Many people assume that a cleaning business does not require any professional qualifications to manage. Some even think that as long as you can handle a mop and a spray bottle, then you are good to go. In this article, I will outline 5 essential skill sets necessary to effectively manage your professional cleaning company.
The truth of the matter is that a cleaning company is one of the most scalable business in the economy with the exponential potential to grow and the only way to expand is through strategic planning, thinking long terms, setting up proper internal controls, and acquiring professional assistance to manage your administrative and operational aspects of the business.
There are many ways of venturing into the cleaning industry. Some will acquire an existing company others will start from scratch while some start as cleaners, with time, end up registering, and running a cleaning company.
Sales and Marketing
This is probably one of the most essential functions of any organization. Simply put, you might be the best in the industry offering premium cleaning services but without customers to offer those services to, then this stops being a business.
Most people assume that selling is something that comes naturally. To some it does but to others, this is an acquired skill. Formal sales training is very important as most sales curriculums have been well thought out and lots of hours of research have been conducted to come up with sales processes that work. The internet is rich with valuable information on how to sell cleaning services in Kenya do some research and enroll in online sales courses to sharpen your sales skills.
As the markets continue to evolve so many trends have come up. We have experienced an evolution in technology which has greatly assisted in leveraging how marketing and brand awareness is conducted. There are so many learning platforms that will broaden your knowledge of this subject matter.
Financial Management
Financial management is a broad topic that forms the core structure of any business covering key areas such as accounting and bookkeeping, Management accounting and reporting, financial analysis, tax management audit, cashflow management, e.t.c.
So how do you evaluate whether your business is profitable or loss-making if you don’t keep proper and updated financial records of all the transactions in your cleaning company? How do you monitor your debtor or creditors and keep your business afloat without knowledge of cashflow management? How do you keep track of your inventory, fixed assets and how do you pay your staff or even pay taxes without knowledge on financial management?
The good news is that this is an easy to learn skill especially if your company is relatively small and the more you expand then it will necessitate you to hire a professional accountant or Financial Management. Even with professional help you still need to learn the fundamentals of Accounting to have an open mind on how your company performs as compared to the market and to be able to use your resources in an optimum way.
Why don’t you enroll in an institution that offers financial management courses?
Human Resource Management
A cleaning company is a service-oriented sector which heavily depends on human resource skills. The quality of services is only as good as the quality of your employees. That is why you need to hire the best talent in the market and up your people’s management skills to have a sustainable business model.
A course on human resource management will train you on how to hire the best candidate for the role at hand and ensure that you retain top talents, develop a compensation and benefits package that will keep your employees motivated, Address concerns and resolve conflict arising from your employees, familiarize yourself with the laws governing the human resource body.
Currently, there are so many court cases resulting from unfair practices that have cost companies millions of dollars. From experience, I have learned that and employee is always favored by the law and that they will always have an upper hand. A human resource course will save you a lot of stress and financial losses and also give your cleaning company a good reputation. This reputation will attract top talent. This can be achieved for just a small commitment of time and money used to enroll for a human resource management course.
Procurement Management
Now you have your sales coming in, finances are in check, you have the right staff to support your cleaning business and all. The rule of thumb in economics is that you have to spend to make money. However, you have to spend wisely. How do you spend optimally? Buy buying the right good or services from the right vendor at the best price possible without compromising on the quality of your purchase.
Procurement management isn’t just buying stuff. You need to acquaint yourself with how to evaluate suppliers, conducting an interview with vendors, negotiating supplier agreements and contracts, monitoring the company’s purchases, and being a good negotiator. The number one drivers of cost are the people tasked to conduct the procurement process. They may be the ones that stand in the way of the company being profitable. With proper internal controls and processes, this function will lead to cost efficiencies. Why not enroll for a course now so you can learn on ways to reduce cleaning costs?
Store/Inventory Management
The procurement department has sourced and bought all the cleaning supplies required for cleaning. How then do you organize, store, and distribute these items? How do you monitor the stock items to prevent running out? What is your storage capacity? Do you hold an optimal level of stock? How long does it take for a supplier to deliver stock items? What are the internal controls governing issuance or stock? These are the issues that you need to address.
In most cases, if not properly managed, the stock is prone to misuse, theft or if not properly issued some stock items will go bad. An inventory management course(Thinking skills for beginners) will teach you how to set up proper processes to store, issue, and control stock optimally.
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