OpenWorks Featured in Cleaning & Maintenance Management

OpenWorks Featured in Cleaning & Maintenance Management

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Read full article here. Today, clients are a much more sophisticated type of buyer. They seek out firms they can use as one-stop shopping providers. OpenWorks has adjusted to this trend, Not only do we offer commercial cleaning services, but landscape maintenance, pest control, supply replenishment as well. We understand how important consolidating vendors is!

Establish Clients’ Needs

Before OpenWorks—a commercial cleaning and integrated facility services franchise—began offering landscaping, pressure washing, pest control, and other new amenities at the start of 2015, the company sent out a survey to rank customers’ top picks. “They don’t have to look up someone for pest control in the Yellow Pages if we have those people on our roster,” says Dave Hicks, director of facility solutions.

“If they see a hole in the wall, a ripped rug, or other trip hazard, we can do that—and it helps reduce their cost.”OpenWorks, which has 330 franchises in five states, then worked to find local, independently owned companies to provide the additional services—relying heavily on industry referrals and a buyers’ guide published by ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association.

Market Additional Items Separately

Clients may be used to seeing you in only one light: as a commercial cleaning provider. Challenging that perception can be the first hurdle to get over, but proper marketing techniques can help. If customers already have a service provider for ongoing maintenance tasks, OpenWorks approaches the client and offers to get an estimate for comparison’s sake. They also offer to manage the service for them, Hicks says. “Consolidated billing saves money—they don’t have to take the time to pay somebody to do it.”

Build a Reliable Workforce

With careful negotiation, you may also be able to score a price break for clients. For example, OpenWorks provides subcontractor estimates to clients and then bills the client for the work, adding a slight process management fee to the bill.

The company has found the promise of steady work—and steady payment—has encouraged some of its affiliates to reduce their fees. However, Hicks from OpenWorks says he does get some pushback from subcontractors who have worked with bigger facility companies and claim they were never paid for their work. “It’s a tough business out there in the subcontracting world,” Hicks says, “but we pay in 30 days.”Read full article here.