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You don’t have to live in fear of losing customers.
We’re tired of seeing janitorial businesses struggle with client retention. Even when they offer high-quality services, the nature of the work makes it hard to keep property managers happy. Whether they realize it or not (and many do), every time they lose an existing customer, these companies are suffering the consequences of outdated, inefficient systems.
That’s why we brought Aspire to the cleaning industry. It’s not just another somewhat helpful, somewhat disappointing software option. Aspire’s designed to allow janitorial contractors to manage their entire operation (proposals, scheduling, quality control, invoicing, mobile access, and more) in a single, centralized solution.
Why does that matter when it comes to retaining customers?
Let’s take a look at five examples of how Aspire’s end-to-end business management system enables commercial cleaning companies to increase customer satisfaction and reduce turnover.
Learn more about how Aspire business management software can give you better real-time insights into your data, allow you to make more informed decisions, and empower you to manage your labor force with ease. Request a free demo today.
How business management software improves client retention for commercial cleaning companies
If you’re not sure how “business management software” is different from other types of software used to run your cleaning business, check out our post on the topic. We dig into exactly what a business management system is (short story—it’s a single piece of software that lets you do everything) and how to decide if it’s right for you.
While there are plenty of ways Aspire’s business management system can help your janitorial company thrive, here we’re focusing on features in five areas that can dramatically affect your customer retention rate:
- Quality control
- Contracts
- Sales and operations
- Upsells
- Communication
Quality control
Aspire’s site audit tool allows you to standardize and streamline your inspection process.
You can create fully customizable templates for different types of inspections using standard field options (ratings, short answer, single or multiple select, etc.), then team members simply select the appropriate template from their mobile device when they’re ready to conduct an inspection. They can quickly evaluate how well the janitorial services provided met the customers' needs using pass/fail or numerical ratings.
Auditors can also take, attach, and annotate photos, allowing them to note issues (or opportunities for upsells) in the field. They can leave notes, add tags, and quickly fill out the prescribed fields to complete an inspection. And items identified in an inspection can immediately be flagged as issues or opportunities, allowing them to transition directly into work tickets.
Learn more about the site audit tool in our post and video here.
Having a thorough, reliable, easy-to-manage inspection process means getting out ahead of potential client concerns. It means, instead of being kept in the dark about what’s happening at your properties, you can see exactly what was done, identify any needs for retraining, and provide proactive reports—increasing customer loyalty.
Contracts
Property managers often use old contracts as the basis for requesting bids from new cleaning service providers. When you don’t have a way to customize your proposal based on exactly what they’re asking for, it’s easy to 1) lose out on the job or 2) accidentally underbid the job.
With Aspire’s robust estimating functionality, you can create extremely accurate, consistent bids that prevent either of those things from happening.
The estimating tool lets you build kits based on your own production factors (e.g., the cost to complete, say, one square foot of work in an office building—calculated by adding up labor hours, supplies, overhead, and desired profit). Then, whenever it’s time to bid on a particular type of job, all you have to do is plug in the amount of square feet for each of those factors.
When your proposals are accurate, you can price your services competitively without worrying about underbidding and having to choose between letting the client go and eating the cost yourself.
Sales and operations
Thorough estimates don’t just help you avoid pricing mishaps. Since won bids are automatically transferred to operations within Aspire’s system, the team responsible for doing the work will know exactly what was promised during the sales process.
The scope of work agreed upon in the contract forms the basis for the operations team to schedule jobs and create work tickets. This alignment on expectations can help teams be as effective as possible, minimizing frustrations for clients.
It also enables cleaning staff to verify when all agreed-upon work has been completed if unreasonable complaints arise and empowers account managers to show how further requests could be added to the scope (for an additional cost), rather than just agreeing to take on extra work for free.
Upsells
When you’re competing for fractions of pennies on the square foot, it makes sense to be nervous about losing clients.
Time and again, we’ve seen this overly cautious attitude prevent janitorial business owners from proposing new work—beyond the scope of their contract—to existing clients. With Aspire, though, you don’t have to be afraid of losing current customers when you recommend resurfacing a floor, cleaning the windows, or reupholstering some furniture.
The reliable service you regularly provide keeps you in good standing with customers, so when it’s time to offer an upsell, they’ll see it as evidence of your investment in their property—not just a money grab.
In addition to providing a structure for consistent service that gives you the confidence to offer upsells, Aspire makes it easy to identify those opportunities within the system. And you don’t have to be a sales expert—since everything is tied to production rates, you can just add a proposed type of service and all associated costs carry over to the proposal.
Communication
It’s hard to overstate the importance of communication when it comes to maintaining healthy customer relationships.
You’re already checking in with property managers regularly and responding to emails and phone calls as quickly as possible, but this takes time. Time your team could be spending finding new customers or upselling current clients.
With Aspire’s customer portal, clients have a quick and easy way to provide you with feedback. They can sign proposals, ask questions, and pay invoices—all from a simple dashboard. This makes it easy to track communication within Aspire since everything’s connected to the customer record, offering you an even greater level of insight.
Getting started with Aspire
These are just a few of the ways Aspire’s fully functional business management system can help your commercial cleaning business retain customers. And as we all know, loyal customers in turn can provide referrals for new clients, giving you a cost-effective alternative to more expensive marketing strategies.
To learn more about what Aspire can offer your janitorial business, sign up for a free, personalized demo today.
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