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May 4, 2012: The Residential Cleaning Connection
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The Residential Cleaning Connection
News, Networking & Events for the Cleaning Professional
May 4, 2012 - Vol 3, Issue 9
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Join us in Chicago, Mar. 31.
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From the President
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Wow, what an Executive
Leadership Conference we had in Orlando! My hat is off to Alison Palmer,
Diana Henley, Dee Strickland, the ELC Committee, for a great time and
an educational experience that barred none.
A strategic sales plan?
In this industry we tend to blast out our marketing material and then
sit back and wait to see if anyone responds. Those that attended the ELC
walked away with a strategic sales plan to customize and use to develop
a completely different and effective way of working their marketing
plan. They truly are two separate plans needed by every business in our
industry. By becoming proactive in our approach to sales, gone will be
the day of low response rates to our marketing. Joe Ellers, the session
speaker and sales training expert was just fantastic. Click here to watch a short clip of Joe's presentation.
Employment law is
generally not a sexy subject but Greg Hare had the meeting room just
buzzing. He hit on many subjects that just resonated with everyone in
the room. So much so, that we just ran out of time between the content
he delivered and the questions from the attendees that just never
stopped (we actually had to cut it off). The real good news: Greg will
be back with us at the Chicago Convention. Click here to see a short clip of Greg's presentation.
Thank you to Amber Guy
for exposing us to the need of a natural disaster plan for our
businesses. I was shocked to learn just how many businesses are forced
to close their doors do to their market basically becoming non-existent.
As a service business, as we all are, if there are no homes left then
we have no business or income. Click here to see a short clip of Amber's presentation.
Sharon Cowan reminded us
all and educated many on the numbers we need to have a pulse on in our
businesses. Sharon's saying "If you do business today like you did
yesterday, you won't be in business tomorrow". She hits the bull's-eye
on that one.Click here to see a short clip of Sharon's presentation.
To all of the fist time
ELC attendees (and there where many!) it was great meeting and visiting
with you and I am confident that you and your businesses will experience
great returns by implementing the information you gained from the ELC
sessions. I sure know I will.
To all of the attendees,
I thank you for your commitment and support of ARCSI and in helping to
making the residential cleaning industry the best it can possibly be.
See you all in Chicago, registration is now open!
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|  Why
are YOU attending the 2012 ARCSI Cleaning Convention in Chicago? Is it
for the awesome expertise of Greg Hare, employment lawyer at Ogletree
Deakins? Is it for the hours of networking events and opportunities to
make new connection?
Tell
us why YOU are attending the 2012 ARCSI Cleaning Convention, and you
have a chance to win a FREE registration to the event (a $259 value)!
To enter for your chance to win, you must submit a short video, two (2) minutes or less to Chris Zimmer at chris@arcsi.org no later than Thursday, May 17. The winner will be announced in the May 18 Residential Cleaning Connection Newsletter.
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REMINDER ELC ATTENDEES:
If you entered the Convention raffle at the ELC for a $200 Morton's Gift Card, you MUST register for the Convention by Friday, May 11 to qualify.
Register Now!
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Have your joined ARCSI
in the last 30 days? Are you getting the MOST out of your membership?
What can ARCSI provide to help your improve and grow your residential
cleaning business? Maybe you are not yet a member, but are considering
joining.
Join us Saturday, May 19
at 10:30 am Eastern/7:30 am Pacific for the ARCSI New Member Webinar.
During this live event, hosts Dee Strickland and Gosia Baran will walk
you through how to make the most of your ARCSI membership. We'll talk
about education and networking, but also the vast Member Resource
Library and how ARCSI can help you grow your residential cleaning
business.
Click here to register now!
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 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) recently approved an updated policy that makes it harder for
employers to use background checks to systematically rule out hiring
anyone with a criminal conviction.
The commission said that
while employers may legally consider criminal records in hiring
decisions, a policy that excludes all applicants with a conviction
could violate employment discrimination laws because it could have a
disparate impact on racial and ethnic minorities.
The EEOC adopted its new
policy in a 4-to-1 vote at a time when more than 90 percent of
employers conduct criminal background checks of applicants, up from 51
percent in 1996.
Michael J. Eastman,
executive director of labor law policy for the United States Chamber of
Commerce, said the new directive would make it harder for employers to
use criminal histories in employment decisions. "We're trying to
assess how much harder," he said.
To read the EEOC's entire enforcement guidance, click here.
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Registration is now open for the 2012 ARCSI Cleaning Convention in Chicago, Oct. 17 - 20! Keep an eye on the 2012 Cleaning Convention website as it is regularly updated with speak bios, education session topics and more details on networking events.
Your
dollar will go farther than ever before as the 2012 Convention
Committee strives to include all education and networking events in the
cost of registration. The committee has also condensed the education and
events to four days, eliminating extra days at the ARCSI Headquarters
Hotel, The Hard Rock.
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|  May 8 Hot Topic Tuesday: Getting Out of the Field Join
Enid Tate-Shephard as she shares her experience! In just one year, Enid
made the transformation from in-the-field cleaner to successful
behind-the-desk business owner. She'll tell you how she did it and how
YOU can, too!
There
is a difference between working IN your business and working ON your
business. If you are still in the field cleaning houses and wish you
could be in your office growing your business instead, this call is for
you.
May 23 ARCSI Webinar: Creating Your Marketing Plan
 ARCSI
Board member, Membership Committee Chair and frequent presenter Derek
Christian will review the steps you must take to develop and implement a
successful marketing plan for your residential cleaning business.
A
well-organized marketing plan lets you know when you need to market and
to whom and tracks the results of your efforts. Properly executed, a
well-designed marketing plan can lead to phenomenal growth in your
company. This is a can't miss webinar for all ARCSI members!
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Q. How can my company save $4,700.00 on training - and maybe a whole lot more on damage claims?
A.
It was the early days of our business, and we had just ruined a $20,000
marble floor. We thought we were using the right cleaner, but to make a
sad story short, it was not the right cleaner after all. I realized
that if we were to survive in this business, I had to learn what I was
doing; the only trouble was, there was no course that covered all the
things we clean. So I started with what I could find: multiple courses
on carpet, stone, upholstery, hard floors, mold, etc.
Ten years and at
least 20 courses later, I hold 16 certificates (I repeated some for
updated information) and more importantly, hold a greatly improved
understanding of the surfaces and items we had been entrusted to clean.
Understand, it's not that I wanted to be an expert in all these areas.
It's just that this was the only way to cover all we do. I had also
spent over $5,000 on course fees, not including the certification test
fees or the time spent (or travel expenses, etc.)
This year for the
first time, thanks to a collaborative effort between the IICRC and
ARCSI, you can save all that time and money. Also, you can get all you
need for general house cleaning in a single course for under $300 per
person.
$5,000.00 Each Surface Certification Individually
- $300.00 House Cleaning Technician Certification
$4,700.00 Savings to Your Company with HCT
The new HCT course
gives a survey of multiple areas, drawing on information from experts
in their fields, saving you countless time and dollars. Not only will
you and your lead technicians take home the knowledge they need to do
their jobs, but also you will have a new sense of professionalism and
confidence in consulting with your clients.
Plus, if you take
and pass the certification exam, you can be among the first in our
industry to join the largest fraternity of certified cleaning and
restoration professionals in the world, the IICRC, with over 56,000
registrants in 32 countries. This is a huge step forward in moving both
our industry and our technicians toward greater professionalism.
Click here to view a list of upcoming HCT Courses.
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 Social
media marketing is proving to be a sticky wicket for many small
businesses. Unless you are monitoring and posting frequently,
encouraging current clients to invite their friends to "Like" or
"Follow" you, your business from social media marketing could be zilch. The
Small Business Administration (SBA) offers these tips on driving folks
who are already fans, followers or connections to actually BUY from you: 1. Make Promotions Available Exclusively via Your Social Media Sites Big
retailers offer coupon codes and offers exclusively to their Facebook
fans all the time. Have you tried it? Even if you don't have a website
that can capture and apply these promotions, you could post a
promotional code or offer on Facebook, Yelp, Google Places or Twitter
("15 percent off for our online fans").
2.Use the New Facebook App Toolbar to Display Your Call to Action The
new Facebook fan page format makes it trickier for small businesses to
promote calls to action - you can't include them in your cover photo
and the old tabs feature is gone. Instead, get to know the app toolbar
(just below your cover photo) and use it to display your call to
action. A call to action can include things like sign up buttons for
your email newsletter, a link to your online store and special offers
or events. 3.Combine Great Content with Compelling Offers A
call to action is one thing, but when you combine it with a great
story or engaging content, it can help drive new traffic to your
business. For instance, invite fans to have a say in new services you
are considering adding to your menu. 4.Keep the Online / Offline Relationship Going It's
important to keep your online relationship with customers alive,
whether they've bought from you or not. Aside from your regular social
media activity, consider having a raffle or drawing - Offer a monthly
raffle to customers who sign up for your e-newsletter or email updates.
This keeps the online relationship active, and increases potential for
capturing future customers. 5.Integrate Your Social Media and Email Campaigns Social
media communities are valuable, but the speed and volume of
information can make it hard to reach your target audience with your key
messages. So it's important to take steps to drive social media
followers to sign up for your emails. Use page apps (see above), post
updates about your email content, and encourage fans not to miss out on
your latest updates. 6.Don't Forget to Publish Your Contact Information You'd
be surprised, but many businesses omit their phone numbers from their
blog page or Twitter/Facebook accounts. Don't. It's still a critical
tool for small businesses. Make it easy for your customers to reach
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ProTeam is offering special
discounts to ARCSI members on selected Vacuums, Parts, Tools, and
Accessories. Save 44% on Vacs, 50% on Micro-Filters, and 25% on Parts,
Tools, and Accessories. Click the image above to visit www.pro-team.com.
These special discounts are available through two ARCSI Industry
Partner distributors, Modern Cleaning, North Charleston, SCand
Jon-Don, Roselle, IL. Both offer nationwide service.
Just place your order with either of our partners to receive
the special ARCSI member pricing, be sure and tell them you are an
ARCSI member when placing your order.
"We are always looking for opportunities to provide value to
our members," said Theresa Peterson, owner of Quality Cleaning in
Fremont, CA, and Chair of the ARCSI Vendor Committee. "Pro-Team,
Modern Cleaning, and Jon-Don are great supporters of ARCSI and we
appreciate their efforts to bring this special savings package to our
members."
You can contact both distributors for pricing and quotes by clicking the logos above or call them toll free to place your order: Modern Cleaning: 1-877-214-4942 Jon Don (11 locations): 1-800-400-9473 |
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Association of Residential Services International | 7870 Olentangy River Rd | Suite 300 | Columbus | OH | 43235
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