The Do's and Don'ts of Contract Cleaning from One Who Did and Didn't

The DO’s and DON’Ts of Contract

Cleaning From One Who DID and DIDN’T

Richard D. Ollek, CBSE

AuthorHouse™

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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© 2011 Richard D. Ollek, CBSE. All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 04/30/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5977-3 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5978-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5979-7 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011906812

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

DISCLAIMER

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CONCLUSION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

•   First and foremost I acknowledge our good and gracious God. I give him praise, honor and glory for all the blessings he has provided to me throughout my life. His saving grace is available to all who would believe and the knowledge of having him by my side in all that I do, brings great comfort to me. What a joy.

•   To my wife, Barbara, who has been by my side in thick and thin and has been my partner when things are good and when things are not so good. With partners like God and Barbara, life is a wonderful journey.

•   To my daughter, Robyn, who continues to correct all my mistakes even though she no longer is my full-time administrative assistant. She never complains–to me! I love you, Robyn.

•   To the late Bob O’Connor who began in the late 60’s to remind me that I had the ability to be in business for myself and continued to mentor me throughout my business career. I will never forget him and all the guidance he gave me through the years.

•   To my Boston Terrier dog, Caesar, who sits by my feet every day as I write books, podcasts, DVD and Inner Circle material. What would I do without this little guy? Woof! Woof! Woof!

DISCLAIMER

Neither the author nor its legal counsel make any representations as to the legality of the ideas or statements contained in this book. They represent the ideas and opinions of the author only, and in no way provide a guarantee of success for the reader, as every company and individual situation will be different as will the commitment to any program or process. Furthermore, any cost estimates or prices are based on information deemed reliable but not guaranteed and are used for the purposes of illustration only. All persons should consult with their own legal and financial counsel concerning the many questions and issues that may arise. Furthermore, neither the author nor its legal counsel make any claims as to the overall professionalism of any companies mentioned in this book.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Dick Ollek is the top consultant in this industry. I utilize him as my personal industry coach. Thanks to Dick’s counsel, Office Pride has continued to grow at an amazing rate. He is consistently rated as the top speaker at many of our franchise retreats.

Todd Hopkins—Founder/President

Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services

Pensacola, FL

Working with Dick at Consultants In Cleaning, LLC has made a tremendous positive impact on our company. With Dick’s support he has shown us what we should be looking at in our business and the how to. With the support of nearly 50 years of one of the leaders in the cleaning industry, it is a rare opportunity to learn from someone like himself. With Dick’s books, pod casts, Inner Circle materials along with one on one development, I have been able to substantially grow my company’s sales, profits, services offered, customer retention and so much more. You will without a doubt be given the tools and support to achieve unlimited success and wealth in the cleaning business. With his keep it simple approach to complicated equations it will ultimately boil down to your work ethic and your willingness to learn and strive for constant on-going improvement in yourself and your company.

Chris Paxos, President/CEO

A Quality Facility Services

North Canton, OH

Everyone benefited from, and enjoyed the 2 day seminar. I received numerous comments about how practical it was for our group. Also, the fact you continued to press home the reality that the concepts you taught were life lessons, not just lessons for supervising a cleaning company. You are providing a great service to our industry. I hope you are able to continue it for years to come.

Dennis Richards, CEO

Puritan Cleaning Professionals

Missoula, MT

INTRODUCTION

After nearly 50 years in the contract cleaning and related services business, I can discuss at great length the DON’Ts of the business. Along the way I also developed some DO’s and therein lies the premise for this book.

Whether you are contemplating entering the business, are already started and want to avoid costly mistakes as you grow, or are a seasoned professional with years and years of experience, it is my desire that each of you will find value in what I have to say in the chapters that follow.

This book is not written as a novel where one chapter flows into another to continue the story line. The chapters are generally short so they are a quick read. Those of you that know me personally know that I generally never say anything short but as far as chapters in a book go, we are talking short. This also allows you to go to the table of contents in the front and look for a specific subject about which you want to read.

Those of you thinking about starting in this business will want to pay particular attention to the chapters on naming the business, what form of corporate structure you should have, as well as the chapters on banking, insurance and payroll taxes. Come to think of it, if you are thinking about entering the business, you will be well served by reading ALL the chapters.

If you are already started in the business and want to grow profitably, you will want to pay particular attention to the chapters on growing too fast, systems and processes, don’t be stubborn, and, I don’t have time for training or going to a convention. Come to think of it, if you are already started in the business and want to grow, you will be well served by reading ALL the chapters.

Those of you that are seasoned veterans will be interested in the sales, human resources, and administration chapters. Oh, and don’t forget, there is a chapter on getting ready to sell the business. Come to think of it, those of you that are seasoned veterans will be well served by reading ALL the chapters.

So, what did I just say? I truly believe that wherever you are in the life of a contract cleaning business adventure, we have something for everyone to learn.

What prompted me to write this book, my third book since selling my company, was a recent conversation I had with an old timer about all the years we had been in the business and all the mistakes we had made. We then started sharing some of our success stories and they weren’t too bad either and a heck of a lot more fun to talk about.

As you read this book you no doubt will think of something I left out that you feel should have been included. That’s great. The idea is to get you to thinking and making decisions that will help you become successful in the contract cleaning business. I by no means have all the answers but am sharing my experiences with the hope it will help someone somewhere make a decision or two that can possibly save them tons of time and dollars. I always write with the intention of the reader using the material as a guide to help them and not as a know everything about everything book. I share my real life experiences and from those I am hoping you will make your business more successful.

A few years ago, when an organization was looking for a keynote speaker for their regional contracting convention, they called me and asked me to speak on my many years of experience. The caller said that as they were discussing potential speakers that could motivate their audience, the comment was made, Call Dick Ollek, he’s made every mistake there is to make and he should be interesting to listen to. How’s that for a ringing endorsement to be a keynote speaker?

I accepted the invitation and had a great time poking fun at myself and crying about all the money I had wasted through the years by trial and error judgments.

So, my mission in this book is to take several of the areas of owning and managing a contract service business and relay the mistakes I have made throughout the years as well as share with you what worked for me. As I said earlier, it is my hope that from these experiences you can increase the profit you produce in your organization as well as have more fun doing it.

That’s why I named the book DO’S AND DON’TS IN THE CONTRACT CLEANING BUSINESS FROM ONE WHO DID AND DIDN’T.

A couple more comments. I believe that we are really in the Building Service Contracting business or the Facility Service Contracting business and not just the contract cleaning business. In fact, as I assist new and emerging companies move their organizations forward I recommend they utilize building services or facility services in their corporate name in some manner and if not in their name, certainly in the sales and marketing literature.

Because so many people still refer to us as contract cleaners I chose to include that in the title of the book rather than building service contracting or facility service contracting.

As you read the words contract cleaning throughout this book, I encourage you to broaden your thinking to include all facility services that you can provide to a building owner or manager such as…

•   Janitorial service

•   Carpet cleaning

•   Window washing

•   Pest elimination/pest control

•   Trash removal service

•   Lawn care

•   Parking lot sweeping

•   Parking lot striping

•   Temporary help

•   Painting and remodeling

•   Day porter and maid service

•   Sale of restroom consumable supplies

•   Vending services

•   Warehouse stocking help

•   Rental of lunch room equipment

•   Entrance mat rental

•   Dust mop rental

•   Uniform rental

•   Crime scene cleaning

•   Snow clearing and removal

•   And the list goes on

See, we are in the Building Service or Facility Service business, not just cleaning.

As an example, one of my long term customers signed an agreement with us back in 1983 to provide janitorial service and as the years and the relationship progressed we added lawn mowing service for about 40 acres, parking lot sweeping, parking lot striping, flower planting and shrub maintenance for each season, and rental mat service. When I sold my company in 2005 we were still servicing that valuable customer.

I am sure there are many reading this introduction that can think of or are doing services that I may not have listed, but that is the idea–PROVIDE SERVICE SATISFACTION TO YOUR CUSTOMER. The opportunities are endless.

An additional benefit to providing a multitude of services is if the client becomes disgruntled for a short period of time with one of the services you are providing it makes them think twice before calling a competitor to replace you. The more services you provide the more valuable you become.

I said earlier a couple of comments. Well, this is comment number two. I try to present material in a way that will get the listener, reader, or attendee thinking about how the information can be used to profit their company. I want to encourage you to take the time after each chapter to list those items from that chapter that can help you in your business. If you read about it and then write it down, you are more prone to doing something about the idea.

Enjoy the reading, learn well, and prosper.

CHAPTER 1

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

It goes without saying (but I’m saying it anyway) that this industry of cleaning and facility services is not recognized as one of the most professional industries in the world. Most customers just don’t think about us much until–the service we provide isn’t done right.

Then when they do decide to accept proposals for service, many of them don’t take the time to provide us with all the information we need to give them an accurate presentation and the process of their dissatisfaction starts all over again.

Now why am I starting this chapter out on a negative note about our customers? Because…we, as an industry, have not done our job, in my opinion, to raise the level of professionalism in the eyes of the customers we service.

What, you say? I work hard at making my company the best there is. I won’t dispute that but let’s look at how so many building service contractors approach the business. Let’s start with naming our company.

What does the name of your company say about the professionalism you espouse? Look in the phone book yellow pages and see what we think about our own industry. Just randomly looking in some phone books I found names of companies like…

•   Dreamy Clean Cleaning

•   647 Cleaning

•   Clean Queen

•   Mr. Scrub

•   Dirt Movers International

•   M & M Cleaning

•   Bright Sky

•   Joseph the Great

•   U Can Rest Cleaning

•   Toilet Masters

•   Joe’s Industries

•   Mollie’s Moppers

•   22497 Cleaning

•   Billie’s Bucket Brigade

•   Green Clean Queen

•   You Mess, We Mop Cleaning

Think about some of the names I listed above. Does Bright Sky provide for a bright sky and how do they