Watch this fast paced video – Don’t FOCUS on Whether Your Cleaning Prospect Likes You! where Dan explain why moving your focus from ‘being liked’ to simply ‘being yourself’ is even more important. Plus, Dan will explain the wonderful consequences that can quickly come when we are brave enough to be real with the people we meet in the cleaning business.

Thanks for watching our video – Don’t FOCUS on Whether Your Cleaning Prospect Likes You! but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

What I Say to Myself BEFORE a Building Walkthrough where Dan explain why ‘talking to yourself’ for a moment or two before you go into your prospect’s office or building is something you should keep doing if you’re already doing it – or seriously consider starting to consistently do if you’ve never tried it before. Plus, Dan will share some of the specific ‘things’ he tells himself to make the most of the time he’s about to spend with a building owner or property manager.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Maximum Speed! Maximum Returns! Maximum Protection!

Well, I’m hear to tell you about the power of minimums!

Specifically -

Minimum Frequencies,
Minimum Profit Per Month and
Minimum Number of Hours

Let’s take them – one at a time.

First, minimum frequency – for any job to qualify as being worth going after consider setting a minimum frequency (# of cleaning visits/week).

Why?

Well, landing a one-time per week account may be easy, but that may be the only easy part.

That’s right, getting it filled and keeping it filled with a competent cleaner – may be MORE of a challenge!

So, you may find setting a minimum cleaning frequency requirement, say 3 times per week, for any cleaning job you’re going to bid on may actually help your cleaning business to be more stable because you’re able to keep turnover down.

Next up – minimum profit per month.

Sometimes your standard profit percentages don’t generate enough profit dollars.

It’s true, on very small jobs, sometimes even a healthy profit percent doesn’t generate enough real profit dollars per month to make it worthwhile to take on as a client.

Answer? Again – minimums. This time of course for a the least amount of total dollars per month of profit you’re willing to accept.

And, finally – minimum hours/visit.

Again, similar to the logic with minimum frequency – if an account won’t supply enough cleaning hours per night to allow you to attract and keep qualified cleaning staff on a job - it may not be worth it for your cleaning company.

It may be fine for another cleaning business, but, again, you may find you’re better off when you require at least some minimum number of yours per night of cleaning – such as 3 hrs. per night.

Sounds tough, I know – but sometimes saying no to a job because it doesn’t meet certain minimum standards is the best thing you can do for you and the client.

Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – What I Say to Myself BEFORE a Building Walkthrough where Dan explain why ‘talking to yourself’ for a moment or two before you go into your prospect’s office or building is something you should keep doing if you’re already doing it – or start doing if you’ve never tried it before. Plus, Dan will share some of the specific ‘things’ he tells himself to make the most of the time he’s about to spend with a building owner or property manager.

Thanks for watching our video – What I Say to Myself BEFORE a Building Walkthrough, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

Cleaning Bid Walkthroughs: Efficient vs. Effective where Dan explains why today more than ever it’s important for cleaning business owners to be more than simply an efficient gatherer of building data to an effective business relationship builder with the prospect – one willing to take the time to become a trusted advisor to the prospect.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

There was a time, when Tony and I weren’t getting the number of new cleaning jobs we wanted.

We were getting a steady stream of new accounts, but not enough to meet our aggressive sales goals.

We had been contacting all the buildings on our target list regularly and at first, we enjoyed a real wave of new work.

But then, things seemed to slow down… to a crawl.

We thought about it – and decided it would help to start going after some of the ‘low hanging fruit’ in other nearby towns.

Oh, so, what is this low hanging fruit?

Well, fruit trees often have some of their bounty, for example – apples, low and easy to reach – but, with much more of the fruit that’s – higher up, harder to reach and pick.

Again, you may be able to get to the high fruit – but it’s going to take a lot more time and effort.

By the way, I’m need to make it clear I’m not saying give up altogether on the harder to reach fruit (jobs).

Not at all.

You want keep marketing to all the companies that qualify to be on YOUR targeted list.

That’s how you get a steady stream of new business coming in to your business.

But, what I am saying, is you may want to look at targeting nearby towns or cities, where there may be weaker competition or less competition and/or where you’re message may really connect – now.

Whew… now that we’ve gone through all that… let me get back to the story.

It turns out, we had a good bounce (success rate) landing new accounts from our marketing to nearby areas – where the local commercial cleaning services may not be as strong, system- based or competitive.

And, I should point out that we DID realize the need for us to staff the account by hiring – locally (near the job).
That’s right – to travel to an out of town building to clean would have been too expensive. The fuel cost and travel time would have eaten up any profit.

So, we knew we had to hire locally, from the area near the account.

The problem was – we had been bidding out of town accounts using the same wage rate we used for bidding cleaning in our own city.

We thought our city is the same as every nearby city, right?

Wrong!

What we hadn’t considered was that while it might be pretty easy to hire part time office cleaners around us at $9.00/hr, it might not be that easy, or even possible to hire at that rate – out of town!!

That’s right, ouch!

Plus, even if we did get someone to agree to work for that wage, if they ever left to head for ‘greener pastures’ – we’d be left again trying to hire at a hourly rate that just wouldn’t cut it!!

And, if we had to battle turnover, we were pretty much sunk, due to the cost of sending our supervisors or full time call-off people to cover the cleaning at the account.

Well, we finally learned our lesson.

We figured out that when it came to pricing new out-of-town jobs… we needed to use a wage rate that would – get the account filled and keep it filled!

One last thing… I should say, since we were going to need to offer a higher wage rate to make hiring easier and keep turnover down… we’d have to make darn sure we were being efficient and productive!!.

So, part of the price of keeping turnover down was having to offer a higher wage; one which was maybe higher than some of the local competitors.

And, finally – we had to be sure our budgeted cleaning time was competitive so our price would be competitive too!

Growing geographically can open up new markets and jump start your growth BUT if you want it to last and be profitable – remember to set your wage strategically and price the job accordingly!

Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Cleaning Bid Walkthroughs: Efficient vs. Effective where Dan explains why today more than ever it’s important for cleaning business owners to be more than simply an efficient gatherer of building data to an effective business relationship builder with the prospect – one willing to take the time to become a trusted advisor to the prospect.

Thanks for watching our video – Cleaning Business Marketing Strategy: Rinse and Repeat! but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

Cleaning Business Marketing Strategy: Rinse and Repeat! where Dan explains an easy yet effective strategy to continue to leverage your same critical marketing messages without having to come up with whole new set of marketing pieces. Plus, he’ll give a practical plan for not losing the value your cleaning company’s marketing schedule of steps.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Frankly, it’s just about the only thing you hear
anymore!

You know what I’m talking about...

Green Cleaning!

Yep, cleaning companies are ‘climbing all over each other’ so they don’t miss out on announcing to the world… ‘We’re GREEN!’

It’s said a million different ways…

* ‘We offer GREEN cleaning!’
* ‘We’re GREEN cleaning specialists!’
* ‘We use only GREEN products!’
* ‘We follow only GREEN cleaning methods!’

Great, we get it, you’re “green” -but, what else
are you?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticizing the push towards the use of environmentally friendly, ‘green’ products and practices.

Indoor air pollution is a serious issue and the use of these ‘green’ products promises to to go a long way in tackling the problem.

So, I’m not lookin’ for a fight! Nope. I’m simply saying..

If you think getting on the ‘green train’ is going to be a fast ticket to fame and fortune in the cleaning business, better think again!

That’s right, just being ‘green’ isn’t going to cut it!

How can I say that?

That’s all you ever read about anymore, isn’t it? …how environmentally friendly, ‘green’ products and methods are the future.

Case closed. Right?

Well, maybe… maybe not.

Let me explain.

If you’re asking me if the use of these ‘green’ products and methods are going to be an essential part of what any professional cleaning company offers their customers and train their employees on… then YES, absolutely!

In fact, I would go so far as to say – in the future, I could see it become a part of what is considered  ‘standard’ janitorial office-cleaning.

So, yeah, I think it’s important.

But, if you’re asking me if this is going to be the ONLY ticket you need to build a fast growing and profitable cleaning company… then, I’ve got to say -   NO, not by a long shot.

Wouldn’t it be great, if it could?

Really, wouldn’t it be great if all you had to do was find out about ‘green’ products, train your people on ‘green’ methods, and then announce to all your prospective clients that you were now.. GREEN … and they’d come flocking to you in droves begging YOU to clean their building…

Ahhhh… that would be a sweet dream… but that’s all it is…. a dream!

But, if you’re honest with yourself, and think about it, you know, nothing’s that easy. Nothing of value, nothing you can count on. Nothing that lasts.

No, the truth is…if the future is likely going to force everyone…the willing, and unwilling, to get on board the ‘green train’… well, then in a short time, guess what?

That’s right, in theory, everyone will then be using affordable and readily available ‘green’ products and having their people following easy to learn ‘green’ methods.

And, then how SPECIAL will any one of them be more than another… if they’re all ‘GREEN’?

That’s right, not very!

So, if just being ‘green’ isn’t going to give you the competitive edge, what will?

Like always… it’s the ‘stuff’ that requires a little bit of ‘heavy lifting’,at least at first.

Remember, all the things we talked about that help set us apart from the competition.

Things like… creating automatic and tireless systems to effectively manage every part of your commercial or residential cleaninng business. (see prior e-newsletters)

Things like… developing productivity strategies to utilize only the most effective and efficient equipment, products, training and quality control methods available for your janitorial business.

Things like… expanding your range of services to include ‘day cleaning’ as an alternative to those willing to allow cleaning to be done during regular business hours with the prospect of improved quality, lower turnover, along with reduced utility costs i.e. lights, A/C, heat.

Things like… creating MGP’s, Measurable Guarantees of Performance, or what some experts call USP’s, Unique Selling Propositions, or what others call UCA’s, Unique Competitive Advantages. (see prior e-newsletters)

Things like…creating an effective, ongoing marketing program consisting of a series of pre-scheduled steps such as powerful direct mail pieces. (see prior e-newsletters)

These are the ‘things’ that can give you a strong and lasting competitive edge on your competition.

In summary: Being ‘green’ is just one of the ‘things’ you’ll need to be successful… NOT the ONLY thing!

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Cleaning Business Marketing Strategy: Rinse and Repeat! where Dan explains an easy yet effective strategy to continue to leverage your same critical marketing messages without having to come up with whole new set of marketing pieces. Plus, he’ll give a practical plan for not losing the value of the marketing schedule of steps you worked hard to put together.

Thanks for watching our video – Cleaning Business Marketing Strategy: Rinse and Repeat! but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

What Would YOU Want from a Cleaning Service?, where Dan shares practical examples of things he might want to look for – if HE were a building owner or property manager and was going out to hire a contract cleaner to service his building or office. Then, he’ll give practical steps you can take to prove to your commercial or residential cleaning business customers that you – in fact, have the very qualities and procedures they’re looking for.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Ask if they want ice cream – and they say ‘No’.

But ask them if they want a scoop of vanilla or chocolate… and this time, you’re likely to hear them snap back with the flavor of their choice!

Yep, now they’re buying ice cream!

Why? What’s changed?

Well, the ‘offer’ or ‘pitch’ was presented as one of picking from options (vanilla or chocolate), rather than a simple ‘Yes or No’ to the question of whether they want ice cream at all.

And, there’s the lesson:
Take time to think of how you could create options for your cleaning business prospects to pick from.

Why?

Well, because, in general, people like choices.

So, how can we apply this ‘option’ idea in marketing our janitorial cleaning services?

Well, of course, by looking at offering a number of options of services to our prospects.

For example, in addition to the 5 day cleaning program they asked for, show a 3 day optional cleaning program on your proposal to them as well.

Or, how about rather than simply stating they will be responsible to provide the consumable poly/paper supplies, ask them if they would like to look at the option of having you track, order and restock these items for them, as an additional service.

Or, how about offering them an optional day cleaning version, as well as, the standard ‘after hours’ version they’re used to seeing. They may have never considered it before, and may be interested, even excited, about the option!

Or, how about having several options to choose from for each kind of extra service you provide such as carpet cleaning, tile maintenance, window cleaning etc.

For example, you could create three optional levels of service for carpet care, maybe Silver, Gold and Platinum, where each higher level offers increasing levels of service.

It takes work to think of and create these optional programs… but it can work wonders!

I mean, who doesn’t like ordering from a menu?

That’s right, we all do. And our cleaning company prospects are no different!

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – What Would YOU Want from a Cleaning Service?, where Dan shares practical examples of things he might want to look for – if he were a building owner or property manager and was going out to hire a contract cleaner to service his building or office.  Then, he’ll give practical steps you can take to prove to your customer that you, in fact, have the very qualities and procedures they’re looking for.

Thanks for watching our video – What Would YOU Want from a Cleaning Service? but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

Cleaning Business Opportunity:  Think ROI vs. Cost where shares practical examples of how he and Tony made the shift from focusing only on initial expense to considering the practical financial impact of all kinds of purchases from software to cleaning equipment.  Then, he’ll give practical steps you can take to make the shift in your janitorial business.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Ever wondered why it seems you’re cleaning more accounts than ever, but not making any more money?

How can this be? It’s enough to drive you nuts!

You ‘know’ you’re bidding each new cleaning job the same -at least, you think you are.

So, what the heck is going on?!

Well, it might come down to one thing:

…. OVERHEAD.

What’s that? What’s does overhead mean in a cleaning business you ask?.

Well, ask a hundred people and you’ll likely get
a hundred answers.

But, for today, let’s define overhead as…..

all your expenses over and above wages and payroll taxes. (sometimes called ‘burden’)

So, we’re talking about things like: cleaning chemicals, rent, utilities, gas and any training, managerial or admin wages or salaries not covered by the direct wages of an individual account.

So, ‘overhead’ is an expense category that’s normally shown as a percentage in order to calculate how much each account needs to ‘carry’, ‘kick in’, or contribute – to pay for expenses other than wages and payroll taxes.

It’s a little hard to get your ‘head around’ but it’s important, because overhead, or more specifically, - not accurately accounting for overhead – is where… the trouble can start!

Let’s take a look:

-when you buy add’l chemicals and equipment
-hire more managers or office help
-invest in a new software
-spend more on gasoline or repairs….

Yep, all these things can increase your commercial or residential cleaning business’ overhead, and if you haven’t accounted for it in your pricing… you may begin to feel like…

You’re doing more work…but not making more money!

Yeah, trouble.

You may be bidding using a simple method you’ve always used, where you just multiply the hours you think it will take, by some hourly billing rate you think is fair, not realizing things have changed.

That’s right, your old way of bidding may not be taking into account your new higher level of fixed expenses.

Let me tell you a story…

Years ago, we were humming along, thinking everything was going great. We were quickly picking up accounts and starting them just as fast.

Wonderful, right?

Wrong!

We kept running into a problem month after month.

When we looked at how we priced each job, it looked like each account was making money, but our P&L wasn’t showing the same profit, not even close!

Why?

Well, because at that point, we had not yet begun to accurately factor in overhead when calculating prices.
We had set an overhead % of let’s say 35% (of labor) but when we really looked at all of our expenses, it turns out that the overhead % needed to be more like 50% to cover everything.

That’s a big difference – in our case, it was the difference between making money and losing money!

Ouch! Now what?

Well, we eventually created a sliding scale approach to assigning overhead to each bid we do.

No matter how you bid your jobs, you need to be looking at having each account pay’ its ‘fair share’ of overhead.

The end of the story is when we finally applied the correct (higher) overhead to our P&L calculations… you can imagine how each accounts profitability looked… yeah, pretty bad, but actually, for the first time more… realistic.

They finally reflected what was really going on.

It was a wake up call I won’t ever forget.

I hope it’s a lesson your cleaning business won’t have to learn as painfully as we did.

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Cleaning Business Opportunity:  Think ROI vs. Cost where shares practical examples of how he and Tony made the shift from focusing only on initial expense to considering the practical financial impact of all kinds of purchases from software to cleaning equipment.  Then, he’ll give practical steps you can take to make the shift in your janitorial business.

Thanks for watching our video – Cleaning Business Opportunity:  Think ROI vs. Cost, but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

The 30 Minutes that KILLED the Cleaning Business, where Dan shares two examples of how small increments of time can wreak havoc on your janitorial business or residential cleaning company.  Then, he’ll give practical steps you can take to ‘lock in’ the profitability or your accounts early on when you are first starting up a new cleaning account.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

This is one of them: Take inventory

In other words, know what you have AND where it’s at.

Why?

Well, of course, the obvious reason is you own the asset – and whether it be an auto scrubber, vacuum cleaner or hi-speed burnisher, it’s up to you to keep track of it.

(Lord knows, if you don’t… no one else will)

But, there’s other just as important reasons to take inventory.

First, the things you keep close track of don’t seem to ‘disappear’ as often – AND stay in better shape!!

I don’t know if anyone’s taken the time to do a study of it, but we certainly found it to be true!

The equipment we didn’t ‘watch’ just seemed to come up ‘missing’ a lot more than the things we tracked.

And, the equipment we didn’t ‘watch’ just seemed to be poorly maintained compared to — the condition of the equipment where we knew where it is and whose using it.

It injects a degree of much needed accountability.

Make sense doesn’t it.

In fact, you can probably confirm the same thing happens in your company too.

Next, we had a system to know the location of

every set of equipment – as well as one for tracking vacuums being brought in for repair.

And we learned a lot from those systems.

For example, we may have found someone is putting a vacuum belt on incorrectly, or not emptying the
bag often enough.

By tracking inventory, we knew who to talk to and re-train on the proper way to maintain the equipment.

Another reason keeping track of inventory is so important is because – it allows you to maximize the use of your equipment!

Years ago, we would land a new account which needed us to provide, let’s say, a 36″ automatic scrubber.

Can you see this coming?

Yep, we actually went out and bought, or leased, a new machine, not realizing we had an extra one, in perfectly fine shape, just sitting at another account collecting dust;

That’s right, not even being used!! And, all because we weren’t keeping track of inventory.

It’s hard to put a dollar figure on how much you can save by moving equipment to where it’s needed most, by keeping it in better shape, or by reducing how many times equipment gets “lost”.

But it can be BIG.

So, even though ‘taking inventory’ isn’t exciting… increasing your profit is… so be sure to do it!

End of sermon.

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – The 30 Minutes that KILLED the Cleaning Business, where Dan shares two examples of how small increments of time can wreak havoc on your janitorial business or residential cleaning company.  Then, he’ll give practical steps you can take to ‘lock in’ the profitability or your accounts early on when you are first starting up a new cleaning account.

Thanks for watching our video – The 30 Minutes that KILLED the Cleaning Business but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

It’s What You Do When You DON’T Get The Cleaning Job!, where Dan shares a story about how the way a business owner treated them – and how it cost that person any shot at working with them in the future.  Then, Dan will explain why you want to handle rejection the right way – and finish up by giving you several practical strategies for turning initial rejection into ultimate success.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Ever had to go back a second – or third time?

Yep, it can happen – it used to happen to us.

But not anymore, or at least very, and I mean very, rarely.

Here’s why:

We painfully learned to take the time to measure properly and accurately – the first time.

That’s right, in our first visit, if we’re not sure of a measurement we took, well, we’ll go measure it again. period.

So, be sure to take full advantage of your first measuring walk through of a building.

Here’s how:

Slow things down – so you get only the most accurate info to load into the workloading and bidding software.

I admit it -we hope cleaning business owner consider using CleanBid bidding software, and think it’s the best bidding program around, BUT, whatever you use, you’re going to want to enter accurate data!

The good news is when you take the time to create an accurate list of detailed measurements, floor types and fixture counts, you’ll have an incredible reference tool to help you do two important things:

1. Create an accurate and professional bid proposal.

2. Quickly and easily be able to calculate prices for ‘project work’ or ‘one-time job’ requests like carpet cleaning or tile stripping and refinishing jobs.

That’s right, when the last minute, emergency call comes – asking for a price to scrub and recoat the waxable tile hallways and lunchroom, you’ll be able to quickly calculate a reasonable and profitable price.

And, something just as important, as long as they haven’t had any remodeling, you’ll be able to trust that your measurements are ‘good’.

And that’s important, because when you’re not sure, you know what happens…

That’s right, you, or someone in your company has to make a separate trip out to that building to re-measure.

What a waste of time and gas!

Time that could have been used for any number of things – like training, inspecting or selling…

So, follow the carpenter’s motto ‘measure twice – cut once’ so you can get ‘build’ (hehe) your company efficiently and profitably -and that’s no joke.

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – It’s What You Do When You DON’T Get The Cleaning Job!, where Dan shares a story about how the way a business owner treated them – and how it cost that person any shot at working with them in the future.  Then, Dan will explain why you want to handle rejection the right way – and finish up by giving you several practical strategies for turning initial rejection into ultimate success.

Thanks for watching our video – When You DON’T Get The Cleaning Job! but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

How to Spot a HIGHLY Productive Cleaning Business Owner!,where Dan tells about a crazy story he heard on radio that illustrates how a man used a variation of the productivity technique to win a car – and then gives a practical example of how you can create a daily schedule that will help you get a whole lot more done – a whole lot faster in your cleaning company.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Yes, this is Steve with a management firm out here in California.

We’ve just picked up a big company and one of their support buildings is out there -near you in Ohio.

The cleaning is six times per week now, but I think you might be keep it looking good in five.

Anyway, the thing is we’re looking at $2,200, maybe $2,300 - interested?

Yeah, that’s the pitch…. basically, they’ve got $2,200 or $2,300 available for some cleaning – would you like it?

Well, of course, the answer should be – it DEPENDS.  That’s right, it depends on LITTLE things (sarcasm intended) like…

Where is the account?

What time can it be cleaned?

How big is the building?

What do they need done? (specs)

Can I see the building so I can figure out how long it should take to clean?

How’s THAT for starters?

So, to start to find out this information…

I say, ‘Well, Steve, I don’t know, can you tell me a little bit about who you are, the company, the building and the cleaning they’re looking for?’

He then quickly, and I mean quickly, whips through how he thinks they (and who are they? …well, the old cleaning company… yeah, the one’s who are getting replaced/fired because they weren’t putting in enough time to keep the place clean!) – yeah, he thinks, THEY were putting in about 4 hours or so Monday – Friday.

Oooops, wait a second, NOW he that he thinks about it, there may be two of them, -yep, now, he thinks there could be two cleaners each night, so we should probably plan on 40 hrs.

Huh? – What? Are you kidding me???

I say ‘You’re talking per week?”

He mumbles “uh, yeah.”,

I say, ‘But, I thought they cleaned it six times per week. He says, “Yeah, but like I said, I think you’ll be able to do it in…um… five.’

He continues..

‘Anyway, like I said, I haven’t really actually seen the building, but, I’ll see if I can get someone there to show you -but, like I said, we’re talking $2,200 maybe $2,300 or so…”

Excuse me… but ‘What in the world is he talking about? I can’t seem to get a straight answer.’

That’s right, I’m thinking, I wish Mr. Slick here, would quit throwing out numbers, like everything’s no big deal.

There’s a big difference in:

-whether one person or two is needed

-whether each put’s in four vs. five hours a night, and –whether they do it five or six times per week!

In fact, the answers to these questions will determine whether or not the “deal” will work.

But, instead, this guy just keep telling me over and over how “We’re looking at $2,200 or $2,300″, hoping the details won’t make any difference, and that I’ll be so excited and grateful, I’ll won’t ask any questions!

Are you kidding me?!

Bottom line – after finally getting the details – we respectfully passed.

Now, for once, he’s finally quiet. “Uh, ok”…

Yeah, it’s all fun and games as long – as you don’t ask any questions.

But you need to. You need to know what you’re getting into.

I’ve heard horror stories about cleaning contractors doing sub-contracted work for a large national cleaning companies, including not getting paid on time or at all etc..

I’m sure someone can just as easily point to where a subcontracted situation did work out well for the sub…

All I can say is – Tony and I didn’t like the sub jobs – they never seemed to have any profit in them when we looked into the details.

Again, maybe, MAYBE there are sub contract situations where the building tenants are happy, the facility looks good, the cleaner has enough time to clean properly, the national cleaning company gets their cut… and their still enough money left for small, subcontractor at the end to make a fair profit.

We’ve just not seem much of it.

Tony and I preferred to hold the cleaning contract directly with the building owner – we didn’t want or need a middleman involved.

It’s up to you how you handle offers of being a sub contractor for a large, national maintenance management outfit – but, whatever you do, please remember this…

Go in with your eyes wide open – and to do that, you’ll need to ask plenty of questions, and not stop asking them – until you get solid answers.

Discover the Guru in You,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – How to Spot a HIGHLY Productive Cleaning Business Owner!, where Dan tells about a crazy story he heard on radio that illustrates  how a man used a variation of the productivity technique to win a car – and then gives a practical example of how you can create a daily schedule that will help you get a whole lot more done – a whole lot faster in your cleaning company.

Thanks for watching our video – How to Spot a HIGHLY Productive Cleaning Business Owner, but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

Clean Guru Thinking vs. Natural Instinct:  WHEN Should YOU Change Your Cleaning Business, where Dan gives a personal story and a janitorial business example to illustrate ‘how the right time to make changes to improve your cleaning company may turn out to be opposite of what you might naturally think.’

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

‘Oh, I know this building is really dirty and hard to get to – but I’m sure we’ll be able to hire someone locally to clean it. No problem.’

‘Oh, I see the specs call for us to provide an auto scrubber. I don’t know how much they are new, or if I can even find a decent used one, but I’m sure I can get my hands on something, from somewhere, pretty cheap. No problem.‘

I once had a boss who gave me these words of advice – and I never forgot them..

Nothing’s a problem, until it’s a problem and then it’s a problem.

The point, of course, is when we ‘kid ourselves’ into believing everything will simply,effortlessly, almost magically work out without much work on our part, well, we’re setting ourselves up for, yes you guessed right – a PROBLEM.

By the way, it reminds me of interviewing….

Have you ever been interviewing someone that answers quickly, automatically and seemingly without thinking, ‘No Problem!’ to every question you throw at ‘em?

I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone automatically anwer thoughtlessly like that, I begin to think… this guy or gal is most likely – yep,a problem!

I mean are you kidding me? How can everything be ‘No Problem!’.

Heck, my whole day is finding problems, and then learning how to fix them and keep them fixed.

And, bottom line, you just have a heck of a lot more credibility when you, at least, think for a minute first, and then give some degree of thoughtful and meaningful answer to a question.

Sorry, I got off on that rant... but it makes me crazy!

Anyway, let’s get back to the real point of today’s message, which is, when you quickly dismiss problems as being ‘no big deal’ without investigating, and thinking them through, you can be setting yourself up for trouble.

Let’s go back to the examples I described in the beginning:

In the first one, where we boasted we could ‘bang the cleaning out in an hour’

Really? Don’t kid yourself….

Did you remember to factor in travel time to and from, the account?

Did you remember, it will take X amount of time to just get in, set up, then when you’re done, put things away, turn of the lights, and lock up?

In the second example, we proclaimed we shouldn’t have much trouble hiring someone to clean that hard to get to and super filthy account.

Really? Don’t kid yourself…

During times like this, when it’s hard to find, qualified and reliable employees, will you really be able to find and keep someone in the job, or will it more likely be the case, that you can’t fill the job the spot, and even if you – the next tough job is keeping it filled?

In the 3rd example, we tossed aside any concerns about finding or paying for an auto scrubber, telling ourselves that ‘I’m sure we’ll find something, from somewhere, pretty cheap?!’

Really? Don’t kid yourself….

Buying new equipment isn’t cheap, and finding used equipment at a good price isn’t always easy or sometimes – even possible.

So, what am I saying?

Well, first, let me tell you what I’m not saying.

I’m not saying to pass on a possible new account because there may be problems. (Heck, there’s always going to be some problems to overcome.)

What I am saying, however, is think first. Go in with your eyes wide open. Be realistic.

Do your homework.

The message is this -’don’t kid yourself” and end up getting stuck in a situation where you’re losing money, and ALL because you didn’t think realistically about how long things would take or how much things would cost.

You know I’m a big believer in making sure every account ‘stands on its own’, you know, pull its own weight profit wise.

If you go into the bidding process with realistic estimates for things, such as ‘time needed to clean’ and ‘other expenses’ you’ll stand a better chance of it being a winner rather than a dud – if you do get awarded the business!

And that’s a good thing!

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Clean Guru Thinking vs. Natural Instinct:  WHEN Should  You Change Your Cleaning Business, where Dan gives a personal story and a janitorial business example to illustrate ‘how the right time to make changes to improve your cleaning company may turn out to be opposite of what you might naturally think.’

Thanks for watching our video – Clean Guru Thinking vs. Natural Instinct:  WHEN Should You Change Your Cleaning Business? but, don’t stop there – be sure to check out our video:

Embarrassing Story – BIG HR Lesson for Cleaning Businesses! to hear Dan share an in-the-trenches HR situation where he got caught – completely off guard-  and then a few simple steps you can take so you don’t!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Our local zoo advertises, for example, advertises on billboards from time to time. They will often highlight some clever or funny ‘play on words’.

For example, let’s say they’re opening a panda exhibit – the sign might say something like ‘Get Here Early
Because It’s Utter Panda-monium at the Zoo!’

Cute, right? Sure, we ‘get it’, but does it work?

Who cares, as long as it funny, interesting – clever, right?

Wrong.

Ok, hang on, don’t misunderstand – we love our zoo here in town. In fact, it’s hands down, one of the best in the country.

But, to be honest…

I don’t think it much matters if it works, or not.

Huh, why?

Well, our community loves and supports our zoo in big time, and in every way possible – including financially, so…

Whether the ad works or not, the zoo will still be in business tomorrow, but, if you or I spend a fortune on advertising that doesn’t work… well,

…we might NOT! Yeah, ouch!

Why am I being such a scrooge? Don’t I like things that are clever, funny?

Well, sure, I do – just as much as the next guy…

But, the philosophy that helped Tony and I survive and thrive in the cleaning business was THIS…

Being REAL beats being clever!

So, what exactly do I mean by ‘being REAL’?

Well, it’s clearly highlighting the tangible, practical benefits waiting to be enjoyed by your prospects if they ‘do
business with your cleaning business’ with you – that’s real, that’s what sells.

Benefits,like, …

-making them more productive because of the time you can save them, or

- giving them the chance to shine in the boss’ eyes because they FINALLY hired a cleaning company that can
consistently delight employees and tenants with the quality of the cleaning delivered.

That’s the ‘stuff’ that inspires people to act – to buy.

For example, what if the zoo ran an ad that promoted that they were offering a special to help families afford
bringing the whole family down to the zoo, and it was pitched something like this…

“We know gasoline is up this summer. But we don’t want that to keep you from getting your family down here
to make memories…so this Saturday, we’re announcing…

Take A ‘Bite’ Out Of High Gas Prices At The Zoo!
___________________________________________________________________________________

For anyone arriving by 10 AM this Saturday, you can enjoy full admission for half off! That’s right, half off!

We realize how tough it is out there, but we’re in this together, and we don’t want anyone to miss the Zoo
this summer!

Now how does that compare to ‘Come On Down To The Zoo, Don’t Miss the Panda-monium’?
___________________________________________________________________________________

By the way, you can still be clever… i.e. ‘Take A Bite’ line with maybe a photo of an alligator taking a “bite”
out of the price $ etc.

But the point is – it can’t only be clever – it has to start with something more – something real!

When prospects realize you have REAL, genuine empathy for them, they’ll respond more frequently and in
bigger numbers than to something that’s simply clever.

I hope I can REEL you in to REAL-LY think about this this week. Ok, not super clever, but I couldn’t resist.

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Embarrassing Story – BIG HR Lesson for Cleaning Businesses! to hear Dan share an in-the-trenches HR situation where he got caught – completely off guard! Then find out the simple steps you can take in your janitorial or residential cleaning business to make sure you end up in the same awkward predicament Dan found himself in.

Thanks for watching our video – Embarrassing Story – BIG HR Lesson for Cleaning Businesses! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Why Cleaning Businesses Should Treat Customers… Like Prospects! where Dan makes an embarrassing admission that holds a clue about what cleaning companies can do differently, starting today, to dramatically improve how your customers feel about your cleaning business.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

How in the world did they build that?

And, the answer, of course, is the same way anything of value is built – yep, one brick at a time.

You have goals for your cleaning business.

You may want to double your profits.
You may want yearly sales of $1,000,000
You may want to earn $100,000 a year.

You can – others have done it. So can you!

But, HOW did they do it – right??

Well, it wasn’t a stroke of genius – at least I’ve never seen it done that way in the cleaning business!!

Nope, it was the un-sexy way, the real way – basically by building the business – one brick at a time.

What bricks?

Well, of course, all the ideas, plans, procedures, systems and people needed to build your janitorial business or residential cleaning service.

Those are the vital ‘bricks’ you need for your ‘wall’ to stand FIRMLY on its own.

And the bigger the wall/goal, the more bricks you’ll likely have to be put in place.

But, here’s the thing, it isn’t as easy as snapping your fingers, is it?

Nope. It’s tough.

But it’s easier when you break everything down into smaller daily goals.

That’s right, giving yourself 4 or 5 smaller ‘bricks’” or daily goals to complete each day will often get you farther than ‘trying to throw up a whole wall’ all at once.

So, for example, ‘Get your first sales letter written’.

Too big?

Then, instead, make the goal to just get the first two paragraphs written.

Still too big?

Then, simply decide to prepare the outline for the sales letter..

Break it down as far as you need to.

Let’s look at another example.

Which one of the following lists of daily goals would you actually do?

1. Establish Employee Handbook

2. Train Everyone on Safety

Versus…

1. Start a list/file of rules and regulations you don’t want to forget to include in the final employee handbook.

2. Search for at least two sources of training materials and begin to compare them.

We enjoy and accomplish more when we work from a list of manageable, clear, daily goals.

Some progress made on small daily goals, beats NO progress on huge, lofty goals!

Just remember the Great Wall Of China.

Discover the Guru in YOU
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Why Cleaning Businesses Should Treat Customers…Like Prospects! where Dan makes an embarrassing admission that holds a clue about what cleaning companies can do differently, starting today, to dramatically improve how your customers feel about your cleaning business.

Thanks for watching our video – Janitorial Businesses: Why Cleaning Businesses Should Treat Their Customers…Like Prospects! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Janitorial Businesses: Don’t Be Afraid to Tell ‘Em What You Know!’ to hear WHY so many commercial cleaning and residential maid service businesses avoid telling building owners and homeowners about their own experience and opinions, why THAT may be costing them sales and WHAT you can do about it Now!!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Don’t ask me how I know…. lol

Anyway, in the last 2 or 3 summers, they’ve been booming with business with people are lined up from 10 in the morning until late at night.

And that’s seven days a week, all summer long.

Now, there’s another place that sells soft serve ice cream not too far away from the first place.

But, their story is quite different.

You see, they used to get everybody to come to them, baseball teams – everyone!

Not any more.

They’ve gotten so slow in the last year or two, I wouldn’t be surprised if they shut down completely –while the other ice cream shop is, like I said, booming.

Why?

I mean – they’re both in the exact same business.

They’re located just 10 minutes from each other – both in good locations.

So, really, what’s up?

Well, to make it quick – the short answer, from what I can see is one has a business model that WORKS – and the other doesn’t!

The successful outfit serves up huge portions of ice cream … MUCH more than you would expect!

Customers ‘eyes get as big as saucers’ when they are handed their precious ‘cargo’, I mean, order.

…or at least, that’s what I’ve been told!

Anyway, I forgot to tell you one other important bit of information….

Their prices are higher – that’s right, a lot higher than the other ice cream shop. But you know what?

You guessed it – People don’t seem to care! That’s right, at least so far – their business model of over-delivering the creamy treats has hungry customers feeling more than willing to buy – and, to at least temporarily ignore any concerns they may have had about price.

Is it a fluke?

Well, it may be.

And if you instantly dismiss it as, just that, a ‘fluke’. .. then, that’s likely all it every will be for you – and you could completely miss a golden opportunity.

But, if you see it as possibly an example of a business model, then, you may have just found a possible ‘blueprint’ to success.

Notice I said possible – more investigation is definitely in order.

For example: Do the numbers make sense? Does the strategy of large portions offset by high prices result in a net profit far beyond the other guy’s strategy or not?

But that’s not really the main lesson, anyway.

The main lesson is mind-set.

Look with ‘eyes of opportunity’ so you don’t too quickly dismiss stories about successful businesses as one-time ‘wonders’ or flukes that don’t apply to the cleaning business.

They may actually be a real-life example of a winning business model waiting for you to learn and profit from.

Because, this idea isn’t necessarily just about ice-cream stores, is it?

No, it works for janitorial cleaning companies too.

It’s not hard to do the ‘math’:

Find someone who has run, or is still running, a janitorial cleaning company that’s succeeding in all the important ways you’re looking for including:

1. Delivering a reliable service,
2. Keeping a professional level of quality, and
3. Maintaining a sparkling reputation… and, of course,
4. Enjoying good sales growth and healthy profits….

…and then study their ‘business model’, it may not be a fluke at all!

Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Janitorial Businesses: Don’t Be Afraid to Tell ‘Em What You Know to hear WHY so many commercial cleaning and residential maid service businesses avoid telling building owners and homeowners about their own experience and opinions, why THAT may be costing them sales and WHAT you can do about it NOW!

Thanks for watching our video – Janitorial Businesses: Don’t Be Afraid to Tell ‘Em What You Know!! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: ‘OVER-Hire’ to Avoid Over-Reacting in Your Cleaning Business! if it’s ever happened to you – because, in this episode Dan reveals an insider strategy that may be solve the problem once and for all – so you don’t have to feel THAT kind of ‘kick to the gut’ feeling ever again!!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Today, let’s look at owner-occupied ones.

It’s probably obvious, but worth saying just to be clear, that these are buildings where the owner of the building actually uses some or all of the building to run their own company.

And that difference makes a big difference when it comes to cleaning.

As you can imagine, the owner of a building who actually uses (occupies) the building to run their own business generally takes a great deal of pride in the daily appearance of their building.

This isn’t just some passive ‘investment’ to them, but rather, something that tells their employees, customers and community a lot about them – good or bad.

And so, of course, it’s natural this makes a great deal of difference when it comes to the value they place on cleaning.

What may have been quickly dismissed as too much to spend on cleaning by a property manager, – may be much more easily approved by a person who actually owns AND occupies.

That’s right, the owner occupier wants their building to say something very positive the kind of person they are and the kind of business they run.

They want the cleanliness of the building to say…
1. ‘This guy runs a tight ship!’
2. ‘This guy shows an attention to detail.’
3. ‘This guy has a commitment to quality.’

Bottom line: Owner occupied buildings are seen as a clear reflection of the owner.

And as a result, the QUALITY message gets through more often in the case of selling to an owner occupied building.

And just as importantly, the connection between PRICE and QUALITY, get through more often in the case of selling to an owner occupied building.

So, yeah, we like ‘em.

We like bidding them.
We like landing them.
We like cleaning them.
And we like keeping them!

We didn’t take them for granted, and suggest you don’t either. They really are gems!

Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – ‘OVER-Hire’ to Avoid Over-Reacting in Your Cleaning Business! if it’s ever happened to you – because, in this episode Dan reveals an insider strategy that may be solve the problem once and for all – so you don’t have to feel THAT kind of ‘kick to the gut’ feeling ever again!!

Thanks for watching our video – ‘OVER- hire’ to Avoid OVER-Reacting in Your Cleaning Business!!’ but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Why YOUR Cleaning Business Should ‘Do the RIGHT Thing!’ where Dan reveals the principle as well as practical reasons why ‘doing the right thing’ even when it may cost your cleaning business a few dollars – is a good idea, especially if you plan on business for years not months!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Short answer – owner occupied.

There, you have it.

But, on a serious note, we could learn a few things by taking a few minutes to look at this question closer.

First, let’s re-state the question.

“Which is better to go after if you want to grow quickly and profitably -property managed or owner occupied buildings?”

Now, to get to an answer, let’s talk about each separately.

On one hand, there’s property managed buildings where, of course, a property manager is responsible for managing the building for the owners.

In this arrangement, the property manager’s goal is to keep the building fully occupied and running as smoothly as they can, to be blunt, for as little as they can!

Now, hold your horses, I know many of you can quickly give me examples of how this isn’t true – where the property manager actually hired a janitorial cleaning service that came in quite a bit higher than the rest of the bidders.

Fine. I’m not going to argue with you. I’m sure it happens once and a while.

But in my experience, it just doesn’t happen much, at least not enough, in my mind, to justify spending a lot of marketing time or money on them.

Are there exceptions to this rule.

Sure.

In fact, we clean buildings for property managers, but the big thing is we landed them on our terms.

What terms?

Well, first, we have to be able to provide a level of cleaning we’re proud to attach our name to.

Notice, I didn’t say ‘perfect’ cleaning, the way I’d want it to be, in a perfect business world.

No, not perfect, but at least a level of cleaning that fits our cleaning methods and delivers a level of cleaning we’re not ashamed to ‘put our name on!’.

Second, the contact we’ll be working with from the property management company has to be a reasonable person… not an insane maniac!

I mean it.

And I’m going to assume, if you’ve been cleaning for any length of time…you know exactly what I mean.

Anymore, we simply refuse to work with someone who ‘goes off’ like a bomb any time, without warning, and for nearly any reason.

No amount of money is worth it! At least, it wasn’t to us.

Lord knows, I’ve learned this painful lesson more times than I care to admit and I’m now, more convinced than ever that no matter how much you try – you simply cannot make some people happy.

I, frankly, think they either don’t know how, or simply don’t want, to be happy!

It’s probably the stress… anyway, I’m getting off the topic….

Terms.

We were talking about under what terms we might clean for a property manager.

We’ve already explained two of them – specifically, that we need to be able to deliver quality cleaning and have a reasonable person as our contact.

Two other terms we look for are related to PRICE:

- Our price has to make us a fair profit and

- Our price has to allow us to have enough time (nightly hours) to consistently deliver the level of cleaning we promised.

That’s it. Those are our 4 terms.

And, we’re not trying to be difficult about it, it’s just that if we’re going to grow we need every account to be profitable, stable and clean!

Now, if you can find a property manager to work with where you can meet these terms, you may have found a real winner.

In fact, the up-side is, if you do, that most property managers have several, or maybe even many, buildings for you to bid on cleaning for them.

And if the stars line up right, it potentially could be very good.

However, here’s just another word or two of caution:

First, be careful that you don’t confuse having lots of accounts – with being profitable!

Second, be careful of ‘putting all your eggs in one basket.’

If everything you do is tied to one, or a very few property managers, you don’t want to get squashed if the big elephant decides to suddenly “roll over”… on top of you!

Again, I’m not saying property managed buildings can’t work out. They can. But, to our way of thinking, just not often enough to make them our primary target.

Next time, we’ll discuss ‘owner occupied’ buildings.

Until next time..

Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Why YOUR Cleaning Business Should… Do the RIGHT Thing! where Dan reveals the principle as well as practical reasons why ‘doing the right thing’ even when it may cost your cleaning business a few dollars – is a good idea, especially if you plan on business for years not months!

Thanks for watching our video – Why YOUR Cleaning Business Should… Do the RIGHT Thing! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: What YOUR Cleaning Business Can Learn from the BAR Business, where Dan reveals the ‘secret’ bars and restaurants know about keeping people interested in them not just for a year – but year after year.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial cleaning or residential maid service business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

If you remember…

I had just bleached the carpet in a main executive office of one of our biggest customer’s buildings.

And, also, if you remember,

we were cleaning this carpet because our customer had VIP’s coming in the morning!

And, finally, if you remember,

the carpet looked horrible… actually ‘ruined’ some of the brown carpet was now bleached ‘yellow’ – while other areas were still brown carpet…

…creating what I would describe as “a huge, swirling mess of yellow and brown!”

….which by the way, on a side note, made me feel like I didn’t spray the ‘protectant’ on the right way… but that’s another story…lol… anyway…

Yeah, so THAT about sums it up.

Ok, so after the initial shock wore off… here’s what we came up with…

I bet you won’t guess AND by the way, I DON’T recommend this. It’s simply what two young, tired, inexperienced guys, new to the cleaning business came up with – at 1 AM:

We decided to try to ‘go back over’ the carpet with the extractor….

using a bleach water solution… in an effort to… you guessed it… create an evenly, yet uniformly bleached look!

No kidding.

And I’m certainly not recommending it, but to be honest, it “sort of” worked.

The reason I say ‘sort of’ – is because you couldn’t hide the fact that something was at the very least, different… but not necessarily ‘bad’ different.

By the time we were done, it was certainly a different color than the rest of the carpet in the hall etc…

BUT, if you looked at just the carpet in just that one office, on its own, well, it looked well, I’d say… evenly ‘yellow!!’

Ok, stop laughing, actually, don’t… we deserve it.

I’m not making excuses, and we certainly ‘owned up’ to the mistake by calling first thing in the morning to explain and apologize.

The story remarkably ends with the customer actually – incredibly, being understanding… saying, if I remember correctly, that…

‘It didn’t look THAT bad, just ‘very clean’ or something.

We offered to do whatever was necessary to ‘make things right’, but in the end they said, if you can imagine this….NOT to worry about it.

God bless them.

Ok, I can’t leave without at least repeating the lesson we learned from that experience ‘Label Everything’!

You have to know for certain what’s in every container in your warehouse or the janitorial closets in your customers’ buildings.

Discover the Guru in You,
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – What YOUR Cleaning Business Can Learn From the BAR Business, where Dan reveals the ‘secret’ bars and restaurants know about keeping people interested in them not just for a year – but year after year.

Thanks for watching our video – What YOUR Cleaning Business Can Learn From the BAR Business! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Could You WALK-AWAY From YOUR Cleaning Business For 30 DAYS? where Dan explains how this one question can help you identify all the challenges you need to tackle and can tackle one by one – to free yourself and begin to grow your commercial or residential cleaning business quickly and profitably!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

It was also our first year in business when Tony and I were still doing almost everything ourselves.

Anyway, we were working one day and as happened a lot, we quickly realized we were also going to have to clean that night too.

It was an auto supplier – and, they asked us to clean the carpet on two floors of offices.

They were having some VIP’s coming in the morning so it we had to make sure we got it got it clean and dry by morning.

Back then, all we had was portable extractors, so that’s what we used. We brought along some carpet ‘fabric protector’ to spray-on when we were done.

Nothing unusual so far. In fact, it was going pretty well.

I should mention, however, it was late. I don’t know what time it was - but it was late and we were tired.

I mean really tired – you know that kind of tired where you get a little ‘goofy’ and everything starts to strike you as funny!

Well, we were done slugging the 5 gal. pails around to refill the portable extractor, and had started to place the air blowers to speed up the drying.

Thank the Lord, almost done!   Right? Well…

So, Tony started to put things away - while I grabbed the spray container filled with what I thought was  ‘carpet fabric stain protector’ and started to spray it on to the carpet.

Can see where this is headed?

Yeah, here’s the thing: The container wasn’t labeled.

That’s right, we had just grabbed if off one of the shelves in the warehouse where we kept our supplies and threw it in the van.

Anyway, I began to spray down what I thought was ‘carpet protector’ all over the executive’s office carpet!!

Ok, so here it comes…

Within about 10 minutes or so, I start to notice that some the office’s brown carpet ( the ones I SPRAYED) is beginning to  look ‘SUPER-clean – I’d say, almost white/yellow…BUT in odd, swirling streaks!!

Other parts, of course, of the carpet right next to it still looked a little ‘wet and dark brown’ – yep, sort of normal for just being cleaned.

What’s up – you guessed it!  I did it!!

Now, nearly all the offices are turning into a huge swirling mess of shades of brown, yellow and white!!!

Yep - Uh, Oh!

Tony and I looked stunned at each other, like in one of those cartoons or sitcoms, and then quickly darted our eyes at the container of…. ‘carpet protector’!?

Neither one of us said a word while Tony opened the container and took a whiff….

He looked up – then at me!

Yeah, did you guess it? BLEACH!

That’s right, the unmistakable, stunning, strong smell of bleach!

I had just, in an impressive swirling fashion, bleached executives’ offices including the the main guy’s!

I couldn’t believe it. We couldn’t believe it.

For a minute, we just stood there.. dazed.. trying to realize what we – I mean, I, had just done.

And, then I’ve got to admit something I’m not very proud of, but it happened…

You see, we were so overwhelmed and ridiculously tired, that we ‘lost it’ for about 15 minutes…

That’s right, we broke into that inappropriate, nervous laughing fit that’s so hard that you’re crying (I may have actually been crying)… and it actually hurts!

Well, we finally pulled ourselves together and came up with a ‘way out’ of, or at least ‘through’ this disaster.

Can you guess what we did? I think it will surprise you – and next time, I’ll spill the rest of the beans, and tell you how this nightmare/fiasco ends!

For now, just please remember this one thing which is, of course, ‘Label Everything!’

That’s right, you need to know what is in every container stored on the shelves in your warehouse or in the janitorial closets in your accounts.

Don’t let what happened to us – happen to you!

Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Could You WALK-AWAY From YOUR Cleaning Business For 30 DAYS? where Dan explains how this one question can help you identify all the challenges you need to tackle and can tackle one by one – to free yourself and begin to grow your commercial or residential cleaning business quickly and profitably!

Thanks for watching our video – Could You WALK- AWAY From YOUR Cleaning Business For 30 DAYS?  but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: How to Bid Cleaning Jobs… When You Have More QUESTIONS Than Answers! where you’ll hear Dan reveal the simple strategy he and Tony used to get out of many of the painful and potentially costly bidding ‘jams’ they sometimes faced in running their cleaning business.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Short and sweet answer?

Yes you do, or at least, you’ll WANT them – and sooner rather than later.

And what exactly is a reference?

Well, it’s a customer that’s so satisfied with you and your cleaning, they’re willing to inconvenience themselves – to help you grow!

What do I mean?

Well, let’s think about it.

Customers of yours, who agree to be listed as a reference of yours, are saying they’re willing to ‘take calls’ during their busy work day to answer questions about you and your cleaning company.

Now, that’s commitment. That’s loyalty.

Written testimonials are great and you need to collect and exhibit them to ‘prove’ to your prospective clients your cleaning business’ ability to deliver on your promises of service.

But ‘LIVE’ references are even more powerful.

They say to the prospect, “this cleaning company has a number of clients so happy with their service, they’re willing – even glad, to tell about their positive experience in dealing with you!

Don’t panic. You don’t need 50.

But you do want to as quickly as you can get enough, so you don’t have an ‘avalanche’ of calls coming down on just one,unsuspecting person who agreed to act as a reference for you…

NOT knowing they were the ONLY one!

One is better than none but you do want to get oh, let’s say at least three or four, as soon as you can – and eventually have six to eight or more.

That many sends a powerful message!

Some companies have so many, they’re able to customize the list they include with their proposal to match the kind of building their bidding on – i.e. bank references if they’re bidding on banks etc..

But you only need one to start.

And then you need to add another.

And that’s how you do it.

And it’s important enough to spend some time working on. You want to be proactive in asking some of your satisfied customers if they’d be willing to act as a reference for you.

People won’t generally call you out of the blue and ask, “Hey, I was just thinking about you. You clean my office so well, I was thinking you might need a reference and wondered if you’d like to use me?”

I suppose it’s happened -but not very often I’m sure.

It doesn’t make your customers inconsiderate for not offering without being asked- not at all.

It’s like a lot of things. If it is to be – it’s up to me!

That’s right. You need to step up and ask.

Customers aren’t mind readers.

But if you do step up and ask, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how many of them will be willing to help you out.

And when they do agree to be on your list of references – you’ll have a real asset.

Remember: The same thing we said about testimonials applies for references to:

‘What others say about your cleaning business is more important than what you say about your cleaning business!’

Discover the Guru in YOU!

Dan

Thanks for watching our video – How to Bid Cleaning Jobs… When You Have More QUESTIONS Than Answers! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Creating ‘DIFFERENT’ in Your Cleaning Business! where you’ll hear Dan explain why worrying about NEW can get in the way of cleaning business owners building their business model and again, the three factors that may be much more important than new!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

1. The question isn’t ‘What CAN you do?’ – it’s ‘What WILL you do?’

2. Quit talking, and start doing!

3. And, of course, my personal favorite, from my own dad, “Talk is cheap, whiskey costs money!”

What is the message of all three?

You guessed it – stated simply,the difference between dreams and achievement is…

IMPLEMENTATION.

And, implementation is the SUPER-Power you can use to grow your cleaning business!!

That’s right, how quickly and efficiently we implement our ideas determines to a great degree, how fast we will improve and how soon we’ll begin to see results.

Implement many important ideas quickly and in a short time you’re likely to see things change dramatically.

Plod along at a snail’s pace as far as implementing ideas and, well, you’ll wait be waiting for, what will seem like forever, to see any improvement!

Intensity – the overwhelming sense of urgency that drives you to get things done – is another important force that can quickly separate you from other janitorial businesses.

Intensity, focus and commitment are just a few of the qualities than can drive us to IMPLEMENT. while others simply watch and do nothing.

And this implementing ‘habit’ has another important benefit – that’s right, it can change your day from a slow drudgery to an exciting challenge!!

It’s not fun to be struggling. It’s not fun to be ‘just getting by.’

Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be YOU.

You can change your future by changing what you do with your present.

Starting today…. you can commit yourself to taking one good idea at a time, and seeing to it that you get it implemented.

And, don’t worry too much about messing things up and making mistakes when you start implementing your ideas – you will.

It’s normal. And that’s not what matters in the end anyway!

You can always fix mistakes -they’re simply an
inconvenience to people who ‘make things happen’!

As my wife Jennifer would say, ‘If you’re getting things done, you’re gonna break a few dishes along the way!’

She’s smart.

Discover the Guru in YOU!
Dan

Thanks for watching our video – Creating ‘DIFFERENT’ in Your Cleaning Business! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: You Don’t Need NEW in Your Cleaning Business – It’s Nice, But OVER-rated! where you’ll hear Dan explain why worrying about NEW can get in the way of cleaning business owners building their business model and again, the three factors that may be much more important than new!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Yeah, maybe if all cleaning companies were the same, it might work.

Yeah, maybe if all customers wanted the same thing, it might work.

But they’re not… not by a long shot! Here’s the rub.

See, broad, one-size fits all approaches to bidding, like price per square foot, might work, if all cleaning companies were all the same size, cleaned the same, had the same costs, and expected the same profit.

But they don’t.

The really big janitorial building service contractors or BSCs may come close…

Yeah, really large cleaning companies, some of whom may have 500 or more employees – may come close.

At that level, the ‘players’ may begin to look similar; similar management structure, similar approaches to cleaning, similar quality control methods, and maybe most importantly – similar expense ratios and profit requirements.

So, at that level of play, per square foot based pricing may work adequately.

The reality is that most cleaning companies don’t look like that – at least we didn’t or the ones we talk to.

No, most cleaning companies vary greatly in:

- how they clean, i.e. one person, area or team cleaning

- how large they are, i. e.from one person to a hundred or more.

- what kind of cleaning they offer, i.e. from straight commercial office cleaning to residential maid service – to any number of other types such as carpet cleaning or industrial cleaning.

- what their overhead is or their profit requirements are.

And those differences… make a difference!

That’s right, for most cleaning companies; figuring out what price to charge for office cleaning projects should start with figuring out one thing – the TIME.

What time?

The time it will take, on average, to clean the building.

The reason I say, on average, is we all know, things come up that may take a little longer to do than usual some nights, or may save a little time on others.

But, that’s not the point.

The point is…when you start with a good estimate, or average, of how long a building will take to perform the office cleaning.. you’ve got a lot!

And when you start with THAT, you’re miles ahead of the guy who is just throwing out a price figured by either just dividing the total sq. ft. by some general production rate, or by simply multiplying it by some, just as general, price per sq. ft. figure.

Over-simplified measures get over-simplified answers.

And over-simplified answers in a business, like cleaning, can pretty quickly turn around to bite you, in the form of under-priced jobs which can lead to low profit months.

To avoid this, we recommend you: “Workload Each Building Where You’re Bidding on Office Cleaning!”

That’s right, workload each building!

What does that mean – to workload a building?

Workloading starts with entering specific information about the building your bidding on, such as floor measurements (i.e. room dimensions), floor types (i.e. carpet, tile) and fixture counts (sinks, toilets), to be combined with, or workloaded through, a series of duty schedules made up of specific cleaning tasks and associated production rates to calculate estimated hours for the office cleaning job.

Yes, there’s a lot to it.

Fortunately, there’s help available to make it easy…more about that later.

For now, it’s important to realize how critical it is to start with calculating an office cleaning time for the building, and then set the price, not the other way around!

Ok, let’s cut to the chase.

Sure. As you might expect, “We love using CleanBid”, and, think it’s terrific for doing everything you need from calculating times for office cleaning and getting monthly prices to getting a professional looking proposal.

But, you don’t have to use it. I mean it – you don’t.

If you have another way of work-loading buildings efficiently when you bid… great!

No hard feelings... really!

The important thing is that one way or the other, you do workload them!

That’s right, you’ll be way ahead of the game, if you make this one change…

What’s that?

-Get away from guessing cleaning times and monthly prices, and

-Get away from just making your price close to whatever the prospect says they’re paying now. (hint; that’s not the way to do it and, I know it’s a shock, but they may not always be telling you the whole truth)

Instead, do what the winners do… workload them!

That’s right, workload every building you’re bidding the office cleaning on so you start with a calculated cleaning time on your way to figuring out what price to charge!

Over the years, a great deal of our success can be credited to this one idea:

“You don’t throw out a price – and then figure out how long it will take to clean… but rather, you go into each office cleaning job with a price based on an estimated cleaning time.”

It makes sense… and makes cents!

Discover the Guru in YOU,

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – You Don’t’ Need NEW in Your Cleaning Business – It’s Nice, But OVER-rated! where you’ll hear Dan explain why worrying about NEW can get in the way of cleaning business owners building their business model and again, the three factors that may be much more important than new!

Thanks for watching our video – Watch this fast paced video – You Don’t’ Need NEW in Your Cleaning Business – It’s Nice, But OVER-rated! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video:  – It’s Never Too Late To Change The Way You BUILD Your Cleaning Business! where you’ll hear Dan explain a practical strategy to help you turn things around and put you and your commercial cleaning or residential maid service business back on the right course faster than you may have ever thought possible!!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

What? I mean how can I say such a thing?

Well, because your customers know, as well as you, that the idea of ‘perfect’ anything – is ridiculous.

In fact, they know cleaning companies that promise things like ‘perfect cleaning or ‘no mistakes’ are kidding themselves, or worse yet – trying to fool them!

That’s right, they know better.

Yep, they know after watching an endless parade of cleaning companies, who promised the moon …but quickly fell flat on their face – that “perfect” cleaning is neither perfect, nor possible.

No, instead, they nearly all learn to avoid the empty promises of those guaranteeing perfection – and start looking instead for something else.

So, what’s that?

What do customers really want from their janitorial cleaning service?

Best price?

Sure, they look at it, but no, it’s not just price.

Well then, what is it? It’s this, drum roll….

A real answer to their real problem(s).

And what’s their real problem?

Well, ask a hundred companies and you’ll get a hundred different answers, but you’ll find some
common things they’re looking for.

‘I want a cleaning service that:

1.) knows my building or home and
2.) what I need, and can…
3.) demonstrate a specific plan and
4.) the systems needed to deliver on the plan
5.) at a price I can justify along with a
6.) a proven track record of getting it done.’

As buyers, we’re all the same.

We’re looking for someone who can show they
have real answers to our real problems!

Discover the Guru in YOU!

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – It’s Never Too Late To Change The Way You BUILD Your Cleaning Business! where you’ll hear Dan explain a practical strategy to help you turn things around and put you and your commercial cleaning or residential maid service business back on the right course faster than you may have ever thought possible!!

Thanks for watching our video – Watch this fast paced video – It’s Never Too Late To Change The Way You BUILD Your Cleaning Business! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: The ONE Question that Shouldn’t Be Your FIRST Question to Your Cleaning Business Clients! where you’ll not only learn the one question that sends the WRONG message ( when it’s asked FIRST), but also, what you can say and ask instead that sends the RIGHT one!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Create marketing.
Sell better.
Hire better.
Train more.
Inspect accounts.
Repair equipment.
Stay in budget.
etc etc etc, right?…

So, with a short list of to do’s as overwhelming as THAT – yeah, it’s easy for some things, including important things – to get missed.

Why?

Well, we all know, don’t we – the urgent gets in the way of the important!, doesn’t it?

It sure does.

So what can be done about it?

Well, here’s three powerful, but challenging, steps to getting more done in your cleaning business:

1. ‘Carve out’ a period of time

2. Assign a specific purpose to it

and THEN, maybe most important of all -

3. Jealously guard it for THAT purpose ONLY.

Let’s take a look at how this might look.

Let’s say, for example, you decide between
7:00 -8:15 AM, every Tuesday and Friday:

You will check your timesheets or reports to make sure your accounts stay in budget.

If you check them, and they’re in budget – great!

But, if you find any exceptions, you’ll either dig into WHY the hours are ‘out of whack’ ASAP.

BUT, this strategy of ‘carving out time and assigning a specific purpose to it’, only keeps working for you:

……… IF you stubbornly do the last part – which is to jealously guard that time.

Here’s the thing – I won’t be easy.

Why?

We all know, don’t we – because life gets in the way.

Actually, to be more accurate, because we let life get in the way.

That’s right, here’s the tough part.

You can count on life ‘stuff’ trying to creep in and get in the way of your best laid plans for your janitorial or maid service business.

And sometimes, you need to let it.

Yeah, sometimes the thing that gets in the way is so important, you do need to drop what you’re doing… switch gears, and take care it.

A fire. An illness. An emergency.

There are situations that qualify as so important, that we need to ‘let go’, throw our schedule out the window and take care of the problem.

But. But. But, here’s the thing, here’s the secret:

What kinds of things do we let take us away
from our important work and how often?

Yeah, for many of us, the answer is nearly anything, for any reason, and – nearly all the time.

So, there’s the real problem, and there’s the real chance – the chance you have to turn things around in your cleaning company.

How?

This is the tough part… by not letting the unimportant get in the way of the important.

That’s right, jealously guarding your time!

You see, everything and everybody will try to take you
away from what you’re doing.

It won’t be easy to ‘stick to your guns’ and permit only a very few, very important things to change your plans.

It won’t be easy -nothing worthwhile ever is.

But the pay off is ENORMOUS.

A day made up of carved out periods of time, each assigned a specific purpose, that you jealously guard can produce INCREDIBLE, yes, INCREDIBLE results.

The only question left to ask then is, of course:

Will we do it?

Let’s try – really hard.

Discover the Guru in YOU!

Dan

Watch this fast paced video - The ONE Question that Shouldn’t Be Your FIRST Question to Your Customers! where you’ll not only learn the one question that sends the WRONG message ( when it’s asked FIRST), but also, what you can say and ask instead that sends the RIGHT one!

Thanks for watching our video — Watch this fast paced video — The ONE Question that Shouldn’t Be Your FIRST Question to Your Customers! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Why ‘Same Message, Different Methods‘ is the KEY to Successful Marketing in the Cleaning Business!! where you’ll learn what you want to keep consistent and what you want to ‘ change up’ to get different kinds of prospects interested.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

It sure is exciting to announce to the office that you just landed a new account!

Making a sale is, and always will be, a thrill.

But, there’s something just as important that you
don’t generally find people running around the office
boasting about – but they should.

And that’s getting and keeping those cleaning accounts- in budget!

That’s right, once you land an account, one of your
very first priorities should be assigning it the budgeted hours you used to determine the monthly price.

Again, those budgeted hours are the total hours per night you (if you’re cleaning the building yourself) or your office cleaning staff ( if you’re hiring an employee) can spend each visit to clean the account.

Bottom line:

Stay ‘in budget’ and you’ll be well on your way to making money consistently – month after month.

Start going ‘over budget’ with any regularity and you’re likely to be managing, staffing, cleaning
and inspecting an account where – you’re losing money!

It’s that simple and that important. Let’s take a look.

Any exceptions?

Sure.

When you first start an account up, it’s normal to take longer to get it ‘up to snuff’ and for your staff to get used to cleaning it.

And even after you’ve had an account running smoothly there will still be nights, now and then, when you run over on your time for one reason or another such as a pizza party cleanup or preparations for a big VIP visit.

But those exceptions need to be just that – exceptions.

Generally, the hours should be pretty steady – right around the budgeted hours you assigned to the account.

You should consistently watch the hours you’re spending cleaning on regular basis and move quickly to investigate and take corrective steps if cleaning times start creeping up.

Those corrective steps can range from a conversation to remind the cleaning associate to ‘stay in budget’ to a complete re-training of the account to make sure everything is being done properly and efficiently.

It’s not as fun as landing an account – but it can be just as important and just as financially rewarding.

Ever heard the old saying ‘It’s not what you make – it’s what you keep!”

Well, today’s message could be expressed in a similar way, ‘It’s not the accounts you land, it’s the accounts you keep – in budget!”

Discover the Guru in YOU!

Dan

Watch this fast paced video – Why ‘Same Message, Different Methods‘ is the KEY to Successful Marketing in the Cleaning Business!! where you’ll learn what you want to keep consistent and what you want to ‘ change up’ to get different kinds of prospects interested. Plus, Dan will give you examples of different advertising methods you may want to include in your marketing process.

Thanks for watching our video – Watch this fast paced video – Why ‘Same Message, Different Methods’ is the KEY to Successful Marketing in the Cleaning Business!! but, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Stop Obsessing about Cleaning Supplies in YOUR Cleaning Business!! where you’ll learn how important this ‘cleaning supply’ issue REALLY is so you can separate the important issues like safety, effectiveness and convenience from the not so important ones, like whether it’s the ‘latest and greatest’.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

You’re walking down hallways, and in and out of offices and restrooms, being shown a building to bid on and suddenly there it is, staring you in the face – the perfect opportunity!

What is it?

Well, it could be a white painted door heading to the plant covered in greasy handprints, or it might be the tops of office partitions covered with an ‘inch’ of dust.

Maybe it’s the urinals or stools in the bathroom stained with ugly mop and splash marks up the side.

Whatever it is, you’re tempted to jump in and pounce on this chance to ‘cut up’ their current service.

But don’t.

I know you could…and I know you may want to, but don’t!

See, if you do, you’re really missing the bigger opportunity h ere.

That’s right, any cleaning company – maybe every company, they’ve brought through ranted about how bad the place looked.

And those same janitorial cleaning companies also probably jumped at the chance to say “Yes, I can see WHY you’re looking to change cleaning companies!”.

But, that’s right, I’m suggesting you NOT ‘jump on the bandwagon’.

Instead, I submit there’s a better way to highlight your company, and it doesn’t involve making ‘mince meat’ out of the other guy.

For example, let’s say while doing a walkthrough you see a number of very obvious examples of poor cleaning, and your prospect goes so far as to say, “Well, you can see why I’m going to get rid of this them!” – consider handling it differently, maybe something like this:

“Well, you know, Steve, we’ve found that other than the ‘bad eggs’ you’re always going to run into, most people can do a pretty darn good job of cleaning if they’re given enough training and direction on a regular basis.

“Many times, however, problems like the ones we’re seeing here come from not getting the kind of up-front training and on-site supervision needed to keep the cleaner interested and on-track.”

“We certainly don’t have any magic words to make cleaning easy – it’s hard work, plain and simple, but what we do have is a handful of systems we insist on all the time.

“And, that handful of systems forces us to handle things like training, inspections, quality control and supervision in a certain way – all the time, not once and a while.”

“Let me give you just one example -in a building like this, we would have a site supervisor who would be responsible certain things get done every visit”.

“They would meet with everyone for a few minutes at the start of each shift to spell out what extra details need to be done in which areas of the building.”

“Plus, they would also be the one to complete a short, but required, daily walkthrough of the building where they will fill out a nightly inspection form.”

“It only takes about 15 minutes, but it’s one way we make sure important things get done each night.”
Period.

And, by the way, that form is then initialed and faxed to our office each evening. We’ve had just great results with that system!”

Now let me ask you this….

Which approach would have the prospect wanting to hire you because they now see you as a professional, with real answers to their real problems?

Would it be the approach where you ‘slam’ the current service for being incompetent and lazy, or

Would it be the second approach, where rather than attacking, you clearly describe how you have systems to make sure they get what they want?

….yep, I agree!

Watch this fast paced video – Stop Obsessing about Cleaning Supplies in YOUR Cleaning Business!! where you’ll learn how important this ‘cleaning supply’ issue REALLY is so you can separate the important issues like safety, effectiveness and convenience from the not so important ones, like whether it’s the ‘latest and greatest’. Plus, Dan will tell you 3 things that are a lot more important to the success or your cleaning company than your preference in glass cleaner.

Thanks for watching our video – Stop Obsessing about Cleaning Supplies in YOUR Cleaning Business!! But, don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Do Business with People Who Do Business with You and Your Cleaning Business!! where you’ll learn how important it can be to keep your cleaning clients and what they offer ‘on your radar’ when you are thinking about buying a given product or service – and how it can help build your relationship with them in the process.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

It’s supposed to be funny.

And it is – if you realize it’s poking fun at one of the most ridiculous business strategies ever.

And, what’s that?

Well, the idea that knowing if you’re making money on each job isn’t important as long as you’re doing – lots of them!

I know, sounds crazy, right? And it would be funny, if it wasn’t for the fact that so many hard-working cleaning businesses run their business as if it were TRUE!

I hope you’re not one of them, but if you are, don’t despair!

That’s right, you can start now to move in the direction of having all, or nearly all (we’ll talk about exceptions later), of your cleaning jobs making money.

And, sure, it’s simple yet powerful advice – but how?

Well, as always, here’s where the ‘heavy lifting’ comes in.

You need to take a financial snapshot of each of your cleaning accounts regularly – at least monthly, to see how profitable or un-profitable they are.

By the way, if you’re not already using accounting software, you should seriously look into it sooner rather than later because manually having to pull together your sales and expense info is well, let’s just say – hard.

Oh, and when you do start checking your profitability on a regular basis – be ready for some surprises!

Yeah, you’ll have some – we all do.

There’s the accounts you think are great, but when you look at them, you find you’re really losing money on – when you consider ALL your expenses.

Then, there’s the quiet accounts you check in with from time to time, but otherwise,never seem to hear a peep from. There not real big or flashy, but it turns out – they’re some of your profit (in real dollars) champions!

Now, I’m not saying, dump the big accounts you found were losing money for a month or two.

And I’m not saying, you should consider a small account that happens to be showing great profits for a while is on – auto pilot, either.

Nope, that’s too simple. Real life and real business success is more complicated than that.

No, real business success requires paying attention. Not once, but regularly.

And, so, it is with profitability.

You want to make good financial decisions. But to do
that you need good information.

So, that’s job 1 – specifically, getting good information. Only then can begin to think about what it means.

And, it may mean a number of things.

It may mean doing nothing, and simply watching the reports a few more months.

Sometimes even a great account loses money for a while, maybe when you’re first starting it up, for example.

And you need to think about whether the lack of profitability is temporary, or the sign of a more long term problem.

It may mean adjusting the budgeted hours at one account, while sitting down to ask for a raise at another.

It may mean even mean dropping an account or two if you can’t find a way to turn the financial picture around.

But whatever it means, it should be based on gathering and reviewing good financial information.

You and I don’t have to be the smartest business people in the world to realize – having each of your accounts make money is better than only some of them making money.

But sometimes, it gets down to things as simple, but important, as that!

Plus, there can be exceptions to a rule – once and a while.

For example, you may clean one small building once a week at a loss because you make great profits at three other large buildings you clean for the same client.

Or you may not make as much as you’d like on your monthly general cleaning with another customer, but you allow it because you do really well financially on handling their extra project work like tile and carpet jobs.

But again, these are exceptions, and the main thing is to make those decisions with your ‘financial eyes’ wide open and clear.

Watch this fast paced video Former Cleaning Business Employees Finally Spill the Beans!! where you’ll learn how important it can be to keep your cleaning clients and what they offer ‘on your radar’ when you are thinking about buying a given product or service – and how it can help build your relationship with them in the process.

Thanks for watching our video – Do Business with People Who Do Business with You and Your Cleaning Business!! but don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: Former Cleaning Business Employees Finally Spill the Beans!!  you’ll learn  one of the very best sources for ideas on HOW to improve your janitorial company or maid service!  Plus, Dan gives practical examples of the kinds of important, even shocking things you can learn by implementing this useful strategy.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable.  Want to Flip Yours?

Finding a niche or a targeted part of the market to focus on, is one of the best strategies to attract profitable new cleaning business.

You may decide, for example, that rather than service both residential and commercial accounts, you’re going to start to focus MORE attention on the commercial side.

You might begin to direct all of your training and marketing dollars in that direction.

That works.

But, you may decide to push it even further… you may decide to niche the niche.

What’s that?

Well, let’s say that within the commercial cleaning market, you decide to specialize in cleaning day care centers and churches.

Great, now that you’ve decided which ‘niche to niche’ – what do you do?

Well, in a nutshell, the idea is to become a specialist on the kinds of things those special niches want.

Now, that may be different than what other commercial accounts want, and even more importantly….may be different than what other cleaning companies are willing to offer!

Let’s take a look…

From asking day care center managers, you may find that security and attention to safe, hygienic cleaning methods and chemicals – are the critical issues.

From asking the pastors and building managers at churches, you may hear that offering unusual services at odd hours and days like ‘set ups and tear downs’ of events early in the morning or on weekends, along with shoveling the walks before services – are the unique things they’re looking – beyond normal office cleaning.

Your ‘mission’ then, should you choose to accept it,
would be:

To create reliable systems to deliver those special services, and then to – promote your company and THOSE systems to THAT niche.

How might that look? Let’s take a look.

Since the name of our company was Clean Care Inc., we might create a marketing campaign with ads like ‘Clean Care for Day Care!’ or ‘Clean Care for Church Care!’

You get the idea.

Now, here’s the important thing:

We’d then go on to clearly promote in our marketing how we have the commitment, specialized training and systems needed to deliver the very special cleaning requirements they need… as a day care center or church!!.

This strategy can work.

And when it does, it sets you apart from the rest of your competitors, so you cannot only attract the interest of your niche prospects, but successfully land accounts at higher profit margins to boot!.

And that’s the point.

The idea is you remove yourself from the big…

All cleaning companies are the same… so I might as well go with the cheapest one – pool, and

put yourself into the…

We’re different than everyone else, so we can make you happier than every one else – pool.

And when you’re swimming in that smaller ‘pool’, you don’t have to butt heads over price with every other cleaning outfit out there.

Watch this fast paced video Former Cleaning Business Employees Finally Spill the Beans!!; where you’ll learn one of the very best sources for ideas on HOW to improve your janitorial company or maid service! Plus, Dan gives practical examples of the kinds of important, even shocking things you can learn by implementing this useful strategy.

Thanks for watching our video – Former Cleaning Business Employees Finally Spill the Beans!! but don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: What Matters MORE Than the SIZE of Your Cleaning Accounts! you’ll learn 3 BIG things that may affect your success and profitability of your cleaning company even MORE than the size of the cleaning job! Plus, Dan gives practical examples of each to show how you can use avoid confusing size with profitability

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a commercial or residential cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

It can be devastating, leaving you completely blown away – nearly immobilized all day or longer.

Well, it’s happened to us – more than once! It can knock the wind out of you like a punch to the gut!

And, while I wish it weren’t the case, if you’ve been in the cleaning business for any length of time, there’s a good chance it’s happened to you too.

If it hasn’t I’m happy for you, but to be realistic, it not only could happen to you, it very likely will.

I’m not trying to be a smart aleck, it’s just that sometimes ‘things happen’,and sometimes losing an account wasn’t caused by things ‘within your control’.

Sometimes, the reason a company drops you is within your control, and if so, you should feel bad. I know we did. It was painful – but necessary for us to face what we we’re doing wrong, make the needed corrections; basically – ‘get our act together!’

Think about it, if you’re a professional, who takes pride in the service you deliver to your clients, then, of course you would feel bad.

It’s the natural response when you or one of your people ‘drop the ball’ and end up losing a valued client.

It’s supposed to hurt.

In fact, here’s the other interesting thing….

At least for me, and many other cleaning contractors I’ve talked with over the years, it hurts as much later on when you’re big – as it did in the early years when you were small or just starting out!

And at those times, when it is your fault, and you get ‘the call’ letting you know you’re out, you need to do a ‘gut check’ and a ‘systems check’ to see where things broke down.

This is a necessary part of your job as the owner of a cleaning business – to take ‘the hit’, try to salvage the client if you can, but either way, diagnose the problem to find out where your systems failed.

Was it your QC systems – or lack there of?

Was it Customer Service systems – or lack there of?

Was it your HR systems – or lack there of?

You get the idea – and you know what has to be done.

That’s right, it’s time for the ‘heavy lifting’ of figuring out what it’s going to take to keep it from happening in the future.

Like it our not, you’re the boss; and this is when you really earn your money.

Then there’s the times when it’s not your fault. And it can be for any number of different reasons.

It can be something as straight forward as, they’re ‘cutting back’ or they’re going to have their ‘own people do it’ to…
things you never saw coming like,

“We’ve had some internal theft problems, so we’re letting go all building contracts including the lawn care guys, mat cleaning service, vending machine people, and yes, of course …you too, the cleaning guy!

The very fact, that you can lose an account or accounts by no fault of your own, should be reason enough to commit yourself to always having an active, ongoing marketing campaign.

Losing an account is never easy whether or not it was your fault. But in either case, it’s bound to happen, and how you deal with it can make all the difference.

By the way, a couple more “things”…

There use to be a cleaning company that would proudly advertise “And we still have are first account!”

I, of course, always wanted to ask if they still had their 3rd, 14th, and 38th… but I guess that would have burst their advertising bubble!

I think it’s a bunch of malarkey!!

It’s the same cleaning guys who so proudly fly the whole ‘We Never Miss A Trash! marketing banner.

I say, it doesn’t work – it falls on deaf ears.

Your prospects aren’t stupid! -As my mother would say ‘They may have been born at night… but not last night!’

Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan

P.S. Don’t even get me started on the whole “Take the white glove we’ve enclosed in the envelope, wipe it all over your building, and if you get any dirt on it, call us because we wouldn’t ever let that happen!” gimmick!

Yeah, I think “Elvis left the building” a long time ago on that sorry excuse for a marketing message too!…I told you, you shouldn’t get me started!

Thanks for watching our video – What Matters MORE Than the SIZE of Your Cleaning Accounts! but don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: , 4 Practical Ways to BEAT Negativity in YOUR Cleaning Business! where you’ll hear four practical and easy to implement ways you can inject some positivity into your cleaning business replacing the negativity that can creep in if we’re not careful!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

You’ve been marketing, and measuring, and bidding, and selling, and hoping and then suddenly – the phone rings!

Your dreams are coming true! They’re calling to tell you the good news – they’ve chosen YOU to clean their building or home.

Happy days, right?

Yes, well, sort of.

You guessed it, the bad news is you’ve just discovered ALL of the new accounts want you to start cleaning on the same day.

And which day is that?

You guessed it, either the first of the month or if not, the first Monday in the month, right?

So, now what?

I don’t have to tell you how hard that can be to handle.

Heck, between the call-offs and extra jobs that need to be done, it’s hard enough just to get through a normal night of cleaning – let alone trying to get one new account started.

And, now we’re talking about MORE than one new account!!

So, what can you do?

Well, you certainly don’t feel like telling them you can’t handle it, do you?

Nope. I agree and completely understand why you don’t like the idea of having to postpone any new client – especially when you’ve worked so hard to get them!

So, here’s a couple ideas.

First, as soon as you can, sit down and think.

As with most things that seem like impossible emergencies - many, if not all of than can be fixed with a little calm, clear, thinking – and planning.

Second, find out which of the new cleaning accounts might be flexible on their start date.

I mean – if you don’t ask, you’ll never know, right?.

Many customers are more open to working with you to get through a scheduling conflict than you think.

If you explain your situation to them, they may not only understand, they may actually feel even better about hiring your company when they realize how busy and ‘in demand’ you are.

And that’s a good thing.

Third, lay out a number of possible ways of getting these cleaning jobs started including the possibility of moving their start date back, or UP!

That’s right, I said UP.

Consider offering to start an account earlier than they asked. It may sound like you’re putting even more pressure on yourself sooner, but getting one new account ‘up and running’ ahead of time – may actually take the pressure off!

Fourth, clear as much ‘other or extra type work’ scheduled for those days from your schedule as you can ahead of time.

That’s right, look at ‘banging out’ any extra tile maintenance or carpet cleaning work scheduled for the time of the start-up NOW instead.

Basically, ‘clear your plate’ as much as possible.

Fifth, consider training specific members of your cleaning team to be ‘start up’ experts.

You know, it takes a certain kind of person to effectively start new accounts.

They need to be calm, organized and capable of handling the unique challenges of starting a new jobs – where things are unfamiliar and ‘surprises’ always seem to come up.

Identifying these individuals, and then training and rewarding them accordingly, can provide you with a big ‘leg up’ in tackling the challenges of starting new accounts.

So, the next time you’re lucky enough to have a handful of new jobs to start all at once, you can be confident you can get through it – by knowing how to plan rather than having to panic!

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Thanks for watching our video – 4 Practical Ways to BEAT Negativity in YOUR Cleaning Business! but don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: , Why YOU Need To Be The Cleaning Business They KNOW! where you’ll hear how this one idea – of becoming familiar to your prospects, that’s right, just being someone they know – can make a big difference when it comes time for them to choose between you and another cleaning company!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Well, never one to play it safe, I’ll go ahead and say it…No!

Ok, hold your horses…let me explain.

If you’re talking about delivering what you promised, then, sure – Yes.

Or, if you’re talking about showing every customer you appreciate them…then – Yes, again.

And, finally, if you’re talking about treating customers fairly… absolutely, Yes, to that one too!

But, if you’re talking about giving every customer:

-the exact same amount of attention

-the exact same number of customer service calls

-the exact same number of times when you’ll ok extra cleaning, at no charge, for them, for whatever reason..

…then, the answer is an emphatic ‘No’!

You see this ‘treat every customer the same’ idea, sounds nice – yep, it’s politically correct, but – here’s the rub….

it only works if all customers are the same…which, of course – they’re not!

Don’t believe me? Let me tell you a story…

Years ago, before we started to closely watched the profitability of each account, we had three customers call in at the same time.

Each one said they needed a bunch of last minute, extra work done, right away – that night, because, as you probably guessed…yep, VIP’s were coming!

Anyway, we were up to our necks in work already, so this rush of last minute requests was definitely going to push us ‘over the edge’.

We ended up taking care of two of the customers that night like they asked for…but had to tell the third client,

‘Sorry, we simply can’t get to you tonight, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow.’

As you might expect, that third customer wasn’t thrilled.

Here’s the thing, a few days later, when we finally got around to looking at the profitability of each of our accounts.

To our surprise….of the two accounts we were able to get to that first night, one was only marginally profitable, and the other one was frankly – a financial ‘money pit’ for us!

That’s right, we were virtually losing money there every month.and with no real chance of increasing their price or reducing our cost to turn it around anytime soon.

But, of course, on the other hand, that third account, you remember the one where we called to let them know they’d ‘have to wait’….

Yep, you guessed it, that’s the one that actually turned out to be a “money machine”, churning out profits for us every month!

Ouch! Ooops!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting ‘snubbing your nose’ at any customer that’s only marginally profitable.

I am saying, however, when laying out the different levels of service for different accounts – with different levels of profitability, then, as my mother would put it…

‘For crying out loud, use your head – that’s why the good Lord gave you one!’

It’s not unethical or poor customer service.

It’s survival.

I seem to remember reading an article where a reporter was interviewing the then-popular and well respected CEO of a large fortune 100 company..

They asked him “The customer is always right, right?”

He said something like, and don’t quote me here, but his answer was basically…

‘No. You simply cannot give every customer, everything, they want, all the time, at whatever price they want…unless you plan on going broke!’

Now, that’s not politically correct either, is it?

No, we want to believe, and more importantly we want to say we can give all of our customers, everything they want, every time, no matter what!

And I agree, that would be nice. But it isn’t reality, is it?

At least not all the time.

No, the truth is, cleaning companies run with a limited amount of resources, the most important one of which is our people.

And, the truth is, the best we can do, and what we should challenge ourselves to do – is allocate those resources as efficiently as we can to to deliver maximum result AND make a profit!

No question – you owe your customers what you promised them.

But you also owe it to yourself, your families and your employees – to keep your financial eyes ‘wide open’ so you can make decisions that make money!

It’s the right thing to do.

Your clients should understand that – many of them run businesses too!

Watch this fast paced video Why YOU Need To Be The Cleaning Business They KNOW! you’ll hear how this one idea – of becoming familiar to your prospects, that’s right, just being someone they know – can make a big difference when it comes time for them to choose between you and another cleaning company!

Thanks for watching our video – Why YOU Need to Be the Cleaning Business They KNOW! but don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: , Forget the Olympics – Give Me a Cleaning Business!! where you’ll learn important differences between the Olympics and running a janitorial business or residential maid service and how those differences should make you feel lucky!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

But it’s not; not by a long shot.

Let me tell you a story..

When I was 16, I worked in a local department store.

Myself, and about a half a dozen other guys, were called ‘number three’s', yeah, no kidding, they actually called us # 3′s, don’t ask me why, I have no idea.

Anyway, our duties as # 3′s, included such ‘glamorous’ jobs as emptying trash, gathering clothes hangers, packing up orders to be sent by mail as well as..

‘jumping on’ and restraining the occasional wild eyed shoplifter – to help the security staff out

Those were the basic duties.

But there were other nastier duties we would find ourselves doing that I won’t go into in detail here about, other than to say….it was 1976, and back then, when there was a ‘problem’ in one of the bathrooms, it wasn’t just a leaky faucet – nope, someone may have had an ‘accident’.

AND they didn’t call the hazmat team in…no.. they called us…the old reliable # 3′s!

On the intercom… ‘# 3, please report to the men’s restroom on the 2nd floor immediately!”…”# 3, please report to the men’s restroom on the 2nd floor – immediately!’

And, again, without getting too graphic, let me just say, that when we got these emergency calls, it wasn’t as simply as filling a paper towel dispensers! Nope, it sure wasn’t….anyway….

So why do I tell you this?

Well, it’s because… strange as it may seem, I actually loved that job, and so did most other # 3′s.

Why?

Really – how in the world could we have all loved that job??

Well, here’s the ‘million dollar’ secret reason….

Because the boss showed a genuine interest in us.

That’s right, while he had more than enough to keep him busy overseeing everything going on in that dept. store, he took the time to get to know each of use personally, to look out for us.

He asked how we were doing, encouraged us, and complimented us when I did something worth complimenting.

Let me share one example.

One day, he pulled me aside to tell me how good of a worker I was, and just wanted to let me know that I would always have a job with them and if I wanted to advance with the company – the door was open!

He saw in me the best of what I was.. and could be.

I loved that job.

I worked hard at that job. I stayed at there and I advanced into management at that job.

And I did it all, to a great degree – because of that one man.

Ultimately, I became an Operations Manager of one of the company’s department stores just like the man who had coached and guided me!

On a side note, that same man, my boss, died not too many years later from brain cancer.

But, I have never forgotten him, and I expect I never will.

I cannot, however, remember what I was being paid per hour at the job. Interesting.

Sure, I’ll grant you I wouldn’t have worked there if I wasn’t being paid, but it tells you something important about what kept me there, motivated me to work hard there and then stay on to move into management.

With what you hear on the news every day, you might be tempted to be cynical and think people are different now – that they won’t respond to coaching and encouragement the way people did years ago.

Don’t believe it. People are still people. They want to feel a part of something where they’re appreciated.

And when they do, you may be surprised to see how willing they are deliver the amount of work and level of service, they know and you know, they’re capable of.

Watch the fast paced video Forget the Olympics – Give Me a Cleaning Business!! where you’ll learn important differences between the Olympics and running a janitorial business or residential maid service and how those differences should make you feel lucky!

Thanks for watching our video – Forget the Olympics – Give Me a Cleaning Business!!
but don’t stop there -be sure to check out our video: , Cleaning Business Alert: Don’t Make This Costly MISTAKE with Linked In – EVERYBODY Made with Facebook! You’ll hear how the public got ‘snookered’ by Facebook and how the very SAME thing could happen to you AGAIN with the business social media tool – Linked In – if you’re not careful!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Life would be so much easier.

I could simply whisper it in your ear and poof like magic you’d be landing great accounts, filling jobs with motivated people – and monitoring it all of it from your laptop computer!

But I can’t – because there isn’t one, all powerful secret.

But hang on for just a second, you don’t be discouraged – if fact, you should be glad!

Let me explain.

You see, if there were, one, all powerful secret to this business, you might be able to build a wildly successful company at first.

But, here’s the rub – you wouldn’t be able to keep it – at least not for long!

Let me tell you a story.

Years ago, Tony and I attended a cleaning industry convention. At lunch, a fellow cleaning business owner asked us how much business we did a year.

We told him.

But it’s what he asked next that I won’t ever forget.

He leaned closer to us with a small index card and pen, at the ready, and asked ‘So, how did you do that’?

I think we replied, “Do what?”

To which he said, “Get that big, how do you do that?”

Don’t get me wrong – we liked this guy.

He was interested, open and ready to learn.

And we tried to tell him a few of the most important things he might want to look at doing when he got back home from the convention..

But, I remember thinking, ‘Boy, it’s easy to take for granted how many things you learned over the years – the hurdles you’ve gotten over – until someone comes right out and asks you an honest but huge question like that!’

There certainly wasn’t one thing, one secret, we could pass along to him. In fact, there wasn’t enough room on both sides of the index card to get him everything he wanted.

But, he had the right idea!

Be open.

Learn from someone who has already done what you want to do.

I hope the things we told him that day helped him reach his goals. But, here’s the thing…

It’s good it takes learning a number of different ideas and skills to grow a successful cleaning company.

As the saying goes, ‘If it were easy – anybody could do it – and everybody would do it!’

Fortunately, all the things you need to have a fast growing and profitable cleaning company are things you can do if you first learn them and then ‘set your mind to implementing them!

But, again, there’s not just – one or two.

If there were, everybody and his brother would be able to do what you’re doing!

So, I say, ‘It’s a very good thing, that there isn’t simply one secret to this business.’

Yep, that way, once you take the time to find, and put together, the necessary ‘parts of the puzzle’, you’ll insulated – that’s right, competitors won’t be able to easily rush in and take it away.

And that is a very good thing.

But, hang on, there’s good news, because before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Cleaning Business Alert: Don’t Make This Costly MISTAKE with Linked In – EVERYBODY Made with Facebook! Watch this video to hear how the public got ‘snookered’ by Facebook and how the very SAME thing could happen to you AGAIN with the business social media tool – Linked In – if you’re not careful!

Thanks for watching our video – Cleaning Business Alert: Don’t Make This Costly MISTAKE with Linked In EVERYBODY Made with Facebook! but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Why YOUR Cleaning Business SHOULDN’T Be Spontaneous! where you’ll learn why consistently delighting your janitorial and residential cleaning clients is way too important to leave up to something as fragile as spontaneity or chance!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Has the ‘stuff’ you’ve got to get done today got you spinning so fast -you feel like shutting the whole thing down – just to catch your breath?

Have you ever thought to yourself as you race around trying to bid jobs, clean accounts and hire people…

‘If THIS is what it takes to grow, I’d be better off just staying small, and doing the work myself !”

I don’t blame you for feeling that way.

Really.

If you feel that you’re ‘killing yourself’ to find leads, bid jobs and then get them staffed and cleaned – then I don’t blame you one bit for feeling like it’s not worth it.

But while I don’t blame you, I do want you to know that it doesn’t have to be like that.

It really doesn’t.

There are plenty of things you can do to make it easier on you as you grow. Here’s a few:

1. Pick your fights.
Stay focused on the ‘right things’, like marketing and selling, and avoid, or spend as little time as possible, on ‘fights’ that don’t matter as much or at all.

2. Be prepared for the fight.
If, for example, marketing is one of the fights you pick, then you need to find out what works and what doesn’t work. And that’s takes some homework.

3. Show up for the fight.
If, for example, you’ve decided to create a marketing plan, but then fail to take the steps needed to ‘make it happen’ like having the system and discipline to stick to it as scheduled – well, then you haven’t ‘shown up for the fight’!

4. Ask others to ‘fight’ along with you.
This may be the most important tip of all – delegating.

If you’re not good at delegating, and prefer to do things yourself, you simply gotta get over it – if you want to grow.

Not everybody does – grow, that is, and there’s nothing wrong with staying small if you want.

There are plenty of folks who do a great job and our very happy doing all the work themselves – it gives them a great deal of pride and satisfaction.

BUT, if you want to have a fast growing and profitable cleaning business – then, you simply cannot do everything yourself.

And remember; delegating isn’t ‘dumping’ work you don’t want to do on someone else.

Not by a long shot.

Having others help you, by training them to take on more and more responsibility, not only helps to reduce your work load, it empowers and motivates your people along the way.

You can’t ‘stop the world from spinning!’ It’s supposed to spin.

Your job is to avoid getting ‘motion sickness

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Why YOUR Cleaning Business SHOULDN’T Be Spontaneous! you’ll realize that consistently delighting your janitorial and residential clients is way too important to leave up to something as fragile as spontaneity or chance!

Thanks for watching our video -Why Delighting Customers in YOUR Cleaning Business SHOULDN’T Be Spontaneous! but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Why ‘CAMPING’ May Hold the Secret to Success in the Cleaning Business! where you’ll learn what it is about ‘camping’ that can revolutionize your janitorial business or residential maid service from the inside – out!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Instead, I hope the way your office or building looks is a shining example of the very best your company can deliver.

But if it isn’t… it should be.

Really, it’s just ‘not ok’ to deliver quality cleaning to your clients, and then have your office look like a ‘frat house’ on a Sunday morning…. after a Saturday night!

I read somewhere that General Schwarzkopf had said that polished shoes, that’s right, polished shoes,were critical to success in his mind.

The idea being if you start allowing yourself to deliver less than the best, it’s more likely you’ll deliver less than the best at other times… as in times of war or other crisis – when you can least afford to do so!

Fortunately, the opposite is also true.

That’s right, when it came to the appearance of our office we followed the old saying, ‘Look sharp – be sharp!’

And went as so far as to advertise the point!

That’s right, we had a marketing piece with a photo of our office building and a huge headline that challenges the reader with the following question:

“Would YOUR Current Cleaning Company Be Comfortable If YOU Stopping By, Unannounced, To See The Cleanliness Of THEIR Office?”

Yeah, that got their attention!

And went on, of course, to invite them to stop by to see our building anytime!

We made what other companies saw as a ‘pain in the neck’ namely, taking care of their own facility – into a competitive advantage!

You can too!

One final thought, forgetting completely about the amount of positive marketing ‘mileage’ you can generate with this strategy, think about this:

What affect do you think having your office looking ‘sharp as a tack’ has on applicants that come in to your office and employees as they head out of your office for a night of cleaning?

You know the answer.

So, don’t miss out on all the benefits of having a spotlessly clean and well maintained office, especially when you already know a cleaning company that can handle the job!!

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Why ‘CAMPING’ May Hold The Secret to Success in the Cleaning Business! you’ll understand what it is about camping that can revolutionize your janitorial business or residential maid service from the inside – out!

Thanks for watching our video – Why ‘CAMPING’ May Hold the Secret to Success in the Cleaning Business! but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: People Can ‘See’ Your Voice! where you’ll learn why your voice reveals so much more than just what you sound like – but, in fact, actually sends important messages to your prospects. You’ll want to take a minute to see what your own voice ‘looks’ like as soon as possible.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

If you want it done right, you shouldn’t do it yourself!

And I know that that goes against nearly everything you’ve been told your whole life.

But here’s the thing…the whole idea that you, and only you, can be counted on to get it right….is wrong!

Really, think about it.

Sure, you’re good at what you do.

But to be so close minded, or short-sighted, to think that you are the only one that can be counted on to come through when it counts is not only nonsense, it’s downright dangerous – at least, business wise!

That’s right, by dangerous, I mean dangerous to your chances of ever having a fast growing, profitable cleaning company that has people and systems in place so it runs smoothly, even without, maybe particularly without – you there to run everything!

Let me be frank.

If, God forbid, when Tony and I were both running the cleaning business – if we were to be ‘hit by a bus’ and therefore wouldn’t have been around to:
- help make one decision
- clean one account
- inspect one building
- call one customer
- or send out even one invoice….

…Our company should be able to run the same as it would if we were there! (Sure we’d miss being around and hope our family, friends and staff would miss us too!)

But honestly, we are proud to say all those things would happen – without us there to make sure they happen.

Now, obviously, we don’t sit around at work because we don’t have anything to do. (although I did catch Tony doing that one time last week.)

No, we try as much as possible to spend our time working, as they say ‘on our business, not in it’ because we know that’s how we’ll reach our next goal, and our next goal and so on.

And that approach is only possible because we don’t believe ‘If we want it done right… we have to be the only ones to do it!’”

And we don’t believe that because we’ve seen so much evidence that shows the opposite to be true.

-Many of our associates could clean circles around us.

-Our Customer Service Manager has more patience when listening to customer problems than Tony or I.

-Our HR Manager has more experience and tact when handling employee problems than we do.

-Our floor maintenance techs can strip and refinish a floor you guessed it, better than Tony or I.

You get the idea.

That’s ok. In fact, that’s great. We were unbelievably proud and grateful for the quality service our people delivered everyday!

You don’t need to be the best technical person in every part of a cleaning operation to operate a great cleaning company.

You do, however, need to be the best owner-operator of a janitorial cleaning company that you possibly can be.

And that calls for different skills, like goal setting, delegating to and motivating employees, as well as creating systems to monitor and measure results.

When you can count on your people to deliver when you want something ‘done right’… you’ll know you’re doing something right too!

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, People Can ‘See’ Your Voice! you’ll understand not only why your voice ‘tells’ so much more than just what you sound like – but, actually gives hints as to your energy, passion and commitment as well. You’ll want to take a minute to see what your own voice ‘looks’ like – as soon as possible.

Thanks for watching our video – People Can ‘See’ Your Voice, but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: In the Cleaning Business – You Want to Sell ‘Apples to Oranges!!’ where you’ll hear Dan describe how and why you need to create a striking difference between you and the ‘other guys’ when it comes to how you deliver your cleaning services.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

..at least, that’s not the whole truth by a long shot!

Don’t get me wrong. I was always proud to own and operate a janitorial cleaning company. Always.

But, the idea that you or I are ‘just a cleaner too who happens to be running a cleaning business’ is only a small part a much bigger picture.

And if that’s the idea you have in your head, better get a new idea quick, or you’re going to severely limit how far and how fast you go in this business.

Let me tell you a story….

In the early days, Tony and I spent endless hours trying to learn every technical thing we could about cleaning; everything from the newest finish and stripper to the latest mop wringer and foaming quart bottle tip.

And we spent the bulk of our time cleaning, inspecting and making customer service calls and visits to clients.

And all of those things are great. It was the picture we had of what it meant to be in the cleaning business.

But, it wasn’t until we began to “change the picture” of what business we were really in, that things began to change…and fast!

That’s right, we began to “see” we were really in much more than simply a “cleaning business”.

That’s right, we began to see that we were really……in the people business!

That’s right, finding, training and motivating people.

And, it just so happened that the “thing” we need to hire, train and motivate them to do was – clean.

We began to realize that we were really …in the marketing of cleaning business!

That’s right, realizing we needed a burning, nearly obsessive commitment to growing, was just what the doctor ordered!

These may seem like small things; let me assure you – they’re not!

In fact, how you “see” things, can change what you decide to do– and that of course, changes everything.

When your eyes are staring down on SMALL day-to-day issues…obstacles in your way seem impossible to get over or through..

When your eyes are looking up and out at BIG future goals, obstacles in your way, while still there, seem more like little “hurdles” on your way towards the far off, but BIG, target in your sights!

So what, you may ask?

What difference will changing the way I “see” my business actually make in what I do today, or tomorrow?

Well, everything or nothing – depending on YOU.

But, let’s say, for example, that Cleaning Contractor #1 sees himself as “just another cleaning business” versus

Cleaning Contractor # 2 who sees himself, as “…a building service company committed to predictably reaching sales and profit targets by setting goals, planning strategy, implementing systems, and measuring results in all areas of the business, especially marketing and people development.”

Now, here’s the question:

Do you think if those are the two very different “pictures” in the minds of these two people all day long… they might decide to do very different things during any given day?

Yeah, I think so too.

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, In the Cleaning Business – You Want to Sell ‘Apples to Oranges!!’ you’ll hear Dan describe how and why you need to create a striking difference between you and the ‘other guys’ when it comes to how you deliver your cleaning services.

Thanks for watching our video – In the Cleaning Business – You Want to Sell ‘Apples to Oranges’!, but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: You Don’t Have To Sugar-Coat Problems in Your Cleaning Business! you’ll learn how to build a janitorial business or residential maid service of people who care about more than just getting a paycheck – and why THAT is so important!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

I mean, if you don’t take some time each day to touch base with your people, just to ‘visit’, at least for a little while, well you’re really missing the boat and half the fun of owning a cleaning company.

That’s right, if you’re not already, you should start making room for some time for sharing stories, frustrations and laughs at work – even in meetings.

Honestly, some of the best times I can remember, happened in our weekly staff meetings.

One person after another would start telling their own ‘you won’t believe what happened last night’ story about an employee or customer situation; – you know the kind we seem to collect so many of in the cleaning business.

And before you know it, we’re all in tears, crying with laughter.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit a lot of the time, it was nervous laughter, but it was definitely a welcome relief.

Ahh… good times. But, here’s the thing.

We also got a lot of done at those meetings.

Problems were identified.
Solutions were suggested.
Decisions were made.
Plans were prepared.
Responsibilities were assigned.
Progress was checked.

You see, in order to get results from meetings, you need to change what you expect from yourself and your staff at the meeting.

First, of course, you need to be prepared for the meeting. What areas do you want to cover and in what order?

Here are a few to consider:

HR
Sales & Marketing
Operations
Accounting
Customer Service & Quality Control
Safety & Security
Equipment, Chemicals, Vehicles etc.

And as you might’ve guessed, you should have a strategic plan for improving each of them.

Now, here’s the tip:

1. You want to assign someone or some small group to be responsible for making that progress happen.

2. You need to give that individual or group the authority, resources and support needed to be successful.

2. You need a way of measuring progress, or the lack there of.

3. You need to commit to meeting regularly to review how things are progressing (meeting).

Picture your meeting going something like this:

Starting with the person assigned to customer service and asking if all this week’s calls and visits were made.

Then asking the team in charge of safety and security, if they had verified that all accounts had the updated set of MSDS forms and if the new security light had been installed in the parking lot.

And then on to the person in charge of QC, and so on…

Assigning responsibility and creating measures to track are certainly two of the really BIG ways we stopped having meetings that were a waste of time… and they can do the same for YOU.

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, You Don’t Have To Sugar Coat Problems in Your Cleaning Business! you’ll learn how building a janitorial business or residential maid service of people who care about more than just getting a paycheck – and how that allows you to share the truth about your cleaning business’ challenges – knowing they’ll be ready to the challenge with you, that’s right – as a team.

Thanks for watching our video – You Don’t Have To Sugar Coat Problems in Your Janitorial Business! but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Should YOUR Cleaning Business Use a Butter Knife?, you’ll learn why some tools work better in certain situations than others and some basic rules about how you can decide ‘which to use when’.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

What are these windows of vulnerability, and why do I need to know how to survive them?

Ok, let’s say the cleaning person you have assigned to one of your best accounts for a long time has just left to retire.

Or, let’s say, at another one of your buildings, your customer has assigned the office manager to work with you, because the contact you normally deal with has been eliminated.

Or, let’s say, you’ve promoted the site manager who has been supervising one of your accounts for years to another bigger account.

Or, let’s say, your customer calls to let you know some ‘things’ have been coming up missing around the office. They’re not saying it’s your people.. but they just wanted to let you know.

Or, let’s say, while trying to get your customer ready for some VIP’s coming in for a meeting, your floor crew accidentally knocked an ornamental keepsake off of one of the big bosses’ desks. And, yes, it broke.

Ok, I’ll stop.

These are ‘windows of vulnerability’ I’m talking about.

You can say, in nearly every one of the cases, it’s either no one’s fault, for example when people are
moved, promoted or retired or, at least you could say, no one did it intentionally.

You might like to just think of it that way, and get back to business as usual.

Better think again.

When a ‘window of vulnerability’ appears in your cleaning business, it’s best to treat things as, anything but, business as usual!

You see, it doesn’t matter if it was your fault or not. And, it doesn’t matter if the reason for it happening had anything to do with you at all.

The reason why these things happen doesn’t matter.

The reality is, they did happen, and you’d better realize what your customer may start thinking and feeling.

And what is that?

Well, let’s take a quick look, shall we….

The cleaning lady they’ve known and trusted for years is leaving to retire – that’s CHANGE. And that change, may make them feel nervous about who you’re planning to put at their building to replace that person with.

The new person, of course, will be a “stranger’ to them at first, as any new person is. And it doesn’t matter if it makes any sense or not, the fact is, it’s CHANGE… and it makes them feel uneasy!

And, here’s a hint, you don’t want your customers feeling uneasy, at least not about you and not for long!

Again, it’s not necessarily logical.

It doesn’t matter.

It’s change. And sometimes, many times, any change at all, can send up “red flags” for your customers, along with their radar to watch the cleaning!

Let’s look some more…

When the office manager takes over the job of your former contact, it may have absolutely nothing to do with cleaning. But, the old saying a ‘new broom sweeps clean’ can have some truth to it – as you hear that the ‘new guy’ in charge is looking to ‘shake things up’ and make some CHANGES.

You promote a site supervisor, and you begin to hear your contact say little things like.. “I don’t know, we sure hated to lose Rose, things just don’t look the same around here since you moved her!”

And you may start to hear this after only a couple days of you making the personnel move…as your customer begins to miss the way it was and complain about how it is now.

It isn’t blame that we’re worried about here. It’s mind set.

And you want to keep your customers mind set POSITIVE about you and your cleaning company.

How?

Well, here’s a few tips to survive your ‘windows of vulnerability’:

First, always keep in touch with your customers, but stay in even closer contact when you face a “window of vulnerability”.

Second, listen to your customer. Be sure to listen for what they’re feeling… when these changes happen.

Third, reassure you customer not only that you understand their concerns, but that you have a plan to make sure things work out smoothly for them.

Fourth, continue to stay closely “on top” of the situation and in touch with your customer, until you, and your customer, are convinced things are ‘well in hand’ again.

Sure, you want to have systems in place to avoid as many of the common mistakes cleaning companies can make as possible. That’s a given.

But as much as you prepare and plan, you’ll still at times be faced with these ‘windows of vulnerability’.

If you recognize them when you see them, and act proactively to deal with them, you’ll not only survive these ‘windows’, but may actually have the chance to show a level of personal commitment to your customer they won’t soon forget.

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Should YOUR Cleaning Business Use a Butter Knife? you’ll learn why some tools work better in certain situations than others and some basic rules about how you can decide ‘which to use -when’.

Thanks for watching our video – Should YOUR Cleaning Business Use a Butter Knife? But don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Should You DROP a Cleaning Job Because Your Client’s a Royal ‘Pain-in-the-Neck’? , you’ll learn some specific things to look for – to see it you’re better off hanging in there with a ‘difficult’ client or dropping them from your business altogether

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Yesterday, you might have been able to “pick and choose” which buildings you wanted to clean.

Today, you’re just downright grateful for every customer you have and every office you clean!

Yesterday, you could expect to see at least a few decent applicants apply to work for you.

Today, you may be wondering where all the truly hard workers have gone.

Yesterday, you could go out and land cleaning jobs where you’d have enough hours to clean the way you’d like, that delivers the kind of quality you like to give.

Today, you question whether or not anyone even cares what the cleaning will actually look like – as you watch your prospects skip everything else… and go right to the price page!

Yesterday, you could count on your ‘contacts’ who’ve gotten to be friends of yours over the years, to always be there.

Today, the building and property manager contacts you’ve developed over the years – can disappear in a ‘puff of smoke’ as your friend is suddenly transferred, reassigned, laid off, or has his or her position eliminated altogether, leaving you standing there like the nervous, new kid at school, wondering who to sit next to at lunch.

Ugh!

I could go on, but I won’t, because the point is clear.

Today isn’t yesterday.

Harder? Sure, but not impossible.

In fact, the very fact, that things are harder and more challenging means that if you can find a way, or create a way to meet these challenges, then you will stand out from the crowd!

How?

Well, let’s look at two ways to ‘reinvent’ your company to meet these challenges head on…

Operational and Strategic

First, let’s look at OPERATIONAL.

Here we’re talking about finding better ways to get leads, bid jobs, land jobs, hire, train and motivate people, control expenses and manage quality with systems that work for you all the time – not just some of the time.

Then there’s STRATEGIC.

What’s that?

Well, these are ‘big picture’ decisions designed to respond to, and capitalize on, the new and changing world you’re running your cleaning business in today.

Let me tell you just a couple of the strategic decisions we’ve made over the years…

We decided to expand the geographic area we serviced from 30 miles to 60 miles by boosting on-site supervision, hiring close to the account, and cross-training associates to cover for co-workers, if necessary.

We decided to change the internal reality of our company by stepping up to, and guaranteeing, a set of higher level service standards to – set us apart from our competition!

And then we pro-actively educated our prospects to the differences between us and the competition.

Here’s an example:

Our Customer Service Guarantee:
We will return any service call within 1 hour, and respond to any service request within 24 hrs. of being received.* exception: schedule floor maintenance

We decided to increase our profit margin without raising our general monthly cleaning charge, by concentrating price increases to extra services such as carpet and tile maintenance, as well as, the consumable poly/paper restroom and lunchroom supplies.

And, a fuel surcharge on floor work and product delivery.

We decided to limit our target market to buildings requiring a minimum of (3) three times per week cleaning where we can clean after 5 PM and have key/code access.

We decided to expand our market by targeting additional types of buildings we were interested in, like churches, and then niched our marketing to speak directly to that target.

Take the time to think about what operational and strategic steps you want to make to move your company in new directions, after new markets, in new geographies, with new pricing strategies in a new way.

You don’t need to fear tomorrow.

There are answers to the challenges we face. We can face them together.

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Should You DROP a Cleaning Job Because Your Client’s a Royal ‘Pain-in-the-Neck’? you’ll learn some specific things to look for – to see it you’re better off hanging in there with a ‘difficult’ client or dropping them from your business altogether. Plus, you’ll hear why the story of ‘hanging in there’ can often have a happy ending.

Summary:

Thanks for watching our video – Should You DROP a Cleaning Job Because Your Client’s a Royal ‘Pain-in-the-Neck’? but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: One Easy Way to Find Cleaning Jobs to Bid On! , you’ll hear what you and your managers can do to put together a short but promising list of buildings likely to be going out to ‘bid on cleaning’ sooner rather than later!!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

It was one of those small trophies- the kind you get for playing little-league baseball during the summer.

But instead of a little ballplayer sitting on top, mine had a little yellow bulldozer!

That’s right, a bulldozer, the small, toy ‘hot wheels’ kind. And rather than saying “Summer League Champs!” – mine simply says “Level The Playing Field!” on it.

So I guess it’s official; the whole family is on board! They all want to see Tony and I “kick butt” on our mission to arm cleaning folks with as many sales and profit tools as we can – as fast as we can!

The kind of tools that FINALLY give cleaning contractors a leg up to compete, and win, against the ‘big guys’.

I think you know who I mean.

You’ve probably seen their shenanigans already.

Their slick marketing, overblown promises, and low-balling pricing antics give hard-working cleaning companies ‘fits’ during the day….and the ‘cold sweats’ at night!

So, we’re seriously working on it every day – trying as fast as we can to bring you ‘stuff’ you need – and that really works in dealing with these outfits!

You see, they don’t want you to think you can do it.

They want you to believe you need some ‘secret’ info that only they have, and that the only way you could get it is to work yourself half-to-death for 20 years or more.

Yep, they want you to think it’s all a big ‘mystery’.

They want you to believe it can’t happen for just anyone, or at least, not you!

And they want you to believe you wouldn’t understand it, or even if you did, you certainly couldn’t do it.

Why?

So you just give up and walk away – giving them one less competitor to have to deal with.

But don’t.

That’s right, don’t!

You can do it!

And we’re working on tools so you don’t have to.

Don’t worry, I won’t forget what Tony and I are supposed to do. I have a BULLDOZER sitting in the middle of my desk to remind me every day – all day!

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, One Easy Way to Find Cleaning Jobs to Bid On, you’ll hear what you and your managers can do to put together a short but promising list of buildings likely to be going out to ‘bid on cleaning ‘ sooner rather than later!! You’ll hear about the costly prospecting mistake Dan made – and how it never has to happen to you!!

Thanks for watching our video – One Easy Way to Find Cleaning Jobs to Bid On but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Why Do So Many Cleaning Businesses WANT to Compete with So Many Cleaning Businesses? you’ll hear why janitorial businesses say they don’t want to compete with lots of other cleaning companies – but the way they go after new work, unfortunately says – they do. Then, you’ll hear what they could do to instantly change how the market perceives them – so they can get out of the ‘low price’ game!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

And, that sounds about right. Right?

Now, on the other hand, the people in the ‘PROFIT’ camp would argue just as strongly that you can’t spend sales, only profits!

Yeah, that makes sense too. So, which is it?

Ok, well, the answer is …, drum roll please – neither, as in neither is more important than the other and both, as in they are both very important.

Sorry.

Yes, like most of the answers to questions in the real world you and I live in, the answer isn’t always, in fact, hardly ever is – black or white.

The truth lies somewhere in the murky middle.

But, if you look hard to find your answers in that murky middle, you’ll discover answers that are powerful.

And, those answers are the road map to solid growth in both sales and profits.

Let’s take a look at SALES first.

You know I preach to never stop marketing.

And I stand by that.

Having an on-going marketing plan in place is like the farmer, who always has a new field being planted to give him a regular harvest.

But, you may ask what’s so bad about an on again – off again marketing approach?

Well, at best, you’ll have accounts coming in now and then – basically ‘feast or famine’.

But, in the worst case, you could get caught ‘with your pants’ down, if you were to lose several accounts or one big one – leaving you scrambling with no more in the ‘pipeline’ to replace it.

Now what about PROFITS?

Well, making a profit is one of the things that literally makes you a business. Anything else may be a hobby, charity, or promising idea – but not a business!

At least, not one you’ll be running very long.

So, yes, we’re serious about making profits, and suggest you be serious about it as well.

And my biggest suggestion to getting and staying profitable is simply this – pay attention!

That’s right, there’s a lot of things you can do to run a profitable commercial or residential cleaning business, but it all starts with paying attention.

So, let’s get right down to it.

You pick up a new account and the budgeted hours you assign to it are – let’s say, 6 hrs. per night.

Well, if you start seeing 6 1/2 or 7 hours being spent each night in the building – there’s something wrong somewhere!

I don’t know what it is, but ‘there’s a fungus among us!’ and you better PAY ATTENTION and find out what it is, and correct it -because if you don’t well, you know, no one else will.

And, by the way, this ‘paying attention’ thing goes for more expenses than just payroll.

One last example, and I’ll get off my soap box.

There’s a dumpster in the parking lot of a medical building near our office.

And for months, it may be over a year by now, I have driven by and seen that thing filled to the brim, in fact often, overflowing with people’s garbage that I know did not come from that building.

Everyone in the world has been throwing there, pardon me, ‘crap’ into that dumpster, including nearby lawn care companies that fill it with their grass cuttings.

Why do I tell you this?

Because that building has been throwing hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars down the drain having to get that big dumpster emptied – simply because they did not pay attention to what was going on.

Well, finally, the other day, I saw they switched to a dumpster with a lockable lid.

All I could think was …. about time!

The secret wasn’t a secret at all – it just needed someone to pay attention.

So, which is more important – sales and profits?

Neither, you’re gonna need ‘em both!

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Why Do So Many Cleaning Businesses WANT to Compete with So Many Cleaning Businesses? you’ll hear why the strategy most cleaning companies use to go after new jobs sends a clear message that they are like every other cleaning business and, as such, end up having to fall back on low price to win jobs. Then, we’ll look at what they could differently to instantly change how the market perceives them – so they can get out of the ‘low price’ game!

Thanks for watching our video – Why Do So Many Cleaning Businesses WANT to Compete with So Many Cleaning Businesses? but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Cleaning Business Owner: Should You Invest 10% in YOU? where you’ll hear why investing time and money into your on-going personal and professional development may be the key to growing a successful cleaning business and then keeping it that way!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

There isn’t a lot of time to waste time anymore – as if there ever really was.

But, again, certainly not today.

I ran into a friend who runs a car dealership the other day. His dad used to run a dealership, before retiring a few years ago.

So, I asked him how things were now, compared to when his dad ran the business.

He explained the difference this way…

‘There sure as heck isn’t any time to be strolling around the car dealership, smoking a cigar, like his dad used to do.’

(Yeah, “those were the days” when you could lean back in your leather office chair and light up…right there in your paneled office.)

Anyway, he went on to make the point that today you’d better be on the ball all the time – running from the time you get to work!’

Put simply, ‘If you waste time today – you’ll get run over by your competition!

Sound familiar?

Well, here’s one practical way to save valuable time in your janitorial business or residential maid service – starting today.

To explain, let me tell you a story…

Years ago, when I would get a call from a business asking for a quote on their cleaning, I would simply jot down their name, confirm their address, and set up a time and date for a walk through.

Good so far, right?

I thought so too. Until the day of the appointment, when I drove to the account, met my contact and began to ask them a few questions like:

How many times per week would you like to be cleaned? or

When can we come in to do the cleaning? or

What kinds of cleaning services do you need included?

You see, we were targeting accounts where we could provide 3-5 times per week office cleaning in the early evening from, let’s say, 6:00 – 9:30 PM.

So, I can tell you now that I was more than a little shocked when I heard them answer my first few questions by saying something like…

‘Oh no, we don’t need any regular office cleaning, we’re just taking quotes on getting our lunchroom floor stripped later this year.’

Huh? You’ve got to be kidding, I thought to myself. How did I get into this situation?!

But I only had myself to blame.

You see, I assumed because they were on our targeted list of companies that naturally they would be good prospects for our regular office cleaning.

And they generally were – note, I said ‘generally’.

But, I still should have asked a few questions when they first called just to verify they were, in fact, looking for the kind and frequency of service we were offering.

I ‘jumped the gun’ like this several times.

Until one day, when I found myself an hour from our office at an account we had no business bidding on… and all because I didn’t take one minute to make sure we were on the ‘same page’.

I can tell you it was a long ride back on those icy roads heading back to the office – thinking about how I had wasted nearly half a day.

But that was the last time.

And I’ve saved a lot of mornings and afternoons since then – by sticking to a strict practice of asking a few questions first before I start making an appointment and getting the sales wheels turning.

They say a wise person can learn from someone else’s experience - I hope you save a lot of time and money learning from mine.

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Cleaning Business Owner: Should You Invest 10% in YOU? you’ll hear why investing time and money into your on-going personal and professional development may be the key to growing a successful cleaning business and then keeping it that way!

Thanks for watching our video – Cleaning Business Owner: Should You Invest 10% in YOU? but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: How Do YOU Find New Cleaning Business? Are you a gambler or a farmer when it comes to finding new jobs for your cleaning business or maid service? In this video, Dan describes both ways of growing your janitorial business – and why one way may be MUCH better than the other!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Ever heard the expression, ‘If you want to be successful, watch what everyone else is doing – and then do the opposite!’?

I don’t think that’s always true, but it certainly is true a lot of the time… and here’s an important example – attorneys.

That’s right. LAWYERS.

To listen to the average person talk about lawyers you’d think they were single-handedly the cause of the fall of western civilization!

Be honest. Haven’t you heard that?

In fact, can you even think of a time or two, when you may have said something like that yourself?

Probably. We all have. Why?

Well, think about this. What words do you hear people use to describe lawyers?

Scoundrels, vultures… and worse, right?!

Well, it would be easy to jump on the band wagon… and simply join in and agree that they’re a bunch of crooks.

Unfortunately, I can’t -because I know better.

Don’t get me wrong, some of them certainly act like a bunch of overpaid vultures. (Maybe even a larger percentage than in other professions – who knows.)

But not all of them… not by a long shot.

And frankly, contrary to popular opinion, many of them are honest, smart and hardworking.

On top of that, they may be one of the best kept secrets to keeping your commercial cleaning business or residential maid service on the fast track.

Shocking, I know, but let me tell you a quick story.

For years, every now and then, we would come across a “touchy” personnel situation.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we already had an HR manager, and a number of policies and practices in place.

But, sometimes, things just don’t fit neatly into the rules. Know what I mean?

Anyway, sometimes we would get stuck, not knowing whether or not we could legally terminate an employee we had been having trouble with.

We had lots of questions swirling in our heads, but with no confidence that we had any good answers for any of them..

…we were virtually immobilized, stuck!

Questions like….
Did we have all of our legal “ducks in a row”?

Were we on a firm legal footing if we let the person go?

How should we handle the corrective interview?

And for a long time, we would simply do nothing when we were faced with these “sticky” situations.

That’s right, we would stumble around at work like ‘zombies’ because we were so upset about the situation but didn’t have a clue of what to do about it.

Ever been there?

Anyway, long story short, we got in touch with an attorney who specializes in employment law. T

This lawyer became a great legal adviser to our cleaning business.

Anytime we were stuck, our lawyer, yes lawyer, quickly got us un-stuck by giving us the to-the-point legal advice we needed to get over it, or through it, and back on track.

I know. I know, but isn’t it expensive getting advice from an attorney.

Yes – it isn’t cheap.

But it can be more expensive if you can’t get past those inevitable personnel problems everyone is bound to face at one time or another.

The sales we landed and the money we made by getting unstuck and back on track far outweighed the couple of hundred bucks we had to pay for good legal advice now and then.

By the way, this same idea holds for other kinds of advice as well, such as accounting. (Can you say CPA?) Yep.

If everyone says all lawyers are a bunch of crooks, and they wouldn’t talk to one if they were the last person on earth – think about the source of the information.

My guess, with all due respect, is that these people may have never built a thriving and successful company themselves.

God bless them if they have, but nearly every growing janitorial business I know that has – have found a good legal ‘adviser’ to rely on through the years.

Ok, that’s it, I won’t say anything else nice about lawyers. I don’t want it to go to their already ‘big heads’

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, How Do YOU Find New Cleaning Business? you’ll hear how ‘gambler’ cleaning business owners rely on ‘chance’ while ‘farmer’ ones rely on ‘working their field’ (target market) so they can count on it to consistently provide for their business and their family year after year!

Thanks for watching our video – How Do YOU Find New Cleaning Business? but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Daisy Revisited: 1 Year AND 2 Stories – That’s right, Dan’s wife, Jennifer, made him promise to ‘shoot another video’ to show everyone how BIG Daisy – their dog, has gotten in just a year!!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Yes!

That’s right, I’m tempted to answer the question with a flat out ‘Yes!’ and call it a day, but it is probably worth talking about for a few minutes.

We had to wrestle with this – Guarantee or Not Guarantee question in the beginning too, when we first bought and started running a very small cleaning business called Jim’s Cleaning years ago.

You see, when we took over the business, there was no ‘Satisfaction Guarantee’ in place.

Heck, there were barely any rules at all.

So, we had to think about whether we should offer a guarantee, and if so – what kind.

You know, when you’re first starting off and money’s tight, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “Hey, if some customer simply decides, on a whim, that they’re not happy, I don’t want them to get away with not paying their bill!”

That’s understandable.

But here’s the thing – think about some of these questions:

What kind of company do you want to be?

What message do you want to send to your staff?

What message do you want to send to your customers?

What message do you want to send to your prospects?

You know the answers.

You want to be proud of yourself.

You want your staff to be proud of themselves and the company they work for.

You want your customers, and prospects, to get the clear message that you stand behind your work – guaranteed!

So, if we assume we do want to offer a guarantee, the next question is, that’s right, what kind?

Well, we suggest you offer as strong of a guarantee as possible, something on the order of a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee!”.

Why so strong?

Because anything less can send the wrong message.

What do I mean?

Well, if you start to add conditions, limitations or restrictions to your guarantee, you can quickly weaken it to the point – it may begin to work against you!

That’s right, if you offer a guarantee that is:
- only good for a short time,
- or for particular reasons,
- or under certain conditions
- or only if specific procedures are followed….

Well, then, you may actually be sending the message that:

1. You don’t trust your company to deliver on its promises

2. You don’t trust your customers to not abuse your guarantee.

And then you may have been better off if you hadn’t offered any guarantee at all!

So, we suggest you offer a strong 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

No weasel clauses! No burdensome time limitations! No unnecessary restriction on reasons why! No lengthy procedures that have to be followed!

No, just a simple straightforward guarantee – you stand behind your work 100%!

That’s right, systems. What they are? How to create them? And what they can do for you!

First let me tell you a story….

In the first few years running our janitorial business – when we got ready to start up a brand new account, we would simply grab all the people we needed, along with the equipment and cleaning supplies.. jump in the van and go!

Sounds simple. And it was.

It just wasn’t effective. You see we’d have problems:

1. Some cleaning people we took to the account would end up simply wandering around – doing little to nothing.

Why?

Well, any number of reasons.

Either they weren’t trained properly in the first place, weren’t prepared to handle the first day at a new cleaning account, or simply weren’t being given enough direction by a supervisor.

2. We would always find ourselves missing some important piece of cleaning… so we’d end up having to send somebody back to the shop to get it.

And the reason? Well, we simply didn’t have any pre-set list of supplies and equipment to check off and be sure to bring with us.

3. And finally, we would often forget to lock a door, get a trash or turn off a set of lights…. again, because we didn’t have a set of rules and procedures to follow.

Our cleaning business didn’t have a SYSTEM.

So, we worked on it – and created a series of systems such as:

– Developing a multiple-step training program for every cleaning associate to go through.

- Creating a checklist for supplies and equipment necessary to bring to a new account.

- Maintaining a log of all important information we earned about each account.

- Designing a detailed plan to follow for the start up of any new account.

That’s what systems basically are … pre-set procedures and practices to follow to handle any number of situations.

And you know as well as I do, there are lots of situations to deal with in cleaning.

But SYSTEMS can go a long way in handling these situations. Whether it’s a system to handle a start up of a new account or start up of a new employee.

Whether it’s a system to handle a customer complaint or a client testimonial.

Whether it’s a system for checking the quality of a building or system to check the appearance of your own office.

Whether it’s the maintenance of your company vehicles or of the maintenance of your company records and files.

The key to all of them is having a SYSTEM. But, what kind?

Well, one that is well thought out, addresses the situation the way you want, gets the desired results you want… and can be understood by anyone and everyone… every time!

Will there be exceptions?

Sure, you’ll never be able to completely eliminate times when a situation calls for you to be flexible and vary from your system.

But, if you can stick to your well planned out system 95% of the time, you, my friend, are way ahead of the game.

Way ahead.

Don’t believe me? Just look at the number of so-called service companies, including cleaning companies that never seem to get it right.

They’re always forgetting to bring something.

They’re always missing a trash, light or lock.

They’re always neglecting to make a call.

They’re always losing the paperwork?

I’m not criticizing them because these problems happen. Not at all – it can happen to all of us.

What I AM criticizing them for is never finding a way to fix them, and then keep them fixed!!

It’s not easy. I know it isn’t.

I takes time to look at a problem and come up with an effective series of steps that address the problem that everyone can understand… and then follow.

But, it’s the only way.

And if you do tackle all the challenges of your business one by one, by implementing systems to handle them, you will be handsomely rewarded.

Your customers will get better, more reliable cleaning.

Your cleaning associates will be more competent, and feel more confident.

And you, well, I don’t have to tell you how you’ll feel!

We were looking at how, if we’re not careful, our marketing, selling and customer service habits can have the opposite effect of the one we want.

For example, we discovered:

Many times, the harder we nervously chase something - the less likely we are to get it!!

We may, in fact, actually drive it even further away. Let’s take a look at an example.

Have you ever had a building where your janitorial business was bidding on the cleaning – and, it was an account you desperately wanted to land?

So, what do you do?

Well, have you ever caught yourself anxiously, nervously, desperately calling them back every day ( or MORE) just to ‘check in’ to see if they had made a decision.

Only problem is – you find the more you call the less interested they seemed.

That’s right – they seem to ‘dodge your calls’, ‘be unavailable’, ‘put you off’ or give you the ‘run around’ – until you want to throw your hands up and scream in frustration…

“Why won’t they just make up their minds?!”

Well, some times, too many times – THIS problem isn’t just about them – it’s about US too!

Yep, part of it – may be of our own-making.

That’s right, when we are too needy, when we desperately want the job – we may go too far, we may call too much, and end up ‘chasing them away rather than attracting” new cleaning business.

So, now what?

What can we do to turn this situation around; to begin sending the right message?

Well, first, keeping in mind the old saying a ‘watched pot never boils’,so, rather than nervously stewing over every bid you deliver and then hounding them with endless follow up phone calls…

- you can start to make up and live by a different set of rules – rules that put you and your cleaning business in a different position so they see you and your cleaning company in a different light!

For example, you may want to make it a rule to always discuss with your prospect, in advance, when you deliver the cleaning proposal – how long they need to get the proposal seen by those who need to give final approval.

Then you can decide on a date to call or stop out – just after that. So, you can then let them know exactly when you’ll be following up.

You can certainly assure them that between now and then – they can call you anytime, with any questions – but, short of that, you’ll be contacting them on such and such a date.

From that point on, if other issues come up, again, you may want to only follow up at times you have agreed to, in advance, when the cleaning prospect says they should have a decision finalized.

Stick with some rule like this and you can be professional, BUT also send the message that you’re a busy professional too!

We want to confidently attract business, not nervously chase after it. Make sense? Yep, makes cents!

Dan’s wife made him promise to ‘shoot another video’ to show everyone how BIG Daisy has gotten in just a year!! So, here she is again, starring in another video!! Plus you’ll hear 2 stories about her antics that you might find VERY amusing! So, sit back, relax and spend a few minutes with man’s (and Dan’s?) best friend!

Thanks for watching our video – Daisy Revisited: 1 Year AND 2 Stories, but don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Do YOU Measure Success in Your Cleaning Business in INCHES or MILES?where you’ll hear what successful business people and motivational coaches have to say about the all important question of – ‘What does it REALLY take to succeed in all parts of our lives including business!’

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Well, because among other reasons, from a very early age we are taught to be helpful, generous, and available to others in need – and those are all good qualities!

But, and this is a big BUT, you have to careful in an effort to be helpful, available and generous, you don’t ‘come across’, you know, ‘position yourself’ as – too needy and too desperate!

What do I mean? Let’s take a closer look…

What if, for example, you called your doctor, and after it rang just once they personally answered the phone.

Same thing for an attorney.

What if you needed expert legal advice, called the legal office, and the attorney actually answered the phone greeting you with ‘Hi,what can I do for ya’ today?’ .

Now, it might be that in both cases, the doctor and the attorney, are actually excellent, highly qualified professionals.

Maybe.

But the point is; what marketing message does it send to current and prospective clients, when a busy, professional cleaning expert- appears to be too helpful, too generous and too available?

It can be unsettling – and it’s something to think about.

Let me start by saying, I am not suggesting you provide less than quality follow up to prospects or less than good customer service to current clients.

What I am suggesting is to consider changes to your cleaning company’s selling approach, marketing systems and customer service practices to project a professional, but not too needy image.

That’s right. When we first started, we decided we were going to be the first cleaning company with a ‘heart’.

We were determined to treat our cleaning associates with more than respect -we wanted to go the “extra mile”.

You know, treat everyone like ‘family’.

Well, in time, we discovered sometimes a cleaning business like a ‘healthy’ family has to practice some ‘tough love’ by having, dare I say it …. RULES.

Let me tell you a story.

In the early years, when we were starting out, we would give out employee pay advances.

For example, if one of our associates was in a financial ‘pickle’, let’s say needed help to make a down payment on a car, or rent an apartment, we would agree to give a pay advance of $100 or more, to help them make it through the occasional tough time.

And things went ok… for a while.

But, as time went on, and we began to grow, we soon found ourselves with a longer and longer list of employees with outstanding pay advances.

And the list of reasons given as ‘emergencies’ grew too!!

In fact, not longer after that, we began to realize that as soon as someone paid off their first advance, they would somehow magically needed to have another one to take its place. And, right away!.

That’s right, the balance on these pay advances grew rapidly as our associates started to ask to ‘add on’ to their current advance – yep, with another advance!

I’m sure you can see where this is going.

We began to feel like the local bank, credit card company, or pay-day loan office, except we weren’t charging any fees or interest!

Eventually, it got so bad, anyone could see our good intentions, without controls or rules, had spun ‘out of control’ -leaving us with an unmanageable mess on our hands.

To make a long story short, while honoring our existing pay advances to employees, we put a stopped issuing any new advances.

It took a month or two for our folks to get use to the new ‘no pay advance’ policy, but they eventually did.

Any lessons here?

Well, sure, we learned, for example, that sometime those ‘big cleaning businesses’ with all their rules, may actually have some pretty darn good reasons for having them!

And just as important, we learned, that it doesn’t make you insensitive or uncaring to have rules.

In fact, for those of you who are parents, it’s a lot like raising a family; you won’t get kids to admit it very easily, if at all, but they need rules, and deep down most would admit – they actually want them.

Look at other places where rules could help… such as in HR matters like attendance and tardiness etc.

Be sure those rules are fair and consistent – and don’t be afraid to ask an HR expert or attorney if you need to ask a question.

And there’s some good news…

Having workplace rules makes it easier to manage your operation today, and avoid some of the ‘growing pains’ of a running a BIGGER janitorial business tomorrow.

I go out to meet someone in charge of hiring the janitorial cleaning company for a building.

It can be grumpy Gary, the general manager at an auto dealership, or bored Brenda the office supervisor at an insurance company.

It doesn’t matter which one. If our Gary or Brenda are unhappy with their cleaning, or just ‘going out for bids’, here’s an almost guaranteed way to get these grumpy or bored prospects EXCITED about you and your cleaning company.

Drum roll please…

..bring them something competitive & credible! It’s as simple, and as difficult as that.

What do I mean?

Well, the competitive part is simple to understand, isn’t it? When it comes to being competitive, it’s pretty clear to nearly everyone by now that office cleaning budgets have never been watched more closely!

And as far as being credible, I think we all also understand that you can deliver the most competitive cleaning bid in the world, but if the prospect doesn’t believe you can actually deliver what you promising – you’re sunk!

Oh, by the way, let’s go back to competitive again. Let me be clear about something.

I didn’t say lowest price, I said competitive! And there’s a big difference.

We don’t now, and never have played, the ‘We’re the cheapest guys in town’ game and suggest you don’t either.

It’s a losing strategy as far we’re concerned.

No, instead, we suggest being ‘competitive’.

And a competitive cleaning proposal is one that is fairly priced for the market – for the level of service you’re offering.

And if you are offering a high quality commercial cleaning or residential maid service (which you should be) well, than – you need to be priced accordingly. (profitable)

Interestingly enough, many cleaning contractors may be surprised to learn how often the ‘higher price for higher quality’ guy outperforms the ‘lowest possible price’ guy when it comes to landing sales!

The difficult part is learning HOW to create a cleaning company that over-delivers VALUE to the customer to justify those higher prices!

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Do YOU Measure Success in Your Cleaning Business in INCHES or MILES? you’ll hear what successful business people and motivational coaches have to say about the all important question of – What does it REALLY take to succeed in all parts of our lives including business!

Thanks for watching our video – Growth Test: Do YOU Measure Success in Your Cleaning Business in INCHES or MILES? But don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Growth Test: Take ‘Cleaning’ Out of ‘Cleaning Business’ where we ask the question – Are you ready to grow? Plus, there’s a test you can take to find out the answer for your janitorial or residential cleaning business – and what to do about it, if you’re NOT!

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Here’s the strategy – DIP YOUR TOE IN FIRST!

To explain what I mean, let me tell you a story of how those words saved us a small fortune and may do the same for your janitorial business someday!

You see, one day one of our managers sat down to ‘vent’ about a frustrating problem.

One of our customers wanted a total price (more about this ‘pickle’ later) on removing what appeared to be years worth of built-up grease, grime, and who knows what else – from a concrete factory floor!

It was bad.

And our floor maintenance manager was really struggling to figure out how to price the job.

‘I mean’, as he put it, ‘This job is so strange, how in the world do I know how long it’s going to take – or how it’s going to look when we’re done!?’

He made a good point – it was tough to judge this job.

And we’ve probably all run across one or two of these kind of oddball, tricky, and sometimes potentially disastrous jobs.

And if you haven’t yet, chances are you will!

So what can we do? Well, let’s take a look.

Well, first, the customer has added to the problem by drop the pricing ‘hot potato’ in your lap saying ‘Oh, and I need a total price for what it’s going to cost – you know, for the whole job!!’

Well, here’s the rub:

Normal rates for cleaning tasks like floor scrubbing quickly go ‘out the window’ when trying to estimate prices for these kinds of oddball (code for unpredictable) jobs.

And worse yet, because of the unusual condition of the floor, you’re not only unsure of how to price the job, you’re even more unsure of how it’s going to look when you’re done!

And remember, the only thing worse, from a customers perspective, than paying too much for a job is paying too much for a job they don’t like the looks of – when it’s done!

So, here’s an idea:

Consider offering to do a ‘test patch’ for FREE, or ‘at cost’, or some minimum profit, it’s up to you.

That’s right, when you do a ‘test patch’; which is basically a small closet here or a ‘hardly ever used hallway’ there – you get a chance to safely learn the answer to two important questions:

#1 – based on this ‘test patch’ how hard is this job going to be? AND

#2 – when we’re done, what can the customer expect the results to look like?

Two important answers to know… right?

Now, back to the story…In our case, we did just a very small area, maybe 20 feet in an inconspicuous spot in the plant.

And, boy, did we quickly learn how long the floor was going to take – FOREVER! At least, that’s the way it seemed.

Yep, it was overwhelming!

But, we dodged the bullet of getting locked into doing this job, by using the ‘Dip Your Toe In First!’ strategy.

That’s right, because after the customer saw how the ‘test patch’ looked – he quickly realized even our best efforts weren’t going to save his old plant floor.

They may have to have to leave it alone for now and have it resurfaced and/or resealed one day, but for now, – it just wasn’t worth the time or cost!’.

Wheww! We breathed a long sigh of relief……

You may be wondering, ‘Why not propose to do the whole thing ‘time & materials?’

Well, you can, I suppose, especially if you have the customer check to see how he likes the results along the way.

But, in agreeing to do the whole project even time and materials, even though you may be doing a better job of protecting yourself financially – you may STILL be implying that while the job may take a long time and cost a lot, it will be worth it because the results will be great.

So, it’s still a good idea to do a test patch to make sure that it, in fact, WILL.

Frankly, I’m saying, I’m not sure the results will be great. Let’s take a look first. There’s the difference!

Anyway, the beauty of this “Dip Your Toe In Strategy” is that it positions you as a business ‘partner’ who is looking out for the best interest of your customer.

They can clearly see you don’t want to waste their money on something that may, or may not, give them the the kind of results they’re looking for.

And of course, at the same time, this strategy protects you from opening yourself up to the equivalent of ‘the money pit’, where you’ve got yourself committed to a project where you’re likely to lose money, not deliver a quality service and potentially lose a client.

All good things to avoid.

Keep this strategy in mind anytime you face any kind of very unusual cleaning request where you feel very uncomfortable with either:
1. How long it will take to do
2. How the job will look when you’re done
3. Both 1 and 2!

Again, this approach makes it clear you are not unwilling to do the work, only that you want to approach it in a thoughtful and measured way.

And that’s a good thing – for everybody.

How can I say such a thing? Well, let me explain..

Picture, for a minute, your neighborhood driving range with an army of ‘weekend warrior’ golfers lined up at the tees ‘going at it’ with everything they’ve got.

There they all are, frantically placing balls up on the tee one after another, then swinging so hard, and so wildly that it’s not uncommon to see guys practically falling over!

And actually, we’ve all been there too…haven’t we?

But this kind of ‘practice’ doesn’t make any of us any better… at anything!

So, if it isn’t practice that makes perfect, what does?

Well, here it is….perfect practice.

Yes, perfect practice!

Practicing the right things, at the right time and in the right way… that’s the ticket!

In fact, I just experienced it myself.

After not playing tennis for well over 25 years, in fact, since I was an teenager hitting balls against the wall at the local high school, I finally picked up a racquet again.

Anyway, for months I was just like the golfers we talked about. That’s right, I was going out, hitting a million tennis balls, and none of them very well. Then something changed….

One day, I decided to take a couple lessons from a local tennis instructor at one of the indoor tennis clubs.

Well, the long and the short of it is, that as soon as I started to listen and learn from the tennis instructor, my game started to improve, and not by just a little, but by a lot. And fast!

Here’s the thing…it’s the same for nearly everything.

I always tell the kids, “If you want to learn something, go out and find and expert and learn from them.”

When my son wanted to take up golf, I encouraged him to forget the new clubs, and take the $50 and get a lesson from someone who’s an expert!

That’s right, get instruction from someone who has already successfully done what you want do!

Of course, as you can imagine, this applies to business too.

We need to find good coaches, and then be coach-able.

Now, we can get back to this idea of perfect practice.

That’s right! When we take the time to learn from an expert, and begin to practice their proven skills, strategies and techniques in our own businesses, we are moving towards the idea of perfect practice.

Ok, back to the tennis story for just one last comment.

One thing I learned from the expert was to change the way I gripped the racquet. It felt awkward at first, but within a day or two, I started hitting balls harder and with more accuracy… and with less effort!

Now, I’m not saying I’m Roger Federer, but no question about it , I was getting better… a lot better, in very little time.

It felt great! And why did it happen?

Because, I knew enough to learn from an expert, and then to start practicing the “right way” over and over again.

Now, that’s different. And that works!

Remember, it’s not a sign of weakness to know you need coaching – nope, it’s a sign of strength!

Ok, here it is – ASK

It’s that simple. Well, it’s simple, but maybe not easy – at least at first.

Remember in the Bible where Jesus says “Ask and it will be given unto you..” Well, those words of wisdom relate very well to many parts of life – including business.

And an example, of where they ring particularly true in business is in the collecting of quality testimonials.

So, here’s the strategy:

When someone leaves us a message or sends in an email complimenting our cleaning staff – we want to remember to ask if they would be willing to let us use it – as a testimonial.

Not once and a while – but regularly. Any chance we get. Whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Why?

Well, because it’s a numbers game and we need to make sure we don’t miss our opportunities to request a testimonial when they present themselves.

Makes sense – right? Right.

You may want to ask it this way:

“That’s very nice of you to say, Joan! As you may know we’re trying to grow our business,and your kind comments would make a terrific testimonial.

Would you be willing to let me use them in our marketing?

You may want to explain further:

“You know, your words may be just what a potential client needs to hear to convince them to give us a try!
And, that would mean a lot to us.”

Then wait for their answer.

Most people are willing to give you permission to use them as a testimonial – if you ask!

They own – or work in a business too.

They can see how hard you work. And they know how valuable a quality testimonial can be!

So, be sure to ask.

Although you might not hear about it in the news, most people are basically good.

They want to help.

They do – but you do need to ASK.

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, Growth Test: Take ‘Cleaning’ Out of ‘Cleaning Business’! you’ll see how you can use this exercise to identify what needs to be changed in your commercial cleaning business or residential maid service company if you want to grow quickly and profitably..

Summary:
Thanks for watching our video – Growth Test: Take ‘Cleaning’ Out of ‘Cleaning Business’! But don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: Why the UNHAPPY Customers in YOUR Cleaning Business Are So VALUABLE! you’ll see why unhappy clients are NOT all bad news – and, how they can instead, become your greatest source for learning in your cleaning business.

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

First, make sure that during your initial walk through, as well as during any conversations with your prospect, you are taking GOOD NOTES on each comment, complaint, ‘pet peeves’ or criticism made about their current service, or cleaning companies in general.

These are important and valuable opportunities for you – seize them!

Now what?

Well, second, list out each important complaint or problem mentioned by the building owner of property manager and identify specifically how your company will take care of the problem.

Not just once, but for good.

That will often mean explaining the way (SYSTEM) you have for not only cleaning up the problem one time, but for staying on top of it so it doesn’t happen again.

For example, identify the specific training procedures, inspections, scheduled walkthroughs, quality control steps, customer service visits, and/or the use of on-site managers your company uses to get your customers buildings clean – and keep them clean.

The real point is this:

The cover letter let’s you clearly identify these problems and then showcase how you are uniquely prepared to tackle them once and for all.

Why is listing these problems and solutions specific to their building so important?

Well, first, is how it positions you as a good listener, in the mind of your customer; someone who not only hears, but understands their problems and has a clear plan to take care of them.

This use of the cover letter can put you ahead of the competition and help you STAND OUT in a cluttered field of cleaning competitors.

Finally, now that you’ve put all this work into your cover letter, be sure to take the time to carefully review it with your prospect when you deliver your bid.

If you do, they will be able to see how you, more than any other competitor ‘gets’ them, ‘gets’ what they want their building to look like, and ‘gets’ what they are looking from their next cleaning contractor.

And then, you just might GET the account!

But the question of whether to send out 100 brochures a week or 100 brochures a month, isn’t really the right question.

(By the way, I wish they would ask, “How many strong, direct-response sales letters should I send out each week?”…but I won’t go down that road again today!)

Anyway, the right question, or at least, the better question, isn’t really one question at all, but rather a series of several questions.

Here are a few of the most important ones:

1. What is our cleaning business’ monthly sales goal?

2. What is the average monthly price of the cleaning jobs we bid on?

3. How many marketing pieces such as a sales letters or brochures do we typically have to send out to building owners and property managers to get a request for bid?

4. How many of those bids turn into new janitorial accounts?

Can you see how simply asking how many marketing pieces to send out is putting the “cart before the horse”?

Instead, try this…

Start with a sales goal first, and then work your way backwards to figure out how many accounts you’ll need on average to reach that goal AND how many bids you’ll need to submit to land that many accounts AND how many letters or brochures you’ll need to send out to get the necessary number of requests for bids.

Get the idea? Now, that’s a better way of coming up with a strategy that will get you where you want to go!

Let’s look at an example…

Let’s say, we wanted to add on about $3000/mo. in new commercial cleaning business.

By watching the response to our marketing, we might learn that it takes 50 marketing pieces per week to get 3 bid requests per week, which produce 4 new accounts per month, which add up to to a total of approx.$2,500 – $3,500/ mo. in new cleaning business.

So, we might plan on sending 50 pieces per week as a strategy to get us to our monthly sales goal.

But plans have to be ‘watched over’ – and this is no exception.

If you find your strategy isn’t producing enough requests for bids to get you to your goal, or too many requests for you to keep up with, you always need to be prepared to make adjustments

But your better off making a few minor course corrections to a well thought out plan, rather than a big overhaul-like changes to a strategy that wasn’t thought out well in the first place.

Whoever the cleaning business owner was who asked me this question may have been asking the wrong question, but at least they knew enough to ask so hey could find out the right ones!

Our teachers were right – there are no dumb questions!

Don’t believe it – It couldn’t be further from the truth!

No, in fact, put it together the RIGHT way, and your bid cover letter can become one of, if not,THE most powerful sales tools (pages) in your cleaning proposal.

But, as I said, most commercial cleaning and maid service businesses put very little thought, and even less effort, into the cover letter. To them, it’s just a short, meaningless page they feel forced to include, if for no other reason, than – they think it makes them look professional.

As a result, most cover letters simply spit out the same safe, but boring stuff that has been putting building owners and property managers for years.

‘Thanks for allowing me to bid… We appreciate your interest… blah, blah, blah.’

If it bores you, you can pretty safely assume – it’s boring your prospects too!

It’s not the cover letter that’s the problem, it’s what it says about us as the cleaning contractor – that’s the REAL problem!

And what’s that?

Well, it’s that we didn’t take the time to highlight those
important duties, issues, details, areas our customer told us about their building.

You need to see the cover letter as a powerful tool to forcefully attract your prospect to WANT to business with you, and you alone!

The bid cover letter gives you that opportunity. Don’t miss it. Here’s how:

First, don’t get me wrong, It’s ok to use some of the standard language you’re used to seeing in professional cleaning bid cover letters such as ‘Thanks for taking the time to show me your facility’ or ‘As you review the bid, feel free to call me with any questions.’

BUT- that’s just the beginning.

That’s right! Use the cover letter as THE place to clearly show that you’ve heard your prospects complaints, concerns and issues, LOUD AND CLEAR,
understand them, care about them and have a definite plan for solving them and better yet, keeping them solved.

You can do it.

Before you’re done watching this fast paced video, you’ll discover how what they tell you can help you fix your cleaning company’s weaknesses, so you can begin to grow, grow, grow – while drastically reducing the number of times you or your staff ‘drops the ball’ in your janitorial business or maid service.

Summary:
Thanks for watching our video – Why the UNHAPPY Customers in YOUR Cleaning Business Are So VALUABLE! But don’t stop there – Be sure to check out our video: The Employees in YOUR Cleaning Business Are Watching YOU! where you’ll see through a number of specific examples, how ‘things really work’ when it comes to the critical topic of setting a good example for the employees of our janitorial business or maid service

You’ll watch a few, short minutes of video loaded with practical ideas, tips and strategies about what it really takes to flip a cleaning business from painful to profitable. Want to Flip Yours?

Well, the short answer, of course, may be something like – when the customer will happily accept it – without a fuss.

Right?

Sure, sounds simple, but when in the world will that ever happen?

‘Not in my lifetime’, you might think. Well, maybe. Maybe not. Here’s an insider tip to successfully raising prices:

It’s called TIMING. That’s right, timing.

Specifically, whenever possible, try to put through a justified price increase – when your cleaning business customer really ‘loves’ you and your current staff.

Well, ‘love’ may be too strong a word. So, how about – is exceptionally happy with – pleased, really likes, you know, is very satisfied with? You get the idea.

Why? What on earth does THAT have to do with a price increase?

Well, in running our own commercial cleaning company, even when we put through a very small and very overdue, price increase, IF our customer was NOT happy with our current cleaner associates for any reason, the increase had about as much chance as a well, a ‘snowball’s chance in you know where’!

Why?

Well, because the truth is PEOPLE make the decisions -real “flesh and blood” people; emotional people, not machines.

And when your contact – the building owner or property manager you work with, thinks about whether to approve your increase, or not – he or she is affected by things like —- whether or not they and their staff LIKE your current cleaning staff.

So, how do you know if you have that kind of highly-appreciated employee on your staff?

You know the signs, they’re the ones that get the pats on the back, the thank you’s, the holiday hams – and maybe, are even invited to the company picnics.

Well, when a company likes the cleaning they are getting AND has ‘that kind’ of a loyal relationship with your cleaner(s) – getting reasonable and justified price increase approved isn’t too tough!

Heck, we’ve had buildings where the justified price increase ‘sailed through’ – where, while we were certainly providing qood cleaning, but the cleaning associate currently assigned to the account, was, to be fair, not ‘the cream of the crop’.

And, I’ve got to believe the fact that the customer trusted our cleaning associate and considered them to be a part of the ‘team’ and ‘friend’, played some part in explaining why the increase went through without much resistance.

We understood it likely was not the cleaning alone that produced this kind of loyalty.

It was the person.

Let’s be clear, I am NOT suggesting any cleaning business or maid service owner ever take advantage of any client by putting through an unfairly large increase, nor an increase where one is not justified, simply because you know they ‘love’ your cleaner.

Not at all.

But where an increase is called for, knowing if the company has very positive feelings about you and your cleaning associate(s) can be one important thing to consider ahead of time.