Cleaner Training
In today’s episode Mike Coaches Veroushka Menser of Show Me Dust Bunnies https://www.facebook.com/showmedustbunnies on Cleaner Training.
Veroushka’s employees are consistently taking too long to clean accounts and she needs help figuring out how to get them back on track with better Cleaner Training.

There are 2 reasons your employees cleaning times could be off:

Your epectations of what is “taking too long” are unreasonable
Your employees aren’t cleaning efficiently
In Veroushka’s case, she spent 8 months doing research figuring out how long each account takes to service. So she knows how long each account should take, which leaves only only possiblity of inefficienties in their cleaning.

They aren’t slacking off, they just aren’t working efficiently.

Typically your employees are really only going to work 70-80% as hard as you would so if they’re only taking an extra 10% in time to complete a job that’s totally normal. But if it’s 30min or even double, there’s something way off.

Veroushka’s training is 2 weeks of training with her, and then she backs off slowly as she checks them as a quality. Then a 90 day period to work on the timing.

Although there is a tremendous amount of care and effort put into making sure her cleaners are up to her company’s standards, there should really only be 1 type of training for cleaning…the right way.

Don’t work on technique and quality and then separately try to speed up the process later, teach them all at once.

BONUS TIP: 3 months is too long to train someone.

As the end of their training, have them train someone else. There is no better way to ingrane your training and ensure they understand what is expected of them by having them train a new cleaner.

BONUS TIP: Make videos for your Cleaner Training and keep them updated and use the m often!

Any training process should use checkmarks and milestones.

Every employee should be able to complete several tasks based on real world expectations. For example, cleaning x amount of houses in y amount of time and receive no complaints in 30 days etc…

If they can’t pass the time requirement, they just don’t get hired.

If you are thinking “But what about the employees I already have?”

For existing employees tell them you are starting a new training program and put them all through it.

BONUS TIP: Employees will do exactly what you pay them to do.

Any time you set up a bonus for someone to do something, they will do exactly that, no more no less. So when setting up bonus as incentive, make sure you are very clear on what is expected and the end result so that corners aren’t being cut just to make extra money.

Let’s move on to one of the biggest motivators out there… raises.

Raises should absolutely be tied to performance. Give small raises frequently, with caps of course and those raises should come reviews.

How well do they live your core values, are they cleaning faster? Are they getting good feedback from customers?

When it comes to Cleaner Training and expectations, always use your own numbers, don’t worry about what other companies expect and do. You are the owner, this is your company, you set the standards.

BONUS TIP: There should never be “negociation” on what is expected from your employees.

Have clear standards in time and quality, if those standards aren’t met, then there are consequences. You set the standard for par and you can’t let wanting your employees to like you let those standards slip.

If you feel like you are being held hostage by bad employees you need to fix that problem immediately.

You don’t want to compound problems by allowing your employees to be sloppy because your hiring process is broken.

Fix your hiring process so you have a steady stream of good employees so if and when your employees refuse to work at your standards, then get rid of them.

They wouldn’t accept a sliding scale on their pay, then why would you accept a sliding scale on work performance?

You can’t have an attitude of being held hostage and not wanting to be bossy or pushy. You are responsible for the company, happy employees and customers and profitability. If your Cleaner Training process isn’t setting your employees up for success, fix it!

Lightning Round
Work on your referrals first
Don’t make a lot of low bid contracts in the beginning just to get work
Always get as much information you can get on anything when starting out on a new endeavor.