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Redraw your commercial system
By Fred Geyen
APRIL 28, 2011
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In a perfect world we would all be perfect, including our businesses.
But we don''t live in a perfect world… and when you get into commercial carpet cleaning, you will no doubt testify that we do, indeed, live on the imperfect side of things.
Granted, there some days when things run so great we might describe our own business as being brilliant… perfection personified, at least until we get that call or report which brings us crashing back to earth.
This month''s article examines the honest problems that a business goes through and some information on methods to permanently solve the most nagging challenges.
The pressure
When you start doing commercial carpet cleaning, it will put new pressure on your business no matter if you are a single truck operator or if you have several employees.
This new pressure will be in the form of expanded hours that your business operates. Remember, commercial is typically done in evenings and on weekends. Even if you are a single truck operator, you will most likely need to hire at least some part-time help; if you already have employees, they will be required to work different hours, learning new systems.
It''s also true that more and different types of work expose weaknesses in business systems, testing them to their limits. This can be compared to the way plumbers test their pipes for leaks by putting pressure on the system and exposing the weak joints.
The following list is a documented account of the imperfect problems a seasoned commercial carpet cleaning company experienced in just one week of March 2011.
Please have patience as the list is long.
Spots that did not come out at a particular job
Employees were punching in and out incorrectly
After a job well done an unreasonable customer wanted the job redone
A large job went well over budget
The cleaning crew left an unmarked container on the job right next to the environmental director''s desk
Out of 24 job applicants, most had bad driving records, and only three qualified to have a background check
The front door of the office was left open overnight
A van was sitting in the parking lot with a door open and two pieces of equipment sitting next to it with no crew in the vicinity
A crew could not get into an account because they had the wrong alarm code
A fuel pump went out in a van
The employees hated the new gloves and wondered why the employer was too cheap to buy good ones even though the new ones cost more than the old ones
Two applicants not hired called back at least six times with semi-harassing calls
Products not approved by the owner, that were also missing the material safety data sheets (MSDS), were used on jobs and stocked on the shelves
Employees were upset because they did not understand the 7/8 rule for time
Repairs on some equipment had costs that were not acceptable.
Please bear in mind that this is a good, profitable business with a clean back room, uniformed employees and training program.
For this business, none of these problems were overwhelming, but they caused a lot of frustration. If you are in the cleaning business, you already have many of these same types of issues.
Real challenges
Some of you may identify with the list, while others can''t believe that anyone would have these kinds of problems… and still others had ways that they solved each one of them as they read them.
The next question is, “What caused all these problems?” Several management experts report that 95 percent of all problems are process problems, leaving only five percent of problems attributed to personnel or employees.
Looking for culprits never solves problems.
Adding new commercial work puts new demands on your processes and exposes their weaknesses.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a proven way to start solving these process problems.
A simple example: You have a drip coming out of the bottom of a bathroom sink. You can either turn off the water, put a bucket under it to catch the water or fix the pipe.
How many times in our businesses do we turn off the water, or put a bucket in place?
You can find great worksheets for RCA free on the Internet that will take you through the entire process for each problem you encounter.
You''ll actually find yourself catching problems internally, which will save you money and frustration by finding it ahead of your customers.
If the customer catches a mistake in your process, your cost of doing business goes up. The best example of that from the previous list is the environmental manager finding the unmarked container — that is not a pretty outcome.
Truthfully, we are either solving problems or we are finding new ones. There is no perfect business. Every business needs to make improvement.
These improvements do not have to be huge. In fact, small, incremental and effective change is a good goal.
“Continuous Improvement Process” (CIP) is another term to review for your business. CIP''s main premise is that you stop and take some time to reflect and identify permanent solutions for ongoing system breakdowns.
The end goal is to put out fires permanently, not allowing them to flare up day after day.
Getting rid of just some of your long-term process problems will allow your commercial business to move forward.
Fred Geyen is president of the Geyen Group (www.geyengroup.com). His background includes commercial product sales and program development for residential, commercial and disaster restoration with ServiceMaster. He has a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED-AP) designation and is on the board of directors with the LMCCA. Geyen can be contacted at (612) 799-5111.
