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Understanding Dwell Time and Why It’s Important

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The words “dwell time” have been thrown around quite a bit more this year than in any other year in the past. Dwell time, or contact time, is the appropriate amount of time that a disinfectant has to remain visibly moist on the surface being cleaned to effectively kill the germs, viruses, or bacteria you’re combating. One common disinfecting mistake is spraying the disinfectant and wiping it away without giving it any time to work its magic.

Without adhering to the right dwell time, the disinfectant won’t have enough time to do its job, which is to disinfect and kill the targeted pathogen. While the disinfectant may kill some of the bacteria or germs on the surface, it won’t be nearly as effective as it would be if you had followed the suggested dwell time. In many cases, this bad habit leaves behind surfaces that aren’t disinfected at all. So, let’s clear up some of the mystery behind dwell times:

What is the right dwell time?

The right dwell time will vary depending both on the disinfectant you’re using and the goal you’re trying to achieve. For example, a regular household disinfectant that’s meant to kill germs that cause the common cold may have a much different dwell time than a stronger disinfectant that’s approved for use against the coronavirus. And the dwell time for different disinfectants can range drastically, lasting anywhere from a mere 30 seconds to 15 minutes.

But there’s good news: you don’t have to do the math or work too hard to find the answer. The dwell time of your disinfectant should be listed right on the label! If it’s not, you can find the dwell time by searching for your disinfectant on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website. Disinfectants approved for fighting fast-spreading viruses like COVID will likely have shorter dwell times. This may seem counterintuitive, but trust the process; a single-minute dwell time simply means less time waiting around and more time protecting your loved ones, employees, and customers.

Which disinfectants should I be using?

If you already have disinfectants at home, check the label or the EPA’s website to see if they are approved for use against COVID-19. Otherwise, finding the right disinfectants has been a bit challenging for many over the last few months. Just like finding toilet paper was in April. Clorox and Lysol are two of the most common household disinfectants and they are generally effective against COVID (always double-check the specific product before use), but if they have a longer dwell time, they may not be your best option.

One favorite this year has been Diversey’s Oxivir TB Wipes. These have a dwell time of one minute and are approved for use against COVID pathogens. While the shorter contact time makes effective disinfecting easier, there’s one other thing to keep in mind: make sure the surface doesn’t dry before the dwell time is up. If it dries, you’ll have to reapply. Diversey wipes (when used appropriately) tend to keep the surface wet for the required dwell time, so this shouldn’t be a problem here if you can get your hands on some.

What is the shelf-life of diluted disinfectants?

While many effective disinfectants come ready to use, others may need to be diluted with water. These are typically used in the old-school-style of disinfecting that involves filling a bucket with the diluted disinfectant and dipping towels or rags in it. They’re effective for a variety of surfaces, but they have a short shelf-life once you alter them. Your disinfectant’s label should give you the right time frame that you have to use it in before disposing of what’s left.

Are dwell times really that important?

When it comes to cleaning and disinfecting, there are plenty of opinions and suggestions floating around. Dwell time isn’t one of them. Following the appropriate dwell time is a requirement for effective disinfecting. The EPA puts in a lot of work to test and confirm the effectiveness of different disinfectants so that we don’t have to. If the end goal is thorough and effective disinfection of any surface, letting the disinfectant dwell for as long as the label specifies is crucial.

Corvus Janitorial Systems

While we’re sharing space with COVID-19, following the appropriate cleaning and disinfecting procedures is more important than ever. If figuring out the ins and outs of effective office or business cleaning feels overwhelming, we’re here to help. We understand the appropriate dwell times of common disinfectants, use high-grade chemicals and procedures, and offer a variety of advanced services specifically designed to fight fast-moving viruses like COVID.

If your workplace is in need of commercial cleaning and/or disinfecting services, contact your local Corvus Janitorial Systems team for a free consultation and quote.

Organize for Success: Cleaning Tips from Corvus Franchisees and Personnel

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Organize for Success

Typically, when we think of operating a business, we think about the actual delivery of the product or service. And as it relates to the office cleaning business, clearly delivery of high-quality cleaning and disinfecting is key to maintaining a thriving business. After all, if customers are not receiving the service which they deserve, they won’t be customers for long. However, it’s also important to focus on activities and systems that occur before, during, and after service delivery. The little details are the things that take a business from mediocre to extraordinary.

Organizing Your Route of Accounts

Before delivering the service of an exemplary cleaning, you’ve got to organize your routes and make a schedule. Whether you are a large operator of a janitorial services business or a small purveyor of office cleaning, building out your weekly, or monthly, schedule of customer accounts to be cleaned in a visible manner is enormously important to succeeding. A calendared view with account names, days cleaned, approximate length of service, and location changes everything. You can plan for what equipment and chemicals are needed as well as assist in providing visibility into other potential costs like travel expenditures. A high-level view of the customer schedule may seem small, but it packs a powerful punch.

Pre-Cleaning Prep

Similar to an athlete preparing for a big game, successful owners and operators of office cleaning businesses prepare for their cleans on a nightly basis. Once you have a laid-out route and schedule, you can then begin to think about the specific clients, their needs, and how you’ll meet those needs. According to Jonathan Frias, Regional Director at Corvus of Northwest Arkansas, “I always remind our franchisees to do the prep work for nightly cleaning at some point during the afternoon. That is the time to not only ensure you have your chemicals, equipment, and other tools ready to go, but it is also a good time to think through what hot spots, areas of focus, or special attention a customer account needs. Mentally getting ready for the work that needs to be done is an essential part of being successful”. Just like athletes, you’re never going to reach your true potential of success without being prepared for what is ahead.

Organizing the Clean

Why start from scratch on each clean? Why waste time finding new ways to do what you already know works? As the saying goes, “don’t reinvent the wheel”. Corvus Franchisees learn to create established cleaning patterns that they follow at each office or place of work. They spend time learning, organizing, and implementing the most impactful cleaning and disinfecting techniques in a manner that optimizes both the client’s time and the Franchisee’s time. Once the cleaning plan is established and proven effective, consistently following it not only helps in terms of ensuring wonderful service, it also allows for improvement on the quality and efficiency of it.

Finishing Up

Finally, once an office is cleaned, disinfected, and secured, there remains more to do if you truly want to be successful. “I always load my vehicle the same way after a clean, making sure I have all my chemicals and equipment. Leaving anything in an account does not only irritate a customer; it puts me in a jam for the next clean…or, worse, if I don’t recover whatever I left, costs me money. There is no excuse for not collecting and organizing your tool kit”, said Latarsha Key, a Corvus of Jacksonville Franchisee.

Michael Kerby, Regional Director of Corvus of Denver, takes that advice a step further by adding, “…and the work really isn’t done until a Franchisee checks his or her inventory levels, cleans their equipment, launders rags or mop heads, and stows their gear…if you will”. Clearly, organizing, cleaning, and taking care of the tools needed to provide an excellent clean is a critical part of succeeding in the office cleaning business. Again, with the athlete analogy, if an athlete simply walks off the court or field and goes home, they’re never going to be truly successful. They’ve got to stretch, reflect, shower, and clean up. Once you can look back and appreciate a job well done with nothing left unturned, then you can call it a day.

To learn more about the janitorial service industry or receive information about Corvus Janitorial Systems’ Office Cleaning Franchise Opportunity, call or email our team today.

What to Think About Before Going Back to School

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Disinfection is an important step in your back-to-school checklist, but it isn’t enough on its own. If other precautions, like wearing masks, physically distancing, and practicing good hand hygiene aren’t followed, it won’t do much. Educators and leaders in the public health space are diligently working to put together programs that’ll help schools across the country reopen safely and responsibly. While they develop these programs and guidelines, here are a few things to keep in mind as you get ready to reopen your school:

Implementing general safety measures is key

As we all adjust to new rules and ways of living, establishing, and maintaining effective communication is crucial. Over the coming months, guidelines and best practices may change to adapt to new needs. Continuing to communicate with important local officials and other educational institutions in the area can help you stay on top of these changes and keep everyone healthy and safe. Make sure to put a plan in place for handling future closures in the case of a new outbreak.

With cold weather coming, many health officials have speculated that COVID-19 cases will increase as flu season hits. As schools and businesses begin to reopen across the country around the same time, additional cases are inevitable. Have a comprehensive plan in place for everyone to follow. It’s also important to develop a separate plan for at-risk students. Students with pre-existing health conditions should be provided with resources that’ll help them succeed at home instead of on-site.

Promoting healthy hygiene practices can help stop the spread

Healthy amounts of proper handwashing may be our best defense against the spread of COVID. This is an easy and effective way to remove germs and protect against infection. Another important hygiene practice is to avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. Ensure everyone is covering all sneezes and coughs. We’ve heard a lot about this throughout the year, but this isn’t always something that comes naturally to students, especially young ones.

Take the time to educate your students on proper healthy hygiene practices before you reopen, and keep educating them after they arrive. Spend extra time on this with your younger students. Put up signs in the hallways, bathrooms, classrooms, and common areas. If you can, encourage students and employees to wear face masks or cloth coverings.

Checking for COVID symptoms will help keep everyone safe

Be sure to put screening procedures in place for anyone entering your school, including all students and staff. If you operate a small enough school, forehead scanners drastically cut down the amount of time you need to take everyone’s temperature. But in most schools, this won’t work. Instead, asking each person if they’ve had any COVID symptoms, and having them fill out a check-in form, is more practical.

In the case of potential exposure, keep clear records. Encourage anyone feeling COVID symptoms or anyone that has been in contact with a COVID-positive person to stay home. Sometimes, COVID symptoms can sneak up on you. Keep a separate room or area to isolate anyone who shows COVID symptoms unexpectedly during the school day. Once they’ve been tested, you’ll either be clear to open the space back up (if they’re negative) or you’ll have to close off areas they’ve used (if they’re positive) and clean and disinfect these spaces before others can use them again.

Educating students, employees, and families will get everyone on the same page

While you may be on top of updates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), local health officials and educators in your area, your students and their families may not have all of the information that you do. Inform students and families of enhanced cleaning and disinfecting measures, guidelines for safe social distancing, the requirements around face masks, your preferred screening procedures, and your plan for symptom identification. You can do this in a variety of ways:

• Post updates on your school’s website

• Send regular email updates to your students and their parents

• Create a social media page dedicated to reopening and staying healthy throughout the school year

• Develop webinars for students, families, and employees

• Send home flyers

Whether you choose to do one or several of these things, you’re not only helping to maintain a safe school environment. You are encouraging a safe environment at home, too.

You’ll need to intensify your regular cleaning and disinfecting procedures

While it’s difficult to monitor or control the actions of all of your students and employees, it’s easy to exercise control over the environment. By the time your school reopens, it should be effectively cleaned and disinfected. But it shouldn’t end there. Intensified cleaning and disinfecting procedures should be implemented after you reopen, too. While cleaning gets rid of the dirt, dust, some germs, and other materials that collect on surfaces, it won’t necessarily kill harmful bacteria or viruses. For that, you need disinfection, which does kill bacteria and viruses.

Focusing on high-touch surfaces doorknobs, desks, light switches, sinks, water fountains, and cafeteria trays can help drastically reduce the chance of these bacteria and viruses spreading. Keeping a surplus of supplies on hand and closing shared spaces like fountains and cafeterias can also help. If these areas can’t be restricted, increased cleaning and disinfecting can help here, too.

For everything from deep corners to high-touch surfaces, Corvus Janitorial has your cleaning and disinfecting needs covered. We use high-level techniques and tools along with COVID-approved chemicals to give you the best cleaning and disinfecting services available. Reach out to us today for a free quote for your cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing needs.

Opening Safely – General Guidance on Reopening Your Business

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This year, we’re in a position that none of us has ever been in before. Earlier in the year, nation-wide shutdowns and mandatory quarantines sent many businesses screeching to a halt. Over the months following the initial outbreak in the United States, we found ways to get our businesses back on track – either through remote work, staggered shifts, or other cautious scheduling and location measures.

Now, as the summer comes to an end and fall quickly approaches, most parts of the country are working to get back to normal and relax many of the strict measures we’ve had to put in place. Navigating the complexities of reopening your business in a post-COVID world can be tricky. Getting used to the new normal may also be a little tricky. But with an open mind, a caring heart, and a strategic approach, you can reopen your business safely and effectively. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

It’s important to adapt

Businesses both small and large have struggled to meet their clients’ and customers’ needs with all of the restrictions of the last few months. The businesses that will make it through – and even find ways to thrive – in this new world are the ones that understand how important flexibility and adaptability are. Pay attention to the evolving needs of both your customers and your employees.

If your employees have young children, understand that their childcare options may be limited for the foreseeable future. If they can get their work done from home, let them as often as you can. With fewer people interacting in your office space, this is a win for you, too. For your customers, make sure that you’re still meeting their needs. You may need to adapt to offer new services, products, or add-ons to stay as relevant as you were before the virus struck.

Follow the latest COVID guidelines from the most reliable resources

Relying on less-than-trustworthy third parties or social media feeds for your COVID updates won’t do if you’re looking to open your business safely and responsibly. Check for updates regularly with reliable sources like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). They have several pages dedicated to safely reopening businesses, schools, and restaurants across the country. Here are just a few health and safety measures they suggest adopting:

• Conducting daily health checks

• Encouraging employees to wear cloth face coverings in the workplace (this is particularly important if the six-foot social distancing rule can’t be enforced or isn’t being adhered to)

• Creating best practices and policies for social distancing at work

• Providing employees with applicable and disposable disinfectants (sanitizers, cleaners, wipes, etc.)

• Improving your cleaning and disinfecting processes

If social distancing can’t be enforced the way things are currently, this is another area that may require you to be adaptable. Consider putting in plexiglass or other physical barriers, changing your office’s layout to separate cubicles or workspaces, closing shared spaces like the break room or conference room, and staggering work shifts.

You can use a COVID handbook to keep everyone on the same page

Clearly and descriptively letting your employees know (in writing) what’s expected of them is a good way to ensure that everyone is on the same page and understands the new rules. The proper procedures for handwashing, taking a sick day, keeping your distance, or wearing personal protective equipment can be left up to interpretation if they’re not clearly outlined.

Unfortunately, not everyone is taking this virus as seriously as they should be. Creating a COVID handbook makes it explicitly clear what is expected of your employees, as well as when they should stay home, and what the consequences will be if they don’t adhere to the new rules. Outlining and enforcing these new expectations will help you with reopening your business and can help keep yourself, your loved ones, your employees, and their loved ones safe.

Your cleaning and disinfecting needs will be greater than they were before

Whether social distancing and limited numbers of employees are possible or not, most decision-makers will need to ramp up their cleaning and disinfecting before reopening for business. That’s where Corvus comes in. A healthy workspace is a productive workspace. No one wants to go through all of the work involved in reopening their business just to have to shut down again because someone got sick. Our high-level cleaning and disinfecting services ensure a vibrant and healthy workplace that you and your employees can feel safe and confident spending time in.

Our focus is on cleaning corners instead of cutting them. We offer a variety of advanced cleaning and disinfecting services that have evolved even further to meet the challenge of this fast-moving virus. Among others, these services include:

• Electrostatic spraying

• Ultra-low volume fogging

• Refocused cleaning and chemical application

• Exposure cleaning and disinfecting to give additional attention to high-touch surfaces that are known germ spreaders

• Mindful office organization

• Increased frequency and strategic timing

Each of our services combines EPA-certified cleaning chemicals with state-of-the-art technologies and techniques to bring our clients true peace of mind. Electrostatic spraying and ULV fogging have been employed by major airlines, some of the most frequently visited locations in the world, to ensure the safety of those who pass through.

We bring only the best to your business and we are eager to help you reopen your business both safely and effectively. Contact us today to learn more about how Corvus can help you.

Cleaning and Disinfecting Tips: 10 Best Practices

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Whether you’re getting ready to clean and disinfect your home or your office, using the proper tools and techniques is more important than ever. The following 10 cleaning and disinfecting tips will help you ensure that your efforts are safe and effective:

Clean then disinfect

Cleaning and disinfecting are two different processes. Cleaning removes dirt, germs, and impurities from the surface. This may sound like enough, but it’s important to note that cleaning only removes surface germs, it doesn’t kill them. Decreasing the number of germs on a surface helps decrease the spread of infection, but for effective risk containment, it’s important to kill the germs, too. That’s where disinfecting comes in. Disinfecting doesn’t necessarily clean dirty surfaces, but it does kill the germs left on the surface after you’re done cleaning. Both are important in reducing the spread of infection.

Use the right tools

For routine cleaning and disinfecting, the CDC recommends wearing reusable or disposable gloves, cleaning with soap and water first, and disinfecting next. Many people will skip the gloves or skip over cleaning to go straight to disinfecting. Each of these steps is an important piece of the puzzle. Using the right tools in the right order is critical.

Choose the right chemicals

The same way choosing the right tools and using them in the right order is important, choosing the right chemicals is important, too. In the past, it was easy to pick up whatever cleaning product was closest. This was generally acceptable when we weren’t cleaning and disinfecting with the coronavirus in mind. But now, it’s important to choose chemicals that effectively kill the virus that is driving the current pandemic. The label on your cleaning product will tell you whether or not it is effective for use against SARS-CoV-2 – the COVID-19 virus. You can also find a list of EPA-approved disinfectants here.

Check the expiration dates

If you’ve had household disinfectants sitting under your sink for years, be sure to check the expiration dates before you use them. Some products last for a while after their recommended “use by” date. But when it comes to reducing the risk of infection in your home or office, it’s better not to take any chances. Expired cleaning products and disinfectants should be replaced before use.

DIY disinfectant

If you can’t get to the store, you can create your own diluted household bleach solutions with non-expired ingredients. First, confirm that your bleach has a sodium hypochlorite concentration of 5 or 6%. Then, mix five tablespoons (or one-third of a cup) of bleach per every gallon of room temperature water in your bucket. You can then use this diluted bleach solution for up to 24 hours. After that, you’ll want to start the process over. If you don’t have unexpired household bleach, you can also use alcohol solutions – just confirm that they’re at least 70% alcohol first.

Follow the instructions on your cleaning products

Too often, it’s easy to get distracted while disinfecting. When you’re cleaning with soap and water, the dwell time is less important. But when you’re disinfecting, it’s important not to spray a disinfectant and wipe it off too quickly or leave it on for too long. Your cleaning product will tell you how long you should leave it on the surface before rinsing or wiping it away. Following the instructions on the label will ensure that you’re disinfecting safely and effectively. But before you move into your disinfecting phase, be sure to break out those gloves, wear other skin protectors if necessary, and ensure adequate ventilation.

Focus on high-touch surfaces

It’s easy to forget certain high-touch surfaces when we’re cleaning at home. After all, how often do you think about your computer keyboard or light switches? Viruses can live on these surfaces for several days, so it’s important to give them some attention. Other high-touch surfaces to give extra attention to:

• Tables
• Doorknobs
• Countertops
• Handles
• Phones
• Toilets
• Desks
• Faucets
• Sinks
• Showers

Wash your hands often

After you finish cleaning and remove your gloves, wash your hands. After you finish disinfecting, wash your hands. After using the bathroom, touching doorknobs, and before eating, wash your hands. Cleaning our homes and offices is important but it can’t distract us from keeping ourselves clean, too. Wash with soap and water often to reduce the spread of germs. Anytime you won’t have access to soap and water, carry hand sanitizer that is 60% alcohol or more.

Launder rags

If you’re using wipes to clean or disinfect, be sure to toss the old one and move onto a new one when you switch surfaces. If you’re looking to reduce waste, you can use rags instead, you just have to be a little more cautious. Use separate rags for separate rooms to avoid cross-contamination, watch for color changes that suggest it’s time to switch to a new one and wash them with hot water and detergent between uses.

Let Corvus Janitorial help

For highly effective commercial cleaning and disinfecting that follows CDC and EPA guidelines, call the experts at Corvus Janitorial. We offer a wide range of cleaning and disinfecting surfaces to help keep you, your clients, and your employees or coworkers safe and healthy. We offer after-hours services, increased frequencies, and high-level techniques. Contact us today for more information.

Commercial Cleaning Contracts: What You Need to Know

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Now more than ever, cleaning matters. As more and more businesses open their doors to employees and the public, ensuring that workplaces are clean and sanitary has never been a bigger priority. Business owners across the country are working diligently to keep customers and employees alike healthy. For many businesses, this means enhanced protocols for cleaning and disinfecting.

Demand for commercial cleaning services is at an all-time high and is still growing. With so many new cleaning contracts up for grabs, you may be wondering how you can get your cleaning business in front of potential customers. Read on for insights on how to acquire office cleaning contracts, bid customer contracts, collect money from clients, and more.

Choosing the Right Facilities to Clean

Determining what type of facility you wish to target is critical, and when selecting facility types it’s important to think about how facilities and industries differ. For instance, light industrial or manufacturing facilities likely require a less detailed level of service than a medical office or daycare facility. The facility cleaning needs change with the organization’s varying purposes. An organization tasked with the welfare of infants will have far different needs than an organization tasked with distributing cardboard boxes. In thinking about what types of customers you want to pursue, think about your skills, strengths, and weaknesses…determining what suits your skill set best will help you identify your ideal customers. Some companies may not need or want recurring janitorial services, but they may require special event cleaning after an office party. As with recurring commercial cleaning contracts, special event clean up contracts will have a wide variety of needs, and the entrepreneur must decide which of these opportunities to go after.

Keep Your Cleaning Customers Close – Travel, Expenses, Logistics

Travel and logistics should play a role when you are selecting clients to target. Travel time represents a real cost in terms of money and your time and should not be overlooked in deciding which types of contracts your office cleaning business wants to target. It is highly advisable to calculate the cost associated with traveling to client accounts. Moreover, researching areas where your target accounts can be found and selling to areas of closer proximity is very important. Clustering your cleaning accounts in geographic locations that are close to one another will reduce your commute time and the associated costs, as well as limit the chance of a missed clean due to traffic or other unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances.

Types of Commercial Janitorial Services

Creating a menu of the services your professional cleaning company intends to provide is important in terms of selling and pricing your cleaning contracts. Variables such as how often per week or per month you intend to offer service will impact not only your time commitment but also the cost the customer will pay for your services. Another variable to consider is the level of cleaning you intend to provide on a nightly, weekly, or monthly basis. For instance, you may elect to provide weekly high dusting in your cleaning contracts, or you might decide to provide high dusting every night. In the second case, your cleaning company will be spending more time in the client facility to perform high dusting, thereby driving your personal cost higher – which in turn should be passed on to the client.

How to Get Office Cleaning Customers…Tools to Use

Traditional Sales Channels

After you have identified your ideal customer, decided which geographic area(s) to target, and defined your service offerings, it is time to begin selling contracts. Traditionally, the most effective and cost-efficient way to get commercial cleaning contracts is by picking up the phone and dialing, aka cold calling. If you already have a network with local business owners or office managers, tapping this network is a great place to start selling. Once you establish a base of satisfied customers, you can ask them to refer you to other businesses in their building, network, or industry. Word-of-mouth referrals are a strong vote of confidence for your brand and will make selling contracts to new clients much easier. Cold calling, networking, and customer referrals can help jumpstart your business, however, they cannot ensure consistent, stable growth in the long run.

Marketing Your Cleaning Business

Additional marketing efforts are necessary if you aim to acquire a large customer base. Fliers and pamphlets are a time-tested and relatively low-cost method to spread the word about your cleaning company. Contacting and building relationships with real estate agents and property managers is another great way to obtain customer contracts. Classified ads in newspapers are also an effective source to sell cleaning contracts, and classified ads are much cheaper than larger newspaper ads. In the age of the internet, a digital marketing strategy is critical to be a true competitor in the commercial cleaning industry. Increasingly, businesses are turning to the web to find and hire professional cleaners. An established online presence is important to winning customer contracts, and the foundation of this presence is creating a website for your cleaning company. An effective website will showcase your service offerings, provide information about your business, and tell your brand’s story. Make sure to include contact information on your website – inbound web traffic are likely high potential contract prospects.

Pricing Commercial Cleaning Contracts

Frequency and scope of service (or level of service) ultimately will determine how to price a cleaning contract. If you intend to service a restaurant or bar, for example, there is a big difference between cleaning the dining area and cleaning the kitchen. In the latter case, a much more intensive clean will be required, as the customer will expect an absolutely spotless kitchen. These elevated expectations should be reflected in the contract. Ultimately, you should take a consultative approach to understanding client expectations, customizing cleaning schedules, determining the frequency and scope of work to suit the facility needs and client desires, generating a cleaning contract with terms, and outlining conditions and pricing to match the client’s desires.

Collecting Money from Customer Contracts

Finally, creating a billing schedule and agreement represents an often-overlooked aspect of starting an office cleaning business. On the one hand, launching a cleaning company and getting clients can be fun and exhilarating, but the end goal is to create financial security and additional income. Therefore, no process is more important than building policies for billing and collecting money owed from customers.

Generally speaking, office cleaning companies offer “terms” to clients in the cleaning contract. What this means is a cleaning company may ask to be paid at a specified date following the receipt of the invoice that corresponds to the delivery of service. For instance, net 30 indicates the customer must pay the office cleaning company 30 days after receipt of the invoice, net 10 indicates payment is to be expected 10 days following receipt of invoice, and so on and so forth. Depending on your savings and capital reserves, you should select a payment term that ensures a steady flow of incoming funds which you’ll need to replenish supplies, continue marketing your service, and, best of all, set aside to increase your savings. Cash flow is king and establishing terms to meet your company’s cash flow needs is a key to success.

Wrapping Up

At the end of the day, the success of any business is determined by how much and how often they are able to sell. Above all else, consistency is crucial to building, growing, and maintaining a profitable commercial cleaning business. Therefore, having systems in place for sales, marketing, and collections is highly recommended to any business owner who aims to make a profit. Determining your service offerings and identifying your target customer and market are only the first steps to operating a successful commercial cleaning company. The development of a marketing strategy is ultimately how you will acquire customer cleaning contracts, and you must also build out a system to price contracts, distribute bids, and collect money from clients. Getting cleaning contracts – and retaining them – is by no means an easy task, but with the right systems in place, a commercial cleaning business can provide consistent and reliable income to a hungry entrepreneur.

Franchise with Corvus: We Get Cleaning Contracts for You

If you are a professional cleaner looking for contracts or are simply interested in learning more about owning your own business, the Corvus Team is here to help. Our dedicated sales and marketing teams do the hard work for you – all you have to do is clean! Contact us today to learn about franchising with Corvus.