Do You Control Your Cleaning Company Costs?

Making money in business is easy, right? Just keep your revenue high and your cleaning company costs low. It couldn’t be more straightforward! So why do so many business owners struggle to stay afloat? Assuming you bid your contracts accurately and are providing excellent service to your clients, then controlling your cleaning company costs will make all the difference between just making it and truly thriving. Consider these tips to help control your cleaning company costs:

1. Be Aware of Your Cleaning Company Cost

That may seem obvious, but you don’t know what you don’t know. But you really, really need to know if you are going to be successful. While I understand how difficult it can be to carve out time to sit behind a desk and figure it out, it blows me away how many people I speak to have no grasp on the details of their own company. There can be no long-term success for companies managed (or rather not managed) like this. Getting a balance sheet and income statement from your accountant two weeks after the month is over just won’t cut it anymore (not that it ever really did). You need real-time data at your fingertips so that you can make informed decisions and respond quickly to negative trends.

2. Get Good Cleaning Company Cost Data

Many business owners are painfully aware that they need to pay attention to numbers but don’t have the time to track down the necessary data with which to make business decisions. To be successful, there can be no excuses. You must capture, track and manage your cleaning company cost! So how do you do this?

Capture Data

You need the most efficient, accurate and effective means of recording key operational data. Specifically, you need a tool that allows you and your employees to record hours worked, travel time, supply usage, inspection audits, client feedback and a hundred other data points. Finally, you can’t make well-informed decisions without data, and you can’t make good decisions with bad data. That’s why you need the best tool available to capture your data.

Analyze Data

If you have ever dumped huge amounts of data into a spreadsheet and then tried to make something valuable out of it, you know how time-consuming it can be. It works, but it’s not an efficient use of your time, especially when there are so many ready-to-use tools that can provide you with the answers you need in a fraction of the time.

Act On The Data

Capturing and analyzing the data is one critical part, but then what? Clear and understandable reports that allow you to identify and act on trends is essential. If you can see quality slipping, you can act before a client complains or cancels your contract. If you can see labor cost rising, you can investigate and correct before it kills your margin. You get the picture. Remove the guesswork and replace it with informed decision making about your cleaning company costs.

3. Set Achievable Cleaning Company Cost Goals

Once you have control of the data and adequate means of measuring and tracking, set some goals. Where do you want to be by the end of the year? In three years? How about in ten years? What are your mission-critical benchmarks? What policies and procedures are you going to put in place to ensure that these goals are reached and sustained?

Effective training

Keeping good employees is hard enough. Keeping them engaged and performing at the highest level sometimes seems impossible. Why not remove every barrier to their success? Ensuring that your employees are thoroughly trained, fully equipped with the best tools and empowered to do their job will increase retention, productivity and quality.

Efficient Processes

Increased efficiency can decrease labor costs.  Well defined, efficient processes keep your employees on track and ensure the desired outcome while reducing costs. Automated processes are even better. Every step you can remove from your processes without decreasing quality will ultimately improve your bottom line. How much time do your employees waste mixing chemicals? An auto-dilution system can decrease the number of required steps, increasing consistency and quality. Commercial cleaning companies that have implemented automated software and automated cleaning systems have a clear competitive advantage over those who have not.

Efficient Tools

Reducing and controlling costs in your cleaning service includes increasing productivity and saving money where possible. Think about it. Your employees can use a traditional mop to clean a floor, but is that the most effective and efficient method? Maybe. Sure the upfront cost for a mop and bucket are much lower, but your labor costs can be much higher over time and traditional mops tend to spread more dirt than they pick up. One study showed that one employee mopping 5000 square feet in two hours could be reduced to 15-30 minutes with an automatic scrubber.

Take Control Of Your Cleaning Company Cost

Rise above the din. Set your company apart from the competition by taking the time to properly manage your cleaning company costs. The result will be satisfied customers, happier employees and a more profitable company.