Project type
Real Business · Service-Based Operations · CRM & Process Design
Overview
Absolute Cleaning Services is a service business I founded and scaled from the ground up.
Beyond delivering the service itself, the work quickly became an exercise in designing operational systems — from customer intake and scheduling to quoting, invoicing, and issue resolution.
This project represents hands-on experience applying CRM principles in a live environment, where decisions had immediate financial, operational, and customer-experience consequences.
View Projects for Absolute Cleaning here.
The Operational Challenge
As the business grew, manual processes stopped being viable. Key challenges included:
- Capturing and managing customer enquiries consistently
- Converting enquiries into accurate quotes
- Scheduling jobs across multiple cleaners and locations
- Tracking job status from booking through completion
- Issuing invoices and managing payments
- Handling complaints and follow-ups without losing visibility
- Scaling operations without increasing admin overhead
These are not theoretical problems — they required practical, repeatable solutions that real people could use under time pressure.
Systems & Processes Designed
I designed and implemented end-to-end operational workflows covering:
- Customer intake via web forms and direct enquiries
- Quote creation with standardised pricing logic
- Job lifecycle management (Enquiry → Quote → Scheduled → Completed → Invoiced)
- Calendar & resource scheduling across cleaners
- Invoice generation and payment tracking
- Issue and complaint handling with clear ownership
- Operational visibility across jobs, customers, and capacity
The focus throughout was clarity, consistency, and usability — not over-engineering.
CRM Evaluation & Platform Selection
Platform Evaluation & Learning Curve
Over the years, Absolute Cleaning Services did not rely on a single system from the outset. As the business evolved, I trialled multiple CRM and service-management tools, learning first-hand that not every platform suits every operating model.
Each trial highlighted different strengths and limitations around workflow flexibility, data structure, reporting, ease of use, and user adoption. Some systems proved too rigid, others too complex for day-to-day operations, and some created more administrative overhead than value.
This learning curve ultimately informed the decision to implement Jobber, selected not because it was the most feature-rich, but because it best supported how the business actually operated.
That experience reinforced an approach I now carry into Salesforce projects: start with requirements, understand user behaviour, and select or configure platforms to fit the process — not the other way around.
As operational complexity increased, I evaluated multiple CRM and service-management platforms to support the business.
The final solution implemented was Jobber, selected for its strong alignment with field-service operations, built-in scheduling, and usability for non-technical users.
Real-World Constraints Considered
All systems were designed under real operational constraints, including:
- Limited time and budget
- Non-technical end users
- Incomplete or inconsistent data
- Customer expectations and service deadlines
- The need to scale without increasing admin complexity
This required prioritisation, trade-offs, and continuous iteration — skills directly transferable to Salesforce administration.
Salesforce-Relevant Skills Demonstrated
This project demonstrates core Salesforce Admin competencies, including:
- Requirements gathering from real stakeholders
- Translating informal processes into structured workflows
- Evaluating platforms against business requirements
- Data organisation and single-source-of-truth thinking
- User adoption and change management
- Designing scalable systems that support growth
Many of the challenges solved here mirror those addressed in Salesforce implementations — long before working in a Salesforce org.
Reflection
Running Absolute Cleaning Services provided first-hand exposure to the problems CRM systems are designed to solve.
It shaped how I approach Salesforce today: with a focus on practical design, user experience, and operational clarity, rather than tools for their own sake.
How This Informed My Salesforce Projects
Building and running Absolute Cleaning Services shaped how I approach Salesforce design.
Before working in a Salesforce org, I had already experienced the impact of unclear processes, inconsistent data, and low user adoption in a live business. That experience now informs my Salesforce work, where I start with real operational flows before designing objects, automation, or layouts.
As a result, my Salesforce projects focus on process-first design, pragmatic automation, clean data structures, and systems that are usable, scalable, and maintainable — reflecting how teams actually work rather than how systems look on paper.