IT'S ONLY 5 MINUTES

As we near the end of the calendar year many BSC's are reviewing their accounts to see if it will be necessary to ask their customers for an increase next year. Some agreements have automatic increases built in but for the rest of us it's time to look at each account. 

If you are one of those who will be asking for an increase you also know that your customer will probably be a "hard sell". I really can't remember very many increase requests that we made that were easy. Each one was worrisome. It seems, when we ask for an increase, that the customer is able to relate each time he or she saw the crew sitting down. Ever had a customer say that to you? I know I did. 

Then there was the time I caught my own crew sitting down on the job. Let me quickly relate that story.

We had the contract to clean a 7 story building that took 16 hours per night and we staffed it with 4-4 hour cleaners from 6-10 PM. As time went on we started to get little ankle biter complaints like paper on the stairwell in the fire exit, trash missed in a suite here and there, a restroom dispenser that emptied before the end of the day etc. You get the picture. 

My crews response was that if they just had 1 additional hour, 15 minutes each they could assure me the problems would be resolved. Well, after much discussion I relented and asked my client if I could visit with her about the subject of additional money. Finally, one afternoon she said she could see me at 5 PM so I rushed to her office, sweat blood, and eventually convinced her to accept the price increase that would "eliminate" her problems (right?). 

As I was leaving the building I decided to take the elevator to the basement where there was a vending area/break area for the building tenants. It is now 6:20 and I am tired and thirsty and ready to sit down and relax for a while. As I entered the break area, low and behold, who do I see but my entire crew sitting, visiting and having a soft drink of their own. I explained as calmly as I could that I had just spent over an hour convincing our mutual customer to accept a price increase so they could each have 15 minutes additional each day to eliminate the problems that had been existing and here it was 20 mintues after the time they were to have started and they were yet to move a cleaning cart. 

There explanation to me?---THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE EVER DONE THIS. I believe them, don't you? Right. I had a few additional intelligent remarks for them and left the building. Within a few days they became "former employees". Had they been trained properly? Yes, over and over. 

Now why am I relaying this story to you? Because it prompted me to develop a chart entitled "It's Only 5 Minutes".  What it tells us is what 5 minutes a day wasted costs a company in dollars based on the number of employees and pay scales. Let me give you some examples,

5 employees paid $10 per hour wasting 5 mintues per day equates to $1,260 per year.

100 employees paid $10 per hour wasting 5 minutes per day equates to $25,200 per year. 

Get the picture? We made it a policy to review the chart with our staff several times a year, not to brow beat them but to  just make them aware of what wasted time costs them in a years time. It was a really important reminder to them as we neared year end and needed to review pricing information on each account. I, of course, would remind them of the story I told above to help drive the point home. 

Now, so you don't have to try and create a chart like this, we have a FREE chart available to anyone wanting one. Just go to our web site www.consultantsincleaning.com, click on the DVD icon, and on the left hand side of that page you will see the chart title and you can download it for free. Maybe it will be helpful to you as well.

Along the same subject line, I have read various reports through the years that say that a 4 hour worker gives us about 2 and a half hours of productive time and an 8 hour worker produces about 5 and a half hours of productivity. I can't prove or disprove that theory but if it is anywhere close to accurate, it is an astounding statistic. For now though, let's concentrate on 5 mintues per day and see if we can make everyone in our organization aware of that and the impact it has on our bottom line.

As I post this we are less than two weeks away from the ISSA/BSCAI convention and trade show in Las Vegas. I certainly hope you are planning to attend and take advantage of this learning opportunity. I assure you you won't have time to waste 5 minutes if you take advantage of all that is available. 

By the way, on Wednesday the 20th, I'll be hosting a roundtable discussion at the convention center on one of my favorite subjects--Employee Training. We'll be doing it in 2-45 minute segments and will have handouts for those in attendance. We'll also be speaking at the Bellagio on Thursday at 3 PM on the subject of Finding and Keeping Great Hourly Employees. We will have 3 handouts there that are available only to those attending the session. Hope to see a bunch of people at both events. 

Till next time and MAKE IT A GREAT DAY.