Are you listening? What would your employees, business partners, competitors, vendors and myriad other associates say if they were asked to rank your listening skills on a scale of one to 10?

Many of us are so consumed by business woes these days that we don’t have time to mine the thoughts of others on a regular basis for ideas, suggestions, tips … even a few consoling aphorisms that might get us through the dog days of recession.

We’re frustrated, scratching for ways to survive — would kill for a fresh business idea — but too busy to see the forest for the trees. Or, notice the stockpile of fresh ideas right under our collective noses.

The editors of Contracting Profits spent the better part of the summer serving as your eyes and ears by keeping our own open to fresh ideas from the same people you rub shoulders with on a regular basis: business owners, trainers, consultants and other cleaning experts. We’ve even thrown in some pithy advice from authors and speakers, just for good measure.

We offer our compendium of “words to the wise” — some of them folksy, others more cerebral and serious. If you come away with one good idea, tip or piece of consolation then we’ve done our job. Keep your chin up in these hard times. And your business ear close to the ground.

We took some advice ourselves — from poet/playwright Oscar Wilde, who once said, “The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.”

Improve Your IAQ Savvy
Incorporating indoor air quality in your cleaning program is not rocket science, and it is not expensive. Customers will appreciate the fact that you are looking out for their best interest, and it will help create a long term relationship. Here are a few simple tips:

  • Use vacuums with efficient filtration. This not only keeps the air clean, but cuts down on dusting.

  • Vacuum hard-floor surfaces. Limit dust mopping when possible.

  • Dust with a damp cloth or disposable, anti-static dusting sleeves. Feather dusters tend to make the dust airborne again.

  • Limit aerosols, and products with high VOC content. Use the least aggressive product that will get the job done. The new hydrogen peroxide-based cleaners can be very effective, and have very little negative impact on the environment.

  • When cleaning carpet, do not over-wet. Make sure you have good ventilation, and that the carpet dries quickly. Remember, mold and mildew like damp, dark environments.

  • Be a second set of eyes for your customer. Look for stained ceiling tiles, or walls where moisture is entering the building and point these out to the building manager. If a room feels muggy, it probably has some moisture problems that need to be corrected. When new furniture or carpet is installed, encourage your customer to increase ventilation in that area for a couple weeks. Encourage your customer to use indoor plants. Several low- maintenance, indoor foliage plants absorb harmful toxins in the air. Some examples of these plants are Philodendron, Spider Plant and Golden Pothos. They also create a product we all love – oxygen.

  • Most importantly – Do your job. Remove contaminants from the building instead of just trying to make the place look nice. Clean out those places that nobody ever sees. Dirt, garbage, and human by-products make great food sources for harmful mold and bacteria.You don’t have to be an expert to help your customer create a clean, healthy indoor environment.


— Paul Taylor, president, Environmental Solutions & Services, Inc., Urbana, Ill.

In The End ... The Job Just Has To Get Done
In the end, the job has to get done, even if it may not be exactly under the contractual terms or under a “billable” category. The customer knows that when they walk through an area that has been cleaned recently and they see it dirty, it makes no difference whose responsibility it was — they just know it is dirty.

When cleaning, the job has to be done, no matter the circumstances. During the blackout in the Eastern U.S., the CBS network needed to have its facilities cleaned and useable by their staff. It wasn’t important how it happened,but that it happened. Crews got there and knew they had a job ahead of them, and got it done.

Big clean-ups happen and they happen at bad times; they need to be approached from the attitude that, it can be done, now let’s figure out how. Entering the situation with an attitude that it is impossible or that you can’t do it takes you out of the game from the start.

Surrounding yourself with people who have the same attitude and outlook on the situation sets the job up to get done. The order of your answers when you are asked whether you can address a problem or a project is crucial. First, “yes,” and then “what’s the problem?”

— Jeff Edelstein, vice president, Partners Cleaning LLC, New York City

Get Organized
Write a “to-do” list every evening for the following day. Then, put the tasks in order of importance. That way, you’ll hit the ground running first thing in the morning.

Also, create a “must-read” file folder. Put business documents, letters and other material requiring your prompt attention in a letter-sized manila folder. Take the file with you wherever you go, and go through it whenever you have a few minutes.

Don’t keep a legal pad near the telephone at work. You’ll wind up filling each page with a jumble of notes from multiple conversations. Instead, cut old 8” x 11” sheets of paper in half and keep a pile of them near the phone. Take notes on the blank side - one sheet per call.

In addition, have a written agenda for each business call that you make and for each meeting. The conversation will be more efficient, and you won’t have to call back later to cover points you forgot to raise.

— Barbara Hemphill, organizational expert, author of “Taming the Paper Tiger at Work,” and past president of the National Association of Professional Organizers

Put People First When Choosing Equipment
Technology in the cleaning industry is something that commonly overlooks the people doing the cleaning. A piece of equipment can be purchased from a brochure, sight unseen, but doing so completely overlooks the ability of the end user.

Because service businesses are usually so focused on how they can bring services to their client, they neglect the technology side, because they are a little bit afraid of it. They don’t have the in-house staff to be able to help them choose the right technology. Finding solutions to customers’ problems may mean locating or creating technology that perfectly fits the needs of the application.

The final situation has to be getting to a point where you have the technology or piece of equipment that can handle the problem, and that the operator can use.

— Kurt Zachhuber, consultant with Facility Value Group, Bedford, N.H.

Deal With Difficult People Without Being A Doormat
Accept others as they are. No matter how hard you try, you cannot change another person. Trying to do so only leads to frustration and exhaustion. Your greatest sphere of influence is yourself; therefore, change will radiate to others as a result of the improvements you make to yourself.

To demonstrate this principle, author Gary Zukav described on Oprah how skilled roofers catch an object thrown to them when they are perched on a rooftop. They extend their arm, but will catch the object only if it is within arm’s reach. If the toss falls short, they will not lean out and reach for it. They will let the object fall to the ground. Roofers know that reaching too far leads to disaster. The length of their arm is the radius of their sphere of control.

But acceptance does not mean you become a doormat, tolerate disrespectful behavior or never set boundaries. Nor does it mean you avoid the truth or deny reality. Acceptance is not the same thing as agreeing with or condoning inappropriate actions. Sometimes we may feel selfish, guilty, or afraid of what the other person will think of us if we set boundaries. But boundaries help our relationships, as long as they are set with an attitude of respect.

— Chris Karcher,author of “Relationships of Grace”

The Right Stuff — Cleaning By Wandering Around
In other countries, where cleaning costs are much higher, contractors are forced to find better ways to clean. This is the driving force behind the increasing efficiency of processes and equipment in United States.

Changes in cleaning processes and technology should prove their value and show their worth. Day cleaning is thought to be inefficient and costly, but in practice, it has been shown to save 22 to 23 percent in labor costs. It’s called “cleaning by wandering around.” During the day you clean what needs to be done; during the night you clean what is available to you, which is everything.

Day cleaning also draws a different kind of employee. You need people who want to communicate, people who want to work days and people with the personality to do so.

Interaction with the client becomes an almost constant thing when you are emptying trash or vacuuming carpeting. It takes someone who is able to talk with the client’s employees and tell them what they are going to do or not do and why.

When making a change such as shifting to day cleaning or using new standards, it should be driven by increasing the effectiveness and necessity of cleaning what needs to be done by people who are capable of doing it.

— Ian Grieg, joint managing director of Daniels Associates, Phoenix

Act As A Consultant During The Bidding Process
Make sure you tour an entire facility before bidding. Make note of the site’s density — look for empty work spaces. Know your clients’ expectations and bid to those expectations.

Our bidding process has allowed us to act as more of a consultant during the sales process. We give out the hours it will take to do a job and the wage we will pay our employees to get the job done. We let the client justify their decision when accepting our bid instead of the other way around.

— Barbara Whitstone, business development manager, CleanPower, Milwaukee

Create Supply-Chain Synergy
Our family was in the commercial bakery business for four generations. We sold the company in 1989 to Holsum Bakery in Miami. In the bakery business, we had an extensive route distribution system in which we delivered bread and rolls directly to hotels, restaurants and hospitals. This distribution system was very straightforward, in which our route drivers would go to each account on their route, take inventory of the remaining bakery products and refill the inventory to the appropriate level.

After years in the janitorial business, I felt that our resources of personnel, money, time and effort were being wasted due to the fact that most janitorial paper distributors simply want to make large drop shipments. After attending several International Sanitary Supply Association meetings, it was apparent that there were some distributors who truly wanted to “partner” with the janitorial contracts and “walk the talk” that distributors must do a much better job of serving their customers. At that time I decided to build a system similar to the one we used in our bakery — the only piece missing was a distributor willing to try something a little different.

We entered into discussion with a very progressive company, Colonial Paper Company of Ocala, Fla. I met with David Tuck, president, and Bruce Whitston, vice president of sales, on several occasions and agreed upon the basic parameters of how this system would work.

The end result is Colonial Paper Co. has a dedicated route for Pro Clean, in which there is a pre-set daily route to service every one of our accounts on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis, depending on usage and storage capacity. Their driver goes into each account, takes inventory and refills our supply inventory to pre-set par levels.

Because of this, we are no longer in the “distribution of supplies business.” We do not have to tie up valuable cash in inventory, nor do we use any personnel resources to distribute supplies to our accounts. In fact, we no longer have a warehouse.

— Don Zerivitz, CEO and president, Pro Clean Building Maintenance, Inc., Winter Park, Fla.

Allow Innovation At All Levels
Management must foster a climate open to innovation. Creativity is the ability of the human mind to come up with ideas and solutions to pressing problems. It is the process of producing something that a) has value, and b) did not exist before.

Give people positive reinforcement. You must show people that bringing their imagination on the journey is welcome. Information wealth flows directly from innovation, not optimization. Wealth, of any kind, is not gained by perfecting the known, but by seizing the unknown. We must all become successive producers of ideas, concepts, and innovations. We must try them out to see if they work, if not we will lose out to our competitors.

Allow mavericks in your organization. The more offbeat, the more diverse, eccentric, and unusual, the more we learn. Relationships often don’t work, but learn from them. Years ago, anyone with a tattoo was considered a rebel. Now, tattoos are thought of as fashion statements. Body piercing, once relegated to gang members, hoodlums and less desirable personalities, now are considered by some to be sexy and alluring.

Listen more than you talk. Ask questions instead of selling. This could be the greatest innovation you have in your organization — the ability to listen. Understand your client’s needs first, and then find a solution.

Remember, failure and innovation are related. Success only comes when you learn from failure.

— James Feldman, author, speaker and motivator. He can be reached at 312-527-9111.

Dogs Are Man’s Best Friend And Mold’s Worst Enemy
I knew dogs had a natural capacity for sniffing out mold. In Europe, they’ve been using mold dogs for the last 10 years. The Florida Canine Academy says dogs can smell mold in parts per billion — most test equipment is parts per million.

Our dog, Watson, will walk around and sit down if he locates mold. People will believe the dog, but not necessarily the machines!

He’s trained like any other service dog, with 500 to 1,000 mold-detection hours. He gets tested with “mold in a can” every three to six months, and once a year he goes in front of a trainer for certification.

With a dog, we’re light-years ahead in marketing. We’ve put Watson on our van, and called him a “mold-detection unit.” People love it, especially those with pets.

It’s a trade-off — mold dogs cost a lot of money, and they require a good handler, but we’d do it again. In fact, we’re getting another dog, Sherlock.

— Todd McFarland, Mold Masters, Inc., Anoka, Minn.

Workload Wisely
The best thing BSCs can do is engineer a job properly to get the maximum productivity and value out of it. The successful contractors look at the building floor by floor and equalize the workload. Instead of dividing the work by floor or task, break the building down into specific areas. Figure out the requirements to clean these areas and adjust the workload accordingly. If done right, you can reduce labor by 10 percent.

— Bill Garland, joint managing partner, Daniels Associates, Toronto
Tailor Training To The Individual
Training is one of the things we can do to give us the greatest return of investment. Training keeps making you money over time.

There are numerous steps that can be taken to increase the effectiveness of the training. Repetition is extremely important. Any time an employee gets to do something hands-on and more than once, they get to retain it. They learn best when they use all their senses.

Training also needs to be geared to the audience. Don’t get too technical. Train at the appropriate time and place. If the employee cleans at night, don’t train during the day. By training in their building, you can gear training to their application — the equipment and the surfaces they deal with. You can get a feel for the problems specific to them. You also need to have follow-up training. Once they learn something, they may not necessarily retain the knowledge as they go.

But equally important is to eliminate “here’s your keys training.” If you hand the person the keys and let them fend for themselves, you’re really demoralizing them because you’re setting them up to fail. We make assumptions that because we know something, the people we hire will know it too. You should have an employee orientation so they can find out the structure of the company. Who’s in charge? What chemicals do they use to clean? What are the expectations? These are questions that need to be answered before the employee starts working.

— Darin Hargraves, training supervisor, Anchorage School District, Alaska

Don’t Allow Ego To Drive Acquisitions
Nobody should make an acquisition unless they have a reason to. They shouldn’t do it just because it’s a fad or because others are doing it. It is not for everyone. Some people reach their confidence level in their own business. Going beyond that could be disastrous.

You should only acquire companies if you need geographic expansion, an increase in market share, additional management, or you have ambitious people, but no place for them to move up the company ladder.

When acquiring an additional company, make sure you still care for your own one. The worst thing you can do is have your original company go to hell while you’re acquiring a new one.

Ensure the company you buy is a good fit for you. It should have similar accounts and managing techniques. You should make it widely known in the industry what you are looking for. People are sensitive about selling their company. A buyer who advertises will have better luck in finding a seller.

— Bill Garlough, president, Change Agents, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Treat The Industry Like A Community
Varsity Contractors has been around for 45 years and what has sustained us is our direct involvement and commitment to the industry. We love the industry. We get involved in Building Service Contractors Association International, and in their annual conventions, take on speaking roles, get recognized as leaders, and by being on committees.

A lot of people don’t understand that the industry is like a community. We take a personal role in the industry. Our objective is to give back to the industry and help improve it. Enrich it. Make it something you are proud of. Serving the cleaning industry has enriched my life.

Don’t milk the industry for money. We worry about people who destroy the trust of the industry and rush to correct it. Instead, get to know others in the industry. Network with people, make alliances with other companies. Broaden your horizons and have a strong base of values.

— Arlo Luke, president and CEO of Varsity Contractors, Pocatello, Idaho

Work Outside The Industry Before Settling Into A Family Business
Having come to the cleaning industry from such different work environments for the past 25 years, I find after three years at KIMCO that I’m still a bit overwhelmed by how much more there is for me to learn!

But I do think my work experiences outside of this industry developed talents and perspectives that have added value to our organization, and that I would have been unlikely to acquire had I not experienced the variety of jobs and training that preceded my work in our family company. Based on my own experiences, my advice is not to be afraid to try something new after first going in a different direction.

What I’ve found in the wide variety of jobs I’ve held is that the most important thing isn’t always the amount of experience you have, it’s your passion for what you do, and your willingness to constantly learn, grow, and improve.

—Amy Polakow, director of public relations, KIMCO Corp., Norridge, Ill.

Be Patient When Bidding
Instead of bidding to get anything and everything, figure out what your business’s strong points are and target that market. Stay in your own backyard until you are comfortable with expanding.

Have tenacity to get the accounts you want. But have patience because you probably won’t get in the door right away. You may not win the account until your fourth try. Contacting someone one or two times isn’t enough anymore.

— Dannette Heeth, business development for Building Contractors, Inc., Dallas

Keep Good People With A Career Game Plan
We need to find ways to attract people into the cleaning industry. We need to allow for upward mobility, not just within the company, but in the industry as well.

There needs to be better ways of getting people involved and getting them to buy into these opportunities. Keep people in the framework for three to 10 years instead of them always looking for a better job. Provide a structure for people to move up as they want and as they’re capable and notify them of this model when they join the company. This will help view cleaning as a profession, not a stop-gap.

Give extra recognition to employees to who deserve it, reward those who take extra steps toward advancement. For those who want to be entrepreneurs, give them ways to own a piece of the business or own a franchise instead of them going away and leaving your company to do it.

— Wm. R. Griffin, president, Cleaning Consulting Services Inc., Seattle

Plan For Your People, Not Just Your Bottom Line
When BSCs do planning, it’s almost never about anything internal — it’s almost all business development. There’s no attention to key work processes. They’re not interested in investing in human resources — the ratio of HR people to employees in the cleaning business is among the lowest of any industry.

Contractors may spend time focusing on a new accounting system, or a new labor-tracking package, but they’re not spending the time growing their management team.

They need to focus on people.

— Ron Cohn, Ralston Consulting Group, Salt Lake City

Prepare For Emotion When Selling Your Business
Selling a business is a lot more than putting the name up on a bulletin board. There are emotional attachments to the ownership or potential purchase of a company.

It’s like selling your third kid; it’s very personal. You don’t think that any one else can do as good a job of running it as you have done, and you don’t want to see the new owner fail with your old business.

— Gary Penrod, Gary Penrod and Associates, Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Check, And Double-Check, Your E-Mail
The name or address of the person to whom you are writing is actually the last piece of information you should enter. Check everything else over carefully first.

Proof for grammar, punctuation, spelling and clarity. Did you say what needed to be said? How was your tone? If you were the least bit emotional when you wrote the e-mail, did you let it sit for a period of time? Did you include the attachment you wanted to send?

If you enter the recipient’s name first, a mere slip of the finger can send a message before its time. You can never take it back.

— Lydia Ramsey, author of Manners That Sell: Adding the Polish that Builds Profits.




POSTED ON: 9/1/2003