Several years ago we had a great article written about us during our initial launch that mentioned the ease and convenience of booking a cleaning through our website. There were, of course, some public comments — good and bad — but one comment, in particular, stood out to me. Here it is:
Here’s how I found a cleaning person. Went to my neighbor. Asked them if they liked their cleaning lady. They said yes. Called and said I live next to X. They said. Okay here’s the price. They showed the day of the cleaning and I gave them a key. End of story.
I struggled with this comment because while we, of course, knew word-of-mouth drives this industry, it’s still never fun to hear that our technology and easy booking process was worthless, especially on a public forum.
We had planned to quickly allocate more investment dollars to our technology in the hopes we could overcome the lack of word-of-mouth through making it SO incredibly easy to book a cleaning with us. Our initial website was an “MVP,” or a Minimum Viable Product, meaning there were known short-falls. Some examples:
- We couldn’t just book an ad hoc appointment on behalf of an existing client.
- We couldn’t update a recurring customer’s ongoing day and time for their cleanings. We instead had to cancel their account completely and then have them sign up with their new day and time.
- We did not have separate pricing on our website for specialty cleanings like move-in and move-out cleanings.
- Many other basic features that one would think would be simple for a company.
We adjusted our plan and lowered prices significantly to “acquire market share.” Word then got out our cleanings AND our technology — “they do a great job AND it was super easy to book.” This one comment was by no means earth-shattering to us, or even that relevant, but it was part of a sequence of events that helped lay the foundation for our success. Special thanks to whoever said it for helping us see where we needed to focus! The picture above shows our very first “office,” aka a storage unit in Arlington, VA. Times have changed!
We do know and will never forget that technology is worthless without 5-star cleanings. But check out the video above about the ease and convenience our website now brings for our clients as it relates to managing their cleanings. It’s our 5-star approach to cleaning combined with 21st-century innovation that led us to now having nearly 400 weekly, biweekly, and monthly customers around Northern Virginia and growing each day.
In a nutshell, technology is great. Providing exemplary service is the best. Combining the two has resulted in an award-winning and rapidly growing cleaning company (Best of Arlington 2017 and 2018, etc.). See you soon!
Happy Spring,
Phil Harper, Co-Founder, and CEO, WellNest Home Cleaning
WellNest Home Cleaning is a premier green cleaning company servicing clients in Arlington, Falls Church, Alexandria, McLean, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg, South Riding, Stone Ridge, Chantilly, Aldie. Book an appointment via our website at www.gowellnest.com or call us at (800) 791-2878.