I went to a government contracting event a couple of weeks ago and the consensus seemed to be that the janitorial space is for people who are not the smartest…which I disagree with, wholeheartedly.
One person said, and I kid you not; “You have an MBA so why are you running a janitorial company?” This person stated it was in jest, but I sense it wasn’t.
People there tend to think janitorial means low IQ. Some were more explicit than others. Poor business etiquette. Etc.
I then posted in some janitorial groups, a couple of days ago, that my janitorial company is interested in networking.
Some of the “introductions” I got were like this:
“Hello any subcontractoring opportunities in Dothan al or surrounding area”
“Let me sub for you”
“Saw a post on fb I can sub”
I then felt conflicted (I didn't like how those conference people perceive the janitorial space but it is very obvious that there is major work to be done here) and overwhelmed because I was getting way too many of those "introductions." This is how you introduce your company to potential partners?! No information about you, your company, or even your capabilities. And add to that, atrocious grammar, and punctuation. I hope no one from that conference sees this! This is very bad!
I’m not saying your introductions should be as detailed as our IT subcontractors (for my other government contracting company), but you should definitely not take the approach as illustrated above in those examples.
Another thing; cleaning is the service your business provides. Cleaning is NOT your business. For those who understand that then great.
Yes, I have an MBA but even without that I knew the importance of business communication. I strongly urge you to look into that.
And yes, I know some of you will read this and look inward while some of you will read this and completely miss the message. That’s perfectly understandable. I just want to let you know that janitorial does NOT mean low IQ so let’s work on dispelling that stereotype with our actions.
