In the service industry today, no subject receives more discussion and less results than does training. Nearly every proposal that I have seen in the contract cleaning industry will have a section on how they employ trained personnel---POORLY TRAINED, that is.
Just in the last week, I have had 5 BSCs contact me with employee issues of poor work out on the job, some to the point of losing an account. My first question---DESCRIBE TO ME YOUR TRAINING PROGRAM. In each case the answer was that they send them out to work with a current "experienced" employee. My next question is "experienced at what"? When was the last time you checked the procedures your experienced employees were following? You've heard me say this before but it bears repeating--On the job training will lead to on the job failure unless you have a systematic way of checking the work of the experienced worker.
When I conduct workshops on the subject of training, one of the exercises we have the participants do in groups is to list what better training of the worker means to them and the company as a whole. Let me list some that come to my mind.
----REDUCES TURNOVER--At the rate of $500 plus per employee to put someone on the payroll, it doesn't take a genius to determine that this benefit comes near the top of the list. Let me suggest you review the number of W-2's your company provided for everyone that worked for you last year,determine the excess over your normal payroll and you'll see the dollars you wasted. You may want to get some nausea relief pills before you do this exercise.
----HELPS RETAIN CUSTOMERS--Ever had a customer tell you when they canceled that the main reason was your high turnover? Most service companies, if honest, will admit they have, at least once been told that. So factor in the sales cost you have in finding new prospects and turning them into long term customers and you have another big number and big reason to provide a quality training program in your company.
----HELPS OBTAIN NEW CUSTOMERS--One of the questions being asked often today by prospective customers is, "What's your turnover rate"? I have seen service contractors eliminated through this process. I have also seen service contractors become extremely creative in how they determine their turnover rate when they have to answer this question. Be creative if you want to the prospect but you still have the high turnover when you get back to the office.
----LOWER LABOR COSTS--You, no doubt, have heard or said the phrase , "Why is their never enough time to do it right the first time but always time to do it over"? Well, with the proper training, there are fewer times the job has to be done over. Make sense? Not to mention when a customer has to call you to complain that a job was not done correctly, you have lost credibility with that customer which brings you one step closer to making them a former customer.
I can go on and on with such things as lower material costs by using the products correctly, less equipment repair by knowing how to run and take proper care of the equipment etc.
I remember at one of our quarterly supervisor's management meetings, one of my key managers was explaining for the umpteenth time how to properly empty a vacuum bag. As he was going through the process, one of the participants asked, "Bill, how many times are we going to have to hear how to properly empty a vacuum bag?" " I will continue to repeat this process until we learn how to do it properly" was the reply. You see, as fate would have it, Bill had taken the vacuum he was demonstrating the procedure with from the building where the questioning participant worked. We did not embarrass this person in front of his peers but did talk with him after the meeting that it was his vacuum we were using and that it would be best if he listened more and talked less and then followed the correct procedure. We then invited him to take the vacuum back to his building and begin operating it correctly.
I can go on with this exercise but I have probably hit on the major reasons for doing training that most impact the profitability of your company. Do you see how you are wasting substantial dollars every day if you don't develop and implement a systematic ongoing effective training program at all levels of your company? Let me suggest you conduct this exercise with your staff and then build a training workshop around the answers and the ones you want to discuss that they may not have listed. Try it, you'll like it.
By the way, if you are interested in receiving a free sample copy of the training program we used, you can contact me through our web site at the "ask Dick Ollek" section.
Don't forget to tune into our free pod casts at www.tripodcast.com. Soon we will begin broadcasting daily sessions highlighting the BSCAI convention speakers and sponsors. Also, by signing up to receive an e-mail whenever a new pod cast is posted, you can register at the BSCAI website for the October convention and receive a 30% discount just by entering the code SMD30 in the promo code box. Heck of a good deal. Hope to see you there.
Till next time.
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