| iv id="body"> | | | | bidding help seeming to be - having the title 'Janitorial |
| FREE janitorial bidding calculator. It doesn't get better | | | | Bidding Calculator' pre-written at the top. |
| than that, right? | | | | In addition, many free janitorial bidding calculators or |
| Well, not necessarily - not if you can't figure out how to | | | | software programs can be hard to understand and |
| use it, don't know or can't find the data it requires to | | | | even harder to use. Again, one has to question the real |
| work and certainly not if it doesn't get you the results | | | | value of 'free' when the user is left feeling the program |
| you want. In that case, free may actually be costing | | | | either doesn't 'work' or, at the very least, they can't |
| you! | | | | figure out how to make it 'work'. Even 'free' cannot |
| How can I say that? The very sound of the word | | | | rescue something that is, at the very least, not |
| 'FREE' is appealing, isn't it? | | | | user-friendly or at its worst, not useable at all. |
| To explain how, consider this old cliché: "You get | | | | Put differently; what is the value of a free janitorial |
| what you pay for!" These words express time-tested | | | | bidding calculator or software program that does not |
| wisdom - specifically, the connection between the | | | | adequately help the user to quickly and easily |
| value of 'something' and what you paid for that | | | | determine prices and generate professional looking |
| 'something'. | | | | proposals? |
| So, does this sage advice hold true for free janitorial | | | | Not much. |
| bidding calculators? Well, if the limitations of many of | | | | Many of these free janitorial bidding software or |
| these bidding tools are any indication, it does. | | | | calculators have other weakness as well. They may |
| First, some rely on over-simplified, one-size fits all | | | | offer little or no technical or customer support. In |
| production rates or price per sq. ft. figures which | | | | addition, they may not be able to help generate a |
| produce, of course, equally oversimplified answers. | | | | professional-looking proposal or job specifications |
| And that's where 'free' can cost cleaning business | | | | report - two important ingredients in the contract |
| owners real money, especially if it leads to them | | | | cleaning sales process. |
| setting prices that are either too low - not having | | | | Therefore, many of these calculators may simply be |
| sufficient profit built into it, or too high - keeping them | | | | free and that's all; worth what was paid for them. |
| from being competitive when bidding on commercial | | | | Well, for the owner of a janitorial business, serious |
| cleaning jobs. | | | | about building a fast-growing and profitable cleaning |
| Next, other free janitorial bidding calculators do not | | | | business, that simply won't do. Instead, the owners of |
| come pre-loaded with production rates at all, relying on | | | | successful janitorial businesses, and those wanting to |
| the user to both know and manually enter their own | | | | join their ranks, know they need tools that can give |
| task-specific cleaning times or overall production rates. | | | | them the results they're looking for. |
| While janitorial contractors may benefit from | | | | Is cost is an issue? Sure; but only in the context of the |
| conducting their own cleaning time studies, the reality is | | | | value (i.e. results) the tool can deliver. |
| many, especially those new to the commercial cleaning | | | | To explain, here's another cliché to consider: |
| business, have not done so and would feel ill-prepared | | | | 'Don't step over dollars... to pick up dimes'. The sage |
| to even offer answers to the question of what would | | | | advice expressed in this cliché is... to be careful of |
| constitute 'good' or reasonable rates. | | | | blindly chasing one 'thing' while completely missing |
| In the end, many of these calculators appear to be little | | | | another 'thing' of greater value in the process. |
| more than excel spreadsheets and with the only | | | | |