The Top 6 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Commercial Cleaning Business

Regardless of their experience or preparedness, every commercial cleaning business owner is susceptible to making mistakes that adversely affect operations. 

These errors can significantly reduce business performance and profitability, whether from inadequate quality control measures or deficiencies in monitoring client satisfaction.

Sidestep common commercial cleaning mistakes and position your business for growth with these tips.

Mistake #1: Ignoring safety protocols

The hazards in the cleaning industry include slips and falls on wet floors and exposure to irritating chemicals in cleaning products. Failure to follow safety protocols reflects poorly on your business and can result in legal issues.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cleaning industry standards minimize or eliminate workplace hazards and ensure safety in the workplace. 

The best way to meet legal requirements and keep your cleaning team safe is to create a health and safety program with training for established safety procedures.

Best-practice safety protocols include:

• Personal protective equipment (PPE): Employees should wear PPE, including clothes, shoes, gloves, face and eye protection, and masks or respirators.

• Cleaning product labeling: OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard requires hazard classification and labeling that identifies the product and includes supplier information.

• Material safety data sheets: Safety data sheets (MSDS) communicate potential hazards in a standardized, easy-to-understand format with safe ways to handle, store, and transport disinfectants and other chemicals. MSDS include:

  • Chemical properties

  • Hazards

  • Protective measures

• Emergency procedures: Train employees on emergency procedures so they know what to do and whom to contact in case of a chemical spill or other emergency.

Implement inspection procedures to improve your program and ensure the safety of your employees and clients.

Mistake #2: Neglecting customers

Your customer service should be the same high quality as your commercial cleaning services.

Eighty percent of customers say a company's experience is as important as its product or services. Commercial cleaners who neglect customer service are vulnerable to negative reviews, reputation damage, churn, and reduced revenue.

Follow these strategies to improve your customer service:

• Implement CRM software: Customer relationship management software, such as Aspire commercial cleaning business software, centralizes customer data and increases sales pipeline visibility, improving client relationships and retention.

• Streamline customer communication: Aspire makes it easy for customers to get in touch with cleaning and janitorial service businesses.  With improved customer communication, you can quickly address issues while collecting in-platform customer feedback for analysis.

• Increase customer convenience: Demonstrate your appreciation for customers by simplifying the process of doing business with your company. Aspire’s self-service portal lets customers easily view serviced properties and project statuses, digitally sign proposals, view invoices, and pay online.

Prioritize customer service to boost cleaning leads and grow your client base.

Mistake #3: Inadequate quality control

Busy cleaning service providers with inadequate quality control processes deliver substandard work and fail to meet client expectations. 

Implement best-practice quality control measures to improve team performance and increase customer satisfaction. Effective quality control needs streamlined processes to measure and report performance.

Enhance quality control through:

• Mobile tools: Tracking every detail is challenging with multiple teams and locations. Aspire’s mobile app makes it easy to communicate cleaning tasks to your teams. Three-way issue management and reporting keep your entire team in the loop.

• Cleaning checklists: Improve performance and consistency by listing specific cleaning tasks for each job or property, whether an office building or industrial facility and if the client has any specialty services.

• Site audits: Customized mobile site audits ensure your professional cleaners meet high-quality standards. Supervisors can issue a score for each task and add images to reports.

Consider additional methods to measure quality control, such as customer surveys and feedback, so your company continually addresses customer concerns while improving service delivery.

Mistake #4: Fixed, inflexible  services

You can differentiate yourself from the competition and win more cleaning contracts by offering flexible, customizable services.

Professional commercial cleaning companies with brittle services may lose out on potential clients who have specific cleaning needs.

Communicate your willingness to work with clients. Customize your free quotes by:

• Asking what services they need

• Including the service frequency

• Perform a thorough walk-through

Aspire commercial cleaning business software provides flexibility for recurring commercial cleaning contracts, allowing clients to choose fixed payment, per service, or T&M (time and materials) invoice types.

Flexibility in service delivery, scheduling, communication, and billing increases customer satisfaction and drives growth in your commercial cleaning business.

Mistake #5: Neglecting proper training

An emphasis on training keeps cleaning staff safe and elevates professional cleaning service performance.

Cleaning and janitorial service companies should focus on proper training to improve:

• Efficiency

• Consistency

• Quality

Keep your team current on the latest technology in cleaning equipment to unlock new efficiencies in your office cleaning services, including dusting, sanitization, vacuuming, carpet cleaning, and window cleaning. 

→ Standardize how your team executes tasks, communicates issues, performs equipment maintenance, and reports low cleaning supply inventory.

Encourage industry-certified training, such as International Sanitary Supply Association certification programs, to expand employee knowledge of commercial cleaning industry standards, best practices, and protocols. Team certification also demonstrates your commitment to professionalism and quality.

Mistake #6: Underestimating technology integration

Entrepreneurs who begin a small business may not understand the importance of software integration. However, as a business enters new growth stages, providing efficient service across multiple sites, departments, or divisions becomes more difficult.

Commercial cleaning business software like Aspire empowers contractors to take control of their business to increase efficiency, productivity, and profit.

Aspire’s integrated platform streamlines your:

• Scheduling and routing

• Crew management

• CRM

• Job costing

• Estimating

• Purchasing

• Reporting

The Aspire Mobile app connects your teams in the field and office while increasing accountability with GPS tracking and geo-fenced clock-in/clock-out capabilities.

Aspire provides complete visibility into every aspect of business, enabling you to slash inefficiencies, reduce overhead, and capture new revenue opportunities.

Help your commercial cleaning business thrive

You can avoid many common mistakes by committing to ongoing improvement in your cleaning business, service quality, customer service, and operations.

Aspire’s commercial cleaning business software provides industry-specific features to drive profitability and growth, from drag-and-drop work tickets to improved crew management, equipment maintenance tracking, and automated job costing.

Powerful reporting capabilities show how labor and job cost affect profit in real time. Comprehensive insight drives better business decisions to improve operations and growth.

Ready to take your commercial cleaning business to the next level? Request a demo today.