Before you get started on your search for the perfect janitorial service, read our five foolproof tips for finding effective janitorial services. You will learn how to avoid the fakers, know if your janitorial company is pricing their services fairly, make your life easier and even get a great shortcut for cutting through the clutter to find office cleaning services or industrial cleaning services with whom you can create a lasting, mutually beneficial partnership.

Tip #1 - Is Your Commercial Janitorial Service Companies a People Centric Organization?

People are the core of any service business. Your cleaning company could do everything else right and if they take shortcuts on their people and people processes, you will never get effective, reliable, consistent cleaning. What does a people centric organization look like?

• They attract good applicants for janitorial jobs through a positive reputation within their community.
• They screen all applicants looking for the individuals who are well suited for janitorial jobs.
• The conduct full criminal background checks and drug testing every single time assuring that people you can trust are in your facility.
• They give their employees extensive training that sets them up to succeed at janitorial jobs leading to lowered turnover and happier customers.
• They communicate with their frontline cleaners to make sure they understand what you the customer needs and can meet your needs quickly and consistently.
• They conduct regular janitorial inspections to insure reliability through accountability, this helps their teams do their best.
• They value their employees as people and support this relationship with competitive pay, benefits and rewards, recognition and incentives for improvement and exceptional service. In this way, your commercial cleaning company in Michigan also hangs on to their best people and reduces their overall janitorial turnover offering you a better overall service and value from your janitorial services company.

Tip #2 - Is Your Commercial Janitorial Services Set Up For Success?

It’s one thing to want to provide your customers with great service and it’s another thing to actually do it. What turns intentions into actions? Systems and processes that provide reliability through accountability. What kind of systems drive effective and responsive janitorial services? Things like a comprehensive hiring, screening and training process to help assure great teams. Systems may also include things like janitorial inspections to keep service on track and consistent. Likewise, the best commercial cleaning companies will have systemized, transparent pricing so that you know precisely what you are buying with your janitorial budget. Clear pricing also helps you trim the budget if needed and compare multiple leaning quotes to get the best value. Does a prospective janitorial company have the systems in place to deliver on their promises to you?

Tip #3 - Go Big, But Not Too Big

Size matters but go too big with national janitorial services and you can get lost in a sea of customers never knowing who to go to when things aren’t working out as promised. And yet, choose a local Michigan janitorial company that’s too small and you aren’t likely to get the professionalism, resources, flexibility that you need. A large local Michigan janitorial company can provide you with the staffing flexibility you need to handle peak times without overstaffing the rest of the year. Likewise a large Michigan building maintenance services company will most likely have a large menu of less used services like painting, commercial handyman services, plumbing, day porter services and more allowing you to coordinate many basic repairs and maintenance through a trusted contractor you already have a great partnership with. This can save you both money and time and help you get preventive maintenance or emergency maintenance handled timely and cost effectively.

Tip #4 - Show Me Don’t Tell Me

This one is really important because it applies to everything else on this list. Your commercial cleaning company needs to show you and not just tell you how they deliver great service. Any sales team can put together a good spiel but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. So ask to see their training materials. Demand to view their hiring processes. Ask to be given a clear and detailed janitorial quote. The best janitorial companies who have great systems and processes will be all too happy to show you under the hood. They understand they do it differently than their competitors and will be happy to show you and glad you asked. Whether it’s their green cleaning program, state of the art equipment or low attrition rates, let your prospective janitorial company offer you real proof and not just a good sales pitch.

Tip #5 - A Shortcut In Your Search For a Capable, Quality Janitorial Cleaning Service  

If you are trying to find a qualified janitorial company, CIMS is a great tool for both creating your shortlist and streamlining the process. What exactly is ISSA CIMS GB?  Well it’s more than just a bunch of letters. Here’s what all those letters actually mean. First, ISSA is the International Sanitary Supply Association, a worldwide professional organization for building services companies that provide cleaning, janitorial, building maintenance and other related services. Second, CIMS is the Cleaning Industry Management Standard Certification. The CIMS is an industry certification process that challenges BSCs (Building Services Contractors) to adopt and verify that they are meeting the very highest standards in their respective industries. Lastly, the GB in ISSA CIMS GB, stands for Green Building. The "Green Building" component of the certification establishes commercial cleaning companies capacity to assist you in green cleaning, even helping you earn LEED-EBOM points. CIMS, because it is so challenging, means that any CIMS certified janitorial company is set up to succeed. It is the closest thing to a guarantee you will get in the overcrowded field of cleaning companies.

While we cannot make the process of outsourcing your cleaning easy, if you follow the five foolproof tips for finding the right janitorial company for your facility, you are likely to make the process quicker and far less painful.