contractor success Operating A Minority Cleaning Service Despite the obstacles, great success can be had with hard work and dedication. By: Omar Russell O Operating a minority business is not an easy thing and can be one of the most challeng-ing barriers when operating any business, cleaning or otherwise. A business owner must analyze the demo-graphics of the area or areas in which they’re conducting business and build accordingly in terms of specific hiring practices, training and education for minority employees. There are some geographical areas that are accepting of minorities and, unfortu-nately, there are those that are not. Nonetheless, this should not change the way in which one hires, as it is discrimina-tory, immoral and against the law to not hire a minority over such an observation. Rather, one should hire based on the level of skill and knowledge an individual has and on the basis that the individual has the capacity to learn and develop new skills. When dealing with specific contracts, employees have a great deal of interaction with the clientele’s management and their employees. Therefore, one needs to know how to communicate and interact in a compliant manner, as this is important to gain good rapport. Whether an employee speaks English as his/her first language or second language, it is always important to position an individual based on their strengths. For example, if an employee speaks English as a second language and doesn’t speak it fluently, it is not recommended to place such an employee in a position where he/she would have to communicate with the clientele’s management on a regular basis. Minority cleaning services are on the rise in the vast majority of the country, and there are many opportunities for these companies to get an upper hand in the industry. Unique Opportunities Minority-based businesses should look into getting their company certified as a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE). This certification opens up many doors within the community in which they conduct business, as there are different entities of business that are required to contract out to a certain percentage of MBEs per year, and it is an invitation for minority businesses to compete with the rest for upcoming bids. As a building service contractor (BSC), I’ve noticed that the cleaning and maintenance industry has taken a downturn in profitability. One of the main causes to this effect is that minority-based companies, as start-ups, enter the industry with the wrong intentions or simply with a lack of knowledge about how to price and contend with the competition without compromising profitability, longevity and the industry as a whole. With my company having its main office branch located in Miami, Florida, I’ve encountered many instances where a minority individual decides to start a clean-ing company with the intention of securing employment for themself. For example: Instead of entering bids that will be suitable for their company’s operation, they enter bids that are suitable to compensate themself as an employee of the company for which they are entering the bid. Over the years, this has become an ongo-ing trend that has downgraded the cleaning and maintenance industry and left many BSCs with little or no options. Ultimately, they are forced to either pull out of the business or branch off to different sectors, as remaining a BSC alone will not be sufficiently profitable. We, as minority cleaning services, need to think bigger in terms of what it is we are doing and educate ourselves and others about how we can still be competitive without settling for less than accepted industry standards — regarding both money and quality. We do this by trial and error, yes, but we also do this by observing and analyzing our industry and utilizing the resources given to us as minority businesses. There are certain types of clients that gravitate toward using our services, including Minority cleaning services face the same challenges as other operations, making proper employee training and effective communication with clients constants. 34 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • August 2012 Image courtesy of ProTeam Inc.
CMM – Archives August 2012: 34
