Cleaning Service Owners: Are You Killing the Geese that Lay Your Golden Eggs ?

Most of us are familiar with Aesop's fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs. In the residential cleaning service arena our goose is our employee. We do not need them to clean only one home or even a month worth of homes, we need them to clean for years. If we ignore them and do not feed them with motivation, respect, continuing education and inspiration they will die and we are out looking for another goose that can lay golden eggs. Good cleaning employees are blessings that are very hard to find. We seem to realize that only when we are in search of them. As soon as we find them we have a tendency to get greedy and put the majority of our time, money and attention on other areas of our business. Areas that will increase the number of houses our geese can clean, so we can gather more golden eggs, rather than on the source of the golden eggs, our cleaning employees.
Like the Aesop fable, part of our motivation as owners is fed by greed. We spend our money on advertising to obtain more clients, on software and hardware to make our jobs easier and on fun business trips that we rationalize as networking and education. All of these are important aspects of our business that do require attention but will stop immediately if we do not feed our goose that lays the golden egg, our cleaning employee. We will spend money on almost anything other than feeding our geese, but our cleaning employees must come first.
Our cleaning employees want, and actually demand, daily feeding through motivation and, believe it or not, discipline. When I still owned The Upstairs Maid I mentored a junior high school student for several years. Part of the program involved attending a one day training seminar that covered what these children felt they were missing in their lives. They were asked to list ten things that they felt they did not receive from their parents that they wished they would have. I was quite surprised to learn that the number one thing was discipline. Many of these students are now our cleaning industry employees.
At Rags to Riches we feel one of our greatest missions is to help you feed your geese that lay your golden eggs. For that reason it is our pleasure to make two announcements in this month's newsletter. First, our free offer for this month. With the purchase of an English C.OR.E. training DVD set you will receive a free employee policy and procedural manual which we will tailor make to your specific company and will be ready to present to your employees instantaneously. Purchase our English and Spanish DVD sets and you will receive a tailor made employee handbook in both English and Spanish. This will satisfy the 'discipline' need of your employees, not to mention how much easier it will make your job as an owner.
Our second very exciting announcement is an affordable new product line that will be an ongoing aid to feeding your geese that lay the golden eggs, your cleaning employees. Beginning September 1, 2009 we are offering unlimited access to all 5 modules of our C.O.R.E. training DVD set via the Internet along with unlimited monthly access to all of our on line webinars which includes 20+ motivational and educational webinars for your cleaning Team Leaders and your cleaners. The cost is only $35 per month for English, $45 per month for Spanish and $55 per month for English and Spanish. This affordable program will offer on going solutions to all of your training needs as well as educational and networking opportunities for yourself.
Regardless of your desire to take advantage of our exciting announcements please do not lose sight of your desire to continue to feed the geese that lay your golden eggs. Even in a depressed economy we find that good cleaners are always at a premium. Never forget the blessing that is bestowed upon you when a great applicant walks in your door. Don't forget the lesson learned from Aesop's fable. Do not kill the goose that lays your golden eggs. Feed your employees every day with respect, kindness and words of encouragement. Augment their nourishment through bi-monthly educational and motivational meetings and surely you will continue to gather an abundance of golden eggs.