but from a brand perspective, and what that would do to destroy your reputation.

Even if you just did that once, or you just did it for a few clients or whatever, and 99% of your cleaning services were normal, fully clothed professional cleaning services, that doesn’t matter. You’ve now tinged the water, you’ve poisoned the water, if you will, with something that all of your clients are most likely going to see in a negative connotation, because they will feel they can’t trust you in their home.

I’m not here to judge morality or anything like that. That’s not what this is at all. Honestly, consenting adults doing what they want – I’m all for that. All for it. However, when it comes to business and brand, you can’t be upset when people see it how they see it.

The Market Reality

This is an extreme example, right? If you’re going to do that, just know that most likely, most homeowners and the decision makers in the home, when it comes to cleaning services – the woman is not going to be okay with you doing this or knowing that you do this and inviting you into their home around their husband, around their sons, whatever. That’s a whole other moral story that I’m not going to get into. Again, this isn’t about morality. This is about brand.

Your brand would probably not survive the hit that would take, unless you want to just go full-on with “This is what we’re doing. We are a naughty cleaning service. We are a sexy cleaning service.” Okay, then go do that, right? And again, that’s your brand.

Reflection on Brand Inconsistency

I just am wanting you guys to reflect. This is an extreme example, but what else? What other behaviors in our business are actually screaming against the brand that we proclaim that we want, the reputation that we want?

Specifically, I want you guys to reflect on the biggest problem when it comes to our brands as cleaning business owners: inconsistency. We can sometimes knock it out of the park and sometimes we can’t. And I’m not just talking about the actual cleaning quality itself. I’m talking about everything, every interaction with your clients, with your cleaning staff, with your community. Are they consistent, or are they all across the board?

I really want you to take a minute and think about examples where you have not been consistent, because what Leila says in her video is just so true: we don’t get to say what we want our brand to be. It’s in our actions. Our actions create our brand. Our actions create our reputation. And poor actions that go against what we say we value and say that we want – that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter what you say.

The Empty Word “Quality”

I bring this word up a lot – quality cleaning. There’s a reason I honestly try not to use it in my marketing, because it means nothing. Every person who cleans says that they do a quality cleaning, and that’s not true. Obviously, we’ve all seen our competitors’ work, if you know what I mean.

If everybody says it, then that word means nothing anymore. It’s only the actions that can speak. It’s only in consistency can we establish the true definition of that word quality. And so I always think, how can we showcase what the word quality means without even having to speak it?

I want our actions to speak for themselves. I want when people interact with Serene Clean, it is slapped across their face that this is a professional, established, caring, competent company, and they are going to be blown away by the results.

The Power of Reputation

It made me feel really good – I was clicking on Google My Business, and you click on reviews, there’s now an AI overview of your review, so anybody can click and get the synopsis of your reviews. That was like, “Oh, was that an ego stroke” reading that yesterday.

The word that showed up in that description, all of these things – friendly, detail-oriented, all of these, professional company – but the word “spectacular” showed up in that AI overview. That made me feel so good, like people think that we are spectacular. And is that not brand right there? That’s not me, the owner, saying something. It is the reputation of Serene Clean being spectacular. I’m really, really proud of that, because that’s exactly what I want, what I’ve worked so hard for.

Your Internal Brand Matters Too

Additionally, from an internal perspective, what is your reputation as an owner, to your team, to anybody who interacts with you internally? What is that reputation? Is it spectacular? Is it “she’s really moody, don’t catch her on a bad day”? Is it “she plays favorites with them, and she lets them get away with things”? Is it “the standards just depend on how she’s feeling or which client it is, they get preferential treatment”?

All of these things are referencing inconsistency, and that’s why I’m kind of hammering in on consistency here, guys, because I think it is truly the most vital aspect of success in our business – that we can show up and be consistent, consistently good.

The Client Experience with Inconsistency

I feel that overall, that is what people are frustrated with with poor cleaning services. Oftentimes they can nail it the first time or every fourth time it’s good. That doesn’t matter if every other time there is something that the client finds that they have to share – they’re going to drop you. They’re going to find somebody else who, even if they’re not as good some of the time, but they’re decent all of the time. That’s still better.

If you can only nail near-perfect 25% of the time, or you can only show up every other time and you have to reschedule on them for whatever reason, or you send out reminder texts some of the time because you’re not using ZenMaid and not having the automated reminder texts and emails go out – just saying, that all leads to an inconsistent vibe and an inconsistent brand.

If you do not want your customers or potential customers speaking to each other and saying, “Yeah, it’s kind of hit or miss,” because then all of a sudden the value drops. The perceived value of your service is dropping.

The Value of Consistency

There is something to be said, and there is a very tangible value to being consistent for the client, because think about it – it is a huge, colossal undertaking to find a cleaner, set everything up in their system, have them show up, do the cleaning, get on a recurring service, and then every other time there’s a problem and they have to communicate that, or every other time they’re having to reschedule.

This is all to say in a very loving manner, because guys, I’ve been there. I have struggled before because of staffing and not being able to consistently have great cleaners or great service or what have you, but it is our job to figure out how to provide that. That’s why I’m so glad all of you are listening to this and learning from so many wonderful owners and us having these discussions.

Elevating the Industry Together

I want us all to raise the bar of the industry. I want our industry’s reputation to start leveling up. And I think that is exactly what we’re doing. Everybody in our little community right here, we are very much leveling up the reputation of the cleaning industry – that it is a professional, skilled service that deserves respect and that we are helping people, and that we should be proud of what we do. That is something that’s very important to me.

But that doesn’t happen overnight, and that’s the whole point of this conversation. Rebranding and shifting does not happen overnight, and it does not happen at the snap of a finger. It is consistent action over time.

The Long Road to Rebranding

As Leila says in her video, you have to be okay with being misunderstood as that process happens. Because, taking it back to the naughty cleaning – okay, you did that yesterday, and all of your clients find out, and you’re like, “You know what? I’m never doing this again. I’ve decided it is not worth the juice. The juice is not worth the squeeze of my reputation being hit this way.”

Well, next week, guess what? They still think of you in that way. They still think of you as the person who is going to do that. In a month, they’re going to think that. In two months, they’re going to think that. But in a couple of years, you haven’t done that. You’ve built your reputation now painstakingly as a reputable quality, fully clothed cleaner.

All of a sudden, that has gone away. It’s not completely gone. It will always be there. But your actions and the evidence speaks loudly enough for you that you don’t need to say, “No, I don’t do that anymore.” It’s going to be so drowned out by all of the other things that you are doing.

Aligning Your Actions with Your Values

The lesson here today is: what are our values, and what is the brand that we envision for ourselves? What are the actions that we take on a daily basis, both as an individual in our personal lives, as a leader in our company, and as a business owner to our clients and potential clients? What is that saying? What are our actions saying? How can we make it just a little bit better today? How can we be more consistently in line with the brand that we envision?

You may think that some of these things that we talk about on this podcast are little, and you’re right. They are little – when I’m talking about professionalism, when I’m talking about having cleaning checklists and having a training program and having an orientation and following up on leads and first-time cleans and checking in regularly and having a quality control system.

All of these things that we do, they all add up to build this strong force of consistency that my clients know what to expect every time they come to us. And if we mess it up, we make it so right that they’re impressed by our efforts to make it right, so that it actually turns it into a positive experience – just going overboard when it comes to when we mess it up, how can we fix it so good that that’s what they remember.

Core Values in Action

That right there is another avenue of consistency and brand. One of our core values is integrity. So how can we act with integrity in every single interaction and thing that we do in our business? Family First is one of our core values. It is now my reputation, and you’ll see this in all of my employee interviews that are about to get posted over the next several weeks – I interviewed several of my employees who have been with me for up to six years.

My reputation now is that you are going to have a flexible place to work that really cares and stands by their core values – this job is supposed to work around your life, your life isn’t supposed to work around your job, and that’s important to me.

I said that six years ago, when I chose that core value, and now, with years and years of action, I don’t need to say it so much because my employees say it because they’re like, “The proof is in the pudding. Stephanie practices what she preaches.” And that’s what I want for all of you.

Building Your Brand from the Beginning

I know if you’re newer right now, this may be really frustrating to hear, but the beautiful thing is, say you’ve only been in business for a year, that means that every single action is a larger piece of the pie. So everything that you do now, it really matters to align with your core values.

I’m not saying you need to be perfect, but take this to heart, that this is exciting. You have a chance to establish a really strong brand identity right now by your actions, which you have 100% control over. That’s exciting. That should feel empowering, not overwhelming.

You have 100% control of your actions, so that in five years, when you look back, you can say, “Ah, right there. That’s when I started behaving in accordance to the brand and the values that I envision for myself and that I choose for myself every single day.”

The Results of Consistency Over Time

And so when you’re in my spot where I am right now, I can look back and say, I established those core values years ago. I messed up some, but overall, I have been consistent to those core values, I’ve been consistently filled with integrity when it comes to the business and how we behave.

I’ve consistently honored the Family First value when it comes to my staff and my clients and my community truly at large, because I see that as a big family. Family First, and community involvement is super duper important to me – it shows in my actions.

Then finally, grateful and positive attitude – even when things are falling apart. Does Stephanie stay low about it, or does she get sprung into action? That has been showing up for years now, and now I can sit back and say, “Ah, the brand is there,” and it just feels so effortless.

It’s so funny, because it really does feel like that, like, “Oh, the reputation speaks for itself.” And I almost forget that that’s because of all the actions that we took and getting people who align with those core values.

The Importance of Core Values

I know that we talk about core values so much, and you probably get so tired of them, but they really are your north star. Do these people align with these values? Because these are the people you’re going to be hanging out with every day, and these are the people that are going to be representing your brand.

I have had some excellent cleaners, like killer cleaners, but dear Lord, you would think a thunder cloud and lightning was hailing down on them every day, because when they walked into a room, it was like the light was sucked out of it. And it sucks because I am not saying we can’t have bad days. I will never say that. I have gone through the worst times in my life, in my business, and I’ve shared those struggles with my staff, with my team, and they have gone through some horrific life events 100%.

But is every day difficult or are you just going through a difficult time? That’s really what it is about for me. It’s important that the rest of my team and all of my clients are not getting bogged down by a really negative person. Again, doesn’t make them a bad person. It just doesn’t align with what my core values and my reputation is.

The Serene Clean Brand

Serene Clean cleaners and staff are super friendly, we’re cheerful, we’re go-getters, and we can’t wait to help you. That is who we are, and so that’s our brand, and I want that to be consistent.

The thing is, about branding, sometimes you’re gonna have to make really hard decisions, because we’re a team of people. Our cleaning companies are filled with people, and if somebody is off-brand for you – God, that sounds so cold – but if they are not on brand, they gotta go or there needs to be some attitude adjustment.

Brand Consistency in Practice

Even to the point of – we released a very specific dress code. We always had a dress code, but last year we really established like literally laid out: these colors are not allowed, this is not allowed, these types of shoes are not allowed.

Obviously, there’s the whole safety thing and whatnot. But my staff was being inconsistent with our brand. And even talking to my managers, I was like, “I guess we can’t dress as casual as we want, if we’re going to be asking our cleaners to be wearing these things, like, let’s spiff it up a little bit.”

Even for me – later today, I’ll record my anniversary looms for clients. Later today, I’m working on a half sleeve right now – one session down, 15 more hours to go. I’m putting on something different because this isn’t consistent with Serene Clean’s brand. I mean, people know I’m tattooed, but it would be more consistent if I just put a button-up on and recorded those.

It might seem crazy, but it is very important to me that my clients get consistency from a branding perspective. Do I have a problem with tattoos? No. Do a lot of people have a problem with tattoos? Absolutely not. But if I can make one decision to make me slightly more aligned with my brand without ripping my skin off, well, I’m going to do that.

My personal brand – I love tattoos. I’m very playful, I like colorful things. And all of that can be professional 100%. The Serene Clean’s brand is very soothing and spa-like, and serene and very professional, a little buttoned up, friendly, but very professional.

Even that little micro decision of “I’m going to put a shirt on over my tattoos before I do customer-facing things” – that’s consistency. And that is the name of the game.

Closing Thoughts

We will link that video of Leila’s below. If you guys want to ask questions about naked cleaning, you totally can. I’m again, get your bag, get your bag. But just know that you are about to hurt your brand and reputation if you ever want to grow the thing. So keep that in mind.

Let’s be consistent, guys. Let us create strong brands that withstand the test of time that we can look back and be incredibly proud of. That is what I want for you, for your cleaning businesses.

Hopefully this was interesting, guys. I’ll see you on the next episode. Hit that like, hit that subscribe. Drop a comment below and see you next time on Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast, bye-bye.

Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• ZenMaid
• ZenMaid Facebook Mastermind
• Leila Hormozi’s Youtube video

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