Is there really a fortune to be made in
the commercial cleaning business?
By Neil Boyd, President of Alliance Maintenance
I have been in the commercial cleaning business for over 25 years now. Thirteen years ago I discovered something that most people in this industry don’t know – how to make money.
When I started in the commercial cleaning business in 1983 I quickly gained new accounts, hired employees to clean those accounts and then hired another level of employees to supervise the first level. I was successful at every aspect of the business except one – making money.
In 1996 I concluded that being in the commercial cleaning business was not worth the effort.
At the beginning of 1997 I began operating Alliance Maintenance based on a whole new management strategy. I first restructured my business by offering a “no money down” franchise to my current hourly employees. They were regular working people who were excited about the opportunity to have their own business. I was overwhelmed by the results. My customer complaints were reduced and my profit margin doubled.
I discovered that one of the greatest assets in our country is actually quite abundant – regular working people. These are the people that other commercial cleaning companies will only consider for hourly positions. They don’t have the sales or management experience to start a commercial cleaning business on their own and they don’t have the $2,000-$5,000 it would take to buy a low investment cleaning franchise. But what I have discovered is that they make great business owners.
In a way we consider ourselves social entrepreneurs. By making micro-loans and offering “no money down” cleaning cleaning franchises to regular working people we are creating a new category of business owners. A group of people who have always considered business ownership out of reach.
Later in 1997 I implemented a growth strategy to expand Alliance Maintenance by creating the Area Developer program.
The program was successful. With only four Area Developers, Alliance increased in annual billing from around $975,000 per year to over $4,000,000 in 2002. This growth resulted in a net income that year of over $500,000 between the four Area Developers.
Today Alliance has 20 Area Developers who own and operate outlets representing our brand name and using our business system. They sell and manage ongoing monthly commercial cleaning contracts – They set their own schedule, have valuable equity in their business and 1/3 of them earn a six figure income every year.
Our business model is quite simple & profitable. We (Alliance & Area Developers) find businesses that need their buildings cleaned and we connect with regular working people (Cleaning Franchisees) who clean the buildings month after month and pay us a franchise fee for the opportunity.
Right now Alliance Maintenance has an opportunity to grow nationwide. More and more businesses are frustrated with the poor cleaning service they receive from the unmotivated employees of well-meaning commercial cleaning company owners. At the same time the largest group of workers in the U.S. is regular working people. By connecting with these people the potential for growth and profit is exponential.
We are currently opening 10 new markets and expanding in 4 of our existing markets. This will create openings for 20 new Area Developers over the next 9 months.
If you’d like to learn more about the Area Developer opportunity, we invite you to call us. You can reach us at 405-573-7881 ext. 8, send an email or use our Request more information form here.
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