When it comes to best practices and buying strategies for your cleaning company, a big step toward profitable growth is “knowing what you don’t know.” This is why guidance or outside help is so necessary.

Kevin S. Rohan, CBSE, decided early on that he didn’t want a career that consisted of sitting at a desk all day. So after he graduated from college, when a relative asked him to join his small building service contracting business in 1974, he took the opportunity and hasn’t looked back since.

What is the most highly ranked skill for a successful executive, according to the latest Harvard Business School study? “Personnel selection” by far leads the way over persistence, knowledge, focus, etc. In my experience, I have found this to be true—people are the heart of our business.

Earlier this year, I wrote a piece titled 2012: The Perfect Storm, which forecasted a host of reasons that would drive recordsetting merger and acquisition activity in the United States this year. So as 2012 is coming to a close, I thought it only fitting to look back and take stock of what actually happened, along with what’s likely to be in store for the immediate future.

Wherever I go to work with BSC’s, the one comment I always hear is “help me increase my sales so I can add to my bottom line.” Here we're going to talk about the money that is in your company that will add to your bottom line without making one sale.

Next to labor, inventory is one of the biggest expenses that building service contractors pay. While BSCs are operating at lower-than-ever profit margins, many of them are biting even further into their profits because of poor management of inventory.