COMMUNICATION & UNDERSTANDING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE CLIENT

The first step is to listen carefully to what the client requires and communicate thoroughly with your client. Every client has different requirements and budgets to work with. It is important to make sure that you as the manager or owner of the business understands what the client requires..

There are many hints you can pick up in the initial conversation you have with your client. Few things that I have personally noticed at initial meetings are things such as:

• “We want an affordable cleaning service and are getting few other quotes” – which means that the client is looking for the cheapest available option so they are trying to get different prices from different companies and will consider the cheapest option. It is important to provide the best pricing possible, as we will be competing with other cleaning companies on pricing.

• “We want to get the best value for our cleaning budget” – which generally implies that the client has a reasonable cleaning budget and are looking for the cleaning company which can provide the best value for their business. What I would personally recommend for such a client is to make sure that you combine different additional services with your regular cleaning services such as “complimentary spring cleaning every 6 months”, “complimentary carpet steam cleaning once a year”, “complimentary window cleaning once a year”, etc. These value additions will help you win contracts as the client would want to try and get all their cleaning needs done with the same company rather than having to chase quotes from other companies.

• “My director or facilities manager wants to come in to a very clean office 5 days a week” – which means that the company will be looking for the best service possible. If a company has a facilities manager and is looking for a daily cleaning service, it means that they are quite a large company. This will help you to understand that they are looking for a quality service and not a cheap option. It is important to provide the best value for their cleaning budget and to assure that the quality will be of the highest.

What I personally would recommend for such a client is to provide a “Complimentary Trial” which means that you provide your office cleaning service free of charge for a week or so. This will give an indication to the Facilities Manager or Director that you are confident that your service will be of the highest quality. Furthermore, it is good to indicate that a regular inspection will be carried out such as a Monthly or Fortnightly inspection to check that the cleaning service is of the highest quality. Those few additions will be a winner as that assures that the Facilities Manager will have less things to worry about as you will continuously check on your cleaners and if the tasks are being carried out properly.

PREPARE CLEANING TASKS & JOB ORIENTATION

The second step in assuring a quality Office Cleaning service is to set up cleaning task and do a walk through with your staff. The best approach to creating a cleaning checklist is to look at a room from top to bottom and create a cleaning task as such:

• Cobweb removal

• Dusting and wiping shelves, desks, surfaces, etc

• Detail vacuuming throughout the floors and mopping

There are many additional tasks to add to a cleaning task but this is an example, which will help you to understand when preparing a cleaning checklist. Feel free to have a look at the detailed step-by-step checklist we have prepared. It is also important to be specific from one office to another so that the cleaners follow them regularly which will minimize complaints.

When you do the walk-through with your cleaning staff, make sure you show all the tasks that need to be carried out from top to bottom and also keep in mind the meeting you had with the client. Many clients will show tasks they are not being carried out by the previous cleaning company that they are concerned about. It is very important that your cleaning staff makes a habit to clean those tasks that the client mentioned.

Once the walk through of the office is done with your cleaning staff, you should make sure that you are with the cleaning staff until they finish off the initial cleaning as the first impression matters the most. If you start off well with the initial cleaning, it will make your job a lot easier moving forward. So it is important to take extra time to carry out a detail cleaning initially which will give you a positive feedback.

CARRYING OUT INSPECTIONS REGULARLY TO MONITOR CLEANING SERVICE

Once you have received a positive start, it is important to maintain that positive feedback throughout the cleaning contract. The cleaners have the most control to assure that the tasks are being carried out regularly, so it is important to have reliable staff that will take care of the office.

As a manager, I personally understand that it would be impossible to go to every office every single day to check if the cleaners are carrying out the tasks properly. In order to monitor and quality control, it is important to have a communication book which will help the client to communication any issues of the cleaning service. It is important to nip any issue in the bud before it becomes a bigger issue and a communication book will be a great start to make sure that issues are sorted out as soon as possible.

It is important that you carry out regular inspections to check the quality of the cleaning carried out by the cleaners. When the same tasks are being carried out on a regular basis, the cleaners may take shortcuts, which will affect the quality of the cleaning service provided. If the cleaners know that you carry out inspections regularly, they will make sure that all the tasks are carried out properly.

FOLLOWING UP WITH THE CLIENT

It is essential to continuously follow up with your client on a quarterly basis or so to check if the client is happy with everything. Following up with your client will keep them happy as they know that you are making an effort to check up on the service. As a cleaning company, you should always try to improve your service and if there is any room for improvement, it is important that steps are taken.

There is nothing better than positive word-of-mouth and if you provide a consistent cleaning service, your company will receive a lot of referral that will help your company to grow. It is crucial that you take care of any office big or small with the best service, which will help to build your brand.