LOOKING TO 2014

Well, here we are closing in on the end of another year. About 2 months remain for you to finalize your plans for 2014. So, how are you doing?

Let's look at some of the areas we should be concentrating on as we focus on the new year. 

1. Review each of our accounts to assure they are profitable and if not, what do we do about it. 

Have you done a complete retuning of each account? This entails analyzing the current hours budgeted, supply usage, labor rates, cleaning specifications etc. Do you need to adjust the hours? Have you found out through time that you can actually clean the building in less time than budgeted? Have you over or under budgeted for supplies? Do you need to bring the crew back in for a refresher training class on your system of cleaning? 

Our policy was to do an annual complete written review of each account to assure ourselves that we were doing the right things and assuring that all budgets were correct or changed if need be. We used a short 2 page worksheet that was completed by each area manager and then reviewed with me or the vice-president of operations for finalizing the account for the next year. This was a great exercise and frankly, quite an eye opener as to what was REALLY going on in the accounts. If you would like to have a copy of the 2 page form we used, just send me a message on the ASK DICK OLLEK section of our web site--www.consultantsincleaning.com. By the way, part of the review process was a safety check in each building.

2. Review and adjust as needed your sales program for the upcoming year.

Does your sales program need to be changed? Do you have a systematic sales program? Here are a couple of things to look at.

---What types of accounts are your focusing on? 

---What types of accounts SHOULD you be focusing on?

---What is your systematic campaign for getting the prospects attention?

---what growth do you intend to experience next year?

In my book, "Selling Contract Cleaning Services 101" I outline the system to use to make sure you are focusing on the right accounts and then how to get their attention. You can preview the book on our web site www.consultantsincleaning.com. The important thing to remember is to know which accounts you should be targeting and how you plan to go after them and then--STAY ON THE PLAN. 

3. Review each departments budget, i.e...Adminstration, Human Resources, Operations, Sales etc.

Are you being as efficient in each of these departments as you can be? Where are you buying what and is it the best system and supplier availiable? I was always amazed at how we just got into a comfort zone buying from suppliers without checking their prices etc. We like the sales representative because they bring us donuts every Friday. Remember, we are paying for those donuts someplace. As Zig Ziglar would say "There ain't no free lunch". 

After you have done your review  of each department it is very important to establish a budget for that department. If you haven't done it before, it can be gut wrenching the first year but gets much easier as the years go on. My guess is that you are wasting a bunch of money in these departments because it is always easier to focus on the labor in the accounts we service but there are dollars to be found in every department in the company. Think of where you buy your office supplies, where you have your vehicle repairs done, where you fill gas etc. You may be as efficient as possible but do you really know unless you do a double check?

There are many areas to review to find dollars before you focus on raising prices to your customers. Try following these suggestions to see if you are operating at peak efficiency. I know I got a surprise or two each year. It is a very enlightening procedure. 

The new year is rapidly approaching and I hope your current year has been profitable and rewarding and you plan on taking steps to dramatically improve in 2014. 

Don't forget to listen to our daily pod casts at www.tripodcast.com. The convention speakers are giving us bullet points on the sessions they will be conducting in Las Vegas. Let me also invite you to come by and see us at the BSCAI solutions pavillion on Thursday and Friday, November 21 and 22 at the Bellagio hotel. We always enjoy visiting with industry professionals. We also will be introducing about 5 or 6 new DVD's this year. Look forward to seeing you there. 

Till next time.