[merlin]

hi has this happend to anyone else or is it just one of those things sent to try you . we have four good contracts that we have had for over three years and this month we have lost them all to hourly rate cleaners how do you compete

[Fox]

Hi

Sounds like you are having a pretty crap time of it!  It seems wierd that you have lost all of these contracts at the same time, is it possibly someone who knows your business that now has them?  When you say hourly rate cleaners what precisely do you mean?

Fox

[merlin]

thanks for the reply it does seem strange to lose all these at once , and i even thought someone was trying to sabotage my company paranoid or what ? when i say hourly rate i mean inhouse cleaners for example we had a resturant that we cleaned 7 days 52 weeks year inc xmas day boxin day etc charged 322 per week never let him down . it is a very busy place and needs at least 3 people for 2 hours more  at weekend and he has replaced us with two cleaners from his kitchen ? he gave us an excellent ref as have all the others so i am confused  .

[Fox]

Hmmm - all sounds very odd!  I prob would have been tempted to tell them they had to keep your staff under TUPE terms and that you pay them £15 per hour!  

Problem with inhouse is cover for hols, sick etc so they will prob go back to contractors eventually, other problem is that it may not be you, people are often too embarrased to go back to their previous contractor and say they made a mistake.

Get some sales info out and do some cold calling, I'm sure you'll get more business in.  I really feel for you and i'm not surprised you are a bit paranoid I know i would be!

Fox

[merlin]

yep you may be right we shall wait and see what happens. do you think it might be worth contacting the restaurant just to see how its going with is in house cleaners ? thanks for the reply

[Bertie Boo]

I wouldn't, but i could see no harm in telling them in a light-hearted way that theirs wasnt the only contract you lost recently and could they give you some feedback.

I dont think you've much (if anything) to gain by knowing whether their new system is 'working' for them, and i'm not sure it's really your place to ask (dont take that the wrong way, i'm just saying it like it is  ). But certainly you should (if only in a moral sense) be entitled to some feedback.

Try to appear laid-back (ish) and let them know that the door is propped open for them should they decide to use you in the future OR maybe even as a one-off (for a price of course!) to help keep on top of what the new cleaners are doing.

Hope this helps and i wish you the best of luck at this difficult time.

Stephen

[Fox]

I would probably give them a call to find out if all is ok and say that if they ever needed your services then they can call you.

Fox

[carpetguy]

As we don't know the details of the premises or work involved we can only guess, but if I lost work, which appeared secure, my first thoughts would be. Why?  Is it just cost control by the business  or have I or my staff become complacent with a drop in productivity  standards  attitude.
A major problem with regular work, is maintaining standards and employees who work alone will always cut corners or develop bad habits. Human nature I'm afraid. So I'd suggest having a hard look at your operation and your staff. Just in case  :
 

[Bertie Boo]

I totally agree with clean and dry BUT as someone who works alone, from start to finish, i think even amongst the best of cleaners the standard will reach a level where some people feel that the cleaning is not that good any more.

I am sure that a lot of it is simply because the client gets used to the service (how many times have i bought a brand new vacuum or steam iron and thought how wonderful it was, only to quickly get used to its performance and allow myself to be fooled into thinking it was not that good any more).

With cleaning i think that because (as a ball park figure) 90% of the work is clearing up the sh#t from that day or week and returning the place to some sort of normality, it is difficult for others to know what has been done and to move a piece of furniture or the like and think "blimey, no one cleans round here, they must be a crap bunch of cleaners".

That said, i have seen some pretty lousy cleaning in peoples homes where they have been using cleaners before me. I think there must be a lot of reasons for poor performance. In domestic cleaning i know that the financial rewards are poor unless you work for yourself...

Stephen

[merlin]

hi thanks to all who has reply its been useful as to the cleaning this job was very important to us , so all the work wase done by myself and two staff who excell in their work . the reason he gave for getting inhouse kitchen cleaners was a price issue .  i dont think we charged him too much because we worked 7 days a week for 3 hours 52 weeks a year inc xmas day box day etc it was a very large posh place so had to be right . but like i said thanks for your advice. things can only get better


carol   

[cleanimperial]

They will regret it

[Bertie Boo]

I thought that.

Maybe i cannot see it from the resturants point of view, but if a good job is clearly being done why on earth do they think that THIS is the area in which they need to economise?

I know in domestic cleaning (where the costs and other aspects are simpler and the client more keen to pay for a good job) the cost of the service is not usually the principle factor in who they employ.

Stephen