There are five statements I hear building service contractors of all shapes and sizes make all the time. Typically, these statements tell me much more about the cleaning contractor than they do about the situation they are grappling with. Further, very often, these statements have very little to do with what is actually happening. So, …
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The COVID-19 (coronavirus) is now in a critical phase where public health systems here in North America are wondering what they can do and how they can decisively act to contain the spread of the infection. We don’t know, as of this writing, what impact it will have here. In China, the number of cases …
Continue reading “Preparing Cleaning Contractors for Coronavirus”
Many of the cleaning contractors I work with are micromanagers. When they were small, this was probably necessary. They wanted to know and have a hand in everything going on in their business. But now that they are bigger, many of them have not changed that much. Even with a large office and custodial staff, …
Continue reading “Questions Cleaning Contractors Need to Ask about Offloading”
An issue most cleaning contractors must grapple with is what to do when the contact person or manager they have been working with leaves the company. This can even be more significant and complicated because, in many cases, that person is also the person that hired you. When the new manager takes over, invariably the manager …
Every contractor needs to have a list of customer testimonials. They are powerful and can improve a contractor’s sales performance significantly. However, according to Ron Segura, President of Segura and Associates, who works with large and small contractors helping them build their business, “all too many contractors do not take advantage of this marketing tool, …
Continue reading “Ten Easy Steps: How to Ask for Testimonials”
I know lots of cleaning contractors use workloading or workloading principals when responding to requests for proposals (RFPs). Further, many are now selecting new software programs, some of which can make the entire process much easier. However, prior to considering what type of software is needed for your organization, here are some things to consider: …
Continue reading “Should Cleaning Contractors Use Workloading to Bid on Facilities?”
Have you ever witnessed the following scenario play out in a contract cleaning company, either among the custodial teams or at the executive level? The call went out that the company was looking for a few more custodial workers. One of the company’s supervisors recommended a friend of his, and if hired, he offered to …
Jeffery Fox, who gained fame for his book, “How to Become a Rainmaker,” tells the following story: A wire/cable salesman had a good relationship with an executive at a company in Florida. He called on this company, and the first person he meets is the company’s receptionist, an efficient, organized young woman. Part of her …
We hear the term all the time. Contractors no longer have a “staff,” they have a “team.” The teams have been taught systems and methodologies that help them coordinate cleaning activities. They share ideas, welcome suggestions and contributions, and help ensure every member of the team feels valued and important. The result is that most …
There is one thing virtually all the contractors I work with share, and that is they take their work along with them wherever they go. At the dinner table, their daughter may be telling them what happened at school that day, but their mind is off wondering if a customer request is being addressed or …
Ron Segura, Founder and President of Segura & Associates brings over 50 years of experience in all segments of the Cleaning Industry. Ten of those years were spent overseeing the cleaning of over 4.5 million square feet of outsourced services for The Walt Disney Company.
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