Episode 161 Larado Bulkley ASC Cleaning Services
Do you buy cleaning supplies from Walmart? Costco? Spend time driving around to find the best deal? In today’s blog Mike coaches Larado Bulkley with ASC Cleaning Services on exactly how to stop wasting time driving around with cleaning supplies in the trunk of your car and start building relationships with your janitorial vendors that will not only save you time, but grow your cleaning company.

Larado already has his janitorial vendors helping him in some pretty exciting ways that you can feel free to steal and deploy with your janitorial vendors:

They go with him on bids as consultants (how fancy is that??)
Do inventory for him (now we are talkin)
Pick up and drop off laundry (you know you hate dealing with laundry)
Deliver supplies (did someone say time saver…)
Larado wants to know how else he can leverage his relationship with his janitorial supply companies.

Step 1:

Don’t use multiple janitorial supply vendors. Pick one

Step 2:

Don’t negotiate for lower prices, negotiate for better service

Step 3:

Give that janitorial supply vendor ALL of your business in exchange for preferential treatment

BONUS LOVIN- Check out this podcast/ blog on finding good janitorial vendors
RESOURCE ALERT: Here is a LINK where you can find janitorial vendors that are members of the ISSA
Once you have that relationship in place, there are some very exciting ways you can supercharge those relationships with your janitorial vendors.

Janitorial vendors serve most of the larger cleaning companies in your area. They often know what is going on with good employees looking for new work well before that becomes public knowledge.

Your relationship gives you the opportunity to get that information before anyone else. Sometimes you can even get your janitorial supply company to recommend top talent to talk to you before anyone else.

KEY POINT: Discover the BEST Talent Before Anyone Else
Janitorial vendors also know who buys what. The company that buys the most are typically the most successful. Find out who these companies are and model their best practices.

The next way to supercharge your relationship with your janitorial vendors is equipment and training. When you have a good relationship with your sanitary supply company you can often hear of good deals before they come on the market. You can also get free training from the janitorial vendors and or the companies that supply them.

Excited yet? You will be for this one…

Your janitorial vendors benefit when you get new customers. Especially when they come on bids with you like we talked about above. When you get a new customer, often they get a new customer. Why not turn the tables and ask them to promote you to their customer list of companies that buy supplies from them directly?

KEY POINT: Don’t just leverage your relationship with janitorial vendors, leverage their relationship with your potential customers!
Wanna take that concept to another level? You can create this type of strategic alliance with all types of vendors. Nearly every business has a CPA and an “insurance guy”. Why not partner with a professional from each of these worlds? You can promote them to your customers and they can promote you to their customers. Listen into the podcast (or check out the YouTube video) for details on how to do that.

Finally, you don’t just want to partner with your janitorial vendors and other vendors. Leverage the value of trade associations!

We already mentioned the ISSA one of our industries top associations. For all of our Canadian friends, check out the CSSA.

RESOURCE ALERT: CLICK HERE for a video Mike did with the ISSA and HERE for the interview with the President of the CSSA.
Here are some additional trade associations:

BSCAI – Building Service Contractors Association International

WCRA – Windows Cleaners Associations

IICRC – Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification

MGMA – Medical Group Management Association

Of course no blog/ podcast would be complete without the opportunity for our guest to share their wisdom in the …