You may think to yourself we can just clean the office ourselves or hire a cleaner directly however having a contract cleaning company will always give you peace of mind and you can focus totally on your business.

First impressions count with your clients so you will know the office is always clean and tidy.

Cost effective – the supplies they provide will be a lot less than buying in a shop as they can buy wholesale and in greater bulk.

Also their experience means they can ensure the cleaner is working at peak efficiency.  This can mean work that is twice as good, done in half the time.  For example:

• Scheduling each cleaning task so they are only done when needed, so things are not done twice as often as needed. Cleaners left to their own devices often clean what they want, which may not be what brings the client value.
• Things are not missed out, such as not removing cobwebs from high up areas. Often a cleaner may spend loads of time hoovering but miss important stuff like this out.

A Healthy office – clean and tidy offices lead to happier and healthier staff so less sick days and a more efficient office.

Think of this as if it was your own house, if you had friends or family coming to visit you would make sure everything was clean and tidy and you would want to make a good impression.  You may only have visitors once or twice a month but you are regularly making sure you home is kept up to scratch.

The same can be said about the office but instead of friends and family who will forgive a little mess and dust you have a new potential client who may not be so forgiving, they may look around and think if this is how they run the office then this is how they run their business and look elsewhere.

We find that all businesses are competing and the best wins!

A clean and tidy office will always make a good impression and lead to far more business coming your way.

Paul Turner

Many people spend their lunch breaks eating at their desk.

Here are a list of reasons why this isn’t very good for you.

Having a proper break

People like to carry on ploughing through their work and eating lunch will not get in their way.  However taking a break helps refresh your mind and can improve your focus and will make less mistakes.

Also adding physical activity into the mix further improves results, taking a walk will improve relaxation and clear your mind for your afternoon work.

Eating with your colleagues in say a kitchen or outside the office can lead to a more productive workplace, people who spend time together away from their desks and talking about other things are twice as likely to be more cooperative as those who don’t.

Socially

Eating smelly food will also lead to rubbing your co-workers the wrong way.

A list of the smelliest that will cause annoyance are as follows:

Cheese

Fish such as sardines,

Egg sandwiches

You may also work with people who are vegetarians or due to religious reasons do not eat certain foods and do not want to sit at their desk smelling food they dislike.

Green spaces near your office are an excellent please to eat your lunch on a warm summer days and will help lower any stress levels you may have.

Hygeine

The main one to remember is nobody likes working at a dirty desk, and crumbs and leftover food are the worst offenders.

Making sure you eat away from your desk not only keeps your work space more hygienic, it will stop germs from your keyboard to your food while typing and eating.

Paul Turner

It is often possible to create the cleaning you need, in half the time.

You may work for a very large company with many floors and over a huge square footage.

You realise that you will require a cleaner for more than once a week but do not have the budget to clean everywhere and the time it will require.

Here are some handy hints:

Certain areas will need to be cleaned every time such as the kitchen, toilets and communal areas.

The area where most of the staff work will need to be cleaned as well and also if you have offices where the MD or directors are based.

You may have rooms which are seldom used such as a board room, server room, storeroom or post room, these can be cleaned once or twice a week.

It also depends if you have visitors who regularly visit your offices and you want to make sure you present a good image.  Areas that clients do not see much can often be cleaned less.

If you have an office where no one except people who work for the company visit then you can have the place cleaned less than normal, do remember to keep the kitchen and toilets clean as per health and safety.

A clean and pleasant office will always add to the general ambiance and will help make all staff more efficient in their work.

The factors for how often things need to be cleaned tend to be

• Presentation for clients
• Hygeine
• How important they are to the business
• How often they are used

Paul Turner

Knowing the size of the job is one of the most important aspects that you need consider before you quote a cleaning job.

First need to find out the square footage of each level, this can be done with a laser measuring device of for larger jobs often detailed floor plans are available.

For larger jobs, keeping cleaning equipment on each level and if cleaning storage is provided is an advantage.

While many of these questions can be answered over the phone, for larger jobs normally visiting the job site is needed. You will need checklist ready during your job estimate appointments to ensure you ask and notarise all the necessary details.

Go through every aspect of cleaning with your potential client to ensure you know exactly what the client needs and to know how much time and money it will cost you. Make notes whenever required.

Try to include everything possible cleaning process in your checklist, including sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, furniture polishing, cleaning appliances like refrigerator, collecting or emptying garbage, cleaning carpet, cleaning mirrors and windows, disinfecting bathrooms, and any other service the clients may require of you.

Also details such as where the rubbish goes, cleaning materials are stored, which areas are most important to the client and all the little quirks that make each job different.

This will ensure that you have all the information you require to accurately make a quote for a commercial cleaning job.

Useful Tips

· Quoting a cleaning job templates sheets are available online. You can easily print one from your computer.

· Cleaning for the first time for a new client always takes longer than subsequent cleanings as the job site will be unfamiliar to you and you will need to offer a thorough base cleaning. Sometimes the bathrooms and the kitchen may be really dirty and might require lot of scrubbing down. All of which increases the work load and the time taken to finish the job.

· Including letter with your cleaning quote will make a good professional impression. A letter describing specialities, offers and other details will help create a positive image of your company.

· Just like each manufacturer has a different price for their cars. Have a basic service for clients that want lower levels of service such as if they will tell the cleaner directly what they would like them to do. Also higher rate for those that want cleaning inspections more regularly and so on.

Always remember that a low price means nothing though if you cannot keep the client satisfied with what you can do for that price.

Lucia Dzurnokova

Always try to tell them the positives as to why they should be joining our office cleaning company. You can tell them about how our office cleaners are carefully vetted, which always grows trust between us and the client. Also insurance is a big seller and mentioning it is very important if you can. Other points such as we do holiday & sickness replacements are good to mention and also the client can change the cleaner anytime they want. This will assure the client is not stuck with a cleaner they are not happy with.

With the new orders it is vital the client is contacted as soon as possible and the best way is to talk to them, however if they are busy then send them an email regards to their requirements. The reason it is best to talk is that you can build a good client/area manager relationship and also if things don’t go well down the line they will be less annoyed if you have built a honest & friendly professional relationship. This way they will stay with us longer.

Main thing to remember is the customer requirements are one of the most important things to get right when finding a suitable cleaning person to allocate for a client. So you have to make sure what date they want to start, also what is the earliest times the cleaner can start and the latest they can finish. By finding out what times the cleaner can start and finish may give you extra options to find more suitable office cleaners and the customer will appreciate a better cleaner. This day and age the gender of the cleaner that you allocate to an office cleaning job is irrelevant, however it is always best to check and make sure client does not mind having a female or male cleaner. Also check with them if the cleaner will be given keys, if so is there an alarm code too? It is also vital to ask if the client will provide the office cleaning products and equipment too or should we provide them.

You have to remember you will be the main person they contact so try to get as much information about the cleaning requirements. Once the order requirements are established then it is vital to put them on a job spec and also on the client notes. It is vital to put them also on Clients User Information so the requirements are visible all the time should a client call.

The user information is essential as all the office team can immediately look at it, should they need the information about anything to do with the cleaning should the client call at anytime and the area manager was not available

Once you have all the requirements you can then start to find the right office cleaning person for the cleaning job. This way you will get less or no complaints from the client and the office cleaner will also know what exactly the job requirements are. You then email the client letting them know who the cleaner is and also their contact details. On the email you can put all the information about the cleaner and the also letting them know that we, the office cleaning team are always on hand should they have any questions. You can also put on the email that should they recommend us to another office cleaning company we always look after the people who recommend us to other potential office cleans.

It is vital to put on the email should they have any questions at any time to call us so we can sort them out, rather than problems accumulating and then it is too late to rescue the situation.

When a task comes in such as an allocation, a to do list in Excel is essneitla. It means the allocator does not need to panic as they can slowly work their way through the list of tasks.

You will need a excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will have a row for each task. The columns have if the client is a new client or an existing one that needs a cleaner or holiday replacement or sick replacement or a one-off clean. It will also tell you where the office of the cleaning is located and what day/time/hours the clean is to be done. The spreadsheet can also be used for the client requirements, e.g. if they have pets, or ironing needed or the time of the clean. This will save you time looking into clients notes. Right tools and planning will always keep you one step ahead of your rivals as it will give you more time either get new clients or to have time when your existing client calls.

In the spreadsheet you can add all the cleaning jobs that are outstanding as you do get some changes due to one thing or another. The changes will be either a new client, or a change of cleaner required or the client wants a replacement due to her cleaner being on holiday or was not well. You can then put your jobs in date order so you do the more urgent ones first. Once the job is allocated then you can highlight the row in a different colour so you know it is done and then move on to the next job. Once the job is done, you will need to write the notes in the system so everyone knows what is going on and also put it in the cleaner’s schedule.

It is vital that all email/phone calls coming in are answered on time and also all the points are addressed that the client has asked about. Once again any emails that are sent to clients are saved as a copy in the client’s notes so everyone in the office can be aware of what is going on regards to the client and the clients cleaner. It is also important to write notes of each conversation with each client and save them too. This is so that other people in the office can be aware of what is going on, so you can remember what happened and resolve any conflicts for any allegations the client may make in future.

If you leave a message for the client then you will also need to make a note in their account and then also send them an email regards to the item you want to let the client know. This is so you have proof that they have tried to get hold of you, especially if they do not reply. A good relationship is built that way between and clients and they will more likely put a good review then not.

Gurvinder Ranshi