The ongoing global pandemic accelerated the vitality of cleanliness and hygiene—making it a top priority. It further made people recognize the importance of cleaning and disinfecting. This resulted in an increasing interest in the cleaning industry and the flourishment of the franchise cleaning business. Moreover, as cleaning service providers continued offering quality and premium cleaning services, the requirement of adaptable leaders within the industry also increased.
In 1999, Tom Richter (CEO and Co-Founder) along with his wife Carol (Co-Founder) established the JAN-PRO of Utah. The organization was established to carry forward the legacy of JAN-PRO Systems International—providing premium cleaning and franchising opportunities. Presently, the JAN-PRO Systems International franchise system has grown to over 8,000 Cleaning Franchisees, over 125 Regional Development Franchisees, and market leadership in 41 states throughout 9 countries. JAN-PRO Systems International has been offering electro-static technology for over 10 years. It has been ranked as the #1 Fastest-Growing Commercial Cleaning Franchise for 13 years, as ranked in Entrepreneur. Under Tom’s ardent leadership, the JAN-PRO of Utah was awarded as the ‘Office of the Year, JAN-PRO International’ in 2002 and 2009.
During a recent conversation with Mirror Review, Tom briefed about the various services offered by the organization, his opinions on leadership, and the future aspects of the organization. Here are some snippets from the insightful conversation.
What are the solutions and services offered by your organization?
JAN-PRO Systems International’s mission is to help people realize their dreams of business ownership through service industry franchising. Moreover, it also helps to continually innovate a reliable, best-in-class mentoring and support framework to help our franchisees grow and prosper. The organization also helps maintain a professional environment of integrity, trust, and mutual respect which nurtures strong, lasting, and mutual relationships within our network of owners and associates.
Can you brief us about your roles and responsibilities at the organization? What are some of your notable achievements?
Being at the helm of the organization, I cater to several roles and responsibilities. I am entrusted with developing the vision and strategy of the organization. Additionally, I am also involved in the marketing and the public persona of the organization.
I have received several awards and earned various recognitions for my contribution towards JAN-PRO Systems International. In 2020, I was nominated for the US Chamber Small Business Council Member and am currently a member. I was also nominated for their 2021” Dream Big Award.” In 2020 I was awarded to the Gold Circle for JAN-PRO Systems International, the Associate Member of the Year, BOMA Utah in 2018. Additionally, in 2010, I was rewarded with the prestigious “Sustainability Award,” Rio Tinto. Moreover, I have also been elected as a nominee of the “Small Businessman of the Year” – Sandy Chamber of Commerce, Sandy, Utah in 2018.
How do you ensure that your customers are satisfied with your services and offerings?
At JAN-PRO, we know what it takes to see the big picture and all the small details in-between. Our account retention level is consistently at greater than 98.5%—with a goal of being at 99%. I think that this speaks volumes about our customer’s happiness and satisfaction with regards to our business.
In order to ensure customer retention, we follow certain procedures. We take input from our customer audits and surveys to enhance and modify our programs and services. We take note of these changes and implement them into the training of our teams.
As an industry leader, what major transformations are you anticipating within the industry?
As an industry leader, I believe that we will observe several major transformations within the industry. I believe that the general public, employees, and tenants will demand that buildings are cleaned properly using the appropriate chemicals and equipment. Moreover, these groups of people will only work and frequent the facilities that are cleaned properly.
Additionally, building owners will need to educate and market on the concept of cleaning to attract and retain people in their buildings. This change may result in some consolidations within the cleaning industry. However, the smaller ma and pa companies may not be well-equipped to manage and deal with this increasing demand.
What are the upcoming services by your organization?
Our product and service offerings will continue to evolve. Moreover, we will increase our frequency of customer touchpoints via the various tools and platforms which are available to us.
In addition, we will continue to seek customers’ opinions regarding what more we can do to make their lives easier. These suggestions will be incorporated into our service offering. Moreover, being a single source of supply to customers lowers their overall cost of procurement.
Being a recognized entrepreneur, what message would you like to convey to the aspirants?
I would like to remark that being an entrepreneur is not for those with the faint of heart. One needs to be risk-tolerant. You also need to understand that entrepreneurship is a long-term play and things do not happen overnight. While you build your business and organization, you must hire people who fit into your culture on a priority basis.
If you find a qualified person to do a task which you are doing for less than your time is worth, I would advise you to do it. I would also recommend having a group of trusted advisors with who you can meet regularly. This can be a CPA, banker, attorney and business coach, mentor, or others.
Why Become a JAN-PRO Systems’ International Franchise?
- Training, Sales, and Marketing
- Cleaning contracts
- Account start-up services
- Audits, Invoicing, Collections
- On-line surveys
- Customer Service Calls, Electronic Survey of Clients
- Problem Resolution, Insurance Programs
- Supply Programs for franchisees and their customers
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