ALWAYS deal in kindness, courtesy and honesty.
When he started his cleaning business, Dudley Blake, the owner of a janitorial franchise business in Jacksonville, admitted he directed most of his time to the technical side of office cleaning. However, as his business grew, he directed more and more time to developing relationships with his clients, and in doing so paid special attention to committing himself to transparency, kindness and courtesy. “If I made a mistake in an account, or maybe if a client was a little tough on me with criticism, I started looking at every interaction and decision through the lens of courtesy and gratitude for the individual”, Dudley admitted. In doing so, Dudley forged strong, long term relationships with clients that have allowed him to grow his cleaning business several fold.
Stay optimistic
When you start a cleaning business…or any business…the entrepreneur needs loads of spirit, enthusiasm and optimism. Anthony Russell, janitorial franchise owner in Denver, provided prescient advice when he counseled other franchisees – rookies and veterans alike – that the key to success is staying positive, being optimistic and remaining mentally tough around those two points. In business, how you face disappointments has a huge impact on future success. Rather than dwelling on losing a client, Mr. Russell emphasized looking forward to getting that new client, keeping your existing offices clean and happy, and never allowing setbacks to keep you down for long.
Patience
Finally, and similar to our second bit of advice, business owners need patience – patience to develop their technical skills, customer service skills, their team, their own best practices, and the like. Both Mr. Russell and Mr. Blake admitted that like most business owners, they wanted to win and didn’t want to wait for it. Nevertheless, allowing time to bear out in order to refine their skills and strategies played a key role in the ongoing success of their cleaning businesses.
