In this article, industry manufacturers answer common questions asked by building service contractors.

How can software make BSCs more professional?

It is very simple — cleaning contractors that use software retain more clients and win more accounts than those that don’t. It has been proven again and again. The reason: when a client sees that you can respond to their request from anywhere at any time because you have a cutting-edge software accessible on your mobile device (big or small) they will view you as professional.

It also differentiates you from other BSCs. The customer can see that you are willing to stay on top of their needs and even have that capability from the palm of your hand. Who wouldn’t be impressed?

— Michael Jenkins, president, CleanTelligent, Provo, Utah
 
 
Professionalism can be seen in the quality, reliability and speed of service provided by BSCs. Software addresses those factors head-on by providing programs designed, and in many cases, pre-loaded, to deliver fast, consistent and professional bidding, timekeeping, accounting, customer relationship management and quality control.

Software is a tool which, at its best, not only cuts one’s workload and organizes one’s business but, can act as a great equalizer as well — allowing smaller businesses to compete effectively and successfully with much larger ones.

— Daniel Liebrecht, co-founder, CleanBid, Toledo, Ohio

Can using software help BSCs save money?

Big time. I had a customer save more than $3,000 per month and he was a small BSC (45 employees). He went from paying his employees straight budget hours to having them clock in/out using telephone timekeeping software. The difference in their actual hours and straight budget hours saved him 334 hours per month.

These numbers seem high to BSC at first glance; however, that is only each of his 45 employees getting paid 15 minutes less per day (so instead of getting paid a straight 3 hours to clean the bank, your employee clocks in/out and has 2:45 actual hours.) He invested $300 per month into Web-based telephone timekeeping software and netted a $2,700 gain per month.

Even if the BSC doesn't pay straight budget hours the savings is more than the monthly investment. The industry says BSC save an average of between 2 and 6 percent off annual payroll. This is due to padded time cards, faster payroll accounting efficiency and time card calculation errors.

— Chris Fletcher, JaniTime


Anytime a company can increase productivity, it saves them money. Anytime a company retains a customer, it saves them money. There was a company using our software that had a $1.4 million contract up for renewal and was able to keep the contract because the client said the software they were using was able to distinguish them from the other contractors.
So let’s say this happened to you — if your profit margin was 3 percent you would be saving $42,000 per year in pure profit by retaining this account. Could you afford to lose $42,000 in pure profit?

I have found with companies using our software that the money they save and the money they make from using the software more than pays for the cost of the software — it even gives dollars back to the cleaning contractors. Benefits from these cost savings can provide more opportunities to cleaning contractors to expand their business, update equipment, allow for more time to analyze competition, and even provide that much-deserved raise.

— Michael Jenkins, president, CleanTelligent, Provo, Utah



Absolutely. Time is money. Accounting, bidding, CRM and inspection/quality control software can save time — and therefore, by definition, can save BSCs money. 


— Daniel Liebrecht, co-founder, CleanBid, Toledo, Ohio