Conduct Research On Mops And Communicate With Customers

Switching over to a new way of doing things is not something to be undertaken lightly. Frey spent about a year researching a better system, in response to complaints from employees about heavy buckets, as well as questions from clients about effectiveness of the traditional mops and how frequently the water was being changed.

“We had issues with clients and employees; no one was satisfied. I was looking for a better way,” says Frey.

Frey attended industry trade shows and happened upon the disposable microfiber mops, but she didn’t act immediately.

“I let it hit the arena for a little while to see if there was any backlash, and it was all great, so then we started trialing it in different areas,” she says. “We were really nervous, we thought we’d have problems, but we haven’t. It’s been wonderful.”

Still, when a company alters its “old” way of business and introduces a new way of doing things, Frey is a strong advocate of communicating the reasons for the change, both to the employees and to the clients.

“You have to have the commitment of the whole team to implement the switch successfully,” she says. “A lot of communication and training is involved to ensure clients and the employees understand why spending more money is important.”

When they made the switch from loop mops about two years ago, Frey was approached by a client who told her that his employees were concerned that no one had witnessed her day porters do any mopping. After she explained the details, her client was totally on board.

“It shows our clients that we are pursuing technology, that we are not afraid to try new things,” says Frey.

And even though the systems seems straightforward enough, Frey took care to train the staff, making sure, for example, that they knew at what point the microfiber cloths should be tossed and to use them in small areas.

“Communication is very big stuff, the more they understand why they are doing something, the more they can be on board,” says Frey. “I’m very much about making sure they understood why we are changing the system.”