The Cleaning Coach

2012-05-11T23:21:00.001-07:00

Is it really 2012? I forgot about this site... Yikes!!

Rangers Win - Office Open - Reading List

2010-10-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

Rangers won tonight! Cliff Lee is an amazing ace. Now ahead of Yankees in series 2-1. Hope we hold on. Cowboys 1-4, Yuk..

New DFW office finally open. Just got phones in, starting interviews and hiring. Should be full strength by end of next month. Have to squeeze a trip in to Portland office in the middle of it, which will slow it down a bit.

Had old friend and business peer in town from Portland last week. We were chatting about recent reads and I mentioned "The 4 Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferris, and he knew about it right away. I was surprised because the last dozen or so that I mentioned it to, didn't know what I was talking about. I'm looking forward to his new book coming out in December, "The 4 Hour Body". Anyways, if you like his first book, which I did, you will follow his reading list, which I did as well, at least half of it so far. A title called "Vagabonding" by Rolph Potts was fun, but "The World Is Flat" by Thomas Friedman is an amazing eye opener.

Other recent reads and recommendations are:
1. The E-Myth Revisted by Michael Gerber
and
2. Get Your Mojo Back by Marshall Goldsmith

If you try and of these, drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Blog To Replace Website Forum

2010-08-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

We will be utilizing this blog as a resource to post comments and answer questions instead of the forum that was on the website. We have disabled the membership section of the site due to continued hacking attempts, spamming etc;. While this may not be the perfect solution, it seems sensible at this time. So if you have comments or questions, this is the place to leave them. Thank you!

Wow! It is hot today!

2010-08-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

107 degrees, I think it cooled down to 90 or so last night. I'm back in the DFW area getting organized and working on setting up a new office. It was a great road trip both ways. We took our time on the way back and traveled down through California to Fresno, went to Vegas for a couple days, then along Route 66 to Flagstaff and hit Albuquerque as our last stop. We went through Hoover Dam and saw the massive road construction under way. Looks like it will be a nice improvement for those just wanting to get through the area fast. As I went through I actually heard a radio commercial for one of our clients in Prescott, AZ and realized in the last month I drove through at least a dozen cities that we had clients in along the way. Next time, I think I will definitely incorporate a few client visits. I'm maintaining the Portland, OR office and will be checking in with them at least once a month. So if any of you are West of DFW and not too far out of the way, I would love to drop by and say hi and talk business.

July Post

2010-07-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been away. Just got back from a 3 week road trip to DFW. I liked it so much, I'm moving there. I'm not moving the whole business there, just opening a new office. I'll keep you posted.

Back To Business - Are You In Sales?

2010-05-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

I realize with so few posts, a blog about running your cleaning business should be mostly about that. I couldn't help myself yesterday.

Ok, here is the question. Are you a salesperson or an order taker? If you think going out to provide a proposal simply means collecting the info and arranging a start date, you are sadly mistaken. I have far too many clients, some even after coaching, that don't get this point. When you are in front of a prospect you need to understand this is your opportunity to learn, share, and work on that first all important fundemental element of closing a sale, creating a relationship. This is not the time to be hastily qualifying the sale like a used car salesman. Sometimes if you do a great job in relationship development, you will leave knowing the job is yours, or at least feeling confident that at some point in the future there is a good chance of that. Then you still have to go through the process. Develop the bid, present it, and provide ongoing follow-up. The point here is to continue to develop the relationship so you position yourself to be the go-to company at some point in the future. Just because they may be happy right now, does not mean it will stay that way. I've seen far too many "order-takers" get too pushy and lose any chance of closing a sale.

At my marketing company, we often follow-up with prospects that we have set appointments for with our clients. We hear things like:
-they were too pushy on the phone
-they asked too many questions before they even came out
-they said they don't do one time jobs or one time cleans
-it was too small to come out
-they never came back with the bid

I once got a $6,000 a month building plus all their supply business that started from a once a week, $26 restroom cleaning only bid. This building also led to me getting Addidas as one of my clients, which was a fantastic reference that led to many other accounts.

I'd like you to look at your process. Review the questions you ask when you are out on a bid. Review your follow-up process. Do you have a follow-up process? Think about your own attitudes in this all important element of your business. Every contact with a prospect can be a step closer to signing if you haven't sabatoged yourself in an earlier contact by acting like an "order-taker". This is the difference between having a 5% closing rate versus a 30% closing rate.

A Hole Rant

2010-05-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

Take that as you like, there are many possible connotations, some of you may direct it back at me after reading this... This is my most recent ongoing rant, this is not my whole rant about the hole, only a partial. Something to think about...

If we are the greatest country in the world (and we are), and we can send a man to the moon (we really did), and we can kill millions with our nuclear arsenals (we could), and we can feed millions across the vast earth (we do), why can't we plug a simple hole in our own back yard? I realize the hole is under water, but how big of a hole are we talking about? Isn't this a matter of feet or a few yards? I realize the hole is spewing pressurized liquid gold. I would think that would make it even more important to some. Won't this impact world oil prices and everything else that goes with it? They say the hole leak is already worse than the Exxon Valdez, they say that it will get much worse. They say it will cost billions to clean up, is this a new twist to the recovery plan? A new long term fix to unemployment, give everyone jobs picking up dead fish, birds and other wildlife? I thought it was going to be roads and bridges? You say that's crazy, I know it is, because too many fine citizens would rather collect unemployment than actually work.

Quick sidebar - Proof of that point, I just ran a help wanted ad for an appointment setter position that pays $9 to $17 per hour. Not for long, but for now, I'm in a state with one of the worst unemployment rates in the country. How many resumes do you think I have received after 5 days? Four, that's right four resumes, that same ad produced 10-20 responses a day two years ago. Now before you start sending me emails telling me that's a bunch of garbage, let's be honest. You know, that you know at least one person that is not trying as hard as they can to actually work. They don't want to be "underemployed" right? Also, I hope you realize that the actual unemployment rate does not include those that have given up looking. I also don't think it counts those that have entered government sponsored education programs (retraining), that aren't looking for work. So with all that said, the number is more like one in five. So if you have heard of at least one person like that, maybe your cousin on the other side of the family :-), you know the number of actual people milking it when they could be working is huge. When I was a teenager, I worked at Taco Bell this was the early eighties, during another real tough economic time. Besides high schoolers, I remember working along college students and young and middle-aged moms. Where have they went?

Back to the hole rant - But why have the great and mighty leaders in Washington who are supposed to care about our environment still watching and waiting after six weeks? Why aren't they solving the problem, well it's a vacation weekend, it will get figured out eventually... This is really change I can believe in, I can see it, and I believe it. Hopefully by the next election America will too!

Labor Savings Can Be Found In The Floors!

2010-05-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hello again, still want to live up to to making posts more days than not, that may be tough for this month, but I still vow to beat April and continue improving. I'm cheating a bit, I'm pasting a tidbit I published a few years ago, but still great info for the newbies. Thanks!

From CleaningCoach 2007 Newsletter

Carpets
Have you ever tried a backpack vacuum? They provide a great way to save time on the job. It's true in most cases they don't clean as effectively as your commercial upright but that often isn't an issue. Typically, the farther you get away from the entries, the cleaner the carpets, because the soil is walked off. You don't really have to use an upright to pick up hole punches, staples and pocket lint do you? They work great under and around furniture, on stairs, and you can even hit some of the hard floor surfaces with them. They also tend to be more reliable which will save you some dough on repairs and maintenance. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting you replace your upright with a backpack, but if you have relatively clean buildings where you utilize more than one vacuum, you should make one of them a backpack. If you don't own at least one, consider purchasing one next time you need to buy equipment.

How about the hard floors?
Wow! I was a skeptic at first, you know what they say about teaching old dogs new tricks, but my equipment rep. twisted my arm into a free trial. I'd seen them at the tradeshows and in the showrooms. When they told me I could save 40% on labor I said "uh huh" and changed the subject. I'm talking about MicroFiber Mopping Systems. I tested this system in a 40,000 square foot grade school a few months ago and within a week I was on the phone to the rep. saying sign me up! I was talking to a client from Texas last week who takes great pride in his finished product and pardon me if I have the quote wrong, he said something like, "This makes the old way like stirring a mud puddle with a stick." That's not far from the truth. Did I save 40% on labor? Not yet I haven't. So far, the labor savings look closer to 20%, but the floors seem 50% cleaner! What will that do for your business? The start up cost is a little more than a traditional mop and bucket since you have to invest in the rewashable cleaning pads. The product specs state that you can wash and reuse each pad up to 300 times before you have to replace it. This is definitely something I would recommend that you at least try.

You can win a complete MicroFiber Mopping System set-up, including bucket, handle, applicator, and pads, if you are the winner of this month's Feedback / Idea Submission Contest. More next month...
Best Regards and God Bless
Nick

Do The Math

2010-05-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

Funny story, I will share real quick. I was talking to Sokoeun, at the office today and he told me about a client that decided not to reorder. We just finished her package a couple days ago. He said that she was concerned that she only closed four new contracts out of the last batch of twenty appointments that she purchased. Uh, HELLO..... You have already closed 4 or 20% plus you still have many live bids left, meaning bids out there that have not said no yet, still thinking about it, waiting to be closed. Even, if no other new accounts are added, the telemarketing is paid for in less than 90 days and the rest goes straight to the bottom line every month. That's what I call stackable profit!

Do you remember that guy on the infomercials, I think for Ronco, that coined the famous phrase,"set it and forget it"? That's the way you have to think about your telemarketing investment. It's not like other advertising spending where you part with your money and wait for the phone to ring. Oh well, I'm sure she will come to her senses in a few months...

Have a great day!

Workout Done? Check!

2010-05-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

(written 4-24-10)
I will try for the most part to keep the majority of this blog confined to The Cleaning Coach and industry related topics. But since, I'm going to make a concerted effort at posting more days than not, I think it will be helpful for me to blab/blog about daily life too. That way I won't have to think that hard! I don't want this to feel like a chore. It's Saturday morning and I just got back from the gym, that feels great. I'm about five weeks into my new exercise quest and it's going great. Ten pounds have melted off and I have another weigh-in tomorrow. Right on track, two pounds per week. What should you weigh when you are 6' 4"? I told someone at the office I had 40 more to go and they said I don't have 40 to lose... I guess I"ll find out.

Ok. Here's a question for you to think about. Regardless of your business. Do you spend more time on your business or in your business? Don't get me wrong, it's critical to be "in your business" when it's a baby, a toddler and sometimes up to a tween, but when it hits puberty you better spend more time "on your business". If you can't seem to break through to the next level, feel like you are spinning your wheels or feel like you are constantly fighting fires, your business has some issues that need to be diagnosed. Share your challenges and struggles with me and I'll try to give you some parenting tips that have been revealed to me through my 28 years as a business owner, developer and consultant.

Stay clean!

Never Stop Marketing Your Cleaning Business

2010-05-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ouch! Lost another one today. That's one gone, two days in a row! Glad I followed the advice I preach and built a wide base... If you learn anything from me, I want it to be, to always invest in marketing your business and to always build a wide base. Don't pigeon hole yourself into a certain type or size of account(s). Don't ever feel like you have made it. If your business isn't growing, it's dying. Don't worry, I'm not sticking bicycle spokes in my eyes, I will have the income replaced within a week, because I never stop marketing!

Sorry folks, It's going to be a short one tonight. I have to study my script for a video we are shooting tomorrow. It should be up on www.thecleaningcoach.com by the end of the month. Nothing fancy, just an intro for the site. We are going to split it off from www.cleaningcoach.com so each site can focus on it's specific products and services. Take care.

Enforce The 30 Day Notice Part Of Your Agreement

2010-04-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

Don't be afraid to gently remind your clients they made an agreement to give you 30 day notice (if that's how your agreement is written) when they decide to terminate services. I got a call today from a long time client saying they needed to cut costs and wanted to halt the cleaning immediately. I've had this client so long, they couldn't find a copy of the original agreement, so I had to fax it over. I told them I would prefer they honor the agreement, but if they really could not pay for one more month of service I would not hassle them over it. Of course, I asked all the pertinent questions, "can we improve service or would you like to scale back instead of terminate completely"? It was simply a cost cutting move, but when I reminded them of the agreement they agreed to abide by it. It turns out they had already changed the locks and made arrangement to do the work in-house but said they would cut the check for the balance for the last month anyway. That equals about 3 months in profit, simply for politely reminding them of the agreement.

Improve Cash Flow If Revenue Is Down

2010-04-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

Revenue is down for many cleaning contractors right now. That's just a fact. If your revenue is down from last year, it's likely your payroll costs are too. Take a look at the payroll projections that your Worker's Comp. and Liability Insurance carriers are basing your premiums on. If your payroll is down, you should be able to have them adjust your projected annual premium. This could get your monthly premiums lowered for the rest of the policy period, or get you a refund. Don't wait for them to audit you and then calculate your refund. They might forget! Most won't, but why let them earn interest on your money when you could do something exciting with it like invest in a new equipment preventive maintenance program. Seriously, get your dough back!

Higher Unemployment Insurance Rates Create Inflation

2010-04-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I just had my first quarter payroll tax return done for one of my companies in Oregon. Here's a shocker, the tax happy state just doubled the minimum best case scenario rate for all business! Based on the increase dealt to my company, a quick and dirty calculation tells me that will suck a minimum of 5k off the bottom line in 2010! At least this one isn't retroactive.

Last fall they tricked the voters into passing a tax increase on all Oregon Corporate business that was retroactive! That should not be legal. Even the annual filing fees have doubled! Yet another form of taxation without representation.

Tomorrow, I am drafting rate increase letters to my janitorial clients and May 1st, I'm sorry to say, yet another increase will be posted on the website for marketing clients. When will the voters and the government get it?!?! If you want to help the economy, you better start helping small business. Small business has been tightening belts for the last two years, there aren't any more costs to cut!

Can you say, PAYROLL TAX FREEZE?!?!?!
I'm out.

Still thinking

2010-04-23T17:26:00.001-07:00

about where to start. I'm thinking about writing a series of "special reports" on various topics that would be important to janitorial business owners. Eventually, each special report will probably become a chapter or a chapter portion in a "how-to" book that I've been working on for some time now.

Wow, that was a huge step! Now it's written, posted and out to the world on this blog. That was a critical starting step. You know they say, build it and they will come, etc;. I'm always preaching to my clients, take action! Stop sitting around and thinking about it, get going!

Sometime in the next month, I plan to build and open thecleaningcoach.com website and link it and this blog to cleaningcoach.com That should get some traffic going. When that happens, and you new visitors read this, please feel free to submit any suggestions or ideas about topics that you would like me to write about. That's it for now. Bye

It's 2010? Where does the time go?

2010-04-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

Wow! I forgot I even had this blog. It took me awhile just to find it and log in. Anyways, I'm back. I will try to do a better job of checking in. That won't take much, once every two years......

Where to start? I'll think about that and get back... Cya

Do You Have A Marketing Plan?

2008-03-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

Copied from a post on www.cleaningcoach.com
In the last newsletter, I shared "Thoughts On Selling" with you. I appreciate the overwhelming positive response you shared. I've been referencing the article so often during my consulting sessions that I decided to post it on the website. Since I still haven't been able to catch up on your emails, I thought I would write a follow-up article to respond and expand at least on the first few points I made on marketing plans.
Take action! If you want your business to beat the odds and be succesful over time, you must create and implement a measurable marketing plan. You must also be willing and capable to make adjustments based on your measured results. This is not an option, it's just like death and taxes. If you don't realize it now, you will when your business fails. I hope I'm preaching to the choir, but for those of you who still don't have a plan, please understand how critical this is. Yes, this can be done on a zero budget.
There are four key components needed for your plan to be successful. They are:
Create
Implement
Measure
Adjust
I'm going to focus most of this article on the creating portion of your plan. Here is a simple overview of what you should do: Create your plan based on where you would like your business to be in one year. If your number is reasonable, it should be achievable. In fact most numbers are achievable when they are based upon an appropriate, corresponding amount of capital to be invested. If you don't have monetary capital, you will have to rely on human capital. That means your time and energy. Money is time, time is money and neither comes free. If you have little or no money, determine how much time you have to personally spend on this, at least initially. If you have monetary capital to invest, decide how much is appropriate for you. Determine what you would like your monthly sales to be at the end of the next twelve month period. Then, plot out the pace you will need to achieve this by recording where you are now. Subtract your current monthly sales from the monthly sales you want at the end of a year and divide it by twelve. Let's say you are doing $8,000 per month now and you want to be at $20,000 per month at the end of one year. The difference is $12,000 per month. That means you will have to pick up and keep an additional $1,000 per month in new business. How many accounts will this take? You might consider averaging out your current account values to estimate what each new account may be worth.
Next, you need to determine one or more methods of marketing for your business. Will it be telemarketing, yellow pages, radio, knocking on doors with flyers, classifieds, billboards, cross- couponing , the internet? Are you ready for a salesperson, or perhaps a sales manager? Once you have decided, assign a monthly budget to one or more of these methods. If you are just starting, with little or no budget, it may be your own telemarketing, or cold calling. In that case, assign the number of man hours you will dedicate to this task each month, then break it down into smaller numbers each week or day, depending on your schedule. You have just completed the first step. You have created financial targets, determined a method of marketing and set aside a portion of capital, either monetary or human, to invest in your plan. Next, TAKE ACTION! Implement your plan. What are you waiting for? The key is that you expend the energy to get this moving. Don't second guess yourself about it any further, or make excuses for why you should wait. No, you don't need to do that first. Getting a new account should be a nice problem to have.
Next, measure your results. After the first month, examine what you have accomplished. Track the following 3 pieces of information;
The number of attempts of contact that you made and / or the amount of capital you invested (dollars or hours). If neither of these apply , somehow quantify the action that you took. Let's call this figure, result A.
The number of proposals that you were able to submit. Let's call this figure, result B.
The number of accounts that you gained as a result. Let's call this figure, result C.
Now let's put these numbers into a simple formula. It takes how much of "A" to result in "B", then how much of "B" to result in "C". Perhaps you spent $300 on yellow pages, classifieds or better yet, telemarketing through Cleaningcoach ! Maybe you invested 20 hours in knocking on doors or making calls yourself. Determine how much money, or how many hours you have to spend to create the opportunity to submit a proposal. "A" divided by "B", will give you the answer. If you spent $300 and wrote 2 proposals as a direct result, they each cost you $150 If you spent 20 hours cold calling to write 4 proposals then it costs you 5 hours per proposal. Next determine, how many proposals you need to write in order to have one accepted. Divide "B" by "C" and you have the answer. Let's assume you had to write 4 proposals to get a new account. Now you can work the formula backwards to determine the investment required for each account. In this example you had to spend $600, to write four bids, in order to get one new account. Whatever the method that you use, you must measure your results as you go forward. After you measure the results, you will need to adjust as needed. Are there things you need to do better? Would your time or money be better spent pursuing another method? If your numbers don't improve as you move forward you may want to take a closer look at those two questions.
I realize many of you already understand this basic concept of business. I'm amazed that while many business owners understand this fact, they don't measure their results regularly. I've talked to at least half a dozen owners of mid-size companies in the last month (and you know who you are) who could not give me a brief description of their marketing plan. A couple of them said "you're it". Take a few minutes to determine the A, B and C of your Marketing Plan. Is your salesman producing as well as he did six months ago? Were those color glossy brochures worth the printing cost? For the A, B and C of our Guaranteed Lead Program just click on the link below. If I can help you with any of the other elements of this process please let me know.

Should Your Cleaning Company Sell Supplies?

2008-03-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

Copied from a post on www.cleaningcoach.com

Supply Sales - Should You? I was recently asked for my take on whether or not you should be promoting supply sales to your janitorial clients. The answer is yes. There are a few do's and don'ts involved. Don't try to be something your not. Don't promise outstanding pricing unless you know you can deliver it. If you can offer competitive pricing, while taking the inventory or ordering burden away from the client, it will provide them a tangible benefit. Customers also appreciate the benefit of reducing their costs by processing fewer invoices, checks and 1099's. For operators small and large, you can provide this as a value added service to your clients and improve your profit line across the board.
Hopefully most of you already know that you can typically get a 10 to 20% discount off shelf pricing just by asking when you set up an account with your supplier. You can usually improve these savings when you can increase your volume with your supplier by providing products to your clients. This will save you money on the products you have to buy for your operations and provide a profit on the product you sell. When you negotiate with your vendor, set them up to do deliveries (when appropriate), with a packing slip that doesn't disclose the prices that you are being provided. You can resell the product for shelf price and your customer shouldn't complain. As your business grows, you can continue to negotiate better pricing from the vendor and pass these on to your accounts when appropriate. Many vendors will supply you with dispensers at no or little cost, or on a lease, as your purchasing power and relationship improves. You can in turn offer this as a benefit to potential clients when offering your cleaning services.

Thoughts On Selling - Part One

2008-03-02T17:17:00.001-08:00

Selling is absolutely my favorite part of the cleaning industry. I wish I had time to do more. My main influences include Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar and of course Dale Carnegie. I'm sure many of you have had these same leaders impact your careers in some shape or form. There are a ton of great ideas and techniques available to you from these guys and others that can improve your ability to sell. After being involved with literally thousands of bids in this industry I've just a few thoughts to share with you. Contact me if you would like to explore the details behind these.
· Take action! You must invest energy into an ongoing marketing program. With the exception of good luck and referrals, sales do not occur on their own. Create a measurable marketing plan with achievable goals. Yes, a zero budget marketing plan is better than no marketing plan.
· You must understand this is a numbers game. You must understand your numbers. Good or bad, you have to identify the results of your efforts in order to improve.
· In understanding that sales is a numbers game, concentrate most of your energy on that fact by making lead generation primary to any single sales technique.
· Do not attempt to close the sale on your first visit to a prospect unless it's obvious that they want you to. It's disrespectful. It shows you value your own needs more than theirs. You are not selling a used car, you are asking for keys and alarm codes to their property.
· The first visit is about listening not talking. Be quiet and listen! Of course you need to ask and answer questions, but your purpose there is to discover their pain while developing the specs you will use for the bid. Make all your questions open ended.
· Make sure your proposal identifies their pain and provides a solution. What problem did they have that you can solve within your proposal? Make sure you identify the fact that you heard them when you make your second visit.
· Make sure you ask for their business! Do not do a bid "drop-off" or fax unless you really don't want the account. Sit down, review your proposal, and ask for their business.
· Make your proposal and contract as short and easy to read as possible. You really can get everything you need in just a few pages. Ten page contracts can give the impression that you anticipate a problem later, and that you are more concerned about protecting yourself rather than serving the client. I have closed many a deal by saying I have enough faith in my service, to not have to try to trap the client in a fine print contract.
· Follow -up! Send a thank you card after the second visit. Ask permission to make a monthly or quarterly check-in call. If you haven't annoyed them, they will always say yes. Position yourself to be the go-to company when they decide to make a change. More bids are won in follow up than in the first 30 days, but too many operators/salespeople are too short sighted to realize this critical fact.
· Be personable, smile and be your natural self. Dress appropriately. Don't go casual to a RFP walk through, but don't wear a three piece suit when your meeting with the Facility Manager at an industrial plant. And remember, this is a relationship business, if they don't like you, they won't buy from you.