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High customer retention rates are like the Holy Grail for janitorial companies. Client turnover is a constant challenge for the industry, and one that won’t get better on its own.
Turnover isn’t just frustrating; it’s unprofitable. Maintaining relationships with current customers yields a higher ROI than finding new ones, and it can cost anywhere from 5 to 25 times less. Plus, research by Frederick Reichheld (the founder of the net promoter score) has shown that increasing customer retention rates by 5% can increase profits by 25-95%.
Still, businesses tend to focus on getting new customers because it feels more productive—and often receives more recognition. A more efficient use of time and money, though, is looking for ways to invest in current clients. By improving their loyalty to your company, you can ensure they stick around and continue developing a stronger relationship with you.
If you want to improve customer retention, investing in janitorial business management software is a great first step. Implementation takes time and energy, but it pays off almost immediately.
How can an industry-specific business management system help you increase customer retention? Let’s take a look.
Speeding things up
The quicker you’re able to address customers’ needs, the more valued they will feel.
When you’re struggling with manual processes and disjointed systems, it’s hard to move fast. A business management system that centralizes all your data in one location, though, allows you to build estimates based on site walkthroughs, quickly and easily create contracts, review notes or issues reported from the field, and send invoices.
Empowering staff
Staff can feel unmotivated or frustrated if they don’t have access to the resources they need to do their jobs well.
With a business management system, no one has to waste time looking for lost information, trying to track down the source of a customer’s dissatisfaction, or wondering what needs to be done on a job site.
Additionally, with a site audit tool like the one offered by Aspire, you’re better able to hold teams accountable. When you can verify the completion of work and assess its quality, high-performing employees can be recognized and celebrated. And if you notice where other team members are struggling, it helps identify areas for improvement or additional training.
Equipping team members and office staff with the tools and data they need unlocks their potential to perform at a higher level—and your customers will notice the difference.
Connecting your data
It’s hard to manage your business well when data is scattered across multiple spreadsheets, software programs, and handwritten memos. That’s one of the reasons it’s important to choose a business management platform that doesn’t just address a couple of your needs; you want something that allows you to track all your business operations in one centralized location.
By connecting everything from the initial site walkthrough and estimate to work tickets, job notes, and invoices, an end-to-end business management system like Aspire Janitorial keeps you organized and gives you real-time visibility into every area of your business.
This means you can keep an eye on company performance, communicate issues, manage customer complaints, and create reports that allow you to see and measure your teams’ efficiency and productivity. You can also keep track of customer relationships in your CRM, making sure you communicate frequently to check in or send renewal notices.
Standardizing processes
If you don’t have consistent processes in place, it’s hard to provide the same high-quality experience for all your customers.
Business management software like Aspire Janitorial allows you to create templates and kits to use when putting together a bid for a new client. That means your initial estimate is likely to be more accurate, preventing you from losing money when costs are higher than anticipated or losing out on jobs by accidentally outpricing yourself.
You can also institute checklists that are automatically applied to certain jobs, helping ensure your teams always provide the same high level of service for each customer.
Addressing issues
Unhappy clients don’t usually stay with you for very long. While there’s always those few determined never to be satisfied (regardless of your efforts), others have reasonable expectations they feel aren’t being met. Identifying areas of dissatisfaction and addressing them quickly can help you keep clients happy, reducing turnover.
One of the most reliable ways to track issues is using a business management system. The best ones will offer a robust app that allows team members to clock in and out, report issues, and complete checklists from the field. With Aspire Janitorial, teams can even create “quick tickets” for tasks that need to be addressed immediately while still on site.
This ability means customers see their needs and requests addressed faster, strengthening your relationship with increased levels of trust.
Aspire Janitorial users can even use the site audit tool to proactively avoid customer dissatisfaction. Instead of waiting for a customer to report an issue, you can regularly monitor properties—assessing the completion and quality of work performed. Then, if you notice problems, you can take steps to address them before the client ever needs to.
A fully integrated janitorial business management system won’t just make your life easier by cutting down on manual processes and wasted labor hours. It can improve your clients’ experience, encouraging them to continue renewing their contracts year after year.
Interested in learning more about how Aspire business management software can support your company in increasing customer retention? Request a free, customized demo today.
