Listen Up!

No two facilities are the same, and neither are the customers who contract out their cleaning services. Still, building service contractors are expected to know what facility executives want, when then they want it, and make sure its done right the first time. Anticipating those needs and communicating how they will be met, however, tend to be the biggest reasons for lost business.

Get the facts
Most decisions to contract out cleaning were made long before your customer contact took his or her job. This means that the organization’s original objectives and the individual’s might be separate issues — and not all of them will be in writing. BSCs need to find out why the customer outsources cleaning and what expectations their contact person has when doing so.

Agni Thurner, building services supervisor at Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Mass., knows that the school was not pleased with its in-house staff for various reasons when it chose to outsource before she signed on, but she is more concerned with what contractors will do for her now. Thurner, like many facilities professionals, wants a contractor who is willing to respond to things as fast as she needs them to be, at a fair price, she says.

Jeff Wooldridge, assistant manager for building services operations at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, wants a specialist on board to handle headaches he doesn’t want to deal with.

“Our philosophy is, if it’s a function we don’t do well, or don’t do often enough to invest in the equipment and training, we contract it out,” Wooldridge explains. So you can bet a client like this wants the BSC to solve problems before he has to get involved, not after.

Learning the latest mantra
In the past, a brilliant shine and empty trash cans mattered most to cleaning customers. While those still are important, most sophisticated customers say cleaning for health now is as important as cleaning for appearance.

“We’re concerned for our people’s health; we want them to have a good environment in which to work,” says Steve Spencer, facility maintenance services senior specialist for State Farm Insurance Companies. “Plus, a good environment can enhance productivity. We want to do what’s right.”

State Farm’s specification sheets describe detailed “wants,” often broken down to the specific chemical and equipment type. Spencer doesn’t usually specify brand names, but often will list items such as 68-decibel vacuums, acid-free cleaners and high-filtration disposable filter bags.

The U.S. General Services Administration and many state government contracts also have a general policy to require BSCs to purchase “green” chemicals and equipment.

In multi-tenant buildings, occupants drive environmental awareness so BSCs may have to do more leg-work to educate facility managers. In other cases, contractors may have to help customers justify higher prices to clean for health.

“We try as much as possible to be environmentally friendly,” says Thurner, “but I think the products are a little bit too expensive.”

Drop the buzz and get down to business
Often the argument for higher cleaning costs centers around better quality, but buzzwords of the late 1990s such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and ISO-9000 no longer have the impact they once did. Customers say it’s the results, not the expensive certification, that counts now.

“Many of us have TQM training; we’ve looked into statistical process control and Six Sigma,” Wooldridge says. “However, we do not require ISO certification or similar programs; we recognize that going through the process is no guarantee of company longevity or quality.”

Instead, he requires BSCs to present a written outline or diagram of their work processes.

Many customers find this type of information very useful in determining how well a contractor will perform.

“Quality programs that a contractor proposes are very important in selection,” says David Lee, in the operations department of the Tampa (Fla.) Convention Center. “It shows their willingness to perform to your standards.”

Most customers say their priorities are less buzzword-laden, and more performance-oriented. That means a well-defined quality control program should ensure consistency and attention to detail, not just in cleaning, but in all aspects of service.

“Janitors must wear their uniforms, and ID badges — with pictures — whenever they’re in the building. They all need to sign in, and the supervisor doesn’t leave until all other employees are gone,” says Alice Marin, janitorial liaison for Amerimar Realty Management in Denver. She acts as a contact person between BSCs and building tenants.

Many facility managers believe such specifics will foster a more professional environment that encourages cleaning workers to take pride in what they do, thus improving cleaning quality indirectly.

Something as simple as wearing uniforms can be a morale-booster for workers, advises Marin.

Turnover trickle effect
Contractors who have a tough time finding and keeping workers have their own headaches, but don’t forget that those problems shouldn’t become the customer’s too. Cleaning clients overwhelmingly say they hired BSCs to get rid of retention issues and contractors who do so take a big step in improving service quality. If not, it could be the No. 1 problem affecting customer satisfaction.

“It is not OK if you replace your person and I don’t know about it, especially if he lacks the skill level of his predecessor,” says Wooldridge.

And even if the skill level is up to snuff, a new supervisor or manager still can rub customers the wrong way.

“We recognize personality is a significant component for success,” Wooldridge says. “Two people can have the same intellectual capability, but one person interacts better.”

But many BSCs don’t realize that, and indiscriminately place new staff into buildings without realizing the consequences.

Customers acknowledge some turnover may be unavoidable, but some offer suggestions for dealing with it. Spencer, for instance, suggests day cleaning to turnover-riddled BSCs.

“[Day cleaners] have direct customer contact and feedback, which leads to a more pleasant environment,” he says. “We had a building that had about 600 percent turnover. When we switched to day cleaning, turnover dropped to nearly zero.”

Unfortunately, much of the employee retention problem relates to a touchy subject – money. Many valued customers understand the need to compensate entry-level workers to keep them motivated, but they can’t always convince their managers that spending more on cleaning is the best idea.

If this describes some of your customers, try getting creative and adding some intangible perks.

“The best incentive is money,” Thurner admits. However, she has little room for negotiating with Harvard for more dollars. Justice for Janitors, a labor campaign sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, recently protested Harvard’s custodial operations, charging that even though the University has one of the highest endowments in the world, it doesn’t pay its custodians and other workers a living wage.

Thurner is sensitive to those concerns, and continues to work with her contractor to find a solution. In the meantime, the school has provided cleaning employees English classes at the university, on company time, as an alternative to raises it can’t currently offer.

Bidding
Sometimes, miscommunication can start during the bidding process where its vital to communicate objectives, promises and goals to customers.

Many facility or contract managers are split on the best ways to inform them — putting it all in the bid package or delivering a dynamic sales presentation.

“I’ve never seen a ‘wow’ presentation, so I don’t want them,” says one corporate-services manager for an Ohio publishing firm. “Besides, the proof is in the performance.”

Pushing the need to present a bid face-to-face with busy prospects who don’t want them could cost you the job. If they ask you to bid entirely on paper, provide things such company history and cost justification just as clearly as you would in person and you still can impress them.

Including detailed written goals and promises in a bid package also can give the facility managers a reference point to keep tabs on whether those goals are being met, Lee adds.

Clients also emphasize the need for solid references. Expect to be asked for several — and they will be checked.

“You can measure the quality of a bidder by verifying their references and inspecting their work at other facilities,” Lee says.

And make sure you proofread. Recently, one Atlanta facility manager reviewing bids only could produce two out of a dozen written proposals from large contracting firms that didn’t have hand-written notes, the wrong customer name or unexplained data in them.
“We have a nationally recognized name and you can’t even remember to put it in all the right spots in a bid? Not only does it look like you just slapped our name on someone else’s proposal, but it makes me question how observant you’ll be when you have to care for millions of square feet of office space,” he says.

Price vs. performance
Your bid proposal, no doubt, will discuss price. And there is some encouraging news — most customers are starting to realize cheaper isn’t always better.

“If my building is cleaner than [someone else’s], but I’m spending more, well, that’s why,” says Spencer.

Still, some facilities, government properties, especially, consider price heavily. For example, by statute, cost must be at least 30 percent of the consideration in selecting a contractor at CSU. The other 70 percent is up to the department.

“A lot of this depends on just how lazy I am,”admits Wooldridge. He can take the time to write detailed bid criteria, allowing training, quality control, company history and value-added services to make up the other 70 percent of the consideration. Or, he simply can declare cleaning a commodity, and judge the bid packages solely on price.

This isn’t an isolated case, so BSCs need to be prepared to do the legwork and convince customers that they will benefit from looking at aspects other than the bottom line.

And sometimes, external budgeting forces make price paramount. If custodial operations suffer cuts, BSCs need to help ease the burden through workload adjustments and other suggestions or risk being replaced.

Such financial woes plague Harvard Business School, where cleaning is a line item in the university’s budget. To control costs, Thurner and her BSC are trying to eliminate one shift, and streamline the rest of the operation. She hopes to convert more night-shift workers to full time, and thus improve retention and quality.

Communication can avoid cancellation
Once you have the contract, the focus turns to keeping it. While issues such as theft, immigration violations and safety problems can result in immediate cancellation, more often, contract retention simply is a matter of quality and proper response if those levels drop.

Often, BSCs don’t even know that tenants are complaining until it’s too late. It’s up to you to seek occupant and customer contact and evaluations on a regular basis. Not only will it help you avoid being blindsided, but it also will instill confidence in your ability to complete tasks.

Meet regularly with your customer contact, and suggest that person talk occasionally with tenants to stay abreast of their concerns and to improve quality. Or get permission to meet with tenants yourself as a way to maintain a presence in the building.

Spencer suggests BSCs also make time to attend seminars and conferences as he has done, to stay on top of industry developments and benchmarking. But be sure to let customers know that you constantly are trying to improve processes, even if it doesn’t seem obvious in the cleaning you do.