Opening a Small Business - A Janitorial CompanyIf your considering opening a small business you may want to seriously think about making it a janitorial company - where cleaning is the name of the game. Of all the small businesses that I have had the wonderful opportunity to be in - my janitorial business was my favorite. It may not be the most glamorous business on earth - but it can be profitable. The other real positive about this business is that it is perfect for the small individual business. On the positive side of opening a small business - janitorial services are being contracted out more and more due to company downsizing and employee turnover. This becomes the best option for these companies to maintain their facilities - which spells opportunity for the small business entrepreneur. Related Topics Start up costs for opening a small business can be small depending on where you want to get started. If you want to begin in just cleaning private homes - it is very small - and your only expenses will be a good vacuum cleaner - chemicals - and some other cleaning supplies. Any other equipment can be rented on an as needed basis. Might be looking at between $1,000 and $2,000 plus marketing and insurance costs. However - should you want to get a contract cleaning an entire 100,000 square foot plus office complex it can be of course more - since you will need more equipment like - floor machines - carpet extractors - possibly an auto scrubber - wet vacuums - dust mops - flat micro fiber mops - rags - chemicals - and more. These costs could easily take you to between $15,000 and $30,000 - again not counting insurance and marketing costs. We will talk about sales and marketing as it relates to opening your small business later - and it is critical to your businesses success. In addition - you better have a business plan. These are your road maps to success. Without either - good luck - and my recommendation would be to stop reading now - because your wasting your time. Keep in mind that I have been in upper management for a great many years - and operating my small businesses were an additional career for me - and I would not give up any of them. Whether your managing 700 people or just yourself - you have to go about it logically. I will never get tired of opening a small business - turning a profit - and deciding to keep or sell it. First and foremost - please read my short article on balancing the needs of the customer - employee and owner. Opening a Small Business - What do I need to get started… The first thing you need is a willingness to work and not afraid to clean. That of course should be a given. I touched a little on this above - in that I strongly suggest before opening a small business that you have a business plan - and a sales and marketing plan - first before you do anything else. After you have both your business plan and sales and marketing plan in hand - work through them. The janitorial business by some reports is a $90 plus billion dollar industry - so finding the market should not be that difficult unless you make it. After you have decided what industry you are going to target such as… …Private homes …Small or individual Office located in strip centers or office buildings …Entire office buildings …Supermarket floors …Medical offices or clinics …on and on and on - your market is endless Sales and Marketing is the key to successfully opening a small business. When you target a location - they are counting on you to be the expert. And no matter what they say - cost is always and issue. You can count on the fact that they have had several bids on their facility - and they are all over the board when it comes to pricing. Some janitorial business owners always come in low to get the business - they hold on to for about six months - and off to the next contract. The building owner gets tired of calling and complaining about the service being provided - and finally throws them out. In some cases - they plead their case to the building manager that their expectations are different and it will cost more to provide that service to them. Once in a while they get lucky. Most times they are thrown out. Opening a Small Business - Be agressive... I would recommend that you telephone first the type of business you are targeting and start your conversation something like - Hello my name is Greg, and I am with Greg's cleaning company - and I am calling today to make sure you are happy with your current cleaning service. If they say they are very satisfied with their service - ask them who they are so that you can identify who your competition is. If they say well or hesitate - follow up with I would be happy to come by and offer you a no obligation bid on the services that we can provided to you. When you come by - look professional - don’t wear jeans and T-shirt. Have a shirt and tie and have with you a clip board with all the services you provide on it in the form of a checklist. Also carry with you a business card - and a brochure of the services you offer. Do not over bid the job or under bid it. Easier said than done. Point is while you are taking your tour with the building manager - you should be selling your service to them. The most important thing that any building manager wants is they don’t want the employees in the building calling them with complaints. A response to this is that you do inspections often - and with their permission - you would like to be able to make regular tours/inspections and will be checking in with the employees often on problem areas. You just removed a headache from them. The other issue that they do not want to deal with is a janitorial business where the cleaners do not show up to clean at all. One response you can give to them is what system you have in place to make sure your employees or you will be showing up. So my suggestion is to have a system. So to sum up - during your tour - make sure you are giving out information that they may or may not be asking about - but trust me - they want these questions answered. Remember - you wouldn’t be giving them a bid unless they were having a problem with their current service - and their problem isn’t price related. Opening a Small Business - When submitting a bid... When you submit the bid - it is always best to do it in person - and preferably you are able to go over it with them. Do not over promise - and do not mislead. It will bite you every time. Your pricing is what it is because you’re the best - and if you are just starting out - you will be personally on the job doing the work and that is your selling point. Make sure you point out any unusual situations and expenses - such as - cleaning will or will not be performed on holidays - inclement weather - riots - etc. Also to include who pays for what as it relates to paper towels - toilet paper - trash liners - etc. Where can you store your equipment. If they delay payment on an invoice - how late they can be before you start charging them interest. Think of every possibility and include it - you will be happy you did. Opening a Small Business - Doing the work… Consistency and quality are the two most critical areas after you have the contract. Do what you promise and don’t stray from it. Your reputation will depend on it Remember what I said your customer wants - they are contracting this service out because they don’t want to deal with anything except paying your invoice. So what ever you can do to remove their involvement they will be happy. Opening a Small Business - Don't get lazy after a couple of months... The most important thing you can do is to clean what you say you are going to clean and do it well. Make them the hero for hiring your company. Don’t get lazy after a couple of months either. If you are making inspections once week - don’t change - they will notice and your employee will also - resulting in people getting lazy. If you see things that are outside of the scope of your contract that you feel may need attention - point this out to your client - and offer a solution. For instance - if stripping and waxing floors is not part of the contact - and you see that there is a need for it - offer the service. If you are not capable of doing the service - still offer the service and you may want to subcontract it to another business - but make sure you manage the process because you are responsible - at the same time you are creating an additional source of income. Again - remove the problem from your client - can I say that again - remove the problem from your client. You will be their hero - because they are a hero to everyone else in the building. Opening a Small Business - Get the right equipment and products for the job… I know that you may be opening a small business on a shoe string budget - and I can appreciate it - but when you can - I would recommend that you always purchase equipment that is going to stand up to the abuse. You may even want to rent or lease equipment at first until you get a feel for what you like best. If your doing a lot of hallways - think about an auto scrubber. An auto scrubber is a labor saving device where it scrubs the floor and vacuums up the cleaning solution all in one simple pass. They come in all sizes and price ranges. Another machine that will impress your client is a burnisher - which is run over the floor after the auto scrubber - and its purpose is to harden the wax - which leaves a shine - which makes it easier to keep the floor clean. When thinking about a vacuum - I would recommend staying away from a regular house hold vacuum. You will be vacuuming up staples - paper clips - and who knows what else - and a good commercial vacuum will take the abuse better for the money. I personally like the back pack vacuums a lot better - but you will have to see what type of area you are going to be working in. The reason I like the back pack vacuums - is because you can get under things and then reach up and get ceiling vents at the same time. Another decision you will have to make is on your chemicals - which over time can be expensive or a way to save. Ready to use chemicals are convenient - but chemical dispensing machines can save you money so that you can purchase chemicals in concentrates. The size of your contract will help determine if this is worth it or not. This is another item that your client will have to be involved in - since a lot of chemical dispensing units require they be hooked up to the deep sink. Generally they will have no problem - because if you leave it can be removed easily. Bottom line on this is from time of order to time of delivery is key - so that you do not have to tie up funds with large amounts of inventory - and chemicals do have a shelf life - so make sure you speak to your vendor about that. Opening a Small Business - This will save your back in the long run - along with saving on chemical costs. The micro fiber flat mops are the way to go - and the statistics prove this over and over again. If you have not seen anything like this - it is great. You put the chemical right into the handle of the flat mop - which eliminates the old mop and bucket. There is sometimes still a need for the old fashion mop and bucket - but few and far between. This will save your back in the long run - along with saving on chemical costs. There are a lot of other types of small and large items that you will need - and I would suggest you find a good vendor to review these with you. Finally paper products - and waste liners. Take samples with you in the event your client wants to see what you will be supplying. I have seen both types of contracts where you bill for the paper products and waste liners separately - or include them in your contract. There are advantages to both. If you bill separately - you can account for any increases - and there will be increases - and pass them along to your client - and they will be able to see quickly why you invoiced for more. The advantage for not including them directly - but including it as part of the entire contract - is that you eliminate the headache from your client - but make sure you account for increases. Opening a Small Business - Finances and employees… If you are hiring employees - I can not stress enough to have an employee handbook - and I would encourage you to read through my other articles on this website. Employees can and will be the life blood of your janitorial business - but they can turn it really quickly into a loser as well. If you are not going to be on the job with them - you better have someone that you can trust. In addition - you should have checks and balances - because if you do not - they will see this quickly - and if they are going to take short cuts - they will. One simple way to make sure that you have the look of a more professional employee is a simple shirt with a logo on it - or a hat. They should always carry one of your business cards also - in the event they are questioned by someone at the facility you are cleaning. Regarding your finances - I strongly suggest a good computer program that tracks your inventory and accounts separately - which will allow you to know quickly if you have a problem like theft of paper products - or misuse of chemicals - all of which will cost you money. Look for spikes - but you must know what they should be - don’t rely on your employees to know. Remember as you move forward with opening a small business of your own - you must think like an entrepreneur. There are more topics that we could cover on opening a small business specific to a janitorial service - and I will be coming out with a special e-book soon on bidding for cleaning services - so if this is an area that is of interest to you - check back often to see. Thank you for reviewing this information on opening a small business and may God Bless you!
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