ProTeam Backpack Vacuums Improve Efficiency At Jani-King Gulf Coast Region F Founded over 40 years ago, Jani-King is now the largest commercial clean-ing franchise company in the world, with over 12,000 franchise owners in regional offices spanning 20 coun-tries. Jani-King recently announced it’s latest success as the top-ranked commercial cleaning fran-chise as listed in the Franchise Direct – Top 100 Global Franchises. Ross Champagne, director of operations for the Gulf Coast Region, supports over 600 Jani-King franchise owners from East Texas to Florida’s panhandle. These franchise owners rely on the extensive training the company pro-vides on the latest cleaning practices and equipment, including high-effi-ciency ProTeam® backpack vacuums. The 10-quart backpack is used in facilities of all sizes, from small offices to stadiums and arenas. “A facility of any square foot-age, 500 or 500,000, the backpack vacuum improves efficiency,” said Champagne. “With the length of the cord, the ease of motion and the speed of vacuuming, it is our pre-ferred vacuum. I would never have an employee push an upright through a facility of any square footage.” A cornerstone of Jani-King’s suc-cess is their continuous education of fran-chise owners who pass on that knowledge to their employees. Step-by-step, franchisees are taught the cleaning processes and the philosophy behind them. They learn about cleaning for health, using the right chemicals, and cleaning high-touch areas to create a healthy envi-ronment. “We explain that these state-of-the-art vacuums with HEPA filtration remove pol-lutants from the air and remove more dirt,” said Champagne. “We don’t leave it in the facility. We contain it and remove it from the facility.” Jani-King franchise owners set up systemized cleaning programs. Every facility has a schedule and itemized inspection sheets that address daily, weekly and monthly cleaning tasks. This eliminates the guesswork for employees. They clean in teams with special-ized technicians who exclusively han-dle restrooms, trash, vacuuming, etc. Then workers do designated non-daily work by zone. When introducing backpack vac-uums to unfamiliar users, Jani-King franchises often get resistance from their cleaning staff. “People resist if they aren’t coached and properly trained on how to use the backpack vacuum,” said Champagne. “We overcome an employee’s reluctance by conduct-ing a demo on the proper use of the vacuum. We tell them, ‘Go spend three hours with an upright, then try the backpack and compare how your arm feels.’ After that, the reluctance disappears.” In an industry that turns over cli-entele at about 4 percent a year, Jani-King has kept their turnover at around one to 1.5 percent — proof of the effectiveness of their processes, equipment and training. Champagne says that equipment designers are an important part of that. “ProTeam is always 100 percent behind the product,” said Champagne. “The answer is always, ‘Yes, we’re taking care of it.’ From a customer service standpoint, ProTeam goes above and beyond the stan-dard supplier.” FREE INFO: Reader Service 302 or CMMOnline.com/freeinfo This content was provided by ProTeam as part of a paid advertisement. For more information, please contact ProTeam directly at (866) 888-2168 or visit www.ProTeamNextGen.com. www.CMMOnline.com 23