Commercial cleaning services need to be viewed as an investment rather than a cost. Facility Managers must realize that "maintaining a spotless and sanitary environment will pay for itself many times over - often in unanticipated ways". (Bob Clarke, Senior Vice President, ABM Industries Inc. 2014).
Mark Sisson, co-founder of NanoTouch Materials, states that a client's decision on where to eat, what to buy or how to rate a product or service of a company is based on what they see - visual cues - not on the hard data and logic used to sell a product.
First impressions are a key component to winning over clients but maintaining visually appealing, clean facilities is necessary to keep them coming back. It is a well-known fact that a strong brand is important to the success of any company. Strong company brands:
- Motivate employees
- Attract top recruits
- Help a company stand strong during negative events
- Ensure customers know what to expect
- Set a company apart from competitors
- Generate referrals
For companies whose business relies on customer interaction with a physical building, their facility is central to their brand expression. Facility Managers, thus, are brand stewards ensuring all interactions provide a positive customer experience with the company.
Positive customer experience = Stronger brand rating
Facility Managers play a vital company role and figure prominently in a number of aspects key to a successful company. Their mandate includes:
- Reducing operational costs
- Reducing risk to both employees and customers
- Ensuring a consistent user experience
- This last point - consistent user experience - is the bedrock of a strong company brand.
First impressions are a vital component of public perception of brand. And first impressions are developed through visual cues. Your facility is often the source of a client's first company impression. Fantastic first impressions get you some cool perks:
- When clients think of your name, they have happy thoughts
- Those happy thoughts turn into repeat business
- When a client's friends are looking for your kind of service, those happy thoughts turn into referrals
Because brand recognition results from the accumulation of experiences clients have with your company and facility, it is vital to keep that first impression going. Clean, uncluttered living spaces
make people feel happier.
In a similar way, a clean office leads to happier employees and customers. When employees are happy, their output tends to increase and when customers are happy, they value your services even more.
Emma Brudner in “
How to Use Psychological Biases to Sell Better and Faster”, says that although we’re taught to NOT judge a book by its cover, "our brains are hardwired to do just that". That first impression of an impeccably clean facility becomes an "anchor detail" influencing a client's overall perception of the company brand.
A clean facility translates into the generation of better business value. Facility Managers - think of your facility as the packaging of your company. And facility cleanliness is the major visible attribute of that packaging. Make sure that your super-clean facility is the anchor detail that influences a positive perception of your company brand by all clients.
I think we've established that clean facilities relate directly to a positive brand impression. A professional atmosphere is inherently clean. And in order to keep clients returning and referring business, it is vital that clean facilities are a consistent part of your visual brand.
Psychologically, clean facilities suggest a number of things about the inner workings of a company:
- Clean facilities convey to clients your professionalism
- A consistently clean business inspires confidence in your ability to manage the finer details of your company
- Your business is seen as organized and will, thus, deliver what is promised
- A business that is clean and up to date is seen as willing to move with the times
There is the potential to undermine your company brand with unclean facilities. For example,
a leading car company kept their rental cars spotless. However, a customer survey indicated that customers' perceptions of their business were less than excellent. They asked themselves - why this discrepancy? By improving the cleanliness of check-in counters, a further survey indicated that customer perception of their rental car cleanliness also improved dramatically. Clean counters became an anchor detail that favourably affected customer perception of the company service. This improvement in facility cleanliness resulted in improved customer loyalty.
This customer aversion to unclean facilities can apply further to clean and well-maintained door entrances, outside landscaping and signage. Clean facilities positively influence a customer's first impression and all that follow. These positive impressions from the use of regular commercial cleaning companies are vital to a strong brand identity. Keeping your business clean reduces or eliminates bad reviews.
As a facility manager, you know that promotion of your company brand requires a consistent investment in the facility. Your
building required significant capital in its initial construction. Office space with carpeting has a conservative cost of $56 per square foot. As a significant capital expenditure, it pays to make regular investments to prolong the life of the facility.
Replacement cost
of high quality carpeting runs as high as $2790 for 500 square feet. Replacement of hardwood floors for the same parameters runs as high as $5495. These are significant costs that can be reduced substantially by regular maintenance. In fact, proper
carpet maintenance can double the expected life
of your carpeting, significantly reducing expenditure. Proper maintenance of all flooring types extends their useful life and prolongs their replacement.
As a facility manager, you deal with complaints and demands daily so having a commercial cleaning service team in place keeps capital costs down while at the same time maintaining a positive, high-end brand expression. Both customers and your C-Suite are kept happy. Happy upper management and happy customers reduce complaints and reduce your stress because the company's bottom line is improved.
The important take away from this is two-fold. Using a commercial cleaning service will not only reduce your capital expenditures, but your company brand perception will receive a boost, which in the long term increases profit margins. For a facility manager, hiring a reputable corporate cleaning service is a win-win proposition - reducing complaints, reducing your stress and leaving you time to concentrate on your many other tasks.
