Running a janitorial company is hard work. Trying to manage workers, tasks, and customers while maintaining a consistent service level is difficult. With all the competition in the world, you need to find ways to make your service better than the next firm. Below, I have defined four solid methods for building a stable janitorial company that will save you time and money. In many cases, they will make your more money too.
Cleaning is not a one-person job
It's no secret that small-to-mid-sized businesses and startups lack the manpower and finances to hire the employees needed to keep their businesses running efficiently. As such, it's up to the owner to set up tasks, delegate, and ensure that the task is done correctly. The problem is cleaning is a service industry. You're looking at all these jobs that are not scalable. If your time is valuable, you don't want to waste your time and money on these tasks. You need to optimize your time so you can focus on activities that are. This will allow your limited staffing resources to deliver the best quality service they can while providing them clear priorities for delivery,
The real cost of a dirty office
Too often, the concept of cleaning is considered a commodity. If the customer is unhappy, they will simply hire a new firm to do the work. This customer churn tends to relate to issues that you can control. If you focus on ensuring that your staff get the right information and the right contacts for every job, then the risks of a task being done incorrectly, or a communication being missed, is minimized. This ensures the staff can focus on doing their job and the customer will respect the responsiveness and professionalism your staff show. In the event there is a mishap or issue, your customer will not jump to the next company because they will realize that you offer more than just the tasks you complete. You offer them piece of mind and a facility they can be proud of. Piece of mind is worth more than switching to an unknown commodity.
If you minimize your mistakes and focus on running a successful business, you can grow together with your team into an amazing organization.
You can't manage what you can't measure
Measuring things like callouts, number of jobs, etc., is a great way to quantify performance. Keep this information well documented and work with your office to track performance over a period of time. Measure performance against goals so you can ensure your service level continues to grow and the level of service you offer remains consistent. Without that clarity of information, you are only guessing at how well you are doing or how well your staff are performing. While that is not as much of an issue when you have two employees, it becomes a huge issue when you are trying to grow and scale your business. Beyond improving your company, the data can be hugely important in winning new customers as it proves that you take your service seriously and that you have a proven track record beyond simply happy customers. Otherwise, you look like you are making promises you cant keep.
Empower your employees
Let your workers do what they're good at. At TonDone, that is one of our key concepts. Based on our research and customer discussions, it was a critical point that defined successful companies. Giving your staff the ability to do their job will show your respect for them and show that you and not there to micromanage their life. Always remember to be fair and understand that without your team, you are not going to succeed. You want all employees to do what they love for you. So, if one person works harder than you and gives you more, then he or she deserves to be rewarded for that commitment. It takes time and training to learn how to run a company. It takes time and training to do the job your staff are hired to do. If you've got great employees, then working with them is the most fun part and shows them how much you respect their work ethic. Otherwise, you will be creating a team of people who will leave for the next offer because they are just doing a job.
Conclusion
Many companies and leaders make mistakes as they grow. It is something everyone needs to work on. If you minimize your mistakes and focus on running a successful business, you can grow together with your team into an amazing organization. Once you have the people, you just need to add the right tools and you can make your service exceptional. At TonDone, we pride ourselves on building solutions that help small businesses grow and make the lives of the everyone in the organization better. Take a look at the TonDone platform for more information.
