In my previous blogs as well as in my books and DVDs you have heard me discuss the importance of an ongoing marketing and sales program for prospective and current employees, as well as a systematic method of tracking the applicants. Another very important part of the selling process is the facility where you interview and process new employees, especially if you are in the cleaning business.
Stop reading for a moment and take a walk to the front of the building where you ask prospective employees to apply for a position with your company. When they drive up, what do they see? Nicely painted building, accurate well positioned signage, well lighted grounds, neatly mowed and maintained? Please make a note of any improvements that need to be made and who will make them promptly.
Next, walk in the door that applicants enter to complete their applications. Okay, so we have a few cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and we haven't had time to vacuum the carpet for a week but we've been busy starting a new large account. I understand completely but I want to remind you that if you are in the cleaning business and your business is to keep things clean, isn't it important that we begin at our own office so our prospective employees get the message loud and clear that we provide first class, quality, professional service and satisfaction to our customers and expect nothing less from anyone joining our team? You see, the prospective employee probably doesn't know you started that large account and so they judge your quality expectations by what they see in the application room.
This reminds me of one of my long time customers who also became a long time friend. Part of the customer satisfaction process was for me to do a monthly inspection tour with him which, if things went well, culminated with a lunch (I bought).
I should mention that this was a large industrial facility sprawled out over many acres and we cleaned the administrative areas, factory offices, lunchrooms, restrooms etc. with a sizable staff around the clock. When I would arrive for my monthly tour, my customer's first order of business was to walk to the main supply closet in the factory and check its condition. If everything looked neat and clean, mop buckets and trash barrels empty, mops hung up properly etc., he would say, "Ollek, looks to me like your crews are doing a great job, let's go to lunch". By the way, my part of the deal was I could not alert my crews as to the day I was coming. I kept my word on that issue although I sometimes wish I hadn't.
On the other hand, if he found anything out of order such as our equipment dirty or mop buckets standing full of water with a mop in them, we would spend the rest of the day walking the entire facility (without lunch). You see, his philosophy was if we couldn't keep a 20 by 20 supply closet clean, how in the world could we keep his large plant facility clean? Agree?
You see, it does hold true. If we can't keep our own facilities clean and inviting to our prospective employees, how in the world can we expect them to keep our customer's facilities clean? WE set the example in our office as to what we expect in the field.
It is also critical that the person greeting new prospective employees great them with a smile, thank them for coming in, and give them clear instructions on the process of completing the application and the ensuing interview. There should be no question that they are welcome.
Let me share some of my ideas as to how the application area should look in addition to being clean,etc.
First, I suggest you have a TV or other means of video playing continuously that talks about your company. If you don't have a full blown orientation video or sales video, a short welcome video done in house will do just fine running on a loop all day. Let me suggest if you have some training videos that you use, such as one on backpack vacuuming or scrubbing and recoating of tile floors, have it run as well. Not trying to make experts out of them while completing their application, but we want them to be fully aware of the business we are in.
We had large placards made with the outline of our line worker training program on them so as to give them an idea of what they could expect if they joined our team. And yes, we had it in different languages to reflect the different nationalities we had on our team. Made for full walls in some branches. Yes, some applicants walked out of the building after seeing what we expected but I would rather have them walk out of my building than out of a customer's building.
There are other inviting things you can do such as a popcorn machine for them and candy for the children if they come along with their parents etc. We always had an abundance of children come along with mom or dad to fill out applications. May as well make them feel welcome as well, as they may be future employees. Grocery stores learned this long ago by putting small carts in the stores so the children could push their cart along with mom and dads. They realize that these little ones will some day be grocery shoppers and I figured these little ones that came along with parents to fill out applications might just some day be a star team member for us.
I don't want to belabor the point but I cannot over emphasize the importance of presenting a clean, neat, and appealing first impression for people who enter you premises. Never know, a prospective or current customer just might decide to pay you a personal visit. How do your facilities stack up?
Don't forget to listen to our weekly pod cast at www.tripodcast.com. We try to keep them around 5 or 6 minutes so you can listen and get on with your day.
Till next time--MAKE IT A GREAT DAY.
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