Featured Authors This Month . Gianni Truvianni Leon Edward Josh Brennon James Nash Nicky Taylor
Steve Hanson's Articles in Business Show All|Display Category|Title|Newest|Oldest How to Raise the Prices You Charge to Your Cleaning Customers Are you finding that the prices you charge your cleaning customers are not high enough to cover your costs and make a profit? It's never an easy decision, but it might be time to raise the price of your cleaning services. So how do you raise your prices and not lose customers? Grow Your Cleaning Business By Creating a Referral Machine One of the fastest ways to grow your cleaning business is to get referrals from your current customers. There may be times when a customer will pass your company's name along without any prompting from you. However, to really get your clients to work for you, it's important to encourage referrals. What Your Cleaning Company Needs to Know About MSDS There is no way a cleaning company can effectively do its job without using chemicals. Your company may use just a few basic products or a multitude of cleaners for various situations. No matter how many or how few chemicals you use, it's important that you have the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for each different product that your company uses. Preparing Your Cleaning Business for a Disaster You spend years building up a successful cleaning business. And, unfortunately, in just a matter of minutes it can be wiped out by a disaster - fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and chemical spills are just a few of the things that can wipe out your business in a matter of minutes. How you prepare ahead of time can determine if your business succeeds or fails after a disaster happens. How to Avoid Wintertime Slips and Falls In many parts of the country, winter brings with it wet and icy conditions. This is dangerous not only for driving, but also for walking! Thousands of injuries occur from people slipping and falling because of ice and snow. Reducing injuries is possible when your employees take a little extra time and taking a few precautions to avoid slips and falls. Making the Most of Your Time When Cleaning Homes There is really no wrong way for you to clean a home. But as with any business, time in your cleaning business is valuable. The more cleaning jobs you can fit into a day, the more potential profit you earn. If you can complete the basics faster, then you have more time to offer specialized services or to move on to cleaning the next home. Why You Need a Business Plan for Your Cleaning Company A business plan is an important document that cleaning companies of all sizes should take the time to prepare before signing on that first account. By sitting down to write a business plan you take the time to look at your new business in an objective and critical manner. Once completed, a business plan will give you a path to follow. How Much Should I Charge For My Commercial Cleaning Services? You've bought all your cleaning supplies and equipment, told everyone you know that you have started a cleaning business and now you are ready to start bidding on jobs and getting down to work. After meeting with potential clients you might be thinking that your next step is just getting down to work. But before you actually start work you need to know how much to charge for your cleaning services. Do You Have What it Takes to Start Your Own Cleaning Business? Are you thinking about starting your own cleaning business? Running your own business offers many rewards and gives you the freedom of being your own boss. You can also achieve great personal satisfaction from starting with a just few cleaning clients and building a successful and thriving business. However, not everyone is cut out for the time and money commitment that it takes to run a cleaning business. What Cleaning Companies Need to Know About Mold When someone mentions mold it brings to mind visions of green bread or cheese that has been left in the refrigerator too long - things you just throw into the trash without much thought. Molds are an essential part of our environment; however, inside buildings mold can be unsightly, smell and cause health problems to the buildings occupants. How to Squeeze More Profit and Cash Flow Out of Your Cleaning Business When an entrepreneur takes the plunge and starts his or her own cleaning company, the first concern is how to get clients. Once up and running, the day-to-day tasks take over and the goal of owning a business - making a profit - is sometimes lost. But your cleaning business cannot survive and grow unless there is more money coming in than going out. What to Include in Your Cleaning Bid Packet Putting together a bid packet to present to a prospective client shows that you are a professional in the cleaning business. Many small businesses seeking cleaning services do not know what to expect when receiving a bid, or their experience has been receiving a single page bid, which is not very impressive. When you present a nicely packaged proposal, you've just increased your chances of winning the bid, regardless of price. Why You Need to Brand Your Cleaning Company As you get your cleaning company up and running, it's important to develop a brand image. Your brand shows your personality and values to your clients, vendors, distributors, potential clients, and professional organizations you belong to. A brand image is not just for the big corporations; a strong brand image potrays your company as credible and develops customer loyalty. Networking for Cleaning Companies: How to Plan Ahead Networking is a great way to market your cleaning business, and in order to do it effectively, you need to plan ahead so you know what you want to accomplish at each event. You also need to grow and nurture your network to keep it fresh! Networking Tips for Cleaning Companies Many people cringe at the thought of having to "network" to gain business for their cleaning company. But networking is one of the best ways to meet people and build relationships, and as you know, building relationships is the cornerstone of building a successful cleaning business. This article offers tips for effective networking for your cleaning business. Dusting For Health One of the biggest complaints building owners have with their cleaning services is poor dusting. Inadequate dusting can be one of the factors leading to poor indoor air quality. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists poor indoor air quality as the fourth largest environmental threat to our country. This article offers tips for dusting for heath. How to Create a Procedures Manual For Your Cleaning Company You may have started your cleaning company part time and never felt you needed to have written documentation on how to do your job. With many different tasks pulling you in a thousand directions, writing down procedures has most likely never been a priority. But what happens if you get sick, injured or even if you just want to take some much needed time off from your cleaning business? Where Should You Buy Your Cleaning Supplies? From cleaning chemicals to microfiber cloths to mop buckets, you need supplies and equipment to clean your buildings. But is there a "one-stop shop" that will best suit the needs of your cleaning company? Do You Have a Generation Gap at Your Cleaning Company? In today's workforce there is a new phenomenon happening - there are four distinct generations that are out there working together. What does this mean for your cleaning company? Each generation is unique, which means they bring different attitudes and opinions to their job. This affects you in everything from recruiting to solving conflicts to motivating your cleaning company employees. Are Your Cleaning Company Workers Employees or Subcontractors? Many small cleaning companies use sub-contractors to help them get the work done. But if you improperly classify a worker as an independent contractor when the IRS views them as an employee you could be liable for back taxes, penalties and interest! This article goes over some of the things you should watch for before subcontracting any of your cleaning jobs. Are Your Cleaning Customers Motivated by Quality or Price? You don't have to be running your own cleaning business for very long to find out that customers are different when it comes to what they expect out of a cleaning service. There are those customers who want the best, no matter what the cost. And then there are those who are more concerned with price. Understanding Cleaning Production Rates Are you bidding on a new cleaning account? When bidding a cleaning account, labor is always the biggest expense. In order to determine your labor expense for a cleaning account you'll need to figure out how many hours it will take to get the job done. This article will help you to understand different circumstances that could affect a "normal" cleaning production rate. Does Your Cleaning Business Have a Mission Statement? Why does your cleaning business need a mission statement? A mission statement is an important tool that will capture the spirit of your business and clarifies the goals and objectives of your cleaning company. In just a sentence or two, a mission statement will let your customers know why they should hire your cleaning business to take care of their buildings. Secrets to Running a Successful Family Cleaning Business Do you own a cleaning business with your family or employ family members? A family cleaning business can be very successful if you remember to keep your "work at work" and your "family matters" at home. This article gives tips for owning and running a successul family cleaning business. Thinking Beyond Cleaning Office Buildings If your business is like many other traditional cleaning companies, you started by cleaning an office, apartment building, retail store or other commercial building. Adding additional clients may have included more office buildings, medical clinics and perhaps even expanding into manufacturing facilities. But have you stopped to think about expanding into residential cleaning? Why Taking Care of Cleaning Equipment Adds to the Bottom Line Taking good care of your cleaning equipment not only extends the life of your machines, but it saves you money too. Cleaning equipment such as vacuums, buffing machines, and automatic scrubbers can last years longer with the proper care. This article shows how you to maintain your cleaning equipment. Professional Carpet Cleaning Methods Besides general cleaning, having their carpets professionally cleaned is one of the services your cleaning customers will probably ask for most often. There are four primary cleaning methods that you should know about: absorbent compound method; bonnet cleaning method; hot water extraction method; and dry foam cleaning method. When Should You Fire a Cleaning Customer? Do you have customers whose phone calls you don't want to answer? Or are there cleaning clients on your list that are low profit, yet demanding and take up a lot of your time? Trimming these customers off your list will allow you to spend more time on building up relationships with higher profit margin accounts. Tips for Keeping Restrooms Smelling Fresh and Clean There's nothing that says your cleaning company is doing a great job more than when your building's restrooms are not only clean, but fresh-smelling. This article shows how to keep your customers' restrooms smelling fresh and clean. Do You Need an Automated Timekeeping System for your Cleaning Business? Small cleaning businesses usually have their employees track time on a paper timesheet. But as your cleaning business grows, deciphering data and adding up hours from numerous time sheets can take time away from other profit-making activities as you burn up your time doing payroll. This article shows the benefits of automating your timekeeping system. What Every Carpet Cleaner Needs to Know About Soil In order to understand how to clean carpet, we need to know what soil is and the problems it presents. This article explains soil in carpet and how to remove it. Tips to Improving Gas Mileage For Your Cleaning Business This article offers practical tips you can use to get better gas mileage for your company vehicles. How to Improve Cash Flow in Your Cleaning Business Do you have trouble getting paid on time in your cleaning business? This article shows how you can increase your cash flow by getting paid quicker. Streamlining Your Cleaning Operations Through Work Loading You have only so many hours in a day to get your buildings cleaned. Did you know there is a way you can have cleaner buildings and higher employee morale? By implementing a work loading system you can streamline your cleaning operation and save money in the process. Increase Your Profits by Switching to Daytime Cleaning Traditionally, janitorial staffs clean buildings after business hours. But some businesses are realizing a substantial cost savings by allowing cleaning staff to work during daytime hours. This article shows the benefits of daytime cleaning. Finance Your Cleaning Business by Bootstrapping New cleaning businesses tend to have few financial resources, so many rely on a technique called bootstrapping -- learning to do more with less. This article has 12 techniques that have helped cleaning businesses grow and and become successful. Tips for Training Your Cleaning Staff Proper training of your cleaning staff not only leads to cleaner buildings, but it also means fewer accidents, faster cleaning times, and a more professional cleaning staff. Use these tips to help ensure your cleaning staff learns to do their job safely and efficiently. Develop a Stone Floor Care Program for Your Cleaning Business Office buildings have many types of flooring and growing in popularity are stone floors. Stone floors give buildings a classic and upscale image. Popular choices in flooring these days are natural surfaces including marble, slate, granite, and terrazzo. Learning the tricks of stone floor care can lead to extra income and profit for your cleaning company. Why You Should Charge Extra For First Time Residential Cleaning When starting a new residential cleaning account it's a good idea to charge extra for the first time cleaning. This article explains why. Residential Cleaning Customers: Be Prepared to Answer Their Questions Are you ready to start your residential cleaning service? When you start talking to prospective customers they're going to have questions for you. The following article has 12 questions you should be prepared to answer. Use the Right Floor Maintenance Equipment For the Job One of the first add-on services most cleaning contractors want to add to their janitorial service is floor care - stripping and waxing, burnishing, and buffing. In order to perform these services, you must use the right equipment for the job.	Publish for Free Sign Up For Free Learn More Your Ad Here Authors and Writers Submit Articles Submission Guidelines Link to Us Member Login U Publish Store Publishers Article RSS Feeds Link to Us Contact Us More Link to Us Privacy Policy Terms of Service Submission Guidelines Popular Articles Article Aids We Recommend SubmitYourArticle iSnare Article Marketer Published.com Article Directories Word Count Utility Search U Publish by: Title Author Keyword

© 2005-2008 uPublish.info All Rights Reserved.
Use of our service is protected by our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
U Publish - Source for Free Articles - Free Reprint Articles - Free Article Publishing

Powered by Article Dashboard