Friday, April 13, 2012

Why Janitorial Companies and Cleaning Services MUST Be Members of LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com
LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with more than 150 million members world wide. Connections to 103,828 property managers, 30,240 facility managers, 589,653 office managers, 22,360 directors of facilities, 46,899 maintenance managers, and 67,034 plant managers, are all members of LinkedIn and purchase cleaning and janitorial services and supplies.

The number of cleaning services and janitorial companies have skyrocketed over the last 30 years, growing from 19,000 total companies in the US, to over 127,000 in 2011.

The competition for every commercial cleaning dollar spent has never been greater. At the same time, access to the digital world of business and commerce and the single most important thing a janitorial company owner can do, get connected to this digital world.

Connecting is not just with potential buyers but also with employees, suppliers and everyone you do business with. LinkedIn has proven to be the most powerful and free, online tool to connect to the business world. The market for janitorial and cleaning services is driven by connections. It always has been about making connections.

If there was a ever a business relationship requiring trust, familiarity and accessibility, the relationship between a cleaning service and their client is one of the most important but one of the hardest to develop.

In the 1970s I started a small janitorial company. I studied about management and marketing and the business grew to over 100 buildings. I sold that company and in the early 1980s and went to work for a large janitorial service that only cleaned skyscrapers and very large buildings. What I learned there was that making connections was everything. It was not what you knew but WHO you knew that mattered.

Connections and contacts were made the old fashioned way, cold calling on targeted prospects and engaging them on a personal level. What the company I worked for called, going out and making friends. Today, door to door cold calling is extremely difficult due to the competitive landscape.

Property and Facility Managers have a constant stream of cold calling vendors standing in their lobbies and calling them for a sales opportunity, janitorial services are only one of the many services offered. Landscaping, security, pest control, mechanical maintenance, parking and every single service a building may need is vying for Building Management’s attention and dollars.

LinkedIn does not take the place of a face to face meeting but it prepares the way for one. LinkedIn is not a listing or network of companies but of individuals within companies and that’s where it’s power lies. People connecting with people. The best part is that it is free.

As the janitorial industry was late in adopting the internet, once again we are late to the next digital wave, social media and in today’s competitive marketplace for cleaning services, we simply cannot ignore this powerful new medium.   



Come give it a peek http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Janitorial-Subcontracting-Network-4343478

3 comments:

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  2. This is very good information.i think it's useful advice. really nice blog. keep it up!!!

    janitorial services hartford

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  3. To run any business successfully, it is important that you have good contacts in your field. Contacts can be easily made through social networking sites like LinkedIn. More contacts means more business.

    The Cleaning Company

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