■ What level of sanitation and cleanli-ness is expected in the location? ■ How many square feet does the loca-tion have? ■ What is the frequency of service? ■ How many people are cleaning the location and how many square feet are custodial workers cleaning? Contractors and distributors may not real-ize just how important these and other ques-tions are for some end customers. At the recent 2012 ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America trade show in Chicago, one of the presenters, Dave Frank, president of the American Institute for Cleaning Sciences (AICS), mentioned that his work with school districts revealed that many district manag-ers do not know what cleaning products their cleaning crews are using, how many square feet their crews are cleaning or are expected to clean or how many vendors they work with to ensure the upkeep and cleanliness of their facilities. For many school districts and other facili-ties operating with severely constricted bud-gets during these tough economic times, this information is vital. Peter Drucker, the famed business man-agement consultant, is credited for saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” This applies to the aforementioned school districts and other facilities in this same situ-ation. Dealing With The Data “Consultative selling is a great concept — if you can manage the data,” says Brian Grillo, e-Commerce manager for AFFLINK. “To make it work, contractors, suppliers and dis-tributors need a process to first input and then interpret the data, and this can be cumber-some in the professional cleaning industry.” Grillo says this is because there are so many different cleaning products by so many different manufacturers. Further, some are conventional, some are best used in certain settings or facili-ties, some are green and some may be green certified by one organization and not another, which can be an issue for those managers that prefer to have all environ-mentally preferable products certified by the same organization. Fortunately, software programs and ana-lytical tools have recently been developed that can help analyze the data and help contractors and distributors and their end customers find, among other things, alterna-tive tools and products that can potentially lower costs, help them transfer to green and sustainable cleaning and recommend new products that may perform more effectively. “Not all the new technologies are the same, and some may provide more infor-mation than others,” adds Grillo. “However, their goals are similar: They can all be used to facilitate consultative selling, build customer loyalty and provide insight so that contractors and distributors can make fact-based decisions that benefit their cus-tomers.” CM Dawn Shoemaker is a frequent writer for the professional cleaning industry. She may be reached at [email protected]. Product Information no. 252 on page 24 www.cmmonline.com 37
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