Typically, one of the first things I do when I first start working with a cleaning contractor is to visit their company website.  What I see on the site often tells me a great deal about how this company market’s their service and what they include in their bid packages.  For instance, if the site includes one or more of the following, I typically know changes need to be made:

•    We are 30 years old.

•    We are a mom-and-pop company.

•    We are minority owned.

•    We practice green cleaning.

•    We use the newest cleaning equipment.

•    We are CIMS certified.  (Referring to ISSA’s Cleaning Management Industry Standards)

•    We hire professional cleaning workers.

These are all features.  They may be interesting.  They may tell the customer a bit more about you and your company, but that’s about all.  The astute manager is focused on how her facility will benefit from hiring you and your service.  These features, in some cases, can even work against you.

For example, some customers are not interested in hiring a cleaning company that is 30 years old.  They prefer a newer firm, one that is anxious to build their company along with their name and reputation. While we can still mention these features on our websites and in our bid packages, we need to take them a step further and show how they can be a benefit the customer. 

Let’s take a closer look at some of these features and see how they might benefit the customer and potentially help improve your bid-hit ratio.

We are 30 years old. 

Benefit: During this time, we have cleaned and maintained facilities in a variety of different industries. We have learned what types of cleaning and maintenance these facilities need and know how to address issues and situations as they come up with proven solutions and help prevent the same situation from being repeated.

We are a mom-and-pop company.

Benefit.  With us, you are not just another customer, you are part of the family.  We want every member of our family to be healthy and happy, which will be reflected in the service we provide for you.

We are minority owned.

Benefit.  This becomes a benefit for a contractor when they are looking for woman-owned businesses, as an example. However, if that is not the case, then this feature is rarely a benefit. * 

We use the newest cleaning equipment.

Benefit.  Newer cleaning equipment is more efficient, is more environmentally friendly, and helps improve worker productivity.  This improvement in worker productivity allows our cleaning workers to perform more services, more frequently, helping to improve the health and appearance of your facility and help us keep our costs competitive.

We practice green cleaning.

Benefit.  We now know that some cleaning solutions and equipment used over the years have had a negative impact on the environment. The goal of green cleaning is to reduce this impact and create a healthier facility for you and your building users.

Benefits Require Listening

Along with focusing on the features of their company and their service, many contractors mistakenly believe all customers are all about the same and have the same cleaning needs.   This is the reverse of what we discussed earlier, when we mentioned many customers believe all cleaning services are about the same. 

Customers are not the same. Many will place far more value on a particular benefit a company can offer them than others.  Your job, when evaluating an RFP or when meeting with a potential customer, is to listen very carefully to their needs and wants.  Invariably, the conversation will turn to what is most important to them. This should be the focus of your bid package.

We should add that a more benefit-focused bid has another advantage. Often, it creates a sense of urgency.  If a customer has taken bids and none stand out by providing benefits and solutions for the customer, it’s very easy for the customer to delay hiring a new cleaning contractor.  They may even decide to continue with the current contractor, even if they prefer not to.  A bid package filled with the benefits of your service not only stands out but encourages the customer to move forward and hire you as soon as possible.