You don’t want to fall behind – it’s natural, nobody wants to feel like they’re missing out on the next BIG thing. And, when the next big thing has to do with social media tools like Facebook and Linked -in – well, all bets are off!

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?

Ever felt that way?

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

We hear how everyone ‘hopes for’ and loves a surprise. Well that may be, but if the thing you’re hoping for is as important as the success or even survival of your janitorial business or residential maid service – then hope or spontaneity are too unpredictable to count on.

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?

I hope not.

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!!

That’s right – I said CAMPING may hold the secret to building a successful cleaning business. How can I suggest such a thing?? Lots of folks love camping – and equal number would probably place it high on their least favorite things to do.

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?

No you didn’t mis-read what I said – I mean it.

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!

It’s true -when you’re making a sales or customer service call, people get a ‘picture’ or idea of you – what you look like and what kind of person you are. We all do it – it’s human nature. So, if that’s the case, when is the last time you took a minute to think about how you sound when you’re talking to the customers or prospects of your janitorial business or maid service?

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?

That’s right, I’ll say it… You’re Not In The “Cleaning Business”

..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.