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Advice

posted on 9/25/2011

By Lisa Ridgely, Deputy Editor of Contracting Profits

Despite the vast amount of information we have at our fingertips while at the office, on the road or at home with our computers, smartphones and tablets, there are just some problems Google’s search engines can’t solve.

Case in point: a reader recently called me trying to find another contractor in a neighboring state, at the request of a customer who needed some post-flood restoration work done, but wasn’t having any luck using online directories. Having no reader sources in that region of the country in my personal rolodex, I thought of the first place I’d go to get a good reference: social networking site groups that are specific to the janitorial industry, such as myCleanLink or numerous LinkedIn groups.

I suggested these as great places to go where a network of industry professionals may be able to make recommendations to help this reader out.

On myCleanLink, the social site connected to CleanLink.com, Contracting Profits’ online site, members start and participate in discussions in a general forum and a product forum. Some of these discussions, such as this one about vacuums or this one about inter-staff communication, yield a good deal interaction between users — and hopefully help them find solutions.

LinkedIn groups, including those for Contracting Profits, ISSA and BSCAI, have also encouraged a good amount of banter and interaction between members in their discussions. Dan Weltin, Editor-In-Chief, and I also use the magazine’s group as a sounding board for upcoming topics we will be writing about.

While the reader who called didn’t get the exact answer she was looking for, I hope she finds it, thanks to the great online networks of industry professionals who are happy to help each other out.

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