Every Cleaning Company Owner Should Read These 7 Books

When you want to invest in your cleaning company, do you ever think about the books sitting on your desk or bedside table? As a cleaning company owner, making a marked investment in your own continuing knowledge makes a huge difference in the growth of your company!

Knowledge Really IS Power

Try intentionally reading one book a month that will expand your vision for your cleaning company. You may be inspired to make necessary changes and set yourself up for even greater success.

Here are just a few suggested books you should read to become the best cleaning company owner:

1. The DO’s and DON’Ts of Contract Cleaning – From One Who DID and DIDN’T

No matter at what level of maturity your cleaning company is, author Dick Ollek has a book that can reshape the way you start or improve your business. In this 176-page easy-read book, he covers everything from naming your new business to how to sell your business when you’re done with it and everything else in between! Ollek shares his own personal experiences to give you a window into the pitfalls and possibilities that come with owning a cleaning company. Additionally, he always offers practical, how-to advice on some of the most intimidating acts of building a business, including how to approach bankers, attorneys, accountants, insurance agents, and suppliers. This is a must-read for every cleaning company owner!

2. Finding, Training, and Keeping GREAT Service Employees 101

Another book by Dick Ollek, that contains timeless wisdom for cleaning company owners. The book is as applicable now as it was the day he wrote it. With his trademark sense of humor and practical tips, Ollek provides creative ways to find the right employees for your cleaning company. Next, he teaches you how to implement the necessary policies that will make them want to stay long-term. Learn how to hire valuable asset employees (rather than just a “warm body”). Establish tried and true methods to streamline the process of recruiting, running the application process, interviewing, orientation, and training! You’ll even receive a complete sample Hiring Process Manual, a sample Employee Policy and Procedure Handbook, and sample job descriptions for a Building Service Contractor.

3. Employee Retention Rules!

It’s easy to make the mistake of focusing solely on books written for cleaning company owners. Resist the urge to pigeonhole your learning to that single industry! This book by Harold Lloyd was written more specifically for business owners in the retail space. However, the 52 solid ideas he shares in this 134-page book for recruiting and retaining your best employees apply just as easily to the janitorial industry! According to Lloyd, it costs the average company $3,500 every time an entry-level employee leaves – not to mention those employees you’ve worked so hard to find, train and launch in your business at leadership levels! Especially as a cleaning company owner, you can’t afford to miss this one.

4. Taming Turnover

Paula MacLean gives even more ideas for retaining your cleaning company’s most valuable asset. MacLean reinforces the need to structure your business in such a way that it offers a healthy, thriving environment that screams “Career!” and not just “Next job…” to your employees. (Read a sample chapter here!)

Some of the specific points that she discusses in detail include:

• Providing clarity of roles and job expectations
• Measuring your turnover rate via benchmarking
• Defining avoidable/unavoidable turnover and setting realistic targets for retention
• Creative recruitment, training, and development strategies
• Identifying counterproductive mistakes that managers and supervisors make
• Specific strategies that guarantee improved retention
• And much more!

5. The Business Remodel: Transform Your Business to Love It (Again!) or List It

Almost 50% of new businesses fail in the first five years and 75% close within just 15 years. Motivated by his desire to avoid becoming a tragic statistic, Huntsville-based author, trainer, and Area Developer for Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services, Troy Hopkins decided to completely remodel his business operations from top to bottom. His goal: to make his cleaning company so successful that it would essentially run itself.

“Whether your end-goal is to fall in love with your company all over again, or to prepare it for a new owner, Hopkins’s helpful examples and advice will help you move towards implementing processes, realigning employees, and running your business every day, as though it is for sale.”

6. Making Cents of A Dirty Business: How to Survive and Succeed in Commercial Cleaning

With his back-to-back business books, Certified Building Service Executive Troy Hopkins transparently shares from his deep reservoir of expertise in investing in the profitability of your cleaning company. In addition to an overview of the industry and the results of his nationwide survey of commercial cleaning owners (just like yourself), he dives into solving the top seven challenges faced by the janitorial industry today:

• The Industry
• Increasing Employee Retention
• Cultivating Consistent Sales Growth
• Developing A Leadership Team
• Improving Cash Flow
• Increasing Customer Retention
• Avoiding Looking Like A Small Fish In A Big Ocean
• Seeing From the Customer’s Perspective

It’s 228 pages jam-packed full of step-by-step solutions that will make sense (and cents!) for your cleaning company.

Invest in Your Cleaning Company (and in Yourself!)

As you take the time to kick back, relax, and delve into brain-stimulating, inspiration-providing tomes that deepen your understanding and abilities in this industry, remember the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

One bonus book to add to your reading list is The Stress Less Business Owner. This business parable, written by Todd Hopkins (brother to Troy Hopkins, mentioned twice above!), reminds cleaning company owners of the importance of establishing healthy boundaries and systems to reduce the level of stress that naturally comes with running a business. After being admitted to the emergency room due to stress-related symptoms, Hopkins knew something had to change. “Stress is a killer. People are dying every day due to stress-related illnesses. We are not created, and our bodies were not designed, to carry the stress burdens common to today’s typical man or woman… While a stress-free life is not realistic, there are definitely things we can do or disciplines we can embrace to stress less.”

In his book he shares the ten disciplines he discovered that reduced his stress and brought joy back into his life and business, saying, “I have found that the stress less life is more enjoyable than the stressful life.”

Another way to reduce your stress level as a cleaning company owner is to automate as many processes as possible in your business. Discover how with the highly recommended professional commercial cleaning software, Janitorial Manager. Call now for a FREE live demo!