We totally get that between accounts cancelling unexpectedly and price competition in the janitorial industry becoming more intense than ever, every penny spent has to directly contribute to your bottom line. But, if something could help you save time and money in other areas, then maybe that expense would be worth it.
So … we’ve compiled a list of 5 signs your business could benefit from Janitorial Operational Software.
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1) You still manage your business operations mostly with pen and paper
Maybe you have a time tracking tool? Everything else can be done with pen and paper, right?
Maybe you’re like our customer Troy who, before Swept, used to drive from site to site to check if his staff was onsite where they were meant to be? *
Multitasking, wearing many hats, and working long days is common as an entrepreneur, especially when you’re new to the business.
Until you grow your company enough that you can begin to hire people to focus on specific areas of the business, like office administration, HR, and sales, you will likely have to juggle all of these responsibilities yourself. This is where janitorial software can almost act like a business partner who’s keeping track of everything for you.
Using janitorial software can give you insights into what areas of your business need attention (which supplies are low at each location? Which cleaners reported issues the night before?) so that you can prioritize and plan your day accordingly.
*Former customer Troy says that his management team at Maintenance One used to drive from one location to another checking on cleaners without knowing whether or not there was anyone on site at that time. He says that with five managers, they are now saving $10,000 a year plus fuel cost by using Swept.
2) You spend more time putting out fires than focusing on growing the business
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Feeling like a firefighter everyday can lead to feeling run down and burnt out.
Having run a janitorial company ourselves, we know how easy it is to come into work in the morning with the best of intentions — plans to put together a proposal for a new client, plans to request reviews from happy customers, plans to brainstorm opportunities for growth or expansion.
But when you sit down at your desk and you already have 3 missed customer calls, an inbox full of emails with issues… those plans can go out the window pretty quickly.
A great example of how janitorial software can help you get ahead of these things rather than playing catch up each day is by storing all communication from cleaners and clients in one place, according to location. It also allows you to filter your messages to only show those that are urgent, or by another criteria you select such as “problems reported.”
3) You feel your cleaner turnover rate is too high
When asked about their biggest challenges, many cleaning company owners say finding reliable cleaners is just as much an issue as retaining the ones they have.
Employee turnover in the cleaning industry can be as high as 400%. Swept customers only experience a turnover rate of 39%.
We’ve written a lot of great content about retaining more cleaners, but the biggest lesson to come out of all of it is this:
Cleaners need to feel:
- recognized and known as a person,
- they can measure their own success at work,
- that they can communicate easily and clearly with management
Janitorial software that aims to support the cleaner, improve communication, and help them do their best work can do wonders for your cleaner retention rates.
4) You feel you need to lower your bid to win contracts
If you feel you are constantly lower your bid in order to win a contract, you’re not alone. Our research shows that 73% of cleaning company owners say they have felt the need to lower their bid to win a new cleaning contract.
So how can janitorial software help you win more bids without lowering your rates? Check out our free bidding tool.
Showing your organized and can communicate clearly and easily with clients can give them peace of mine.
Another trick: When Swept Founder, Michael Brown was still running his janitorial company, he would use Swept software to close more deals during his initial walk-through:
Step 1: He would enter the prospective clients’ business into the Swept app as if they had already hired him and he was going to clean their location.
Step 2: He would begin by showing them their name and address in the app, and then he would ask them to take him to the spot in their office that their previous cleaning company had continuously let them down.
Step 3: He would use the app to take a photo of that spot, and then begin to add notes around the photo explaining what was expected of the cleaner in that area.
Prospective clients would be blown away by this level of communication and would admit that it Michael’s team was likely to do a much better job with a tool like that.
5) A client has told you about an issue on site that you felt your cleaner should have communicated to you first
Another common challenge faced by cleaning companies, we call this one the iceberg of ignorance.
(Okay, we didn’t make that up, but it’s pretty clever.)
There are many ways for cleaners to communicate onsite problems to you / your management team.
But often what happens when companies use traditional methods like texting and calling (or spreadsheets — ugh.) is that information gets lost, urgent messages don’t float to the top, cleaners report problems (“hey boss, we’re out of toilet paper!”) but managers have no way of knowing what location they’re at or if someone else has already reported it.
Enter: janitorial software.
Tools like Swept allow you to organize your messages based on the types of problems you’d like to see (ie. urgent, late cleaner, low supplies, etc.) and group them by location via a unique message board for each site that you clean.
How cool is that?
If even 1 of these 5 spoke to you…
Janitorial software might be more beneficial than you originally thought. At the end of the day, you know your business better than we do! It’s easy to see software as something other companies need.
If you’re among the many who see software as a nice to have but not a need to have, we highly recommend taking Swept for a spin. We would LOVE to help you grow your business too. Schedule a demo today.
