Part 1 of 6: The Outsourcing of Your Custodial Organization is Not Inevitable

As a custodial consultant, I spend a great deal of my time working with in-house custodial managers, supervisors and service providers. While I generally find myself impressed with their professionalism and commitment, I am often struck by how many of them live in fear of that “O” word.

“Outsourcing” – there, I said it – outsourcing, outsourcing, outsourcing. It’s the boogie man shared by in-house cleaning professionals at all levels – it’s their elephant in the room; their monster under the bed. In fact, most of the custodial managers I know close their office doors before they even utter the word.

I’ve decided that the best thing I can do for my in-house clients is to help them understand that they do not have to spend their time and energy looking over their shoulders; the outsourcing of their programs is not inevitable.

Rather, I work with them to proactively address the issues which might cause their managers to look for alternative solutions in the first place. Those issues typically include: a need for cost savings, concerns about productivity, issues relating to quality and program manageability.

By improving in those areas – and continuously documenting and reporting on those improvements –they can feel confident that their management will view their in-house organization as the best long-term option.

Stay Tuned for Part 2 of 6: You Can Compete with the Outsourcing Option…

About the Author

Featured in Money Magazine as an entrepreneur placing his “personal stamp on America”, Tony is a nationally recognized janitorial consulting leader, speaker, and author. As a highly-skilled janitorial program designer/negotiator with thirty years of industry experience, he has successfully led portfolio-wide cost savings and quality improvement initiatives for all types of outsourced and in-house programs. A Cornell University graduate, Tony has held positions at operations, sales, training and executive levels within the janitorial and jan-san industries. In 1995, he founded Core Management Services and has since provided consulting services to many of the world’s leading corporations, universities and buying organizations. Contact Tony at 800.772.6352 x304 or visit the Core Management Services’ website at www.coreamerica.com to learn more.

“This economy demands that we reevaluate every business decision on an hourly basis… until we are convinced that we have done everything in our power to save money. When we are satisfied that we have, we’ll begin the process again. Anything short of this would constitute poor stewardship and negligence on our part.”

As the person managing your company’s janitorial program during the worst economy in recent history, maybe now is the time to do an honest self-assessment of your stewardship by asking yourself a few questions:

1- Have I exhausted every option to save money for my company?
2- Have I left some cost-savings opportunities unexplored?

If you are not currently working with an established, trusted and experienced industry consultant, chances are you have indeed left some opportunities unexplored. Statistics indicate that companies involved in “traditional” client-vendor relationships (without an objective consultant) pay as much as twenty percent more for identical janitorial services than their consultant-represented counterparts.

Consider five reasons why you may be failing to capture unrealized savings and why you should consider hiring an independent janitorial consultant to work on your behalf:

#1 –Your janitorial provider’s goals are not aligned with yours

While your janitorial provider may demonstrate a commitment to delivering quality services at competitive prices, it is vital to remember that their primary corporate mission is to maximize their own corporate profits, not yours.

Vendor pricing varies greatly from client to client. The best vendor sales teams will develop your pricing only after assessing your organization’s level of technical expertise and marketplace pricing intelligence. The marketplace is very dynamic; it is never safe to assume that your team has the most up-to-date market information.

Additionally, your provider is likely to be in a constant mode of reassessing the resources applied to your project. Your project manager will be tasked with completing your job at the lowest possible cost while still meeting your requirements. As your provider learns more about your project, they naturally save money and become more profitable. If you do not have the expertise to command a share of these savings, they will accrue only to your provider.

#2 – Your janitorial provider has a hidden advantage whenever you negotiate

Janitorial service providers are experts at using production rate calculations to negotiate pricing. They can calculate, with a high degree of accuracy, the costs associated with providing their services. Unless your team possesses comparable production rate analysis expertise, you will be at a distinct disadvantage when you negotiate anything with your provider.

Take the following quick self-test:

1- How many minutes should it take to clean one restroom fixture?
2- How many minutes should it take to collect office trash in a ten-thousand square foot area?
3- How many minutes should it take to damp mop a one thousand square foot area?

Your provider has the expertise to answer these questions quickly. Does your team have similar expertise? If not, you’ll need outside expertise to maximize savings.

#3 – Hiring a Core consultant will radically change your negotiating position

A janitorial consultant levels the playing field by bringing the same (and frequently better) skills to your side of the bargaining table. Your consultant is not encumbered by the responsibility of providing your day-to-day cleaning services. Therefore, he or she has more time than your service provider to develop the analysis of your production rates and comparable marketplace pricing models. For the first time, your team will have the “information advantage.” An experienced consultant knows how to leverage this information and is experienced in negotiating contracts. He or she has already participated in hundreds or thousands of similar marketplace transactions and is aware of where the suppliers can and will bend without compromising quality.

#4 – Janitorial consultants are not expensive

A janitorial consultant will save you money. With an average ROI of more than 500%, janitorial consultants provide savings, not additional costs. Frequently, consultants’ fees are performance-based, short term, and are earned-out mostly after the client begins saving money.

#5 – Every day you don’t use a janitorial consultant costs you money

If you manage janitorial services and are being asked to provide savings to your organization, do not hesitate another day. Most new janitorial program changes can be negotiated and implemented within sixty to ninety days.

About the Author
Featured in Money Magazine as an entrepreneur placing his “personal stamp on America”, Tony is a nationally recognized janitorial consulting leader, speaker, and author. As a highly-skilled janitorial program designer/negotiator with thirty years of industry experience, he has successfully led portfolio-wide cost savings and quality improvement initiatives for all types of outsourced and in-house programs. A Cornell University graduate, Tony has held positions at operations, sales, training and executive levels within the janitorial and jan-san industries. In 1995, he founded Core Management Services and has since provided consulting services to many of the world’s leading corporations, universities and buying organizations. Contact Tony at 800.772.6352 x304 or visit the Core Management Services’ website at www.coreamerica.com to learn more.

Question: What is ‘benchmarking,’ exactly?

Answer: The process of comparing one’s business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost.

The next logical question: What are the benchmarks that are most important to creating a sound RFP?

To answer that, you’ll likely need to follow the lead of top performers in your industry and discuss your options with a cleaning industry consultant. Hiring a cleaning consultant may sound intimidating at first, but here’s what you can expect from a good consultant:

What a good cleaning industry consultant will do for you:

Improved marketplace intelligence. In other words, a good consultant will give you a total shift in perspective. They’ll have years of experience that make them flexible and capable of creating RFPs in every type of industry and for every type of facility. They’ll use benchmarking to measure each aspect of your program, from the bottom to the top. And, above all, a good consultant will be a true third-party in your RFP experience. They won’t hesitate to tell you what you don’t want to hear. They’ll have the necessary experience to help you avoid pitfalls – they’ve been there before, many times, with past clients. This is not something they do every three to five years but something they are doing day-in and day-out.

What you want to look for when hiring a cleaning consultant:

Someone with an experienced staff and a strong track record of success – especially with clients of your size and industry. They may have an impeccable record with clients bigger or smaller than you, but if they haven’t proved their worth to a company of comparable size, take a step back and reevaluate. Also, an RFP process can change drastically depending on industry, so make sure they consulting team has had success in your industry in the past.

Next time: Identify Your Cleaning Goals Before You Begin Your RFP Process