A difference of value

Contract cleaning is a highly competitive market. But, says Carl Robinson, Marketing Manager of Nviro, enlightened clients are moving the goal posts to the advantage of service providers that dare to be different.

After weathering the longest recession most of us have ever experienced, contract cleaners and their clients can now look forward to steady growth and business as usual….

It might be a comforting prospect, but it’s now how we see the future of contract cleaning. Yes our industry has started growing again, but the intense pricing pressure of recent years is not going away. If not cut-throat competition, then corner-cutting continues in large parts of the cleaning market.

In the public sector, where budgets have shrunk, there is yet more cost-paring to come.

Smaller organisations in particular often remain to be convinced that outsourcing their cleaning operation offers better value for money.

Many contracts – public and private – are still won and lost on price, and it will always be so when clients are choosing between essentially interchangeable providers of off-the-shelf cleaning services.

That may paint a bleak picture of the cleaning market, but at Nviro our outlook is very positive. The reason? There is a divergence underway in our industry between standard ‘commodity’ cleaning and enhanced, tailored services, and we see ourselves at the forefront of that change.

This is not simply a matter of cleaning standards. The priorities of building owners and facility managers are shifting. Each client is different (truly recognising this and responding accordingly is the challenge) so there are a variety of examples.

The most obvious is sustainability. Our sector has seen more than its fair share of hype and greenwash. Industry analysts believe that a commitment to sustainability has not given contract cleaners any notable competitive advantage. However, they also report that clients’ interest in their service providers’ green credentials is growing.

The Nviro experience is that our commitment to ‘cleaning with a conscience’ is an important differentiator in a crowded market. Moreover, it becomes a compelling business case for clients as sustainability meshes with other issues that are rising on their agenda.

Replacing chemical cleaners with eco-friendly substances, microfibre materials and alternative technologies can be more efficient as well as more ethical. A cleaning service provider that boosts recycling, reduces packaging and other waste, and economises on water and energy use, can benefit the client’s bottom line.

Similarly, an employer concerned about employee wellbeing will see the value of chemical-free cleaning that minimises the exposure of their office staff to allergens – and of enhanced cleaning and sanitisation services that combat bugs and promotes hygiene.

As with sustainability, exaggeration about ‘partnering’ is partly obscuring its importance to the many enlightened clients out there. More want service providers who fit their corporate culture. When a contractor truly understands and shares their commitment – to sustainability, safety, employee wellbeing or corporate responsibility – they are far more likely to meet expectations and earn customer loyalty by adding value.

We are adding value to our services in various ways, ranging from customer service and helpdesk support to quality control. For instance, for a large dialysis treatment centre in the South of England, we developed a highly detailed bespoke template for quality auditing. This analyses 88 different cleaning tasks across the building, records a pass or fail score, and automatically emails the results to the Centre Manager.

We are also integrating complementary activities with our core cleaning operations.

Niche cleaning specialists offer washroom services (such as feminine hygiene or air fresheners); they clean carpets, ducts, windows or incident scenes; or even look after landscaping, security or building maintenance. But they tend to lack the economies of scale of a major cleaning company. Our buying power means we can deliver specialised services at a substantially lower premium.

Another advantage over niche providers is our ability to integrate service delivery, providing a seamless service by using people already on site who know the building and how it is managed. For the client there is comfort too in knowing that a trusted, reliable partner is taking care of these specialist tasks.

However, to deliver specialist services effectively, the provider must also invest in the best equipment and training to industry-recognised standards. As an accredited BICSc (British Institute of Cleaning Science) training hub, Nviro is committed to high-quality training. We also train our operatives in specialist skills, such as floor stripping, resealing, and carpet deep cleaning, which form part of our full periodic cleaning service.

Now we are going further by tailoring our training more closely to the individual needs of employees, and developing the front-line talent that will sustain our in-house management training programme.

This is how to drive value and make the difference in the evolving contract cleaning market.

www.nviro.co.uk

Published in Tomorrow’s Cleaning – January 2016