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Training For Basic Floor Cleaning Tasks Still Important
Janitor Training Should Be Flexible For Different Clients
BY Kassandra Kania
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Don鈥檛 overlook the basics. While it鈥檚 important to keep up with the latest advances in floor care, Bill Allen, territory manager for Fagan Sanitary Supply, West Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, warns jan/san distributors not to do so at the expense of daily maintenance.
鈥淪ometimes the most simplistic part of maintenance, such as dust mopping or vacuuming, tends to get overlooked,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e tend to focus on high-end tasks, like carpet extraction and floor stripping, but the most critical thing is to spend time on simplistic, routine maintenance.鈥�
Waddell鈥檚 education sessions adopt a similar approach.
鈥淲e give the customer a true understanding that the most important part of floor care is what they do on a daily basis for dry soil removal,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you have the proper processes in place for vacuuming and dust mopping, it makes all the difference in the world 鈥� and makes it easier to perform other tasks.鈥�
Don鈥檛 just tell, show. Telling customers how to operate a piece of equipment leaves room for error. Showing end users the equipment and demonstrating how it operates improves their understanding and helps them determine if it鈥檚 the right fit for their flooring needs.
鈥淎 lot of our competitors have equipment in a storefront that customers can look at but not necessarily demo, so they have no way of knowing if it will perform to their specific needs,鈥� says Krysten Jefferson, business development manager, Hercules & Hercules, Detroit. 鈥淲e have a showroom with equipment, and our clients are able to come in and test it or take the equipment to their site where we can work with them to see if it fits their scenario.鈥�
Allowing customers to see products, tools and procedures in action raises the distributor鈥檚 training program to a higher level, says Allen.
鈥淲hen people have hands-on opportunities they鈥檙e able to ask questions with more substance and depth,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t also allows people to see that not everything goes perfectly, and when it doesn鈥檛 go perfectly, how best to address the problem, adjust and correct.鈥�
Do embrace technology. Just as a physical demonstration can improve a customer鈥檚 knowledge and understanding of a product or process, using the internet can enhance learning and provide the end user with a more interactive experience.
鈥淪tart looking toward digitalization of the industry rather than relying on how things were done in the past,鈥� says
Huizenga. 鈥淥ur clients are getting younger, and they grew up with computers, so they look for information digitally.鈥�
Last year, Nichols invested in a mobile application that walks customers through floor care fundamentals 鈥� from daily maintenance to interim cleaning and restorative care.
鈥淐ustomers like the fact that they can access the application 24/7 and they can customize it to create their own internal training program,鈥� says Huizenga.
Do help customers market their business. Service departments typically don鈥檛 know how to articulate their own worth; therefore, a good training program should focus on teaching customers how to market the value of their operation, says Thompson.
鈥淭he other day I saw a van come in here, and on the side of the van it said, 鈥榃e wax floors,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淲ell, we haven鈥檛 done that in 50 years. If you market yourself that way you鈥檙e just like everybody else out there who doesn鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e talking about. So as distributors we have to teach customers a new, progressive, healthy way of cleaning floor 鈥� and then teach them how to market the services they provide.鈥�
In his education sessions, Thompson encourages customers to identify the types of facilities and flooring they鈥檙e going to be cleaning prior to training them on specific equipment so he can help them target and strengthen their marketing strategy accordingly.
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