Dealing with price objections

Happy Thursday everyone! Let’s kick this one off with a quick poll 📊 

To be fair, it is a legitimate question. Over and over I hear the same complaint: cleaning fees at Airbnbs are too expensive!

And you know what, they’re right! Cleaning fees are expensive but for good reason. Airbnb cleaning is a tough gig! It’s a tough balance for hosts to find a 5-star cleaning service without breaking the bank 💵 

So how do you handle price objections? Let’s play out a quick scenario:

Scenario: Responding to a Quote Request

You (cleaner): Thank you for the opportunity to provide a quote! Our company specializes in Airbnb cleaning and we are unique from other cleaning companies because of these three reasons [reason 1], [reason 2], [reason 3]. Before I give you our quote, is this what you were hoping for in a top notch cleaning company?

Potential customer: That sounds great and is exactly what we’re looking for!

You (cleaner): Great! Based on the details you provided, our quote for each turnover clean at your property is $150. I have also included our checklist for your reference.

Potential customer: Oh wow. That’s a lot more than I was expecting.

You (cleaner): I completely understand. This quote allows us to provide a 5-star clean and complete the full checklist each turn. Are there things in our checklist you would feel comfortable removing?

Alright, alright, you get the gist. Unfortunately, we run into this ALL THE TIME.

With an Airbnb, each departure clean must be done to perfection. Not a stray hair or crumb can be found if you want to provide a 5-star experience for your guests. To get this kind of cleaning, it takes time. And of course, the longer a clean takes, the more expensive it’s going to be.

With cleaning (just like in everything) you get what you pay for. And cleaning is not the place to cut corners.

The Pitch: How to Justify Your Pricing

So how do you help hosts understand the reasoning behind your quote without sounding crazy? Let’s start by explaining to your customers what makes you different.

Why would a host go with you instead of Mary down the street? If you can’t think of at least 3 good reasons, I strongly recommend you start to put together some thoughts on this.

Here are our 3 reasons. We send these with every quote:

• All our cleans are scheduled automatically through syncing with your Airbnb/VRBO calendar so we never miss a clean (shoutout to Breezeway)

• 75% of our cleans include a quality control check to ensure cleanliness and staging accuracy and include a 5-star guarantee

• Additional add-on services are available (automatic supply purchases, dedicated trash service, etc.)

These three things (plus many more) set us apart from many other cleaning companies in the area. We’ve also been hosts previously so we know exactly what is important to our customers.

The Challenge: Identify What Sets You Apart

So, what are your 3 reasons? Spend some time to nail those down

Let hosts also know what is included in each of your cleans. Do you have a checklist that you provide to each cleaner to ensure perfection? Our cleaners all have the same checklist that we also give to our hosts. If you don’t already have a checklist for your cleaning company, you can use ours while you build your own.

When a host sees the checklist, they will understand why you quoted the property the way you did and will feel a great sense of confidence in your ability to do a stellar job.

Track Your Success

Of course, not all hosts will appreciate or recognize the level of effort that is required in each turnover clean and don’t expect to win every client you quote. However, you should be winning 40 - 50% of all the quotes you send out. If you’re winning more than 50%, you should think about raising prices. If you’re winning less than 40%, you either haven’t identified the 3 things that make you different, or your pricing doesn’t line up with the service.

Start to keep track of who you provide quotes to and what their response is (I use Notion to track everything). Doing so will educate you on how many you’re closing and why you might not be closing as many as you think. This is one of the very first steps in perfecting your business. The more you know, the more you can grow!

Well, that’s a wrap for this Thursday edition. I hope you’ll consider sharing this with another cleaner or host in your life. If you share this newsletter with just 2 people, you’ll get access to our complete hiring guide so you can hire cleaners and focus on growing the business.

Until next time,

Logan

Get the goods 🧼 

Want more knowledge to build your cleaning empire? The below are some of the best pieces of information to grow your business, perfect your clean, and become an expert in the field.

• Complete Airbnb cleaning checklist

• Airbnb cleaning business course

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