Want to pick up those sales numbers? Discover five reasons a customer cleaning portal can tidy up your business.
We all know that customer service can be the cornerstone of a successful commercial cleaning business. We also know there are dozens of ways to enact excellent customer service. It can be as simple as saying hello when you walk into a facility, or it can be going out of your way to fit an appointment into your schedule right before a special event. And there’s one tool that can help facilitate all of this: a customer cleaning portal.
What is a customer cleaning portal? You may find some variation among specific portals, but at its base, any cleaning portal gives your customers a way to follow what’s going on in their buildings. It’s a nice thing to offer to any customer, but it’s a must-have for customers with multiple facilities.
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Why you need a customer cleaning portal right away
How do you get benefits from a customer being able to track your work? Let’s break down exactly what a customer cleaning portal can do, and you’ll be able to see the benefits for both you and your customers.
Communication is one of the essential parts of building successful, long-lasting relationships with clients. This goes far beyond the quarterly janitorial surveys or the occasional phone call. There are plenty of reasons a client may need to get in touch with you or your on-site team. Emergencies come up, water pipes burst, your client won the lottery and wants to buy everyone on the team a new car. And while they might have your number, it’s doubtful they have contact information for your team. This brings us to the first benefit:
1. Easy communication. A cleaning portal makes real-time communication between your team and your client a breeze. As a result, you can be more responsive, and it eliminates any stress your client may feel when they need to reach you.
2. Manage multiple locations. This is a big one for your clients that manage more than one space, and it’s a great selling point for your sales pitch. Your client doesn’t need to physically go to each location to ask a question or check on progress. Instead, they simply log in to the portal, and they have a bird’s-eye view of what’s going on, whether they manage two locations or ten or more.
3. Special requests. Many of your clients will have a special request now and then. For example, they may ask for a particular room to get some extra attention. They may want to add an extra day to the schedule for a special event.
4. Track requests. This is the next step in making special requests. It’s helpful for customers to know where they are in the process. Have you seen their request? Are you looking into it? All they need to do is log in to the customer cleaning portal, and the information is right there.
5. It saves time. All of the above benefits have one thing in common: They will save you and your client time and effort in trying to accomplish various tasks. That alone is an excellent selling point. After all, who doesn’t want to save time?
Turning benefits into janitorial sales
These customer cleaning portal benefits are nice, for sure. Now let’s look at how they can translate into janitorial sales.
You can submit a fabulous bid. You may have a long list of fantastic references. But there’s always someone out there who has a lower bid or equally good references. One of the ways you can stand out is to show a potential customer how hiring you can give them a clean facility and simplify the process.
Look at the benefits above. A customer cleaning portal streamlines communication and makes it easy for your customer to connect with your on-site team – even if there are different people on that team. They don’t need to go through you, then wait while you make calls. And if your portal has translation capabilities like Janitorial Manager does, neither you nor your team nor your customer needs to worry about language barriers.
These are all huge selling points for your janitorial sales department. That’s especially true if your team works after hours. A lot of clients understandably have concerns about hiring a commercial cleaning company they don’t know to come into their building at night. Whether it’s warranted or not, they worry that the work won’t get done or that your team will cut corners.
A customer cleaning portal eliminates these concerns, since your clients can follow your progress. That alone could help you win contracts!
Enjoy a free consultation call with Janitorial Manager to see how we can help with janitorial proposals and so much more!