Concrete Cleaning, Maintenance and Restoration
Buck fifty to as much as $5.00 or more per square foot to clean, polish, stain, densify and recoat those concrete floors you walk over every day. Price varies from area to area, the size of the job and the specific services you are providing. There is no reason to let someone else make that kind of money when it could be yours for the asking. Being able to service this growing market will open doors to both residential and commercial accounts. The good news is that you probably have most of the equipment needed to get started. What you will need is training, a little practice, a few supplies and a willingness to see concrete as an opportunity for profit.
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Filed under: Floor Care by William Griffin
Originally Published: Clean Fax April 2013

In our life time it seems as if the demands on management, production workers and vendors to get more done in less time and with money has never been greater. These are the realities of a changing world and a maturing industry, economy and nation. This trend has been evolving over the last 30 years and I don’t expect it will stop or reverse itself in the future. In fact, I would expect the process to continue to accelerate as we find ways to deal with increasing demands and expectations.

Our greatest challenge won’t be in getting the work done, but in preparing ourselves to cope with the speed of change. The only real opportunity for success in this effort is to hire, train and retain the best workers available.
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Filed under: Training by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM April 2013

Hello from China. I’ve heard about the China Clean Expo for several years and always thought it would be a good learning experience. Being one who is willing to go to the ends of the earth to learn more about cleaning, I put it on my schedule and bought a ticket to Shanghai.

It took about 14 hours to get here from Seattle via Tokyo Japan on a sometimes bumpy, but otherwise uneventful flight. I know that airplane food has gone downhill over the years, but the mystery meat Delta served for dinner didn’t look or taste like any chicken I’d ever eaten before. Luckily I wasn’t very hungry.

Shanghai China is a big city, with 23 million residents. The air, water and streets are dirty, but the taxis are plentiful and cheap. People here seem to like Americans, several told me that they envy the freedoms we have and the guns we own. People in China don’t get to vote and the police, who are everywhere, don’t carry a gun.
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Filed under: Uncategorized by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM April 2013

Upselling your services is an important part of building a profitable business. Every customer costs to money to acquire, so it is important to get as much return on your investment as possible. That’s what upselling is all about. At the same time, there are limits, research shows that when the bill goes over $500.00 in carpet cleaning charges in a residential setting you’re chances of having a negative response from the customer is much greater than if your billing rate is in the $250.00 – $350.00 range. (Service Monster Data) Other key elements to profitability and success are repeat business and referrals. New customers typically cost you 66% more to acquire than getting an existing customer to buy again. You could win the battle of upselling, but if you over do it, you lose the war of retaining a long term customer who will tell their friends about the great job of cleaning you did.
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Filed under: Uncategorized by William Griffin
Originally Published: Clean Fax March 2013

There is opportunity and potential profit in the cleaning of health and medical related facilities. This includes such locations as Dr., dentist and other professional medical offices and buildings. Other locations that require similar levels of service include labs, pharmacies, research and dialysis centers and medical and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Larger facilities include nursing homes, assisted living, medical centers and hospices. Closely related locations include daycare and child development centers and health clubs.

These facilities are more difficult to clean than basic office buildings, because of issues related to medical treatment, contamination and infection control. Other concerns include hazardous chemicals, sharps (needles and glass), and the collection and disposal of bio-medical waste. These issues should not be taken lightly due to the possibly of illness, death, and liability.
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Filed under: Bidding and Estimating, Healthcare by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM February 2013

Green cleaning has evolved over the years to be much more than just using environmentally friendly chemicals during the cleaning process. In the past, if you purchased green chemicals, you had pretty much done everything you could to “green” a cleaning program. Today, the expectation in many companies and industries is that you will do green cleaning and if not, why not? By today’s standards, if all you are doing is purchasing green chemicals, you don’t have much of a green cleaning program.

Green cleaning or what is more accurately described as sustainable cleaning has evolved to a new level that encompasses all aspects of the cleaning process. It starts with chemicals, but goes far beyond that to include such things as prevention, schedules, frequencies, procedures and equipment, along with product and process effectiveness, ease of use, life cycle cost analysis, building design, carbon footprint, training, testing and return on investment. (more…)

Filed under: Green Cleaning, Healthcare by William Griffin
Originally Published: CBM September 2012

During my 30+ years in the cleaning industry nothing generates more interest than the subject of bidding and estimating the cost of cleaning services. One might think that this only applies to Building Service Contractors who are new to the business and don’t have much experience in calculating costs and submitting bids, but that is not the case. Almost everyone in the cleaning industry is interested in the subject; this includes manufacturers, salespeople, building owners and departmental managers.

I recall teaching a seminar on Bidding and Estimating some 20 years ago and one attendee had over 30 year experience. Being impressed that he’d come to my class, I asked him why he, with all his years of experience would attend the seminar and his response was “I can’t take a chance that one of my competitor’s will know more about bidding and estimating than I do.” That hit home with me as to how important bidding and estimating is to everyone in the industry. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM December 2011

I like to use writing surfaces in my presentations and classroom activities. I find them to be a great way to actively involve students in the learning process. I also like the fact that after the class I can take the written sheets and type them up and in some cases to turn them into PowerPoint slides which saves me from have to write some things on the flip chart in the next class.

If you haven’t seen or used Static Cling Sheets in place of paper, give them a try, they are come in several sizes, are inexpensive, easy to travel with and far more flexible in use than paper. Markers work great on them and they cling to any smooth flat surface without tape, adhesive or pins. http://www.grafixplastics.com/cling.asp

I think the biggest benefit of using writing surfaces comes when I get students out of their chairs and in front the writing surface in group exercises. This keeps everyone on their toes and involved vs. sitting listening to me talk. (more…)

Filed under: Training by William Griffin
Originally Published: CBM December 2011

When Jeff mentioned he’s like publish a regular column on the subject of hard floor care I was eager to be involved. To keep things interesting, from time to time I may use a guest columnists and I may occasionally interview other experts who can shed light on the art and science of hard floor care in homes and commercial properties.

To lay the ground work for future columns, in this article I will deal with industry trends and income opportunities that relate to hard floor care. I’d like to think of this as your column, it would be helpful if you communicate with me so I know what information would be most useful to you. Feel free to get in touch via my cell phone or email. My contact info will appear at the end of each column. (more…)

Filed under: Floor Care by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM December 2011

The ISSA staff did a great job with the recent ISSA/INTERCLEAN Show in Las Vegas. It seems that every year they do better job. I’m already looking forward to attending next year’s Show at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

If you missed the recent ISSA/INTERCLEAN Show, you missed out on a golden opportunity to grow. 2011 was the best ISSA/INTERCLEAN Show I’ve ever attended. There was so much to do that you couldn’t do it all, even if you tried. The exhibits were excellent, aisle after aisle of the latest chemicals, equipment and products to make your work easier and your cleaning more effective. So much new stuff that I wish I could have spent another two days finding new things and learning from the people willing to share experience and information. The seminars and presentations were all top notch. Tom Peter’s wooed the crowd as he paced from one side of the stage to the other. What energy that guy has, and only he can get away yelling at the top of voice and calling it a presentation. The Poker Lady, she was great, with lots of management concepts, although I’m not about to step up to a poker table anytime soon. Time flew by fast and before I knew it, I was headed to the airport with bags in hand for the flight back to Seattle.
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Filed under: Trade Show by William Griffin
Originally Published: Inclean Australia December 2011