Executive Summary:
Commercial cleaning companies in 2025 face a diverse landscape of lead generation channels, each with its own costs and performance metrics. In the United States, digital marketing dominates lead generation, but traditional methods like cold calling and direct mail remain in use.
- On average, the cost per lead (CPL) in commercial cleaning ranges from $30–$50 for inbound channels and up to $200+ for outbound methods, with variations by region and campaign efficiency.
- Major cleaning franchises leverage economies of scale to lower their CPL, while independent firms must carefully budget around 7–8% of revenue for marketing.
- Sales and marketing staffing is a significant cost driver, with U.S. janitorial sales reps earning around $75k/year on average.
This report breaks down lead generation costs by source, examines sales & marketing expenditures (including software tools), benchmarks competitors and related industries, and provides recommendations to improve key performance indicators (KPIs) like cost per click, cost per lead, and conversion rates. Actionable insights include focusing on high-ROI channels (SEO, referrals), optimizing PPC campaigns, leveraging analytics tools for data-driven decisions, and adopting best practices such as quick lead follow-up and multi-channel marketing to maximize return on investment.
Section 1. Lead Generation Costs & Performance Analysis
Average B2B cost per lead by marketing channel (in USD). Outbound methods (right, in red) like cold calling and direct mail have far higher CPLs than inbound methods (left, in blue). For “Business Services” (a category that includes commercial cleaning), PPC leads cost ~$214 on average, while SEO leads cost ~$43.
Commercial cleaning companies in 2025 utilize a mix of outbound and inbound marketing to generate leads. Outbound channels – e.g. cold calls, cold emails, direct mail – tend to have higher costs per lead and lower conversion rates, whereas inbound channels – like SEO-driven website inquiries or pay-per-click ads targeting active searchers – often yield more cost-efficient leads. Below is a breakdown of lead sources with typical cost metrics and performance:
Cold Calling
Cold calling remains one of the most labor-intensive and costly lead generation methods in the commercial cleaning industry. Despite being a common tactic, it carries a high risk-to-reward ratio due to its low success rate and resource-heavy nature.
- Industry success rates hover between 2–5%, meaning only a small percentage of calls result in appointments.
- CPL (Cost per Lead) varies widely:
- Typical campaigns range from $190–$300 per lead.
- More targeted and efficient operations can reduce costs to around $50–$60 per lead.
Why the Range is So Broad
The variation in CPL depends on several factors:
- Caller skill level: Experienced appointment setters yield better results.
- Data quality: Well-sourced, accurate contact lists reduce wasted dials.
- Offer relevance: Tailored value propositions resonate more with prospects, increasing conversion.
When Cold Calling Still Makes Sense
Despite its challenges, cold calling can be effective when:
- Targeting high-value facility management or multi-location contracts.
- Paired with a multi-touch approach—e.g., combining calls with follow-up emails or LinkedIn outreach to boost engagement.
The key to making cold calling profitable is to tightly segment your target audience and arm your callers with strong messaging that resonates with decision-makers.
Email Marketing (Cold & Nurture Emails)
Email remains one of the most cost-effective lead generation methods, especially when paired with in-house lists or prospecting tools. For commercial cleaning companies, email campaigns can deliver consistent results with relatively low upfront investment.
- The average CPL for B2B email marketing is approximately $50 per lead.
Performance & Engagement Metrics
Cold outreach via email typically performs better than other outbound methods like cold calling:
- Reply rates average 8–10% — meaning about 1 in 10 cold emails gets a response.
- Conversion rates from reply to booked sales appointment are lower, often just a few percent, but improve when campaigns include:
- Automated email sequences.
- Personalized messaging.
For warmer audiences (e.g., existing contacts or past prospects), conversion rates can rise to 5–15%.
Cost Breakdown
The primary costs associated with email marketing include email platform fees (e.g., Mailchimp, Brevo, Constant Contact) and labor (for campaign creation, list management, and personalization).
Email campaigns are highly scalable. A small campaign might cost less than $0.10 per email sent, keeping the CPL low if even a small percentage convert.
ROI and Use Cases
- ROI is high due to minimal cash investment and the ability to automate follow-ups.
- Open rates typically range between 17–28% across B2B industries.
Most commercial cleaning companies leverage email to:
- Nurture cold or inactive leads (e.g., sharing case studies, blog content, or service updates).
- Stay top-of-mind with prospects.
- Re-engage past inquiries at a low cost.
Direct Mail
Direct mail is a traditional outbound channel that still sees use in commercial cleaning, especially when targeting local facility managers or businesses. However, it’s typically one of the most expensive lead generation methods.
Average CPL for direct mail is around $250 per lead.
High costs often stem from printing materials, postage and shipping, and purchasing or curating mailing lists. For sending 1,000 postcards at $0.50 each = $500+ upfront, often yielding only 5–10 inquiries.
Performance Metrics
- Response rates: Typically 1–2%, meaning only a small fraction of recipients respond to mailers.
- Conversion rates after response can be higher, especially when direct mail is followed by a phone call or email.
ROI and Best Use Cases
- ROI is typically lower than digital or inbound methods due to the high upfront spend and low engagement.
Direct mail is best used when:
- Targeting specific local markets or decision-makers not easily reachable online.
- Paired with call tracking numbers or promo codes to measure effectiveness.
- Used as part of a multi-touch campaign (e.g., direct mail followed by a call or email).
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is a long-term, inbound strategy that delivers some of the lowest CPLs for commercial cleaning businesses.
Average CPL: SEO leads often range from $30 to $50 per lead after upfront investments.
Performance Metrics
- Conversion rates: On average, 5–10% of website visitors turn into leads when the site is properly optimized.
- SEO brings in high-intent traffic from searches like “commercial cleaning near me” or “[city] janitorial services.”
Cost Breakdown
SEO investments include website optimization (speed, mobile-friendliness, UX), content creation (blogs, landing pages, service pages), and local SEO efforts (Google Business Profile optimization, local citations). Marginal costs per lead decrease over time as organic traffic grows.
ROI and Tools
ROI is excellent as organic leads are “free” after the initial SEO investment. SEO provides a compounding effect, generating more leads as your site authority grows.
Recommended tools:
- Google Search Console to track keyword rankings and click-through rates.
- Google Analytics to monitor traffic and conversion attribution.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising)
PPC—primarily Google Ads search campaigns, Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising), and even social media ads—is a popular lead gen method for commercial cleaning because it delivers immediate visibility to potential clients actively looking for services. However, PPC comes at a direct cost for each click.
Cost per click (CPC) in the commercial cleaning niche varies by region and keyword competitiveness. In the U.S., common cleaning keywords might cost anywhere from $5 up to $15 per click in major markets (with some highly competitive terms going higher). A Reddit PPC discussion noted an example of CPCs in the $12–$15 range and about a $110 cost per acquisition (CPA) for a cleaning company’s online bookings – implying a conversion rate around 10–15% from click to lead (since ~$110 CPA / ~$13 CPC ≈ 8.5 clicks per lead).
Broad industry benchmarks place average CPL for Google Ads around $66 in 2024, but for local services like cleaning, it can be higher or lower depending on competition.
Let’s break down PPC performance:
Google Ads (Search)
Google Ads search campaigns target keywords like “commercial cleaning service” or “office janitorial near me,” making them highly effective at capturing demand.
- Conversion rates average around 10–15% click-to-lead on well-optimized campaigns.
- CPC typically ranges from $5 to $15 depending on market size and competition.
- A typical CPL may fall between $50–$150, depending on Quality Scores and landing page performance.
Companies can reduce CPC and CPL by using negative keywords to block irrelevant traffic, writing compelling ad copy, and designing landing pages that match ad intent and encourage conversions.
ROI: PPC ROI depends on contract value—if a new cleaning contract is worth $5,000/year, paying $100 per lead and perhaps $500 per actual customer (assuming a 20% lead-to-customer close rate) is worthwhile. Across industries, Bing/Microsoft Ads tend to have an average 33% lower CPC than Google. Many firms expand to Microsoft Ads for that reason—lower CPC can mean lower CPL, though the volume of searches on Bing is smaller.
Social PPC (LinkedIn, Facebook)
Some commercial cleaning marketers also use LinkedIn Ads (to target facility managers by job title) or Facebook Ads (to geo-target business owners or property managers). These typically have lower intent audiences, so conversion rates are lower than search ads.
Cost per lead on LinkedIn is often high – LinkedIn’s CPL for B2B can exceed $100 easily. Facebook can be cheaper; you might see CPL ~$20–$50 on Facebook if using Lead Forms or compelling offers, but those leads may be less qualified. Social ads are usually a smaller portion of the mix, used for brand awareness or retargeting (showing ads to people who already visited your site).
Google Local Services Ads (LSA)
In 2025, Google’s Local Services Ads (aka “Google Guaranteed”) have become an important channel for many local service businesses, including cleaning. LSAs charge per lead (phone call or message) rather than per click.
For cleaning services, LSA cost per lead might range ~$20–$30 in many markets. These leads are typically high quality (prospects actively looking through Google’s vetted listings). LSAs can thus provide a relatively lower CPL than regular PPC, though volume may be limited and competition to be in the top slots is intense (which in turn can drive up the cost per lead if many companies vie for the same leads).
Overall PPC ROI
PPC offers highly trackable results. Using tools like Google Ads (with conversion tracking) and Google Analytics, a cleaning company can see exactly how much each lead costs and from which keyword or ad. An efficiently run campaign in the U.S. might achieve, say, a $50 CPL, whereas a poorly optimized one could see $200+.
Best practices for improving PPC performance include refining keyword targets (e.g., adding long-tail keywords like “medical office cleaning services,” which may have lower CPC), improving Quality Score (relevance) to reduce cost, and ensuring landing pages are fast and persuasive (which can raise the conversion rate, effectively lowering CPL).
Section 2. Sales & Marketing Cost Breakdown
Lead generation costs don’t exist in a vacuum—they are part of a commercial cleaning business’s broader sales and marketing expenditures. This section breaks down those costs, from advertising spend to software and staffing, to illustrate where budget is allocated. We also compare popular tools used in each area to manage these costs efficiently.
As a guideline, small businesses under $5 million in revenue should allocate ~7–8% of gross revenue to marketing.
Cleaning businesses often fall in this category, meaning a $1M/year company might spend on the order of $70k–$80k annually on marketing. (Some startups even go higher, up to 10–15% in aggressive growth phases) This marketing budget includes both brand development (website, collateral, etc.) and promotional campaigns (ads, events, etc.). In addition, there are costs for the sales function – salaries/commissions for sales reps or account managers who turn those leads into contracts.
Advertising & Lead Generation Spend
Digital Ads (PPC)
Anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month on Google Ads, Bing Ads, and possibly social media ads. (Many companies find an effective range, e.g. $1,000/month on Google Ads as a baseline, scaling up if ROI is good.) This spend is variable and can be adjusted quickly based on performance. Companies compare cost per lead from these campaigns to ensure the money is well spent; e.g., $2,000/month yielding 20 leads is $100 CPL, which is acceptable if the value per client is high.
SEO and Content Marketing
Instead of “pay per lead,” SEO costs are usually fixed in the form of agency fees, content writer salaries, or marketing staff time. A company might budget, say, $2,500/month for ongoing SEO/content. While this doesn’t directly translate to a per-lead cost in the short term, over time one can amortize it (if that $2,500 yields 50 organic leads, that’s $50 CPL this month). This category also includes website maintenance costs.
Traditional Advertising
Some cleaning businesses raise awareness by investing in local print ads, trade publications, or sponsoring local events (e.g., Chamber of Commerce gatherings). These costs vary widely but are part of marketing overhead. Similarly, direct mail campaigns—if used—involve printing and postage costs (e.g., $0.50 to $1 per postcard sent, plus design time).
Lead Purchase or Services
There are companies that sell leads or appointments (e.g., online directories or lead gen services). For instance, some pay-per-lead services offer exclusive janitorial leads at $30–$50 each. If a cleaning company buys 20 leads at $40, that’s $800 spent. This can be a quick way to get in front of prospects, though quality needs to be vetted. (Comparatively, related home services leads might be cheaper – e.g. house cleaning leads around $25 – but commercial leads command a premium due to higher contract values.)
Local Marketing
Costs like vehicle wraps (a one-time cost but part of branding), flyers, business cards, etc., also fall here but are usually minor compared to ad spend.
Sales Team Expenses
Unlike advertising (which can be scaled up or down month to month), sales salaries are a fixed investment. Commercial cleaning typically involves a salesperson or team who meets with prospects, prepares bids, and closes contracts. Key roles and their cost implications:
Sales Representatives / Business Development
A Commercial Janitorial Sales Representative in the U.S. earns a base salary of around $50k and total compensation of around $80k+, including commission.
This investment is significant, but each rep is expected to bring in substantial business. In markets like Canada or the UK, salaries tend to be a bit lower – for example, a UK cleaning sales exec might have a £30k base with on-target earnings up to £40–£50k ($50–$65k USD). Commission structures (e.g. percentage of contract value) also affect pay.
If appointment setting is outsourced (e.g., hiring an appointment-setting service or a virtual assistant to cold call), those costs might run $12–$50 per appointment set or an hourly rate ($25–$30/hour for freelance telemarketers). Companies must weigh the cost of in-house sales vs. outsourced lead generation. Often, a hybrid is used: an in-house team handles warm leads and key accounts, while an external service might be trialed for cold outreach to supplement the pipeline.
Sales Management & Support
Larger firms might have a sales manager overseeing reps, whose salary could be in the $70–100k range, or a Sales & Marketing Manager combined role. For smaller firms, the owner often plays this role (and their “cost” might not be explicitly accounted for, but from a budgeting perspective, someone’s time is spent here).
Travel & Entertainment
To close deals, sales reps may spend on gas, occasional client lunches, or attending networking events. This is usually a smaller slice but can add up if a territory is large. For example, a rep covering a broad region might incur $500/month in travel costs. In-person sales is common in commercial cleaning (e.g., doing a walkthrough of a facility before giving a quote), so mileage reimbursement or vehicle expenses should be considered.
Proposal/Bid Tools
Some costs ensure the sales process is smooth – for example, subscription to proposal software or printing costs for proposal packets. Though not huge, it’s part of sales overhead.
Marketing Staff & Agency Costs
In-House Marketing Salaries
Many growing cleaning businesses hire a marketing coordinator or manager. A Marketing Manager in a small service business might earn around $60k–$70k/year in the U.S. (the average across industries is ~$62.6k, but cleaning companies on the smaller side might pay slightly below that). In Canada, this role might be in the C$50–$60k range; in the UK, around £40k (the average UK marketing manager salary is ~£44.5k).
If the team is larger, there could be roles like SEO specialist, social media marketer, etc., each with their own salary (often in the $40k–$55k range for junior marketing roles in the U.S.). For example, a Digital Marketing Specialist at a cleaning franchise might be ~$50k.
Marketing Agency or Consultant Fees
Instead of (or in addition to) in-house staff, some businesses use agencies for tasks like SEO, PPC management, or website design. Agency retainers for a local SEO/PPC package might be $1,000–$2,000 per month. Those fees are part of marketing costs. The benefit is expertise and scalability; the downside is you’re paying an external margin. Some franchises negotiate bulk agency deals at the corporate level to provide local marketing support for franchisees (baked into fees).
Creative and Collateral
Creating marketing materials (graphic design for brochures, video production for an online ad, etc.) can incur one-time costs. For instance, a promotional video might cost $2,000 to produce, a chunk that would fall under the marketing budget in that period.
Software Tools & Technology
Modern sales and marketing rely on software – which comes with subscription costs. We will compare specific tools in detail below (CRM, email platforms, etc.), but as an overview, a typical small business might spend a few hundred dollars per month on an array of tools. For example, a cleaning company might use:
- A CRM system (customer relationship management) to track leads and clients (could be $25–$100/user/month, depending on the platform).
- An email marketing service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact ($10–$50/month depending on list size.
- Analytics and Ads tools: Fortunately, Google Analytics and Search Console are free. Google Ads itself doesn’t have a software fee (just ad spend). If they use a third-party PPC management tool or a call tracking platform, that might be another $50–$300/month subscription.
- Office software: Even proposals might be managed through software (e.g., PandaDoc or just MS Office). While not huge, these are part of the cost structure.
Companies often bundle software costs under sales/marketing overhead. Choosing the right tools can make the team more efficient, effectively lowering the labor cost per lead or per sale.
Comparison of Major Software Tools
To manage sales and marketing processes, here are comparisons of three popular tools in each major category (with typical costs and features):
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools
A CRM is essential for organizing contacts, tracking interactions, and pipeline management.
Email Marketing Tools
These platforms send newsletters, promos, or drip campaigns to prospects and clients.
PPC Management & Analytics Tools
While Google Ads and Bing Ads have their own interfaces (free to use), third-party tools can aid in managing and optimizing campaigns, and analytics tools help interpret performance.
Other Sales/Marketing Costs
- Training: There’s value (and cost) in training sales reps or marketing staff – whether that’s attending a course on HVAC cleaning sales or SEO conferences. This might be a minor annual expense but can improve skills (e.g., a $500 sales seminar fee).
- Proposal/Estimate Tools: Some cleaning companies use bidding software or templates to quickly generate professional proposals. There are industry-specific tools but many just use Word/Excel or CRM quote modules. If using a paid tool, that might be $50–$100/month.
- Networking and Memberships: Memberships in associations like ISSA (International Sanitary Supply Association) or local business groups can have fees, counted in marketing budget. These often provide lead opportunities through events or directories.
Cost Structure in Context: For an example, consider a mid-sized regional commercial cleaning company targeting steady growth:
- They spend $3,000/month on marketing: $1,500 on Google Ads, $500 on SEO content, $500 on an email/newsletter campaign and social media, and $500 on miscellaneous (print materials, small sponsorships). That’s $36,000/year in marketing spend.
- They employ 1 sales rep at a $60k salary + $20k commission potential and 1 marketing coordinator at a $50k salary. That’s $130k in sales/marketing payroll.
- They use HubSpot (free CRM + $800/year for some marketing add-ons), Mailchimp ($50/mo), and a call tracking service ($100/mo). That’s about $250/month in software = $3k/year.
- Total: ~$36k (ads) + $130k (people) + $3k (tools) = $169k/year on sales and marketing, which for a company perhaps doing $2M revenue is ~8.5% of revenue—in line with recommended budgets.
Section 3. Competitor Benchmarking: Industry & Cross-Industry Comparisons
How do your lead generation costs stack up against the big players in commercial cleaning, or against other service industries? In this section, we compare metrics and approaches among major corporate commercial cleaning brands and draw parallels with related sectors like janitorial and facilities management.
Major Commercial Cleaning Brands – Lead Gen Costs
Big nationwide companies and franchisors (examples: Jani-King, Jan-Pro, Coverall, ABM Industries, ServiceMaster Clean) often have significant marketing budgets and refined strategies. While they don’t publicly disclose cost per lead, we can infer some patterns:
- These companies benefit from economies of scale in marketing. They typically have a centralized marketing team creating professional campaigns (TV, digital, etc.) and advertising funds pooled from franchisees. For instance, Jani-King franchisees contribute around 1.5% of gross revenue to a national advertising fund, giving the franchisor millions of dollars to deploy on lead generation across the network. This might allow them to run large PPC campaigns or SEO content efforts that smaller firms can’t afford individually.
- Brand recognition also plays a role. A well-known name can improve conversion rates – a prospect might be more likely to respond to an ad or email from “ServiceMaster Clean” as it’s recognized, compared to a generic company. This effectively lowers CPL since more leads are captured for a given effort. It also aids referrals and organic leads, as brand-aware customers may seek them out.
- On the flip side, competition among these giants can drive up marketing costs. When multiple large companies bid on Google Ads for “commercial cleaning services,” CPCs increase, affecting all. So a franchise might have a slightly lower CPL due to efficiency, but it’s also spending at a high level to maintain dominance.
Benchmarks
In the absence of public CPL data, we look at proxies. The earlier table from Sopro (Figure in Section 1) for “Business Services” gives a clue: it showed PPC CPL around $214 and cold calling CPL around $366 for Business Services companies. Large cleaning companies likely fall into that category. However, those are general B2B figures. Many franchise cleaning leads come from inbound calls or form fills, which might be cheaper.
Also, pay-per-lead programs (like HomeAdvisor/Angi for commercial jobs or 3rd party lead vendors) offer leads in the $30–$50 range as noted. It’s plausible big brands push their blended CPL down to maybe the $50–$100 range by leveraging a mix of channels (the cheaper inbound ones balancing the costly outbound).
Example – PPC Optimization
A case study from Jani-King’s Portland region (managed by an agency) showed that restructuring their Google Ads account led to a 252% increase in conversion rate without increasing spend. In effect, they dramatically lowered their cost per lead by making their campaigns more efficient. This is illustrative: major brands continuously refine campaigns to squeeze more leads out of each marketing dollar. An independent company can learn from this – e.g. simplifying ad campaigns and improving relevance can boost conversions.
Benchmarking Related Service Industries
Commercial cleaning overlaps with or is comparable to several other B2B service industries – understanding their lead gen costs provides context:
Janitorial Services
Often used interchangeably with commercial cleaning (janitorial implies ongoing cleaning/maintenance). Thus, benchmarks are very similar. In fact, most data sources merge “commercial cleaning/janitorial.” The CPL for janitorial leads is in the same ballpark – many lead vendors or marketing agencies cite $30–$50 per qualified lead as typical. One pay-per-appointment service on Upwork advertised 20 janitorial appointments for $2,500 (i.e. $125 per appointment) – which aligns with the notion that an appointment-ready lead (further down the funnel) is more expensive than a raw lead. The key difference is janitorial often focuses on recurring contracts (high lifetime value), so companies are willing to invest more to land a single lead. In practice, a cleaning company that targets nightly office cleaning contracts might spend more per lead (because each lead could be a multi-year contract) than one targeting one-time jobs. But broadly, janitorial = commercial cleaning for benchmarking.
Residential Cleaning Services
Though not the focus here, it’s useful to contrast B2C cleaning leads vs. B2B. Residential maid service leads tend to be cheaper to generate (more people searching, easier to reach on social media) but also have lower value per customer. For example, home cleaning leads from online sources might cost $10–$30 each, whereas commercial leads, as we’ve seen, average higher. A commercial cleaning company might generate some residential leads incidentally via marketing, but their cost structure and sales process differ (residential often use online booking, with less salesperson involvement).
Facility Management Services
This is a broader category that can include cleaning as well as technical maintenance, HVAC, security, etc. Facility management leads (for integrated service contracts or facilities outsourcing) are usually more expensive to acquire than cleaning alone because the deals are larger and the target buyers are often higher-level executives. Marketing might involve attending trade shows, which have big costs (remember the table showed Events CPL in Business Services can exceed $1,000). Also, facility management is a narrower market – fewer potential clients, each worth a lot – so companies may spend a lot more per prospect (account-based marketing, for instance). It’s not uncommon to see CPL in the hundreds of dollars for a qualified facilities management lead. In comparison, a straightforward janitorial lead might be <$100. That said, many facility management firms count cleaning leads as part of their pipeline (since cleaning is one service in their bundle). They might have a marketing mix where simpler channels (Google Ads for “facility management company [City]”) generate some leads at maybe $150 each, while complex channels (hosting a seminar for facility managers) could effectively cost $500+ per lead when you factor all costs.
Construction & Renovation Services
Another related industry (some cleaning companies also do post-construction cleanup). According to one industry source, construction leads can be moderate in cost – e.g. VisitorQueue cited the average CPL for the Construction industry as around $115. Commercial cleaning was not listed separately, but given less specialized targeting, it is likely a bit lower than construction or IT leads.
Security Services (Guarding) & Landscaping (Maintenance Services)
These are parallel B2B services for facilities. Anecdotally, their CPLs are similar to cleaning since they target the same decision-makers (facility or property managers). If a landscaping lead costs $50 and a janitorial lead costs $50, it suggests the competitive environment and marketing channels are alike. Some companies actually cross-sell (integrated facility services). If a cleaning firm adds on landscaping, they might leverage the same marketing spend to get two kinds of leads.
HVAC and Plumbing (Commercial segment)
These are more technical services; leads often come via emergency needs or capital projects. A source noted commercial HVAC leads often cost $200–$300+ each on average due to high CPCs (HVAC keywords can be very expensive, >$20 per click). Cleaning keywords typically aren’t that high, so cleaning enjoys a lower CPL relative to HVAC or other skilled trades. This means cleaning companies might not have to spend as much to get in front of a potential client as an HVAC contractor would – an advantage when comparing ROI across facility services.
Property Management Industry
This is somewhat the client side of the equation, but interestingly, data from lead sellers shows that Property Management leads average ~$49 , which aligns closely with the $49 recurring cleaning lead figure. This implies that to reach someone looking for property management (a similar target demo to cleaning leads), marketers spend about the same as reaching someone looking for cleaning. So, cleaning is on par with property management in difficulty and cost to acquire leads.
What does this benchmarking mean for a cleaning business?
If your cost per lead is significantly higher than these benchmarks, it flags an opportunity to optimize. For example, if a U.S. cleaning company finds they’re paying $150 per lead on Google Ads while peers are closer to $80, they should investigate their keywords, ads, and landing pages (or consider alternative channels). Likewise, if their sales team is closing fewer deals per lead than industry norms, maybe training or process improvements are needed.
Conversely, understanding that some industries routinely pay $200–$300 per lead can put things in perspective – spending $80 to get a potential $20k/year janitorial contract is actually a bargain relative to what, say, a software company might pay to get a similar value lead. Cleaning businesses operate in a fortunate position of relatively moderate marketing costs. Additionally, trends in 2025 show that even major competitors are shifting spend to digital:
- Traditional methods (like telemarketing) are being supplemented or partially replaced by inbound marketing, even for franchises. The “State of Prospecting 2025” reports indicate more and more B2B outreach is multi-channel and personalized, stepping away from pure cold calling, which yields only ~2% success.
- Competitors emphasize local online presence – meaning even a small company can compete via local SEO or localized Google Ads if they are savvy. For instance, a franchise might rank nationally, but a local independent could outrank them in local pack results with better reviews or more relevant local content.
- Google Local Services Ads have leveled the field somewhat, since being Google Guaranteed puts both big and small providers on the same platform where pay-per-lead is more standardized. A known figure is around $30 per lead for home cleaning on LSA, and possibly similar for commercial (though commercial LSA categories may be limited). If a big competitor is on LSA, you want to be there too, so you’re not missing out on those reasonably priced leads.
Section 4. Salary & Team Costs for Sales and Marketing Roles
Effective lead generation and appointment setting are not just about money spent on ads or tools—they’re also about the people executing those strategies. Here, we examine the human resource side: typical salaries for sales and marketing roles in the commercial cleaning industry (in 2025) and how large a team is needed for efficient operation. We’ll highlight U.S. figures and note comparisons in Canada and the UK.
Key Sales Roles & Salaries:
Sales/Business Development Representative (BDR)
This role focuses on prospecting – cold calling, qualifying leads, and setting appointments (sometimes also called an Appointment Setter or Sales Development Rep (SDR)). In commercial cleaning, a BDR might call local businesses to offer a free quote or respond to inbound inquiries to schedule walkthroughs. In the U.S., the average hourly pay for an Appointment Setter is about $24.26 (which annualizes to roughly $50k if full-time). Entry-level or part-time telemarketers may earn closer to $15–$20/hour ($30–$40k/year). There’s often a bonus or commission for appointments that turn into sales.
Hiring an in-house BDR means committing to these salary costs, but many companies find it worthwhile to have someone consistently grinding on lead gen. Alternatively, companies may outsource this function (using lead gen agencies or freelancers) – e.g., paying per appointment as noted earlier (maybe $40–$100 each, depending on quality).
Outside Sales Representative / Account Executive
This is the person who actually goes to client meetings, prepares proposals and closes deals. In some cleaning businesses, the same person does BDR tasks and closing; in others, a BDR sets the meeting and an experienced sales exec closes it. The total pay for a Commercial Cleaning Sales Rep in the U.S. is often in the range of $70k–$85k (base + commission). Base salaries might be around $45k–$55k, with commission allowing a good rep to earn an extra 20–50%.
Top performers (especially selling large contracts or many accounts) can earn six figures. For example, a sales rep who lands a $1 million/year cleaning contract might get a 2% commission = $20k from that one deal.
- Salary vs. Commission Structures: Some companies pay a lower base but high commission (incentivizing hunters), while others give a solid salary for stability. A common structure is 10% of the first month’s contract value or a small percentage of the annual contract as commission for each sale, plus possible bonuses for hitting targets.
Sales Manager / Director
If the team is larger, a sales manager oversees the reps, handles big account negotiations, and sets strategy. Their salary in the U.S. might be around $80k–$100k (some portion variable). Many cleaning companies are small enough that the owner or GM acts as the sales manager, so this cost might not be separate.
Key Marketing Roles & Salaries:
Marketing Manager / Coordinator
The person in charge of marketing strategy and campaigns. For a small-to-mid cleaning company, this might be a Marketing Coordinator (junior role) or Marketing Manager (mid-level). The U.S. national average for a Marketing Manager is ~$62k/year, but in a cleaning company context, it could range from $50k to $75k, depending on experience and scope. This role might include managing the website, SEO, social media, and materials.
Digital Marketing Specialist / SEO Specialist
If the team has multiple marketing staff, you might have specialists. An SEO or digital marketing specialist in the U.S. might earn ~$50–$60k. Their job is to focus on improving Google rankings, running PPC in-house, writing content, etc. Often, rather than hire this in-house, companies outsource these tasks to agencies or freelancers (with costs as described in Section 2).
Marketing Assistant / Sales & Marketing Admin
Sometimes, an administrative assistant doubles as a marketing assistant, handling social media updates, email newsletters, or CRM data entry. This could be a $15–$20/hour position ($30k—$40k/year). In smaller cleaning businesses, this might even be an office manager wearing many hats (scheduling cleaners part of the day and sending marketing emails the other part).
Team Size Considerations
How many people do you need to effectively generate leads and appointments? This depends on growth goals and scale:
Small Local Cleaning Business (owner-operated, <$1M revenue)
Often, the owner is the chief salesperson and marketer. They might have no dedicated marketing staff – maybe just use a marketing agency occasionally – and no dedicated sales rep (the owner or operations manager meets prospects). In this scenario, team “size” is minimal: perhaps 1 person handling sales (owner) and maybe a part-time marketing consultant. This can limit growth because the owner’s time is split. Many such businesses invest in at least a part-time appointment setter or a marketing coordinator when they want to scale beyond referrals.
Growing Regional Provider ($1M–$5M revenue)
Typically will have a small sales team – perhaps 1–2 sales reps focusing on new business – and 1 marketing person or outsourced agency. For example, a company might employ 1 BDR to set meetings, 1 sales exec to close, and 1 marketing coordinator to manage lead gen campaigns. That trio can significantly boost lead generation: The BDR might make 50 calls a day, setting e.g. 4–6 appointments a week; the marketer ensures web and ad channels bring in another 20 leads a month; the sales exec runs 5–10 appointments a week from all sources. This could yield a healthy pipeline (perhaps aiming for ~15+ new contracts a month between small and mid-size accounts). If each rep can close, say, 4 contracts a month, two reps = 8 new contracts monthly.
Established Large Company (> $5M revenue or multi-territory)
Will likely have a team for each function. E.g., 3-5 people in sales (some doing outreach, some closing or account management) and 2-3 in marketing (covering digital, content, maybe a marketing manager plus specialists). ABM Industries or a big player might have dozens in marketing at corporate, but at the branch level, there could still be a small local team focusing on that region’s lead gen. A franchise might have one salesperson per franchise unit, and rely on corporate for marketing collateral and lead gen support, effectively extending the “team” through franchise support roles.
Efficiency Metrics
Rather than pure headcount, consider ratios:
- A common SaaS sales metric is an SDR (outbound rep) can set around 15 meetings per month on average. In cleaning, the number might be similar if targeting small/medium businesses with persistent effort. So each SDR can feed a certain number of appointments to the pipeline. If you need 30 appointments a month, you might need roughly 2 SDRs (or 1 very good one). (Top performers might do 20+ meetings/month, but 15 is a useful benchmark.)
- Each sales rep can actively handle only so many proposals at once. If one sales rep can comfortably manage, say, 20–30 active opportunities a month (which includes initial meeting, proposal, follow-up), then if your marketing is generating 50+ qualified leads a month, you’ll need more than one sales rep to properly follow up on all of them. Otherwise, leads will slip through or get slow responses.
- Marketing productivity can be measured by how many leads or how much web traffic a marketer can generate. One skilled marketing manager with agency support can probably run all the necessary campaigns for a mid-sized company. But if you expand to multiple cities, you might need localized marketing efforts – either separate hires or at least one coordinator per region to handle local SEO, Google Business Profiles, networking events, etc.
Team Structure for Efficiency
If no one is clearly responsible for generating new leads (because all staff are busy with operations), lead flow will suffer. That’s why even a small company should consistently dedicate someone (in-house or outsourced) to marketing activities.
If leads are generated but there’s no dedicated follow-up person, the money spent on marketing could be wasted. This is where having at least one salesperson or sales-minded individual is critical. Quick follow-up can make a huge difference – there’s a well-known stat that contacting a lead within 5 minutes vastly improves conversion.
A busy owner might take 2 days to return a web inquiry, by which time the prospect moved on. An assigned sales rep or SDR will jump on it within an hour, increasing conversion odds.
Optimal Team Example:
- 1 Marketing Manager (plans campaigns, manages website/ads, coordinates with any agencies),
- 1 Content/SEO or Marketing Assistant (produces blog posts, manages social media, helps with proposals or case studies – ensuring continuous content for SEO and nurturing),
- 1 SDR/Inside Sales (books appointments via cold calls/emails and qualifies inbound leads),
- 1 Outside Sales Rep (meets prospects and closes deals; possibly also manages big accounts). This 4-person growth team can sustainably generate and handle a large volume of leads. If each quarter they collectively close, say, 20 new contracts, the revenue growth likely justifies their combined salaries.
Scaling Up or Down
For a smaller scale, some roles combine: e.g., one person might be both the SDR and the Outside Sales (they prospect and then go close the same client) – common in small businesses. Or the marketing manager and sales manager role might be one person (“VP of Sales & Marketing”). Those hybrids can work when volume is low, but as volume grows, splitting roles improves efficiency because each can focus on their specialty.
In determining team size, companies should consider their lead and sales goals. If you aim to add, for instance, $1M in new annual contracts, and your average contract is $50k/year, that’s 20 new clients. If historically, one sales rep can close 10 clients a year, you’d need roughly two reps worth of capacity. Similarly, if one marketing person can generate 100 leads/year via campaigns (just hypothetical), and you need 200 leads to feed those two reps, you’d bolster the marketing resources accordingly. Sometimes adding another person has multiplicative effects – e.g., a second SDR might not only double calls but also enable more consistent follow-ups, improving overall conversion.
Labor Market Trends 2025
It’s also relevant to note trends: In 2025, many companies leverage remote and gig work for these roles. For example, a U.S. cleaning business might hire a virtual assistant in the Philippines or Latin America to do appointment setting at a lower cost than a U.S.-based hire. This can reduce salary expenses (some pay $8–$15/hour overseas for calling or email tasks). However, quality and local knowledge can be an issue, so it’s a trade-off.
Similarly, freelance marketers or fractional CMO services are available if hiring full-time isn’t feasible. Companies that adapt to these flexible staffing models can keep team costs down while still getting the work done—an important consideration if budget is tight.
Section 5. Key Recommendations & Takeaways
In today’s competitive commercial cleaning market, success depends on operational efficiency, data-driven marketing, and superior client experience. Whether you’re a local business or scaling nationally, the playbook for 2025 is clear:
- Diversify lead sources across inbound (SEO, referrals, LSAs) and outbound (PPC, cold outreach) to maintain a steady pipeline.
- Track and optimize CPL aggressively — reallocate budgets toward channels with lower cost and higher conversion rates.
- Invest in conversion infrastructure: a fast website, strong CTAs, live chat, and rapid lead follow-up.
- Use affordable, scalable tech like CRM, email automation, and call tracking to boost team productivity without bloating overhead.
- Dominate local SEO and reputation management to beat national competitors at the community level.
- Hire smart: build a lean marketing and sales team focused on measurable KPIs and quick lead response.
- Capitalize on your agility — where large brands are slower and impersonal, you can win with speed, personalization, and service excellence.
Control your lead costs. Convert faster. Build a brand that clients trust.
That’s how commercial cleaning companies grow profitably in 2025 — and beyond.
