ServiceMaster Operations Manual

OPERATIONS MANUAL

REVISION HISTORY

Multiple updates made to multiple sections from previous version.

1 STAFFING RESOURCES

1.1 Introduction

You will need assistance in operating the Franchise Business effectively and efficiently. This means that you will need employees to help you. Your employees can have a significant impact on the success of your business and the satisfaction you get from owning the business.

When you have employees, you have additional responsibilities. For example, you will have to comply with employment law. Employment law covers all rights and obligations within the employer-employee relationship.

This area of the law governs the employer-employee relationship at all stages between:

• Employers and job applicants

• Employers and current employees

• Employers and former employees

Employment law involves legal issues as diverse as discrimination, workplace safety, wages and benefits, taxes, discipline, and termination. Many of these issues are governed by applicable federal and state law.

Employment law issues can also arise under the agreement (written or verbal) between the employer and employee. In this case, the rights and obligations of the parties may be governed by state contract law.

When you have employees, you will have management obligations to your employees. These management obligations include issues such as recruiting, interviewing, hiring, orientation, training, scheduling, enforcing the dress code, performance evaluation, discipline, and termination.

It is required that you seek the assistance of a local employment and business lawyer to help you with each of these practices.

1.2 Non-Joint Employer Status

Your employees are not the employees of ServiceMaster Clean Limited Partnership. You are solely responsible for the hiring, firing, training, scheduling, and management of your employees.

Nothing written in this manual should be construed as meaning that ServiceMaster Clean Limited Partnership:

• has authority to participate or will participate in any hiring, firing, promotion, demotion, or disciplinary decisions regarding your employees,

• has authority to supervise or will supervise any work performed by your employees,

• is responsible for the payment of any wages or salary to your employees,

• will provide any employment benefits to your employees, and

• will provide any tools or equipment to your employees.

If a member of the ServiceMaster Clean Limited Partnership corporate team ever acts or makes statements that contradict these points, you must inform us immediately so that we may take corrective action.

The Franchisee is solely responsible for all decisions regarding their employees’ terms and conditions of employment.

1.3 Employee Versus 1099 Contractor-Tax Status Only

In most cases you may not deliver core services through subcontractors or independent contractors. There are exceptions to this, such as cleaning windows in multi-floor buildings. The cost to hire a subcontractor to clean exterior windows above ground-floor level may be eligible for a royalty adjustment. Should you wish to have a subcontractor perform services for you, submit a request to your Camp for approval 30 days prior to services being rendered.

The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) regulations state that a person will be considered an employee if the employer has the right to control and direct how a job is to be performed, not only as to the result to be accomplished but also as to the details and means.

The qualifying factors that determine who is an employee and who is an independent contractor differ from state to state. These matters need to be discussed with your local counsel.

You are required to seek legal counsel to ensure you are implementing legal employment practices in your ServiceMaster Clean business. With the development of the gig economy many states have enacted significant legislation that applies to different text and considers many other factors in determining if a person is being engaged as an employee or an independent contractor. Employer penalties can be severe for misclassifying, intentionally or not, an employee as an independent contractor. The employer may be obliged to pay back taxes and contributions, including the employer’s and employee’s share of Medicare and Social Security, federal and state income taxes that should have been withheld, federal and state unemployment taxes, and workers’ compensation insurance. In addition to back taxes, interest and large penalties that are often far more than the back tax itself are also assessed for improper classification of employees.

1.4 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

It is essential that you learn and understand and implement all processes to comply with U.S. OSHA in the operation of your ServiceMaster Clean business. The local state government websites provide helpful information, and your employment attorney will be able to assist you.

Be aware that OSHA regulations apply to all work/services that you provide to any customer. Regulation requirements do not apply to just federal and/or state customers.

• If found to be in violation of OSHA standards and/or guidelines, your company could face a levied fine – click HERE for more information and fine amounts.

• To learn more about industry-specific inspections, click HERE. The North America Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for Janitorial businesses is 561720.

1.5 Federal Standards

The mission of OSHA is to assure the safety and health of America's workers. The OSHA Act imposes three main obligations on employers.

1. Employers must provide a safe workplace "free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm" to employees.

2. Employers must comply with the safety and health standards promulgated by OSHA.

3. Employers must keep records of employee injuries, illnesses, deaths, and exposures to toxic substances.

OSHA sets and enforces federal standards for workplace safety. There are literally hundreds of standards covering all aspects of the workplace. These standards cover employee safety issues such as:

• Safety of working areas

• Availability of sufficient entry and exit ways

• Exposure to noise, carcinogens, and other types of harmful substances

• Availability of fire protection systems

• Safety devices for machines and equipment used in the workplace

• Availability of medical and first aid services

All employers must post the federal OSHA poster with information for employees on their safety and health rights. You should call OSHA at 800-321-OSHA to obtain a poster or download and print a poster from OSHA's website at www.osha.gov.

OSHA also imposes recordkeeping requirements for recording and reporting occupational injuries and illnesses. Employers with 10 or fewer employees are generally exempt from most of these requirements.

OSHA offers free consultation to employers to help in identifying workplace hazards and in establishing or improving safety and health management systems. It also offers free training and education for small businesses and their employees at the workplace. There are also several safety training courses available on SMBU.

Failure to maintain and communicate various OSHA standards to your employees can negatively affect your business, including standards for preventing:

• Slips and Falls

• Strains

• Knife cuts

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• Clean-up cuts (such as by broken glass)

• Exposure to hazardous chemicals (such as cleaning supplies)

Training for these topics can be found on SMBU.

You should follow OSHA standards of required and recommended practices, including:

• Keep all places of employment clean and orderly and in a sanitary condition.

• Keep floors clean and dry.

• Provide warning signs for wet floor areas.

• Require employees to use non-slip footwear.

• Make sure spills are reported and cleaned up immediately.

• Keep passageways and walkways free of clutter and crowding.

• Instruct employees on safe clean-up procedures.

• Use cleaning products that are not considered hazardous.

• Make sure that products that are not compatible with each other are not stored together.

• Always label cleaning bottles and containers -- never remove products from the original bottle without properly labeling the new container.

• Avoid storing liquid cleaning products on top shelves store them on lower shelves.

If hazardous chemicals are used, you will need to:

• Implement a written program that meets the requirements of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard to provide for worker training, warning labels, and access to Safety Data Sheets. Navigate to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > !Safety - US OSHA.

• To obtain Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) we use the INFOTRAC system. Click HERE to be directed to the site and input the name or number of the product in the space provided to obtain the proper SDS sheet.

• Provide appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, goggles, and splash aprons for employees as prescribed on the product label and/or SDS.

1.6 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) mandates that any person using, applying, or preparing cleaning products (chemicals) wear a long-sleeved shirt, as well as don (put on, wear) the required PPE as detailed on the product (chemical) label. This PPE may include, but is not limited to, gloves, hair/head covering, masks, goggles or other face covering, shoe covering (booties), and a full protective suit. Failure to comply with the CDC mandate could result in serious injury to an employee and a fine levied on the business by OSHA.

1.7 Operating Specialty Equipment

In providing service for certain customers, it may be necessary to utilize equipment and/or machinery that require special training or certification to operate it. Certifications and training can oftentimes be found on the OSHA website, SMBU, or obtained locally. ServiceMaster Brands requires that each ServiceMaster Clean owner research and be made aware of any federal, state, county, city or local requirements for certifications or training necessary to operate such equipment/machinery. Furthermore, ServiceMaster Brands also requires that each ServiceMaster Clean franchise owner consult with their insurance provider to verify they have ample coverage to operate such equipment/machinery. You must also maintain records of completed training and/or certifications for each employee.

Many states also have workplace safety rules. These can be similar to or even stricter than Federal OSHA's rules. The following website is maintained by the United States Department of Labor and will provide you with the most current list with links to each of the state's websites, which have their own set of workplace safety rules. https://www.osha.gov/dcsp/osp/

1.8

Becoming a Great Employer

Team members are your most valuable asset. Success occurs when all aspects of the employee journey is managed effectively.

The three areas are:

1. Attract Talent: be competitive, use the Staffing Toolkit, make sure that people seeking employment can easily find your job postings, and quickly reply to applicants.

2. Hire Talent: evaluate and select based on fit for both your organization and the team member

3. Retain Talent: ensure the experience and journey of the team member is positive Becoming a great Employer takes time and consistent behavior to achieve results. You will have to evaluate where gaps exist in your business that need to be addressed. These three areas need to be consistently implemented.

A staffing toolkit, named Attract, Hire, and Retain Talent, is available to help guide you in where you should focus and provide tools and resources. It is strongly recommended that you use this Toolkit continuously in your business, and can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Clean Playbooks and Toolkits

Preparing to Hire Your First Employee

Before you hire your first employee, there are several steps you should take, including obtaining the assistance of a local business/employment attorney and or CPA who can assist you with each of these matters and other local legal requirements in your State or Province:

1. Obtain a Federal Employment Identification Number (EIN). You likely completed this step earlier in the process of establishing your Franchised Business. See Section 3.8: Licenses, Permits, and Taxes.

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2. Register with your state's employment department for payment of unemployment compensation taxes. These payments go to your state's unemployment compensation fund.

3. Set up a payroll system for withholding taxes and making payroll tax payments. You will need to withhold a portion of each employee's income and deposit it with the IRS. You will also need to make Social Security and Medicare tax payments to the IRS. For more information, see IRS Publication 15, Circular E, Employer's Tax Guide from the IRS website at www.irs.gov. You may also have to withhold taxes for your state.

4. Get workers’ compensation insurance. You must have this insurance coverage in case a worker suffers an on-the-job injury. Check your state’s requirements for the required coverage level.

5. Post the required labor notices and posters in your workplace. For information on required federal posters, see the Department of Labor website at www.dol.gov. You can use the online "Poster Advisor" to determine what posters you must display in your workplace. Also, you must comply with your state department of labor's poster requirements.

6. Create an employment application. Generic employment applications can be downloaded or purchased from your local office supply store. These applications are typically generic enough that they don’t cross any legal lines by asking prohibited questions. However, you are ultimately responsible to ensure that the employment application that you use complies with all state and federal employment law.

7. Develop your workplace rules. You are not required to create an employee handbook under the Franchise Agreement or under applicable law, but having one is a good business practice in most cases. Check with your state guidelines for requirements. Best practice is all employees should be provided a handbook. Check in the Attract, Hire, and Retain Talent staffing toolkit for templates.

8. Create a sign-up procedure for employee benefits. If your business has established employee benefit programs, such as health insurance or a 401(k) plan, you will need a sign- up procedure so employees can name their dependents and select options.

1.9 Job Descriptions/Recruiting Employees

The Franchisor does not require that you have written job descriptions for each position, but it may be advisable in some jurisdictions and job descriptions can be important management tools. A written job description will serve as the primary basis for outlining job training and for conducting performance evaluations. Your employment lawyer may also assist with guidance for this process.

A job description can be designed to be dynamic, functional, and current. Flexible job descriptions may encourage your employees to grow within their positions and learn how to make larger contributions to your business and allow for expansion and change, for example, during a pandemic.

Sample applications and job descriptions can be found in the Attract Talent Tools subfolder of the Staffing Toolkit can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library CleanBusiness Services > Clean Playbooks and Toolkits > Attract, Hire, and Retain Talent > Attract

1.10 Background Checks on Job Applicants

1.10.1 Background Checks

When making hiring decisions, you might want more information than the applicants provide. In some cases, it might make sense to do a little checking before making an important hiring decision. Keep in mind, you do not have unrestricted rights to check an applicant’s personal affairs. Background checks are subject to state and other local regulations and can vary by city. It is essential that you consult with an attorney or a professional and accredited background check service and ensure you have collected the required consents and follow the correct process for review of any background check in the hiring decision. When working with your local provider you may expect to consider:

• Make sure your inquiries are related to the job. If you decide to do a background check, stick to information that is relevant to the job under consideration.

• Ask for consent. Your provider should have the appropriate consent forms for your jurisdiction. Conditional offer of employment screening

ServiceMaster Clean customers expect that the team members who enter their buildings have been screened for past criminal activity, illegal drug use, and legal work status. Service companies have been the subject of lawsuits and negative publicity for failing to screen employees when an employee with a criminal history harmed a customer.

Because ServiceMaster Clean customers expect that only properly screened team members will provide services in their buildings, the ServiceMaster FSC requires you to perform all appropriate national criminal background checks, drug screenings, motor vehicle and social security screenings on all new hires in accordance with the local laws in your state. Motor vehicle screenings can be optional if the employee is a non-driving employee. An approved third party must provide both the criminal background checks and drug screenings. Check with your insurance requirements to determine state background checks.

You must have mandatory screening capabilities in place to begin performing the screenings for new hires as of that date.

Consult local employment law legal counsel before initiating these processes in your state. Some states have what are known as “Ban the Box" laws that may impose obligations on employers who seek background checks of job applicants and employees, including certain notification and disclosure requirements. In addition, some states have laws that prohibit employers from taking adverse employment action against a job applicant or employee based on arrest and/or conviction records. You are responsible for complying with state and federal employment laws. Consult local employment law legal counsel.

1.10.2 Special Rules for Certain Records

In addition, specific rules apply to certain types of information, and you will need to check the

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current status of the use of these reports Consult local employment law legal counsel before initiating these processes in your state.

• School records

• Credit reports

• Bankruptcies

• Criminal records

• Workers’ compensation records

• Medical records

• Records of military service

• Driving records

1.11 Pre-Employment Testing

Consult local employment law legal counsel before initiating these processes in your state. Most employers use pre-employment tests to screen applicants to ensure suitability for a position. These tests may include skills tests, aptitude tests, psychological tests, personality tests, honesty tests, medical tests, and drug tests. Although you can do some testing of applicants, both state law and federal law impose various restrictions on which tests you may conduct.

1.12 Miscellaneous Hiring Issues

Consult local employment law legal counsel to find specific answers to these questions in your state. With the number and scope of federal and state laws protecting employees’ rights, sometimes employers do not realize that they also have rights. Here are some FAQs about employers’ rights relating to hiring:

• Can I hire someone who is younger than 18 years of age?

• If I know that an applicant has or previously had a problem with drugs or alcohol, can I refuse to hire him or her on that basis?

• If I know that an applicant has a criminal record, can I refuse to hire him or her on that basis?

• Can I refuse to hire a job applicant just because I do not like him or her?

• When I hire someone, do I have to give the employee a written employment contract?

• Do I have to provide my employees with health insurance or other benefits?

• Can I hire on a trial basis?

1.12.1 Employee Record Storage

Consult local employment law legal counsel before initiating these processes in your state to check to see if federal or state requires:

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• The need to store all employee records in a locked cabinet and in a locked room. If so, if you are also required to segregate records in separate drawers by each of the following categories:

• Current I-9s

• Former I-9s

• Medical Records

• Employee Records

• Record retention duration for former employees. In general, the duration could range from 2- 7 years past termination date.

1.13 Additional Steps in the Hiring Process

Subject to state law, you may report the employee to your state's new hire reporting agency. The Personal Responsibility Act and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act require employers to report certain information on employees within 20 days of each employee’s start date. For more information, go to the Administration for Children & Families website at www.acf.dhhs.gov, which also provides the name and address of your state's new hire reporting agency.

As a business owner you are required to submit certain forms and remit payroll related financial obligations to the IRS. It is advisable to seek the advice of a tax professional and/or access the required information at www.irs.gov to understand what your responsibilities are in this regard.

1.14 New Employee Orientation

Orientation is an important step in the new hire onboarding process because it lays a foundation for the new employee’s career with your business. A thorough orientation for new employees should give them a proper start in their new job. Orientating new employees properly will take some extra time and effort but will benefit your business overall. The primary reward will be new employees making a smooth transition into your business. These suggestions come from Franchisor’s years of experience:

A thorough orientation for a new employee:

• Introduces the history, organization, goals, policies and procedures, customs, and traditions of the business

• Educates on the relationship between franchisor and franchisee

• Conveys the employer’s and manager’s expectations

• Provides information that will ease the transition into the workplace and will help employees perform their jobs more effectively

• Conveys a commitment to continuous improvement and continual learning.

Suggested topics to cover during orientation:

• History, mission, and goals of the business

• Could include a tour of your location

• Overview of other positions

• Introduction to the other employees/Franchisee owner

• Training program outline

• Important personnel policies

• Safety precautions

• Benefits, if applicable

Orientation does not necessarily have to occur all in one day. It can be spread out in manageable chunks of time over the employee’s first week or so on the job. While part of the orientation program may be provided by co-workers, it is suggested that the manager participate to build a good rapport with the new employee.

Be sure to check out the courses on SMBU to supplement the in-person training.

1.14.1 New Employee Training

When you hire a new employee for your business, that employee will have a lot to learn in a short period of time to become a productive member of your team. We have sped up this process and provided for a better learning process by developing a formal training learning plan that is designed for your employees to learn about the operation of the franchised system in accordance with your Franchise Agreement and how to operate the franchised business in compliance with Brand Standards. Highly recommended pre-made learning plans have been provided for you in SMBU, for all your employees. You can also find a Clean Roles and Learning Plans matrix by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library Clean - Business Services > Clean Playbooks and Toolkits > Attract, Hire, and Retain Talent

A formal training learning plan does not necessarily mean spending hours in a “classroom” setting or using specialized trainers. Instead, it means a systemized process of teaching new employees everything they need to know to fully perform their job duties effectively. When requiring employee training, our proprietary online learning management system (LMS) – SMBU – is the required system. SMBU allows you to assign courses and create and assign your own learning plans to your employees, keep records of completed training for each individual employee, and is capable of providing printable Certificates of Completion for the training courses.

Should a specialized training topic other than what is available on SMBU be required, sources such as OSHA, AHE, and ISSA are acceptable. If you require advice on finding accepted training sources outside of SMBU, you should contact the ServiceMaster Clean Training Department, the Brand Standards Department, or your Camp. Here are links to the referenced accepted training sites other than SMBU:

• https://www.issa.com/

• https://www.ahe.org/

• https://www.osha.gov/

Effective training also occurs on the job - if the trainer is focused on training. Many parts of training can be provided in 5-minute segments or during brief team meetings.

Experienced employees may be the best trainers. Your training program may involve having a new employee “shadow” an experienced employee for the first few days on the job. If possible, you should be selective in whom you choose to help with new employee training. Some employees may not have the proper temperament or character to help with training, or relay shortcuts as opposed to the approved ServiceMaster Clean methods.

Another aspect of your training program may be assigning a mentor to each new employee. A good mentor can help a new employee feel welcome and help the new employee deal with issues and questions as they come up. Again, you should be selective in choosing the mentor.

1.15 Infectious Disease Awareness and Prevention

Infectious diseases are disorders caused by organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. Many organisms live in and on our bodies. They're normally harmless or even helpful, but under certain conditions, some organisms may cause disease.

Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person. Some are transmitted by insects or other animals. And, you may get others by consuming contaminated food or water or being exposed to organisms in the environment.

ServiceMaster Clean has several documents that outline protocols and procedures with regards to employees that may contract an infectious disease that can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Products and Equipment > Technical Bulletins > Infection Control

Also, please refer to the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and Exposure Plan Template, which can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Clean – Business Services > !Safety - US OSHA

1.15.1 Training – Infectious Disease Prevention

Preventing the contraction of infectious diseases begins with training and education. Each employee, including management and supervisors, that will be working in what are considered high-risk areas for contracting an infectious disease must follow the following protocols:

• Wear required PPE

• Receive, read, and agree in a signed document to abide by the Infectious Disease Policy

• Complete required infectious disease prevention training on SMBU that aligns with the CDC’s 5 infection prevention principles.

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The 5 Principles of Infection Prevention

There are 5 infection prevention principles, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

1. Hand Hygiene. Hand hygiene is the most important measure to prevent the spread of infections among patients and DHCP

2. Respiratory Hygiene/Cough Etiquette

3. Sharps Safety

4. Safe Injection Practices

5. Sterilization and Disinfection of Patient-Care Items and Devices

SMBU has individual training modules for each of these 5 principles.

Customer Sites – Infection Disease Prevention Training

Assistance

Should a customer site request assistance with training and/or implementation of an infection prevention program, the ServiceMaster Clean franchise owner may do so. It is at the discretion of the franchise owner whether to charge a nominal fee for this assistance, and any revenue derived from doing so is subject to the terms of the royalty policy. The franchise owner must inform their support Camp if/when an agreement to provide this service to a customer is entered into. Any documents used in this endeavor may not have the ServiceMaster Clean logo or any reference to the ServiceMaster Clean Brand on them.

The ServiceMaster Clean Brand Standards Department should also be brought into this process to assist with creating and editing any documents to ensure the proper protection of proprietary documents. Furthermore, should the assistance or implementation of a customer’s Infectious Disease Prevention Program exceed the franchise owner’s capability, ServiceMaster Clean Brand Standards can petition to intervene and head the project. In this scenario, a fee for this service will be paid to ServiceMaster Brands by the customer.

Health and Wellness Provision

Each ServiceMaster Clean franchise owner shall ensure that risks to worker’s physical and psychological health are managed effectively, including consideration for preventive and protective measures.

This is accomplished by:

• ensuring all training is completed,

• periodic audits of the staff’s physical and psychological status, and

• encouraging employees to use the company’s open-door communication policy.

All employees whose health could be directly impacted by exposure to infectious materials shall be included in this Health and Wellness Provision.

Verification of Compliance

Each ServiceMaster Clean franchise owner will keep documentation that the Infection Disease Prevention precautions are followed. Having employees assigned courses in SMBU is an

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excellent method for verifying that methodologies for assessing and prioritizing risks are identified, implemented, maintained, and documented based on relevant hazards.

Program Review and Improvement

Each franchise location will evaluate, with assistance from the ServiceMaster Clean Brand Standards Department, their Infectious Disease Prevention Program (IDPP). This shall be done annually with necessary or required amendments/updates made to the program.

Possible updates may include:

• New or updated training modules

• Changes in CDC or WHO infectious disease protocols

• Updated or new components of the current IDPP, such as improved PPE

• New compliance tracking methods

Some updates and improvement to the IDPP may be the result of the Brand Standards Department mandating such changes.

1.15.2 Hepatitis B Vaccine

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a pathogenic microorganism that can cause potentially life-threatening disease in humans. HBV infection is transmitted through exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials (OPIM), as defined in the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030.

Any workers who have reasonably anticipated contact with blood or OPIM during performance of their jobs are considered to have occupational exposure and to be at risk of being infected. These workers must be given the HBV prior to commencing work in an environment that is considered an occupational exposure risk. Should the employee choose NOT to have the vaccine administered, they must sign a waiver stating that they are aware of the risks of refusing the vaccination and have voluntarily chosen not to be vaccinated. Should the employee choose not to be vaccinated, and they refuse to sign the release, they must not be assigned to a facility considered an occupational exposure risk.

The vaccine must be administered according to the recommendations of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) current at the time the procedure takes place. To ensure immunity, it is important for individuals to complete the entire course of vaccination contained in the USPHS recommendations.

For more information on HBV, visit the OSHA site through this link: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/bbfact05.pdf

1.16 Human Resources Policies

1.16.1 Introduction

For you to operate your business effectively, you will need to have workplace rules. These basic ground rules are part of good management practices. Workplace rules will help your employees understand what is expected of them, not only in the work that they do, but also in their behavior and in other areas of your employment relationship.

You are required to comply with all applicable laws, including employment laws. We are not involved in the relationship between you and your employees. The relationship between you and your employees is up to you as the employer and as an independent business Franchisee. This section on personnel is advisory only except where it is noted otherwise (for example, New employee Training). It is intended to provide you with background information to help you learn about your legal obligations and good management practices and to help you avoid potential liability for violation of employment laws. Nothing in this section is intended to be legal advice.

1.16.2 Employee Handbook

Many of our franchisees use an employee handbook to pass on their workplace rules. Employers often ask their employees to review and sign an acknowledgement to be kept in their employee file stating that they have read and will abide by the company policies. Your employment lawyer or HR resource may have a useful template that may cover general employment issues and laws specific to your state.

Some workplace rules may be required by applicable laws. Topics in this category include smoking, sexual harassment, drugs and alcohol in the workplace, and reporting accidents. You will need to have these workplace rules to make sure that you comply with your legal obligations. Some workplace rules may be required by the franchise system standards. Topics in this category include dress codes, customer service requirements, and protection of confidential information. You will need to have these workplace rules to make sure that you comply with your Franchise Agreement and the current Brand Standards Guide. There are many other common workplace rules that are not required; however, they are still worth considering because they can help you to keep order in your workplace and give employees the information needed to have regarding their employment with you. These rules help convey your expectations for your employees and the consequences if your expectations are not met.

Topics in this category include sick leave, vacation policy, use of company telephone, discipline policies, and termination policies. There are plenty of examples of personnel policies and employee handbooks available on the internet. Templates for these materials are also available for purchase in the business or management section of your local bookstore.

In some cases, you will be required to post at the workplace or distribute certain written policies to employees. This generally applies to the workplace rules required by federal, state, or local law. However, in most cases, the way that you communicate your workplace rules is your decision. Options include verbal communications, posters, handouts, and employee handbooks.

It is up to you to decide whether you want to create an employee handbook. If you do develop an employee handbook, we strongly urge you to have it drafted and or reviewed by an experienced employment law attorney before you use it. By having your employee handbook drafted or reviewed by an attorney specializing in employment law, you avoid the danger of creating an employment contract that could make it difficult to terminate employees and could create employee rights that you did not intend.

1.17 Paying Your Employees

Wages and job benefits are two of the most important employment-related concerns for many employers and their workers. Federal and state laws concerning wages and fair pay have evolved over the years, and the rules governing employee benefit plans can be difficult to understand. Consult local employment law legal counsel before initiating these processes in your State.

1.17.1 Outsourced Payroll Services

As a business Franchisee, you are responsible for tax filing and reporting. This includes employee withholdings, as well as payroll taxes you pay as an employer, including your share of Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes. Tax deposits need to be made monthly or semi-weekly, depending on the amount of taxes owed. Each quarter you will file Form 941, which reconciles the withheld taxes and the employer’s contribution with the tax deposits made during the quarter. Several reports must be filed annually. Many small businesses find it easier to hire an outside payroll service to process their payroll, pay taxes, and file reports on time.

Keeping track of your employee's hours can be done through a timekeeping and payroll and accounting system or done manually.

1.17.2 Wages, Minimum Wages, Living Wage and Overtime, Lunches and Breaks

Federal, state, and local laws set out in detail the minimum wage every worker is entitled to receive. These laws also identify which workers are entitled to receive overtime pay for working longer hours. The wage and hour laws include overtime, break time and lunch requirements, and are meant to protect employees, and to ensure that their employers treat them with fairness in terms of payment for work done. Consult local employment law legal counsel before initiating these processes in your State. State employment laws including the current prevailing minimum wages differ from State to State and change often.

Common violations of wage and hour laws include:

• Not paying the correct minimum wage

• Paying the lower "training wage" or "youth minimum wage" to workers who should be paid more

• Not paying overtime (miss classifying exempt and nonexempt employees)

• Making employees work "off-the-clock" and not paying them for it

• Deducting for wages paid in goods, such as meals or food

As a business owner, it is of the utmost importance that you have a basic understanding of how to classify people who work for you. More specifically, you need to know the difference between workers who are your employees and ones who are independent contractors and how this may impact your hiring strategy moving forward.

In general, independent contractors may set their own hours and use their own tools, though there may be exceptions. It is strongly recommended you familiarize yourself with your local and state employment laws and guidelines for all positions that will exist in your business, including, but not limited to, hourly and salaried employees, independent contractors, and temporary laborers.

1.17.3 Mileage Reimbursement

Some states require employers to reimburse employees for vehicle-related expenses when employees use their own vehicles for business travel. You should contact your state’s Department of Labor or your employment counsel for the specific requirements. Even in states that do not specifically require reimbursement for vehicle expenses, we recommend that you provide mileage reimbursement as this can be an important benefit of the job. Explain your mileage reimbursement policy including requirements for tracking business mileage and how much you pay per mile to your employees.

1.17.4 Benefits

The term "benefits" is a broad one. It covers anything an employee receives other than cash wages. Some benefits such as family and medical leave are required under federal or state law. These benefits generally do not cost an employer anything, except in terms of the employee's time away from work. If you are an employer with workers who are covered by a law that requires certain job benefits, such as leave time for certain purposes, you must allow your employees to take advantage of those benefits at no penalty to them.

Unlike things such as family and medical leave, some benefits are optional and are a matter for employers and their employees to negotiate. These benefits include medical, disability, or dental insurance, life insurance, or employee pension plans. Although these benefits are optional, in that the employer is not required by law to provide them, an employer who does choose to provide them must follow certain federal regulations that can be extremely complex and technical.

Most health benefit and pension plans are regulated under a federal law called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Among other things, ERISA regulations require that employees receive notice of the terms of any employee benefit plan - what it is, who is eligible, what the plan covers, what the plan costs, how payments are made, and how and when changes to the plan will be made. Consult your local employment lawyer regarding benefits that may be required by your state labor department.

1.17.5 Outsourced Payroll Companies

There are numerous choices for cloud-based time and attendance systems, fully integrated all- in-one platforms designed to help the employer save time and prevent errors. Single signon systems connect employees with useful information across devices, locations, and services.

Instead of managing data in multiple places, these systems connect to one integrated solution that includes employer and employee information in a single platform aiming to provide simple tracking for administrators, as employee hours automatically and securely flow to payroll and other HR functions.

1.18

Culture and Employee Retention

1.18.1 Introduction

A successful business depends on dependable, productive employees. The secret to a productive workforce is good morale. Morale refers to the way that your employees feel about working for you and your business. The road to good employee morale has several steps:

• Realizing how poor morale affects your bottom line is an important first step because it drives home the reality of how productivity, employee loyalty, and employee turnover can be negatively affected by poor morale.

• Figuring out what motivates your employees is the cornerstone of making sure that employees are happy and productive members of your team.

• Increasing morale and motivation involves rewarding employees and recognizing their achievements and contributions.

1.18.2 Factors of Good Morale

There are several factors that contribute to high morale in a work environment. For good morale, employees must generally feel that they are:

• Treated fairly

• Valued, appreciated, and recognized for their work

• Empowered to perform their work at a high level

• Paid a fair wage for their work

• Doing work that is important

1.18.3 Signs of Bad Morale

Low morale may exist among your employees, but you may not realize it if you do not know what to look for. Here are some of the more common signs of low morale:

• Excessive absenteeism or tardiness

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• High turnover

• Poor work quality

• Increasing number of errors in work

• Lack of enthusiasm about work

• Jealousy or fighting among staff members

• Complaints from customers about service

1.18.4 Improving Morale and Motivation

How to motivate your employees is something that can only be determined by you and your management staff. The first question you should ask yourself is “what motivates my team to do their best work?” Is it a tangible reward such as tickets to the movies, free lunch, or money? Are they motivated by immediate and public praise? No matter what the answer may be, recognition and appreciation for a job well done is important and necessary.

Retaining the employees you've recruited, hired, and trained is critical to operating a successful ServiceMaster Clean business. Each business must develop, implement, and consistently adhere to an employee retention policy, which will include proactive measures to retain quality employees. Please refer to the Staffing Toolkit for examples and guidance on proven employee retention programs and activities.

The steps that you and your management team should be using are:

• Tell your staff in advance that you are going to let them know how they are doing.

• Praise people immediately for doing a good job. Don’t wait until the weekly or monthly staff meeting to give them their only praise.

• Be specific in telling people what they did right.

• Reinforce the fact to them that you personally appreciate their efforts and that their efforts benefit the entire organization.

• Encourage them to do more of the same.

Don’t let the fear of people asking for a raise after being praised for doing a good job keep you from encouraging your employees to keep up the good work. Not everything you do to reward your employees has to break the bank. There are several things that you can do that require little to no money but will still let your employees know you appreciate all that they do.

For example:

• Encourage employees to praise each other

• Promote from within

• Use staff ideas

• Reward longevity, such as recognition for annual employment milestones

• Birthday cards

• Tickets to events

• Staff of the month award

The important thing about praising and encouraging your employees is to do it.

1.19 Performance Evaluations

The use of regular employee performance evaluations is a useful management tool. Performance evaluations are intended to measure how the employee's performance compares to your expectations.

They also can be used to:

• Appraise, recognize, and reward good performance

• Establish goals for the future

• Strengthen the relationship between you and the employee

• Open channels of communication

• Offer training and certification opportunities to all employees

• Identify areas that might require improvement

• Enable you to assess your own management skills

The key aspects in a successful evaluation are:

• Identifying job standards

• Being consistent in measuring and communicating the extent to which those standards are being met

• Providing opportunities for feedback and clarification.

Job performance evaluations can also be used as evidence in employee disputes. It is highly recommended that you consult a local employment lawyer or consultant regarding the use and form of performance evaluations in your State.

Here are some suggestions for a successful employee performance evaluation process:

• Use an employee evaluation form. A form provided by a local employment lawyer or HR consultant can help systemize the evaluation process, serve as the outline for discussions with employees, and become a record of the evaluation discussion for future reference.

• Be open honest, fair, and consistent.

• Concentrate on concrete examples of job performance. Avoid assessments that are based on subjective impressions or in comparison with other employees under your supervision.

• Schedule a meeting with the employee being evaluated to discuss the results of the

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evaluation. It is important to allow enough time and privacy during the meeting to permit

ample opportunity for the employee to respond and contribute.

• When giving feedback, you should focus first on the positive aspects of the employee's performance. To reinforce the two-way communication process of successful evaluations, your employees should be encouraged to identify their most important achievements over the evaluation period.

• Inform the employee of any incidents of sub-par performance. Set goals with the employee for improvement. Work together to create a plan of action to help the employee in deficient areas and to establish goals for the coming year.

A successful appraisal process is one that you and the employee should feel that the outcome has been fairly determined, using objective criteria related to the position requirements, and that you both have had the opportunity to respond to the assessment. However, this will not always mean that the employee agrees fully with the results of the performance review.

If you use an evaluation form, your local adviser may suggest that:

• The employee be requested to sign-off on the form to show that the results of the evaluation process have been communicated to the employee

• A signed form is retained in the employee's file private personnel file

• The employee receives a copy of the completed form

1.20 Employee Discipline

Employee discipline and termination are never easy or pleasant tasks for the employer, and how they are handled may greatly impact whether the employee seeks legal redress against the employer, and if so, the success of any such action. Even unsubstantiated and non-factual claims by disgruntled former employees can require costly legal defense and cause disruption to the business.

Although termination works a hardship on almost all employees, statistics indicate that the employee who believes he or she was treated unfairly by the employer is much more likely to sue or file a claim for wrongful discharge, whether he or she has viable grounds for such a claim. It is also important to remember that if such a claim reaches a jury, that jury will, more likely than not, be populated by employees or former employees than by human resource managers. In the final analysis, the jury will base its determination on whether the employee was treated fairly by the employer.

By consistently enforcing its personnel policies and procedures and by following a few precautionary procedures, an employer can reduce exposure to employment claims by employees and place itself in the most defensible position possible when claims are brought against the employer. Consult local employment law legal counsel before initiating these processes in your state.

Your employee handbook or General Operating Procedures (GOP) manual should clearly define the difference between work-related actions that require coaching, counselling and potentially a probationary period of employment, all of which must be documented and signed by employer

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and employee; and gross misconduct, which is cause for immediate dismissal.

Examples of Gross Misconduct:

• Possessing or consuming non-prescribed narcotics on company property

• Reporting to work intoxicated or impaired

• Instigating a fight on company property

• Misuse of company assets, including products, supplies, equipment and vehicles

• Carrying a weapon while performing job duties or while on company property

• Theft

• Intentional harassment, including sexual harassment

• Destruction of property

• Gross Insubordination

• Misrepresentation of important facts in seeking employment

• Violation of confidentiality or sharing of trade secrets outside the business

• Extended unexcused absences

Written policies must be drafted or reviewed by your local employment lawyer.

1.21 Resignation/Termination

1.21.1 Resignation

Good practice advice from your local employment counsel may include the suggestion that when an employee resigns from a position, is it usually best to obtain a signed letter (or email) of resignation from the employee specifying the employee’s intent to resign and the effective date of the resignation and that any such letter should be retained in the employee’s file. Your counsel may also advise you regarding post termination procedures and conducting an exit interview and the return of any confidential documents and equipment.

1.21.2 Termination

Terminating an employee must be handled with care and advice from your local employment lawyer.

Good practice advice from your local employment counsel may include the suggestion that:

• Before terminating an employee, you should make sure that your actions are legal and fully documented

• It must be documented that the employee was made aware that their actions were contrary to the Employee Handbook/GOP

• If an employee is to be terminated due to an inability to perform job duties or a poor attitude, then the employee should have received appropriate warnings to give adequate opportunity for improvement

• The employee must have been warned and signed a written acknowledgement that continued infractions could lead to termination.

A good chronological outline to follow for employee discipline is:

1. Coaching: Verbally ensure that the employee is aware that their actions were contrary to the Employee Handbook/GOP. Document this meeting for their employee file.

2. Counselling: On a repeat offense, seek to understand why the infraction occurred again, and have the employee sign a document stating they are aware of the infraction and vow not to repeat it.

3. Warning: On the third occasion of the infraction, explain to the employee that any repeat infractions will lead to immediate termination of employment. Employer and employee must sign this document.

4. Termination: A repeat infraction should result in termination of employment.

The “infraction” isn’t necessarily the same action each time – it refers to actions by the employee that are contrary to the Employee Handbook/GOP.

When these four steps are handled properly, including signed documentation, it nearly eliminates any chance of legal retribution from the employee, and/or unemployment benefits being awarded to the terminated employee, which could increase the business’ unemployment insurance premiums.

1.21.3 Employment-at-Will Doctrine

The employment-at-will doctrine assumes that when there is no written contract specifying the length of the employment relationship, either the employer or the employee can terminate the relationship whenever he or she chooses. Strict interpretation of this concept gives the employer a lot of latitude to terminate an employee. Your local employment counsel will help you navigate the applicability of this doctrine in your state and in the specific circumstances.

1.21.4 Post-Separation Procedures

Subject to the advice of your local counsel, when an employee resigns or is terminated, it is usual to:

• Update the employee’s address

• Arrange for the payment of the last paycheck

• Collect from the employee any company property such as keys, safety equipment, etc.

• Conduct an exit interview

• Retain the employee’s file per the state-required duration

• Offer COBRA coverage, if you offer group insurance

1.21.5 Conducting Exit Interviews

Exit interviews are often helpful, especially in the case of voluntary resignations, to determine fully not only why an employee has decided to quit, but to seek out opportunities for improvement in morale and any employee relations program.

1.21.6 Final Paychecks

Most states have laws requiring employers to give employees their final paychecks very soon after termination, sometimes on their last day of work. This may mean that you cannot wait for your usual payroll process to issue the final check. In some states, these deadlines depend on whether the employee was fired or quit.

1.21.7 Giving References

Due to laws governing individual privacy, you should be careful about what information you give out to other employers about a former employee. It is usually safest to only confirm information regarding the employee’s position, start date and end date of employment.

1.22 Summary of Good Employee Management Practices

This section includes some general commonsense experience to consider when managing employees:

• Treat your workers with respect. Workers who are treated in a disrespectful manner are more likely to consider options through the legal system.

• Communicate with your employees. An open-door policy can provide a free flow of useful information if it is operated in a way to solicit and respect employees’ opinions.

• Give regular evaluations. Performance evaluations can be an early warning system for employment problems. The information given and received could help turn a problem worker into a valuable employee.

• Make job related decisions. Each employment-related decision should be guided by job- related criteria only.

• Adopt sound policies and follow them. A legally reviewed employee handbook can be an important tool. If formal policies are adopted, they should be followed.

• Be consistent. Apply the same standards of performance and conduct to all employees. Avoid any possible allegation of favoritism or scapegoating.

• Act when necessary. Deal with workplace problems early. They rarely resolve themselves

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and usually only get worse over time.

• Don't punish the messenger. When workplace complaints are brought to your attention, focus on the problem.

• Keep good records. Keep careful records of every major employment decision or event for each worker including evaluations, disciplinary warnings, and reasons for firing. These records will help if you ever need to prove your side of the story. Keep the information confidential in the employee’s file.

• Be discreet. You should give out information about employees on a need-to-know basis only. Personal information and some employment-related information can be highly confidential. Seek counsel from your local employment counsel regarding eth current employee privacy regulations in your State.

1.23 Employee Management Forms

It is recommended that you use the same forms to manage all employees in your organization. Refer to the Attract, Hire, and Retain Talent Playbook section for form templates by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Clean Playbooks and Toolkits > Attract, Hire, and Retain Talent. Consult local employment law legal counsel before editing and/or utilizing these forms in your state.

2 OPERATING PROCEDURES

2.1 Introduction

Our franchisees find that the daily operating procedures become second nature over time. This section is designed to provide an overview of the day-to-day business activities you will perform, as well as some guidance on how to handle specific, less-common situations. If you encounter daily operating situations that are not covered in this section, reach out to your Camp for guidance. Your input will help us maintain a practical operations manual that will continue to be useful.

As an independent businessperson you are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Franchised Business. This section of the Manual describes the daily operating procedures we recommend or require.

Company Systems and Processes

ServiceMaster Clean is committed to continually evaluating the technology, platforms, and processes that are used to support the network and their businesses. Taking full advantage of these resources will enable you to get the most value out of your relationship with ServiceMaster.

Technology Fee

ServiceMaster Brands both provides and outsources numerous platforms and/or operational systems necessary for our franchisees to operate their business at a high level. ServiceMaster Clean reserves the right to recoup the cost of these platforms and systems by instituting a monthly technology fee for each business location.

Operational Certifications: CIMS

It is a requirement that each ServiceMaster Clean business obtain the Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) Certification through ISSA, an independent, third-party entity. CIMS validates that your ServiceMaster Clean business is operated at the highest level of excellence, efficiency, and responsibility. The CIMS Certification standards align with ServiceMaster Clean operating systems, processes, and protocols, which include the contents of this Operations Manual. CIMS Certification is recognized throughout the commercial cleaning industry and the certification logo should be prominently displayed in your marketing material and on your website.

The fee for the initial certification, as well as any subsequent renewal fees, are paid by the franchisee directly to ISSA. Assistance through the certification process will be provided by your Camp, the Clean Brand Standards department, and an assigned auditor from ISSA.

2.2 Dedicated Business Phone/Phone Number

Each ServiceMaster Clean franchise must obtain a dedicated phone number that is used solely in the day-to-day operations of the business; this dedicated phone number must be activated prior to attending AOS training, and the business number must be communicated to the

onboarding team for updating ServiceMaster Clean's internal database. This number also must be included on the franchise business' microsite as the main contact phone number.

2.3 Required Days/Hours of Operation

While we do not have required hours or days that you must be open, you are serving customers with individual needs, and you are required to tailor your hours to those of your customers. For example, if you have a customer that needs cleaning at 5 am, you will need to set up your business to accommodate that customer's needs.

2.4 Emergency Closings

At times, emergencies such as severe weather, fires, power failures, tornados, or planned/unplanned civil disturbances can disrupt operations. In extreme cases, these circumstances may require the temporary closing of one or possibly multiple locations. Experience has shown that it is reasonable to close a location if city services are closed.

Customers should be notified and rescheduled using their preferred method of contact and your Camp should be notified once your employees and customers have been informed.

It is a good business practice to provide guidelines for your employees to maintain contact with their manager during and after an emergency. Convey to your staff that safe and reasonable means to get to work safely and on time during inclement weather or other emergency conditions are expected.

2.5 Customer Service Procedures

2.5.1 Customer Service Philosophy

Customer service is not a department at ServiceMaster Clean; it is the very foundation of our philosophy, mission, and focus. As a ServiceMaster Clean Franchisee we trust and expect that you will mirror our customer service philosophy. It’s about giving them back their time while doing what it takes to exceed their expectations. To ensure we meet the customers’ expectations, every effort should be made to keep the scheduled day and time to clean their home.

Always remember to:

• Be courteous in all dealings with customers

• Make every experience one that the customer will remember positively

• Build long-term customer relationships by meeting or exceeding your customers' expectations

• Be consistent with the same team and level of service

• Use professional standard products

• Customize your service to meet your customer’s needs

• Communicate with each customer how they prefer

The customer service image that we have developed over the years is part of our corporate culture and the personality of the Franchise system.

2.5.2 Customer Feedback

Always thank the customer for giving feedback, whether it is positive or negative. A customer that gives feedback wants to be heard. If you listen well, you may learn something new, and oftentimes customers will point out needed changes that you may have been overlooked.

Customer feedback is a valuable tool that will allow you to gauge the quality of the products and services you are providing. It will be your responsibility to follow up on all customer feedback, both negative and positive (see following section). Positive feedback can be a great source for testimonials that we can use on the ServiceMaster Clean website and other forms of advertising.

2.5.3 Customer Concerns

Despite your best efforts, you may experience customer complaints. You should consider these complaints as an opportunity to make the situation right for the customer and to make sure the same problem does not happen to other customers. Effectively managing customer complaints is a way to improve customer service and customer relations.

What the Customer Wants

From the customer’s viewpoint, only three things matter if something goes wrong with the service provided:

1. How to complain?

2. Where to complain?

3. Will the complaint be dealt with seriously and promptly?

Customers will assess your seriousness to deal with complaints by the extent to which your complaint system is:

• Visible. Visibility will depend on whether you make your customers aware of your customer complaint process.

• Accessible. Accessibility can be achieved by making sure that your customers know to whom a complaint should be made and that each of your employees knows how to deal with complaints.

• Fair. Fairness means that you make sure that complaints will be promptly and properly investigated and will not be biased towards anyone involved.

It is very unfortunate to have a dissatisfied customer. When you do encounter an unhappy customer, what do you do? In most instances, you will want your staff to involve you or your manager.

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Our experience suggests that you and your staff should follow these simple steps:

• Listen to the customer and take his/her comments as constructive criticism.

• Let the customer talk, voicing his/her concerns and do not interrupt.

• Empathize with the customer and look for a solution

• Smile: apologize to the customer saying, “I understand the confusion. I am sorry that this has happened. Let me get my manager, and s/he can better help you.”

2.6 Environmental Policy

The ServiceMaster Clean environmental policy is aimed at balancing environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources with other policy goals, such as affordable energy as well as economic growth and employment. Federal and state environmental rules cover air quality, water quality, waste management, land conservation, chemical and oil spills, and drinking water quality. Some environmental policies regulate the actions of private individuals, organizations, or businesses. For example, some customers may have specific requirements on how we discharge wastewater resulting from our daily cleaning operations. The customer may require that we follow a set of rules and requirements within the customer’s facility to permit them to comply with environmental laws.

Environmental rules and regulations vary in their requirements depending on the issue involved. Environmental policy and energy policy are also interconnected. For example, energy production and consumption can produce environmental effects. As a result, environmental policy can involve restrictions or regulations on energy production such as oil and natural gas operations or solar energy development.

The ServiceMaster Clean patented Capture & Removal cleaning system aligns with this environmental policy. It is designed to use cold water, less water overall, fewer cleaning products, less electricity than conventional cleaning methods, and we offer a full line of “green” cleaning products, making it an environmentally friendly cleaning system. In 1999 Green Seal, a non-profit environmental standard development and certification organization, certified Capture & Removal under the GS-42 initiative.

Our environmental policy encompasses safe disposal of supplies, cleaning products, and other related items. Chemical waste is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). It cannot be disposed of in regular trash or in the sewer system. Most chemical waste must be disposed of through the EHS hazardous waste program. Team members should complete the universal waste removal module on SMBU, then seek the advice of their supervisor if they have any questions about the proper protocol of disposal of such items.

This Environmental Policy is to be displayed in plain sight in the ServiceMaster Clean business location and should be covered during team member new-hire orientation. It is also available to all customers upon request.

Other documents related to an Environmental Policy can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean – Business Services > !Operations Manual > Policies, Plans, Programs and Protocols:

• Emergency Spill Response Protocol

• Waste and Recycling Program

2.7 Disaster Remediation Customer Needs

There may come a point in time in which a customer may incur a natural disaster such as flooding, wind damage, fire damage, etc., or a non-natural disaster such as burst pipes, and it’s critical to have pre-communicated your ability to assist with handling these disasters. Though a ServiceMaster Clean franchisee is typically not trained or licensed to perform the remediation required, each ServiceMaster Clean owner should have developed a relationship with a local ServiceMaster Restore business that can be called on to help your customer through these unfortunate occurrences. Your ability to help the customer through these trying and stressful times will strengthen your relationship with the customer.

Should no ServiceMaster Restore business be in close proximity to the ServiceMaster Clean business’ contractual territory, it is incumbent on the ServiceMaster Clean owner to network with and vet a local restoration business to handle these jobs when they arise. Any restoration company referred by the ServiceMaster Clean owner that performs remediation or other disaster work in the ServiceMaster Clean customer’s facility must be duly trained and licensed to perform the work and must carry the minimally required insurance coverages consistent with the levels of coverage required of a ServiceMaster Restore business.

Under no circumstance may a ServiceMaster Clean franchise business perform any disaster restoration-related tasks for which they are not licensed, trained, or insured to perform.

Doing so could result in:

• Work being improperly completed

• Damage to both the ServiceMaster Clean and ServiceMaster Restore brands

• Possible legal issues because of performing the work

2.7.1 Sharing Leads

It is not uncommon for a ServiceMaster Restore business to offer sales commission or referral payments to ServiceMaster Clean owners that provide disaster remediation jobs. When you are networking with the ServiceMaster Restore businesses in your area, it’s important to discuss this issue prior to a need arising. Some ServiceMaster Clean and ServiceMaster Restore owners freely share leads back and forth with no fees being paid; others will negotiate a nominal “finder fee” or commission so it is clearly understood what each party should expect to pay and to receive if/when a situation arises. ServiceMaster Brands (Franchisor) representatives, including field support personnel, are not involved in these transactions, including negotiating fee amounts or percentages, or in assisting with collection of such fees. These agreements are

entered into voluntarily by franchise owners and any adherence to or enforcement of an agreement is the sole responsibility of the franchise owners.

2.7.2 Billing for Disaster Work

There are several ways to handle the customer billing for disaster work done by a ServiceMaster Restore owner on behalf of a ServiceMaster Clean owner. The lead can be turned over to the ServiceMaster Restore owner to work with and directly bill the customer; or the ServiceMaster Clean owner can be the facilitator of service and bill the customer while adding a “silent” administrative fee to the billed amount in the process. The ServiceMaster Clean owner would then pay the ServiceMaster Restore owner the agreed-to amount for services rendered to the customer.

Please consult your Camp for advice on the different options and which billing method appears most appropriate for the job in question.

2.8 Products/Equipment/Technical Support

2.8.1 Ordering Procedures

Ordering sufficient supplies, products and equipment is essential to guarantee customer satisfaction and to maintain an efficient and professionally run operation. If you are out of any products, it will drastically affect the satisfaction of existing customers, as well as the standard of service. Your employees may also react negatively to the pressure of a disorganized or unstocked environment.

Placing Orders

• You may place orders online by going directly to the product ordering website via the Aramsco Single Sign-On Link in the ServiceConnection Intranet Home Page.

• When placing an online order, be prepared to include the stock number, description, quantity, and unit of measurement for each item needed. If you have questions about a particular item, please email Aramsco at smcleanorders@aramsco.com or call 323-8538066.

• When your order requires special shipping instructions such as expedited/overnight delivery, lift gate, or inside delivery, please indicate clearly on your order. When placing your order by phone, indicate these needs to the specialist taking your order.

2.8.2 Ordering from Vendors

Products and equipment should be purchased from the ServiceMaster required distribution company. All products have been reviewed and tested, vetted, and put into our systems. You may purchase your cleaning products, equipment, and supplies from us or from a required vendor who meets our specifications. We have negotiated special franchise pricing with some of these vendors, but our testing and vetting does not provide a guarantee to you or your customer. Any product guarantees come solely from the manufacturer. Only the manufacturer is responsible for any product liability. See Section 2.4.4: Vendors.

2.8.3 Changing Required/Approved Vendors

We have the right to change required and approved vendors at any time. Unless there is an emergency situation where a pivot is needed quickly, we will make an announcement prior to the change.

2.8.4 Product Receiving Procedures

Since each franchisee location is configured somewhat differently regarding the space available, the actual receiving schedule, and procedures you will develop may vary. The important issues to consider will be covered in this section. The critical objective for receiving deliveries is to develop and maintain an efficient pattern for the needs of your location. This involves scheduling delivery times according to the specific need of each product and the flow of your business. You should never be waiting for a delivery to “restock” stock items in use that day.

Examine Packages

When your products are delivered, immediately examine the outside of packages for visible damage.

Count Packages

Always count the number of packages in your shipment and compare it to the number of packages the driver is supposed to be delivering to you.

Sign for Shipment

Only sign for the packages you receive, and be sure to check for damaged packages, as that might mean damaged goods. Once you sign for a shipment, you are acknowledging that you have received everything listed on the bill of lading document without damage. The warehouse cannot file a claim on a package that has been signed for by a franchise representative as received in full without damage.

Here are actions to take if damage is visible or suspected:

1. No visible sign of damage: You must sign for the package before you open it.

2. Visible damage: You will want to open those packages with visible damage before signing. The driver is obliged to wait for your inspection. Note any damages, missing items, or missing packages on the document before you sign it. Have the driver then sign the document to verify the damages, missing items, or missing packages in your shipment.

3. Contact Aramsco via e-mail at smcleanorders@aramsco.com or call 323-853-8066 for assistance in filing damage or lost claims against the carrier.

Examine Inside of Packages

Check all packages as soon as possible for concealed damages. If you find there is concealed damage, immediately contact Aramsco.

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2.8.5 Storing Procedures

Proper storage is essential for the successful operation of your business. Improper storage results from a lack of commitment by management to taking the time to do things right. This attitude will always flow down to the employees. Proper storage is an ongoing task which requires each employee to do their part in keeping everything in its proper place. The safety of each employee and our customers is ultimately at stake if proper storage is not a priority of the management.

Guidelines for Storage

Store related merchandise together to help employees become familiar with the location of products.

To simplify tallying the inventory, store merchandise in organized designated areas. Label shelves, to help keep the stock in the same location consistent.

When stacking items on shelving units, pack the heavier merchandise on lower shelves to prevent the unit from toppling over and to make it easier to remove heavier items from the shelves.

Position frequently used items for quick, easy access.

Storage System

Our storage system relies on the first in, first out (FIFO) method of inventory control. Ideally, all incoming orders should be placed into designated areas as soon as they have been checked in. Keep all hallways and walking areas clear for safety purposes. Even if you do not have time to organize newly arrived products, you must clear all walking and working areas. To reduce the risk of theft, never leave products outside your premises (back hallways, sidewalks, etc.).

Organizing Supplies and Inventory

Depending on your location, the storage area may be within your location or in a remote storage area. The cleanliness and organization of this area must be maintained to minimize time to search for products, place and receive orders, and conduct inventories. A very important aspect of proper cleaning is systematic storage. You should understand the system for storage and be held accountable to ensure it is followed. Supplies placed on top of other equipment or stored “just anywhere”, make routine cleaning difficult and time consuming. Avoid accumulating unnecessary items. You should have shelves arranged to provide adequate space for cleaning purposes. You will save a great deal of time and effort by keeping shelf space neat and orderly.

Storage Racks

Storage racks should be neat and orderly. All supplies should be dated when they arrive. Open containers should be kept separated, and a second container should never be opened until the first is used. Heavier items should be located on lower shelves as a safety precaution. Cartons or carton lids should not block the aisle. Pay special attention to the following: Maintain the cleanliness of the storage area by eliminating debris and any spilled products.

Labeling and Rotating Inventory

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Proper rotation and organization of merchandise serves many purposes. However, it is an area that is easy to let slip. Generally, it is not immediately identifiable that your inventory items are different due to the date they were purchased. However, looks can be deceiving. Do not rely on your eye to determine how and when to rotate product. Follow First In, First Out (FIFO), which is our inventory and storage standard procedure.

Using the FIFO method will:

• Decrease the time spent taking inventory

• Create easy accessibility of products for all staff members

• Assure more accurate ordering, resulting in less over ordering and less chance of shortages

• Reduce the risk of possible nesting of insects and accumulation of dust Permanent Freeze Damage

Freezing can permanently damage several ServiceMaster products. Damaged product, particularly floor finishes, may become jelled or have a consistency of watery cottage cheese. You will find a complete list of products that are subject to freeze damage by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Products and Equipment

• Considerations when ordering:

• Be aware of weather reports for where products are being shipped from and your destination

• Order Monday-Wednesday as carriers are more likely to pick-up and deliver when they know product will not be sitting in terminals over weekends

• Consider separate orders for freezable products, so that your entire order does not get held up in case of freezing temperatures.

2.9 Owner’s Facility Cleaning and Maintenance

It is expected that every ServiceMaster Clean office is clean and maintained to the highest of standards. After all, your business is cleanliness and customers can be heavily influenced by the state of your office. Every morning and every night, as well as throughout the day, the daily cleaning and maintenance checklist should be adhered to. You should develop your own cleaning schedule. We recommend that cleaning such as dusting, vacuuming, trash, bathrooms, etc. be performed weekly at a minimum.

2.9.1 Pest Control

It is recommended you contract a professional extermination service to perform routine service. This may be provided by the facility management (depending upon your lease). Often, strip locations use a single extermination service contracted by the landlord. This helps to provide consistent service with maximum efficiency. In any case, periodic extermination service should include a minimum of two extermination applications each month. The age and condition of your office is an important criterion. Older buildings often have a much higher incidence rate of

insects and rodents. The appearance of roaches or rodent droppings indicates more frequent extermination may be necessary.

Any exterminator providing service in your office must be licensed by the state in which you are located. The two major criteria for selecting an exterminator service are quality and price. Quality is of equal importance. You should understand that the lowest price may not coincide with the best service. Therefore, a satisfactory median can be achieved by requiring referrals from each prospective exterminator.

You should be particularly concerned with:

• The frequency and consistency of extermination service

• The elimination and prevention of insects and rodents

• The ramification of exterminating agents (e.g., chemicals and processes) used that may be harmful to either food products or create foulness in odor

2.10 Equipment Maintenance

It is vital to complete routine cleaning and maintenance of your major equipment to minimize the need for repairs and ensure optimal performance. All types of equipment: vacuums, extractors, rotos, etc., need regular maintenance and cleaning to keep them running smoothly. Instructions for cleaning and maintaining your equipment can be found in the equipment manual for the machine, online from the manufacturer, or you can contact product information if you need assistance locating the correct documentation.

2.11 Customer Service Procedures

2.11.1 Customer Experience – Above and Beyond

There are currently few perceptible differences between our services and those of other cleaning companies. To succeed, this must change. We need to set ourselves apart in the eyes of the consumer.

This is perhaps the most important mission in our brand’s history, and your role cannot be understated. With your help, we will build on our current market leadership position and achieve a higher level of success for the future. We will assume a new identity - one of vision, differentiated strength, and higher perceived value.

Southwest Airlines Example

We can draw some parallels from the airline industry. All airlines perform pretty much the same service. They put people in planes and take them from point A to point B. When Herb Kelleher started Southwest Airlines, he knew he would be operating in the commodity industry. Yet he saw ways his fledgling company could compete beyond price and product.

Southwest competes well on these two levels, but their true differentiation is in their attitude. Southwest has successfully positioned itself as a company that makes air travel fun. They chat with their passengers, make jokes, dress in costume at Halloween, and occasionally sing - all in

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the interest of avoiding the sameness of their commodity-driven competitors.

If you doubt that such a good-natured approach to doing business could actually work, consider that Southwest is in one of the toughest industries in the world, and celebrated their 50 th anniversary in 2021. Their customer satisfaction and performance ratings regularly outrank their competition, and Southwest has been featured consistently on the World's Most Admired Companies list since 2009.

Customer Research

We conducted an extensive study several years ago via 380 telephone interviews in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Companies surveyed were selected from the ServiceMaster Clean customer list, as well as from a random list of companies within one of the following six industries: health care, education/government, industrial/manufacturing, financial/banking, property management, and professional services.

The research helps provide us with an understanding of the cleaning services market, particularly within the following parameters:

• How purchasing decisions for cleaning services are made

• Satisfaction with current cleaning services provider or in-house services

• Current gaps in the market, including needs that are not being met by current providers

Key Research Findings

Key findings from the cleaning services research study are as follows:

• Performance is paramount

• Responsiveness is required

• Satisfaction levels are unsatisfactory

• Partnerships are needed

Performance is Paramount

It should come as no surprise that delivering a "clean" that consistently meets expectations is the most desired output from any cleaning company. Dissatisfaction among our target audience occurred when service providers were unreliable, missed things, did not pay attention to details, did not do deep cleaning, and/or needed to be reminded what needs to be done. Performing the basic job requirements consistently produces strong loyalty, as well as strong recommendations and referrals.

Responsiveness is Required

To compete with in-house cleaning staff, we must respond quickly to our customer’s special needs and requests. This is a very powerful opportunity to build value and increase our satisfaction levels with property managers. As might be expected, in-house staff were perceived to be much more responsive than outsourced vendors.

Satisfaction Levels are Unsatisfactory

While most customers surveyed did not express dissatisfaction, the vast majority did not express strong satisfaction either. Though satisfaction with current cleaning vendors is not very high, that does not necessarily mean they will switch vendors. In fact, it was only after recurring problems that two-thirds of interviewed companies switched vendors in the past.

Partnerships are Needed

Property managers look to cleaning companies to act as an extension of their staff. The broad range of duties and the dynamic nature of building management mean that most managers spend a lot of energy reacting to problems with managing vendors. By establishing a partnership role with building management, we can become proactive to potential problems while improving quality and reducing stress.

Differentiation is Nonexistent

There are few perceptible differences among outside cleaning services, and there is a vast array of competitors. No one company, including ServiceMaster Clean, stands out in any key area of stands apart from the competition in any significant manner. The ability to establish clear differentiation will remain key to our brand’s success.

We must mean something to our customers beyond satisfactory cleaning at a fair price. Our customers need to connect with our brand’s unique values on an emotional level. This type of connection occurs over time, through a series of actions. It occurs when a Southwest Airline employee engages a commuter in a conversation about his hometown, when a Ritz Carlton employee greets a guest by name, and when your dentist asks about your family. It’s not about doing extraordinary things; it’s about doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

Working on our Brand

People often define branding as a function of an advertising agency or marketing group. But the truth is our brand can be defined only by the experiences our customers have with us. Interaction with customers and the quality of work does more to affect how people experience our company than any ad campaign possibly could.

The power you have to create a strong brand in the minds of customers will benefit your customers as much as your business. Your customers will have an easier choice to make when selecting this brand because of the reassurance we can provide. Satisfied customers will produce referrals for your business that will result in growth at a lower marketing cost. For your business, a powerful brand can command a higher price than its competitors, increase loyalty, and provide long term profits.

Brand Value Proposition

Because we operate in a commodity industry, it is essential to bring differentiation and value to our brand. This is achieved by developing what is called a brand value proposition. A brand value proposition is a statement of what our brand stands for, or what it promises to our customers. It is a statement not just about our company, but the way we do business. By creating a meaningful brand value proposition, we can more clearly define what our brand will stand for in the minds of our customers.

Like Starbucks, which was successful in defining their brand value proposition as "rewarding everyday moment," and the Ritz-Carlton, which delivers on a promise to provide "the finest personal service and facilities around the world," we intend to have similar success with our brand value proposition.

We value the opinions and needs of our customers and looked to them in defining just what our value proposition should be. Using results from the research, and a follow up study that tested different positioning lines against each other, we found that the value proposition "Above and Beyond" resonated deepest with our customers.

Next Steps

As you read over the findings of our research, the opportunities we have to build and strengthen our brand begin to come into focus. Taking advantage of these opportunities can yield dramatic results in revenue, customer loyalty, and equity in your business. It’s one thing to talk about becoming better. It’s quite another to do the work required to back it up.

Brand Standards and Quality Assurance

As discussed in previous chapters, consistent brand standards are what make strong, profitable brands. Each business in the network is required to abide by the brand standards created for our network of service providers. At ServiceMaster, the Quality Assurance process is administered by your Camp, who make period visits to most franchise locations and will observe key components of our brand standards to ensure compliance.

This visit gives us an opportunity to see how you are doing and gives you an opportunity to ask your Camp any questions you may have about your operations. We may use this opportunity to conduct a formal inspection of your operations, to provide additional training, and/or to discuss business matters relating to your operation. We will usually provide you with notice of a planned visit, but we have the right to show up unannounced. We will appreciate your cooperation and the cooperation of your managers and employees during these visits.

While all our brand standards are important, three of the most critical brand standards are covered in the next three sections.

2.11.2 Product Loyalty

Product loyalty means purchasing and using only approved ServiceMaster products and equipment.

Not only is this required by your contract, but it is also a hallmark to providing consistent quality service. Our products and equipment have been tested and put into our system, because we know they can help us effectively provide the quality service we want. We do not want to put the brand or owners at risk by using products that do not clean as well or that could harm our customers. We have little or no recourse to defend an issue when our products and equipment are not being used.

2.11.3 Live Answering

The FDD defines live answering as the ability of an individual to reach a live representative

during business hours on the primary business line of each franchise business, whether that representative is a member of franchise staff or an answering service.

Each ServiceMaster Clean franchise location is required to have live answering during business hours, and during specified off-business hours as defined in the Live Answering Guidelines document.

This document can be found be navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > CleanBusiness Services > Policies, Plans, Programs and Protocols. This brand standard is a requirement in the Franchise Agreement and it is an important component of an excellent customer experience as well as a critical differentiator when customers are evaluating options for and selecting a service provider. Go Answer is the approved answering service, and their contact information can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Clean Key Contacts and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) > Systems and Vendors.

It is imperative that your business’s phone number is always answered correctly and by a live person. It is required that you answer by identifying yourself as ServiceMaster <DBA name>.

Greeting example: “Thank you for choosing ServiceMaster <DBA name>, this is <your name>, how may we help you?

Your telephone greeting is the first impression a customer will have of your business, so it’s important to make it a positive first experience. Studies have shown that a prospective customer whose call is greeted with a voicemail message usually hangs up without leaving a message and then calls a competing services provider. They want to speak with a live person. If you’re away from the office and nobody else in the business can answer the phone, you MUST have a system in place that assures your calls are being handled and handled professionally. Incoming bid opportunities are too precious to end up in the hands of your competition because you fostered a bad first-call experience.

Recently a focus group was commissioned and asked to rank criteria for evaluating, choosing, and retaining a cleaning services vendor. The top 2 reasons the group gave for seeking to replace their vendor were

1. Poor communication – inability to reach someone when needed

2. Lack of personal attention – no follow-up and no relationship building

These results validate that live answering, coupled with quick problem resolutions, are key components of customer satisfaction and retention.

Thinking long-term as your business develops, it will be mission critical to implement a system now that will support a large business in the future. To ensure that you are in compliance with the brand standard of live answering, the best solution is to implement a service with a LIVE

operator answering.

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Having a live answering service provides many benefits to you and your customer. One of the most important benefits is that it provides the customer with simplicity in doing business with you.

If you decide to hire your own answering service, the minimum capabilities must include:

• Their ability to transfer information in a manner that is accommodating to you. Whether email, voicemail, or text message, the service should get the message to the person oncall in a manner that is convenient and timely.

• Their ability to get all pertinent information from each caller. We recommend you call in regularly to monitor their performance.

• Hold times. Customers should not be left on hold for very long and the phone should be answered before the third ring.

• The service employees must have customized scripts to properly engage with callers

• The service must understand the nature of customer complaints/issues and which ones need to be send in a priority manner to the person that can address the situation immediately

What It Is

• Live representative in franchise business

• Answering/Virtual Receptionist service

• IVR system with prompt to live representative

• Personnel that receive and take action at the prompt of the answering service

Approved Voice Message

What It Isn’t

• Reaching a voicemail or answering machine immediately prior to opening, during normal business hours, and immediately after closing time

• IVR system with no prompt/ability to reach a live representative during normal business hours.

In the Live Answering policy document there is an approved voice message for your business line when Live Answering is not required to be active. Please use this message to ensure consistency across our brand.

Please contact Clean Brand Standards for additional information and questions: sfalldine@smclean.com

2.11.4 Other Key Brand Standards

Other key brand standard compliance elements assessed on Camp field visits include condition of facility, general identity, vehicle condition and identity, marketing and advertising, uniforms, customer service, associate training, equipment, and work performance at customer locations. Quality Assurance forms are available from your Camp.

Uniforms

All team members must be in proper uniform when representing a ServiceMaster Clean

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franchise business. Uniforms must be clean upon arrival to work, free from noticeable rips, tears, stains, and soil. Different team members will wear different uniforms and will be issued different quantities of uniforms based on their position in the company and number of days worked per week.

The ServiceMaster Clean Brand Style Guide is being revised in 1Q24. In the interim, please contact Clean Brand Standards (sfalldine@smclean.com) for information on uniform types and styles and the required uniform for each team member position. If specific attire (shirts, slacks, hats, etc.) are mandated for a position, the business owner will supply those uniform items. Uniform items that are not specifically required will be provided by the team member.

Appearance Standards

• Personal Grooming – Your employees should follow the highest standards for grooming, as they are representatives of the ServiceMaster Clean brand. This minimally includes bathing or showering each day before reporting to work.

• Employees should be clean-shaven, with beards and mustaches neatly trimmed.

• Fingernails should always be kept clean and well-groomed.

• Conservative nail color may be worn, if not chipped (no black, neon colors, metallic colors, etc.).

• Hair

• Your employees should report to work with clean, shampooed hair.

• If hair extends past the shirt collar, it should be tied back securely and tightly and always be worn behind the ears.

• If hair is excessively long, it should be braided or controlled as one uniform piece (as opposed to a loose ponytail).

• Jewelry and Tattoos

The following jewelry and tattoo guidelines are recommendations. Your company's appearance standards should match those of your customer and community.

All jewelry should be conservative and understated. Your employees should adhere to the following guidelines. If your employees are unsure of appropriateness, they should ask you or their manager in advance.

• Necklaces should be tucked into shirts

• No dangling earrings of any type are allowed

• Any atypical piercings (eyebrow, nose, tongue, etc.) are not permitted

• Tattoos should always be covered

• No unauthorized pins, buttons, or badges are allowed

• Employees should not wear pagers or cell phones during their shift

Specific dress codes guidelines can be found in the Brand Identity Guidelines. Each position in an operation has the responsibility to present themselves professionally and in accordance with the dress guidelines. The dress code for a housekeeper will be different than that of a manager, or salesperson. When in doubt, abide by the code of, “it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed”.

2.11.5 Teal-T

Teal-T is a component of Customer Service that is designed to teach our mission, purpose, and commitment in a way that partners can understand and implement it into their daily lives. You can find more information by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > CleanBusiness Services > Customer Service. We've included a brief overview here, but you should make an effort to review the material on ServiceConnection and implement Teal-T into your own employee training.

Introduction

Not every company can be “The Best,” but that is our goal at ServiceMaster Clean. That means we provide world-class customer service, earning our customers’ loyalty (they stay customers for a long time), respect, and recommendations to their friends. The other part of the equation is our incredible ability to touch lives. There are over 245,000 trained ServiceMaster techniciansimagine the impact we can have as a company and each service partner is an important part of that influence.

We set the stage so tomorrow can happen

Thousands of ServiceMaster Clean employees around the world are working to make their corner a little brighter, a little cleaner, and a much better place to work. Add all those improvements together and our world becomes a better place to live, to work, and to play.

How we do it - the nuts and bolts

We do it together. Like an orchestra, we each bring our different talents and skills, fine-tune them, and combine them to produce a masterful performance.

Core values to do the right thing

Together, as many voices singing as one - an orchestra with many members and many different instruments, all finely tuned to produce a masterful performance. We are each a masterpiece, having been created with certain gifts and talents enabling us to do certain things well, other things better, and even others with excellence.

Teal-T is based on the tenants that we are all:

• Genuine

• Knowledgeable

• Welcoming

• Considerate

2.12 Handling Customer Feedback

2.12.1 Effective Customer Survey Efforts

Customer feedback is a valuable tool that allows you to gauge the quality of the service you are providing. This is where a good quality customer survey becomes a powerful tool for understanding exactly where you stand with your customers.

A web-based system allows for immediate feedback, both from the customer, but also from you. Imagine hearing from a customer who had an issue and within minutes of receiving their feedback, you contact the customer. It increases your chances of saving the customer and can also turn that customer from unhappy into a champion for your business.

As a ServiceMaster Clean owner, you must implement a comprehensive survey system for determining customer loyalty and improving customer retention and acquisition. The system must also provide you with real-time access to customer surveys plus increased function and reporting capabilities.

Benefits of Using Customer Surveys

• Increased response rates to feedback requests. If a customer fails to respond to the first request, you should send a second request automatically 7 days later. This helps improve the response rate from your customers.

• A way to use the emails you’ve collected. Customer surveys provide a way for you to use email collection for more than just communicating additional service offerings or sending newsletters to the customer. Inputting your customer emails into the customer satisfaction system gives you another reason to build a relationship with your customers, so they feel comfortable with the value of sharing their email address with you.

• Incentives increase customer response. Let’s face it; it’s hard to get people to respond to a survey. But once you give them an incentive, they are 15% more likely to respond. A good survey platform offers a way to reward your customer for their feedback with restaurant certificates or incentives of your choosing.

• Drive success through quality customer surveys. Your customer survey dashboard should be able to give you high caliber customer satisfaction data so that you can be more informed about each customer’s needs. The dashboard should provide more than just details about customer satisfaction, it should also provide survey response rates, and solicit up-to- date reviews.

• A way to turn negative feedback into positive action. While you wish every customer experience could be a happy and satisfying transaction, even negative feedback can be harnessed to create something positive. The customer survey is critical for determining additional training that may be required by your cleaning technicians. The result from using these surveys properly and completely is a key component to improve your customer retention as the survey should identify how much business is at risk when you have negative feedback and prompt the use of the problem resolution system to resolve issues quickly.

• Turn referrals and leads into new business. No business can afford to ignore the importance of referrals. Prospects are six times more likely to buy from you if they have been referred by a friend or colleague. Your customer survey gives your customers a chance to refer their friends and colleagues to your business through a simple email. If you are seeking more qualified leads, customer referrals are a great way to turn a prospect into new business.

• Let enhanced reporting enhance your business. Too many facts and figures can be overwhelming when you’re trying to work towards a goal. A solid customer survey will give you reports that explain what the data you’re collecting really means. The platform should allow you to pull reports that make sense for your business quickly and efficiently. Hassle- free reports are a great way to get the business data you need quickly.

• Post reviews on your website or social networking site. Social media and digital marketing savvy owners can post reviews of their business online. Not only does this give you a chance to share your glowing testimonials with the public, but it allows prospects to see how well you handle problem resolution. Your ability to respond promptly and professionally can be a selling point to potential customers.

2.12.2 Handling Customer Complaints

This section will provide you with guidelines that we expect you to pass on to your staff. Various members of your staff will have direct, as well as indirect, communication with your customers. Oftentimes, the members of your staff who do not have direct contact with your customers are solely responsible for the quality of information that your supervisors will report to your customers. So, indirectly, they should be considered as people with customer contact and interaction.

Handling customer problems well is the most important thing you can do to impact customer satisfaction. Customers who receive a great response when a problem arises are often more loyal than before the problem. Higher satisfaction ultimately keeps customers coming back. Problem resolution is important, and a well-defined process in your organization will help you to control how satisfied your customers are. To answer this need, we’ve developed a 6-step approach.

Following this approach will help deliver problem resolution in a consistent, unified way. Your job is to understand the system and how you can apply it to the customer issues you face every day. You are a customer of various services every day.

The Six Steps:

1. Listen and Log

2. Show Empathy

3. Assure and Own

4. Agree on Resolution

5. Confirm Next Step

6. Close the Loop

As you review these steps, you will see they are simple, practical steps that reflect the needs you have as a consumer and the needs of your customers.

1. Listen and Log

Listen carefully, repeat, and record. It all starts here. You’re setting the tone for the rest of the experience by the way you listen (or don’t listen) and log the issue. What most employees assume is that the customer just wants the problem fixed. This really isn’t true. They first want to be listened to and their feelings acknowledged. Skipping this part often makes the customer angrier and thus your job of problem resolution much more difficult.

Listening doesn’t mean simply hearing the words the customer is saying, but actively listening to the concerns and logging key notes about what is being said. Customers know if you’re listening - just as you know if someone is listening to you.

Never interrupt them. Be sure to give the customer time to tell you the entire story. Your goal is to understand exactly what the customer’s problem is. If you don’t allow enough time, or rush to a conclusion, they’ll feel you weren’t listening, and the issue will never get resolved. When this happens, customers will find someone who is willing to listen. They’ll talk to their friends and contacts (who are your potential customers) and share the bad experience. Think of the potential impact.

When the customer is finished speaking, repeat back the key points that you’ve recorded and make any corrections or additions as needed.

2. Show Empathy

Try to see it through their eyes. Let’s face it, in most cases the customer just wants to know if you care about the problem. The key to showing you care is putting yourself in the customer’s shoes.

Taking a moment to do this helps you to see how it would impact you if you were in that same situation. You can then easily say something such as “I can certainly understand why that would upset you.” The customer wants to feel that you’re on his or her side. Apologize without taking the blame or casting blame on someone else.

Showing empathy will allow you to build the rapport you need with the customer to move on to resolution.

3. Assure and Own

Don't make excuses. Handle it quickly. You must own the problem and solution. Taking ownership puts the customer at ease. Don’t make excuses and don’t be defensive. Your response should demonstrate that you are willing and empowered to make a solution happen. Customers want to know that you own the situation and that you are personally going to ensure that it’s taken care of - that you’re not going to pass them along to someone else.

If you can take care of the problem then and there, do it. If not, do what you can in that moment to partially resolve the issue while scheduling a mutually agreeable day and time with the customer to complete the resolution. Use these opportunities to exceed the expectations of the customer and strengthen the customer relationship.

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Develop a resolution action plan with the customer using the three following steps.

4. Agree on Resolution

Offer options. Find common ground. Just ask. It is the easiest way to discover what resolution your customer is looking for. This is the key to reaching agreement. Once you know the customer’s thoughts on resolution, provide genuine, workable solution options, ideally with the customer’s idea for resolution at the top of the list.

Let the customer decide what the solution will be whenever possible. Allowing customers to be a part of the solution will have a greater impact on their satisfaction.

5. Confirm Next Step

Confirm who, what, where, and when. Now that you’ve reached an agreement on the resolution, it’s time to provide details about what’s going to happen. By telling customers exactly what can be expected, you are giving them a feeling of priority and reassurance that you are taking their concern seriously.

Give the details about who is going to take care of it, when, and what they’re going to do. This should include a specific date. Be sure to provide your name and number so you can be reached if necessary.

6. Close the Loop

Confirm solution. Measure satisfaction. Keep your promise. The worst thing you could do is commit to a solution and then not follow-though to a conclusion. Make customers feel that their business and satisfaction is the most important thing to you. Make a follow-up call to customers to ensure that problems are resolved and that they are satisfied. If not, take the appropriate steps to get the problem resolved. Working/Interacting with Customers

We have built our business and reputation by offering excellent customer service. How you and your staff interact with your customers is very important to us, as we strive to uphold the brand and the goodwill associated with it.

2.12.3 Processing Contracts

For every new contract, you should establish a customer file, both a hard copy as well as a computer backup. Place the renewal date on the folder and enter that date into Outlook or an equivalent calendar system. You will then need to enter it into QuickBooks.

Billing

All billing can be handled through QuickBooks. We recommend that you bill on the first day of services with the invoice being due on the fifteenth. Since your payroll is accumulated from the first through the 15th and paid on the 20th, if the customer pays on the 15th, then your payroll is covered before you pay employees.

2.12.4 Quarterly Review Process

At the minimum, you should conduct a quarterly review, either in-person or virtually, with every

customer. This allows you the opportunity to ensure you are doing a good job and discourages the customer from going out for bids. Understand that some customers still go out for bids per their corporate policy, but we want to create a long-term customer. So, we manage the process in a way that they know we're doing a good job, the price is fair, and they automatically sign up for another year.

Once the contract is signed, enter the customer’s information into your customer survey platform. If applicable, also determine the frequency of the review (recommended: every quarter)

On the review visit, you need to have:

• Inspection results compiled

• Documentation of all the things you've done since the last quarterly review

• List of planned accomplishments for the next quarter

• Blank sheet of paper to write down all the things the customer tells you

This periodic review is also an opportunity to walk through the building with your contact if they desire.

2.12.5 Scheduling and Site Inspections

Scheduling works in conjunction with the sales process. Once you sell an account, you will know the window of time when the cleaning must take place. The total number of hours to clean the facility is on the JCS, you can simply divide that by the number of employees you plan to use and determine each employees’ shift length.

Where scheduling may get complicated is when you must schedule tasks that require your floor techs. For example, you may have fifty accounts and forty need stripping and refinishing on a recurring basis. You will need to make sure you schedule your floor techs, so all the jobs are covered in a timely manner. Most of our franchisees use Outlook, a different scheduling platform, or a large wall chart. If using a wall chart, list all your accounts down the side and tasks across the top. Plug in the days and times your floor technicians will be working in the boxes, making sure you have an appropriate number of technicians for the number of jobs.

Missed Shifts

It is critical for each ServiceMaster Clean business to have a policy for covering the cleaning responsibilities of a team member unable to work that day. A quality time and attendance platform will typically notify the business owner or manager of an employee failing to clock in upon arrival at a customer site. This notification should trigger instituting the policy for covering this cleaning shift by dispatching another employee to the site to provide services that day. There is no reason to notify the customer in these instances, with the exception being that no employee was available to dispatch to provide services, which resulted in the site not being cleaned that day. It is the responsibility of the business owner to determine what, if any, billing adjustment is appropriate in this instance. The alternative to a billing adjustment could be to reschedule services for another day, or to provide additional services (not in the SOW) during a future cleaning visit.

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The SMC Contingency Plans document can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > !Operations Manual > Policies, Plans, Programs and Protocols.

Periodic Site Inspections

Using ServiceLink or another site inspection platform, conduct objective, periodic inspections of the quality of cleaning that’s being done in each facility to service. Determine what method of communication is preferred by each customer, and if they want every inspection result communicated to them. Your site inspection platform should also offer a feature that allows each customer their own portal where they can communicate needs, enter work order requests, and track any issues or questions.

Customer Attended Inspection

When a Quality Control inspection of a customer site is scheduled, inviting the site contact person to participate in the process is advised. It is at the sole discretion of the site contact whether they choose to participate. When requested, a ServiceMaster Clean owner or manager is required to provide a Self-Evaluation form to a customer. The task schedule included in the Service Agreement is an excellent choice for the Self-Evaluation. The purpose of this is to empower and guide the customer through a manual inspection of the quality of cleaning services being provided.

Customer Self-Evaluations

Encourage your customers to do periodic self-evaluations of the quality of cleaning services being provided. You may provide the customer with an inspection form with the task schedule if they request these items. Ask your customer to provide feedback on the results of this selfevaluation and create an action plan to address any deficiencies found during these inspections, which could include re-training of staff or a one-time issue cure.

2.12.6 New Building Start Up and Control

Once you've presented your bid and the customer has accepted, you will normally have a 30day window before you begin cleaning. This is an industry standard as most contracts have a 30-day cancellation clause allowing the current vendor 30 days to wrap things up. During these 30 days, there are a variety of tasks you will need to accomplish. It is important that you follow up with your new customer throughout the process to keep the lines of communication open.

The following Pre-Opening to Post-Opening plan is designed to aid in the preparation of starting a new account. Without proper preparation, the startup of a new account can be overwhelming. If completely prepared, a smooth transition follows solidifying the new customer’s confidence in his or her decision and bolstering the reputation of your contract service business. Your new customer will relax and feel comfortable with your expertise in taking care of his building.

The following plan of preparation is based on a 28-day notice of acceptance from your new customer.

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Pre-Opening Day 28 through Day 22

During the first week, you should begin ordering products and equipment, analyzing contractor and employee needs, and begin the recruiting process.

• Receive the order from your new customer to start cleaning the building in 28 days. Review your proposal to ensure that the numbers in the customer’s correspondence match those in your proposal.

• Place your order for equipment, chemicals, tools and supplies with our distribution vendor.

• Determine how much cash will be needed for your first payroll. Generate any necessary arrangements to cover payroll and initial capital expenditures.

• Begin recruiting employees now. CareerPlug is one of SM Clean’s approved partner for an Applicant Tracking System to aid in this process.

• Plan to start production on a Monday. This will allow you to organize your equipment and perform some pre-start training prior to Day 0.

Pre-Opening Day 21 through Day 15

• During this week, you should outline job descriptions as they pertain to that building. For example, if they have a pool, you will need to arrange pool cleaning. You will need to design the project schedule as a wall chart, outlining project work such as floor, carpet, and upholstery cleaning.

• You should budget 5%-10% of your labor hours for supervision. Normally, a supervisor will have several buildings in an area they cover. Depending on the job, you may only have one supervisor to cover a high-rise building or office park.

• Write job descriptions tailored to specific building characteristics and define standards of performance for those positions.

• Design project schedules (floorcare, etc.) for the year to get off on the right foot

• Verify the task schedule for the site and print a hard copy for the supervisor.

• Verify that the correct building information has been entered into your site inspection platform

• Schedule inspections by tenant/department and frequency.

• Start hiring with a goal of 25% more employees than you have budgeted

A few notes about hiring and scheduling. In most cases, workers are assigned and show up to work at one particular building. There are a few exceptions. If you have a route account or several small buildings that require cleaning one or two nights here and there, you may have one person, or a small team, assigned to those buildings. In these cases, you will provide all the supplies they need to clean those accounts.

Pre-Opening Day 14 through Day 8

Day 14 through 8 involves staging your equipment and supplies. By this point, you should know

OPERATIONS MANUAL

everything you need for the building, and it should be either on order or available to be pulled from your warehouse or another account. You should begin cleaning up all the equipment, making sure everything is in working order. You can use the Capture and Removal guide to determine what you need to order, as well as the items you will need for periodic cleaning. Organize and stage equipment and supplies at your office. Prepare, repair, and polish any used equipment you plan to use in the new account.

• Prepare products to Ready to Use (RTU) dilution and have ready to move into building

• Continue recruiting employees.

• Design start-up training and management plan. Determine number of support people needed, areas where they will work, and how teams will be formed. Arrange for extra training and management support to accommodate plan. The extra training and management support should taper off throughout the first week of service.

• Arrange for building keys for office and other areas, as well as janitor closets. Negotiate with contact person the necessary number of keys needed for essential personnel. Unfortunately, sometimes keys are passed from the incumbent to you on the day they exit the building. If you are faced with this, arrange for someone to perform the task of key pickup.

The SMC Key and Security Control Policy document can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean – Business Services > !Operations Manual > Policies, Plans, Programs and Protocols.

Pre-Opening Day 7 through Day 1

The final week before starting is centered around employee training. By this point, employees should have been hired, supplies and equipment should be in house or on their way, and you should be focusing on preparing for the first day of cleaning. After a successful GOP employee orientation, Initial training takes place at the office by the owner or supervisor and includes ServiceMaster Brands University (SMBU) modules that are assigned by the owner or supervisor. Trainees are required to pass a test in each training module before they are ever taken out to the account. It's important to thoroughly train new employees prior to arriving at the job site, as the only on-the-job training you should do is reviewing and refreshing while they are working.

• Start training restroom cleaners and housekeepers in another building that you clean. These positions require extensive training for the first couple days to achieve proficiency. You might consider cross training all team members to clean restrooms in case any restroom cleaners quit in the first week.

• Announce to each new recruit a training “get-together” (possibly a group orientation) couple of days prior to the account start-up day. Communicate the purpose of the meeting, the time and place, and the importance of attending.

• Pick up agreed upon keys, pass cards, etc. Determine what doors must be locked every night and how the security system works; also inquire about any special security requirements (badges, special clearances, etc.)

OPERATIONS MANUAL

• Meet with start-up supervisors/trainers to discuss areas of responsibility, timing, etc. Finalize staffing arrangements, teams, and logistics of start-up.

• Create a contingency plan from the beginning in case of a staff shortage.

• Find out exactly when you can assume control of janitor closets. Clean closets before stocking them with equipment and supplies. Stock closets and lock doors.

• Find out where the decision maker’s office is and where the decision maker’s clerical staff sit.

• Assure the contact person that all is progressing according to plan.

• Plan to utilize surplus cleaners to accomplish projects. In large accounts, the employee surplus will typically dissolve throughout the first couple of weeks of service.

• Conduct a training meeting with new personnel. Hopefully, this can be done over the weekend prior to the official start up day. Include:

• Welcome to ServiceMaster Clean

• Refreshments

• Distribute uniforms/ID badges

• Hazmat training

• Intro training in the areas where they will work

This training should set the tone for your expectations. It should allow for more one-on-one training (with no pressure) but should emphasize the proper pace each task should be performed.

Grand Opening – The Big Day!

• Spend the entire day with your day porter, if you have one. Have her equipment and supplies prepared before she arrives. Learn the quirks of the building along with the porter for the first couple days.

• Make sure you arrive several hours before your evening staff arrives. Have all equipment and supplies prepared to start cleaning. Dress well.

• Greet your staff upon arrival with respect and enthusiasm. You are setting the tone for your employees.

• Ensure that each employee understands how to and successfully demonstrates the sign in procedure of your timekeeping system

• Introduce supervisors and systematically put the group to work. It is important that each staff member is accompanied to his assigned area/task. Maps are sometimes helpful.

• Check on all teams to measure performance progress and attitude once everyone is assigned and working. Talk briefly to each person you encounter and encourage him.

• Have a prearranged break time, pull the group together in one place, and encourage them

OPERATIONS MANUAL

as a team. Provide a cooler of bottled water and other cold drinks.

• Be sure to check on the 1 to 2 special projects to ensure that the results are exceptional.

• Monitor the progress of the teams continuously throughout the night. For teams that fall behind, adjust and help them get back on track before they become overwhelmed. For those moving faster than planned, check for quality and adjust if necessary.

• Ask every hour this question: What is the single most important thing that my management team can do to get the job done right now? With a new building start up priorities can change rapidly depending on how well the plan is being executed.

• Emphasize the attitude of teamwork. As some members finish ahead of others, promote their helping of others.

• Have all employees return equipment and supplies to assigned storage areas and restock for next evening as soon as schedules are complete.

• Have employees report to a central location, thank them for their work, have them sign out, and briefly talk to them about the next day. Try to get a feel for how each person feels about the job so far.

Post Opening Day 1 (The day after the first night)

• If disinfection services were performed during the previous service, complete and email the customer contact the Certificate of Disinfection document

• Be in the building first thing in the morning and make it a point to stop by the customer contact’s office

• Tell him how we did on the first night. Never ask “How’d we do?”

• Tell customer that the certificate of disinfection is in their Inbox

• Tell him what special projects (even little things) he can expect to be done on the second night.

• Accept any criticism graciously. Do not contest its validity. Identify how and when the issue(s) will be corrected.

• Send out the first month’s invoice.

Post Opening Day 2 through Day 5

• Continue to adjust the task schedule and staff positions to become more efficient and effective.

• Start weaning extra management and training support from the building and focus on supervisor’s management performance.

Post Opening Day 30

• Hold a formal review of the month’s progress. Review routine service and projects. Discuss plans for future projects. Present monthly report

• Take credit for how well things have gone.

• Never ask “How’d we do?”

• Review the task schedule. Is it appropriate?

• How could we serve them better? Discuss add-ons.

• Cover what will be coming up in the next three months

2.12.7 Proprietary System/Training

Once on the job, the supervisor should plan to stay with the new employees for at least the first three nights, working the whole account to make sure new employees form the right habits and techniques and ensuring everything is completed. After the third night, the supervisor should check in regularly during the shift to make sure things are running smoothly.

Part two of the training program occurs at the time of their first paycheck. Let partners know that you will be bringing them their first paycheck and with it you will administer a small test. Let them know this is not a test about their job, but about ensuring they have been properly trained by their supervisor. When you arrive, you should ask questions such as:

• “What would you do if you entered the building and in the lobby there was a broken lamp in the floor?”

• “What do you do if the tornado siren goes off? Where do you go in the building?”

• Celebrate correct answers and use incorrect answers to train and encourage.

Leadership Training

We generally prefer to promote good employees into leadership roles. It doesn't always work, but if you have quite a few employees (15-20), you should have someone among those who is promotable. By promoting from inside, you encourage all your employees by demonstrating the room for advancement.

A Leadership Learning Plan is available in SMBU. You or your manager must guide upcoming managers/supervisors through each of the courses while assessing their skill level. The length of time it takes a typical cleaning technician to achieve manager/supervisory level from date of hire ranges between 6 months and 2 years. The actual length will depend on how motivated the employee is, how well they carry out their current duties, and how quickly they master each element of the leadership training.

It is recommended to have each upcoming manager/supervisor attend local and regional ServiceMaster Clean training opportunities, complete ServiceMaster Clean training courses/learning plans in SMBU; and encourage them, while covering their expense, to earn other industry certifications. While not required, as an owner, you may wish to complete the Leadership Learning Plan to better understand your business.

2.13 Transacting Sales

2.13.1 Cash Handling Procedures

It is recommended that you inform all customers that you don’t accept cash for payments. We recommend that you implement a check handling procedure to reduce the risks associated with accepting checks to pay an invoice. Should a customer make payment by giving a check to one of your employees, make sure the employee understands what procedures to follow –namely, to give the check to their supervisor or the owner as quickly as possible. Once in the owner’s hand a scan or copy of the check is made, and the contact information of the customer is written on the photocopy, as well as the date of the transaction and the work order reference.

2.13.2 Accepting Credit Cards

You may have customers wanting to use a credit card to pay invoices. If you decide to accept credit cards, downloading an app to your smart device and setting-up an account in the app is usually the easiest and most cost-effective method.

A search on the internet will yield many different options from which to choose from. Be sure to pay close attention to the fees, and terms and conditions that the app charges and requires. There will likely be a transaction fee and/or a fee based on the percentage of the charge, or maybe even a minimum monthly fee.

Shop around to find the best deal for you and consider using the Franchisee Forum on ServiceConnection to solicit referrals from fellow owners. Other options do exist for accepting credit cards, such as opening a merchant account, but due to the rarity of customers paying with a credit card, using an app typically makes the most sense.

2.14 Royalty Report Submission

2.14.1 The Royalty Remittance Policy

The current Royalty Policy will detail guidelines for all aspects of how you report your previous month’s revenues, handle adjustments, etc. The current Royalty Policy is accessible by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean – Business Services > Royalty Remittance. Royalty submissions are done through ServiceConnection and training on the submission process will occur during new owners’ onboarding experience. Furthermore, there is a course in SMBU to detail the step-by-step process for successfully submitting the monthly Royalty Report and remitting payment. The course can be accessed on SMBU

For new licensees that have a grace period for paying the minimum royalty amount, royalty reports still must be submitted following your initial month of operation, even if the revenue reported is $0. Once the grace period has expired, minimum royalty and NAF obligations must be met in a timely manner.

When entering your revenue in the Royalty Report, it is required that the revenue source be categorized properly, both by vertical and by license.

Reporting by Vertical

OPERATIONS MANUAL

Each customer being serviced operates within a particular industry (or vertical), such as healthcare or education. The Royalty Report is organized so all vertical specific revenue is reported as revenue created within that industry. Each owner must separate revenue created and report it by industry. Doing this assists us in validating which customer verticals are generating the highest level of revenue activity, which enables us to adequately support owners with resources necessary for marketing and sales, as well as service execution.

Reporting by License

If an owner has multiple licenses, revenue must be reported by license accordingly. Revenue created in a specific territory must be isolated from the revenue created in other licensed territories. This enables the FSC to track market penetration in different geographical areas.

Due Date

To avoid late fees, it is required that you submit your royalty report by the tenth (10th) of the month following the month of generated revenue. If the 10th falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date shifts to the next business day. The royalty and NAF amounts that are payable will be auto drafted from your business bank account as stated in the Royalty Policy. Please refer to the Royalty Policy training in SMBU for specific instructions.

Royalty and NAF Minimum Requirements

Regardless of the amount of generated revenue, including zero revenue, you are required to submit a report and remit Royalty and NAF minimum payments.

Adjustments

All forms and documents associated with the Royalty Policy can be accessed using this path: ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean – Business Services > Royalty Remittance

Use the adjustments column on the royalty report for bad debt write-offs and subcontractor costs. Please refer to the current SM Clean Royalty Remittance Adjustment FAQs, and navigate to both Bad Debt adjustments and Subcontractor adjustments within that document.

Bad debt older than 12 months may not be written off. The 12 months begins the day the customer was invoiced. Bad debt write-offs/subcontractor costs cannot exceed gross revenue reported in a given month. The amount that exceeds gross revenue may not be taken as an adjustment in any future months. Refer to the current Royalty Policy for more details.

Subcontractor Costs

Core services that are subcontracted to a non-ServiceMaster Brand service provider (out of Network) cannot be taken as an adjustment. All subcontractors must be approved by the Clean Area Manager prior to performing services on behalf of a ServiceMaster Clean business. Consult the current Royalty Policy for clarification, guidelines, and forms needed for the approval process, and for the current guidelines for subcontracting and adjustments. The Subcontractor Approval Request Form can be accessed by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Policies, Plans, Programs and Protocols

Documentation

You must send documentation, such as subcontractor and customer invoices, for the adjustments when you submit your Royalty Report(s). In addition to the invoices, you must also submit the Subcontractor Approval Request Form showing approval received. There are also completed request forms examples provided along with the form template.

2.14.2 Audits

Each year, ServiceMaster Clean performs an audit review on a percentage of enterprises. The audit review consists of reviewing the monthly royalty reports, the Federal Tax Return, financial documents, and accounting software, and explaining any differences between them. The purpose of this process is to determine if the reporting is accurate, complete, and fairly presented per accounting principles and meets the guidelines of the ServiceMaster Clean Royalty Policy. As a ServiceMaster Clean franchisee, you may be selected to participate in an audit review of your franchise. Enterprises may be audited for various reasons including variance found on prior audits, royalty reporting violations, license renewal, and random selection. ServiceMaster Clean has established the authority to conduct these reviews as detailed in the Franchise Agreement.

The ServiceMaster FSC will notify you by letter that you have been selected for audit review. This letter will list the documents required for submission. These may include but are not limited to:

• Federal tax return

• Profit and Loss Statement – reconciling to tax return

• Balance Sheet – reconciling to tax return

• Adjustment documentation

• Backup copy of QuickBooks (or other accounting software)

• Bank statements

You will have 30 days from the date of the letter to submit the requested documentation.

Once the documentation is received, it will be reviewed by a ServiceMaster Clean auditor. If there is no variance noted, the audit will be closed, and a close letter will be mailed to you.

Variance

If there is a variance noted, a letter and worksheet will be mailed to the franchisee, requesting assistance in identifying/documenting if the variance in revenue is subject to royalty fees and the NAF percentage. If the auditor notes anything that the franchisee is doing incorrectly, an audit items list will be included with the letter addressing these items. The franchisee will have thirty (30) days from the date of the letter to respond with payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation.

Assessment

OPERATIONS MANUAL

When an audit goes to assessment, payment in full is due. Audit balances may be paid by EFT, check, or credit card.

1st Assessment - Docs

If the additional documentation, and/or explanation is received, it is reviewed, and any adjustments needed are made to the audit worksheet. Any remaining variance will be assessed with interest. An assessment letter and worksheet will be mailed to the franchisee. Franchisees have thirty (30) days from the date of the letter to respond with payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation. If the variance has been fully explained, the audit will be closed, and a close letter will be mailed to the franchisee.

1st Assessment - No Docs

If no payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation is received, the variance amount will be assessed with interest. An assessment letter and worksheet will be mailed to the franchisee. Franchisees have 30 days from the date of the letter to respond with payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation.

2nd Assessment - No Docs

If the additional documentation, and/or explanation is received, it is reviewed, and any adjustments needed are made to the audit worksheet. Any remaining variance will be assessed with interest back to the date being reviewed. A 2nd assessment letter and worksheet will be mailed to the franchisee. The franchisee will have 30 days from the date of the letter to respond with payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation. If the variance has been fully explained, the audit will be closed, and a close letter will be mailed to the franchisee.

2nd Assessment - No Docs

If no payment in full, additional documentation and/or explanation is received, the variance amount will be assessed with interest back to the date being reviewed. A 2nd assessment letter and worksheet will be mailed to the franchisee. Franchisees have 30 days from the date of the letter to respond with payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation.

Final Notice - Docs

If the additional documentation, and/or explanation is received, it is reviewed, and any adjustments needed are made to the audit worksheet. Any remaining variance will be assessed with interest back to the date being reviewed. A final notice letter and worksheet will be mailed to the franchisee. Franchisees have fourteen (14) days from the date of the letter to respond with payment in full, additional documentation and/or explanation. If the variance has been fully explained, the audit will be closed, and a close letter will be mailed to the franchisee.

Final Notice - No Docs

If no payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation is received, the variance amount will be assessed with interest back to the date being reviewed. A final notice letter and worksheet will be mailed to the franchisee. The franchisees have fourteen (14) days from the date of the letter to respond with payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation.

Final Notice - Expired

OPERATIONS MANUAL

If no payment in full, additional documentation, and/or explanation is received at the end of fourteen (14) days from the date of the final notice letter, The FSC will contact the Camp and the Business Development Director and advise there has been no response, at which time the franchise may be recommended for termination due to noncompliance with the audit request. detailed information on royalty fee management and the audit policy.

2.15 Safety Procedures

2.15.1 Safety Training

During AOS, you will receive basic safety training. While Capture and Removal is a very safe process, like most businesses, there are still opportunities for injury. We will cover some safety issues in this section, but you should take additional steps to ensure you have a safe workplace environment.

You must ensure that you and your employees are familiar with all your equipment and have a thorough understanding of how to perform work safely. You can find operations manuals for all your equipment on the Products website and training for some products and equipment on SMBU. You can use an outside vendor to assist you with navigating the complexities of the various safety regulations you may encounter. A valuable third-party resource you may want to consider for safety training is the National OSHA Foundation (NOF).

2.15.2 Fire Safety

A fire can have a devastating impact on a small business. A fire can race through a business structure in a matter of minutes, giving you little time to escape. Although the daily operation of your franchised business does not require the use of equipment likely to cause a fire, you should still be prepared for the possibility of a fire.

Your local fire department will probably conduct annual inspections of your facility and make recommendations as well as impose requirements for you to follow. These inspections will include verification of the number and placement of fire extinguishers and open access to fire exits. You must comply with all fire department requirements and recommendations.

If you have 10 or more employees, an OSHA standard requires you to have a written fire prevention plan. A fire prevention plan must be:

• In writing

• Kept in the workplace

• Available for employees to review

If you have less than 10 employees, the fire prevention plan does not need to be in writing and can be verbally communicated to your employees.

The following minimum elements must be included in a fire prevention plan:

• List of all major fire hazards

• Proper handling and storage procedures for hazardous materials

• Potential ignition sources and their control

• Type of fire protection equipment necessary to control each major hazard

• Procedures to control accumulations of flammable and combustible waste materials

• Procedures for regular maintenance of safeguards installed on heat producing equipment to prevent the accidental ignition of combustible materials

• Name or job title of employees responsible for maintaining equipment to prevent or control sources of ignition or fires

• Name or job title of employees responsible for the control of fuel source hazards

You should assume that your employees do not have any previous fire safety training. Here are some topics we suggest that you cover with your employees:

• Discovering a fire - Employees should be made aware of the method of raising an alarm after discovering a fire. This should include the location of manual fire alarm activation points and their method of operation.

• Hearing the fire alarm - Employees should be made aware of the evacuation procedures in their workplace, including all escape routes and exits, and including proper operation of any fire doors.

• Assembly points - Employees should be shown their “fire assembly point” and made aware of the need to ensure they have been accounted for.

• Calling the fire department - Employees should be made aware of the method of calling the fire department (usually by dialing 911) and the location of telephones.

• Use of fire extinguishers - Employees should be trained in the proper use of fire extinguishers, including the location of all fire extinguishers on site.

2.15.3 Preventing Accidents and Injuries

You should take all reasonable precautions to operate your business in a safe manner for the benefit of your customers and employees. However, it is possible that a customer or employee may become injured at your location.

Before any injury occurs, you should make some preparations that will allow you to handle the situation appropriately and with the least amount of chaos.

You should:

• Be aware of the nearest medical facility (hospital or emergency clinic)

• Be aware of the quickest route to the medical facility

• Take an accredited first-aid class and learn CPR

• Familiarize yourself with your liability insurance company’s requirements in the event of an accident

We suggest that you create a set of Workplace Safety Rules and post them in an area where all employees can see (e.g., kitchen or break room). We also suggest that these rules are covered during new employee orientation.

2.15.4 Reporting Incidents

For any incident or injury involving a customer, you should document in detail the circumstances surrounding the incident, then notify your general liability insurance carrier. For any incident or injury involving an employee, you should see the next section dealing with workers’ compensation issues.

• To access the Workplace Incident Investigation protocol and Report form, navigate to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > !Safety - US OSHA

• To access the OSHA 300 – Workplace Injury forms, click this LINK.

2.15.5 Workers’ Compensation Issues

You should train your employees to report workplace accidents and injuries to you as soon as possible. You may lose workers' compensation protection if you do not take appropriate action on time. If the injury results in lost time from work, you generally have 10 days after obtaining knowledge of a lost time claim to report it to your workers’ compensation insurance company. Completely fill out a First Report of Injury form required by your state and submit it to your general liability insurance carrier. Submitting the First Report of Injury form is not an admission of liability on your part.

You are usually required to give the injured employee a copy of the completed First Report of Injury form. You may also be required by state law to provide the injured employee with other forms and notices.

2.15.6 Inclement Weather

At times, emergencies such as severe weather, fires, power failures, tornados, or planned/unplanned civil disturbances can disrupt operations. In extreme cases, these circumstances may require the temporary closing of a location. As a rule of thumb, we only close if city services are closed. Should you choose to close your business for these reasons you must contact each customer affected by this decision and inform them that their site will not be cleaned on that day.

When the decision to close is made, employees should receive official notification via telephone or email from their supervisor, who in turn should receive notification from the Owner or General Manager.

You should make sure your employees maintain contact with their supervisor during and after an emergency. Employees are expected to use prudent and reasonable means to get to work safely and on time during inclement weather or other emergency conditions.

3 CUSTOMER ACQUISITION

Customer Acquisition refers to the process that we follow to convert prospective customers to paying customers. This process usually starts with inbound calls which are generated by a successfully implemented marketing program.

The Sales Toolkit includes a more detailed description of the entire sales process.

3.1 Understanding the Service Offerings

Every member of your team should have a thorough understanding of every service that we offer to our customers. In this section, you will find our most core services.

For detailed information on specific services, contact your Camp and/or access the Playbooks and Toolkits by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Clean Playbooks and Toolkits

3.1.1 Cleaning Services

Cleaning services are the core of our business. We provide these services to many industries, but most of our general cleaning services accounts are office buildings or similar environments. A subset of this service is our Day Porter offering, which provides similar services throughout the workday rather than in the evening. The following are typical services performed in a cleaning services account:

• Emptying waste receptacles and removing contents from building

• Regular cleaning of workspaces and surfaces

• Regular cleaning and disinfecting of restrooms and breakrooms

• Refiling necessary supplies like toilet tissue, hand soap, and paper towels

• Regularly vacuuming and mopping high traffic areas

• Periodic deep cleaning of floors and offices

• Periodic detail dusting of workspaces, offices, and common areas

3.1.2 Environmental Services

Environmental services are some of the most specialized services we offer. These are performed in healthcare settings and are organized into two main categories: Level One, or settings with minimally invasive procedures; and Level Two, settings with invasive procedures. Here are some common services provided in each level:

Level One:

• Emptying waste receptacles and removing contents from building

• Regular cleaning and disinfecting of diagnostic and patient care areas

OPERATIONS MANUAL

• Regular cleaning and disinfecting of common areas such as waiting rooms and public restrooms

• Regular cleaning of high traffic areas

• Periodic deep cleaning of ceilings, walls, and other low-touch areas and objects

• Regular cleaning of lunch and play areas

Level Two:

• Daily terminal cleaning and disinfecting of operating rooms in hospitals

• Daily terminal cleaning and disinfecting of dialysis procedural rooms

• Daily terminal cleaning and disinfecting of ambulatory surgery centers

3.1.3 Custodial Services

Custodial services are cleaning services performed in educational settings. The core tasks performed do not vary, but there are additional tasks required for school buildings. The following are additional services typically performed in a custodial account:

• Regular cleaning and disinfecting of classrooms

• Cleaning, buffing, and burnishing floors

• Wiping lockers or other high use items

• Regular cleaning of lunch and play areas

3.1.4 Industrial Services

Industrial Services include many of the same basic tasks but occur in an industrial setting and are generally more comprehensive in scope. Industrial Services tasks may include:

• Detailed cleaning of warehouse, industrial, and distribution areas

• Detailed cleaning and sanitizing of food contact and processing areas

• Detailed cleaning and disinfection of high touch areas

• Cleaning, burnishing, and refinishing resilient flooring

3.1.5 Commercial Specialty Services

Commercial Specialty Services, also referred to as “Project Work,” are services performed on a generally non-recurring basis and consist of a single task or process over a small period of time. Commercial Specialty Services may include:

• Post-Construction cleaning

• Warehouse and Industrial site cleaning

• Refinishing of resilient flooring

OPERATIONS MANUAL

• Countertop reconditioning

• Restoring hard surface and stone flooring

• Kitchen and Restaurant deep-cleaning

• Interior and exterior window cleaning

• Commercial and residential carpet cleaning

• Carpet and Upholstery cleaning

• Pressure washing

ServiceMaster Clean owners may not provide any services related to asbestos, including providing customers with any asbestos-related information or consultation. Owners are also prohibited from subcontracting any asbestos-related services to any other company.

3.2 Lead Generation

As a franchisee, there are several ways for you to get work to generate revenue for your company. We refer to three of these methods of revenue generation as local, regional, and national accounts.

Local Accounts

Local Accounts refers to the more traditional method of revenue generation. This means that you go through the marketing and sales processes to gain the business of local companies and buildings. Local work should be your primary focus as it will provide you with the most consistent stream of revenue for your business. In addition, local accounts that result in satisfied customers can generate referral business in your area.

Regional Accounts

While marketing for local businesses to give you a bid opportunity, you may find that a business has multiple locations that constitute more of a regional account. When pricing work such as this, it’s common to accept a lower gross profit in your job costing due to the volume of sites and revenue.

ServiceMaster Clean has a Regional Sales Enablement program in which a team of Clean Franchise Service Center employees work to develop leads for businesses with multiple sites and then assist the local owner(s) through the sales and bidding process. When won, these customers “belong” to the franchisee(s) to execute service and handle all billing and customer issues at the local level. No margin is added to the billing amount for a region account.

National Accounts

ServiceMaster negotiates agreements with national and large regional companies that have “wide footprints,” meaning that the company and its locations cover a large geographic area. We oftentimes win with these national and regional companies because we guarantee consistent

OPERATIONS MANUAL

and excellent business practices and a level of service execution and expertise not possessed by other vendors. National account billing to the customer does come with a small margin of receivables added to offset the involvement and administrative costs absorbed by National Accounts.

Proposed pricing for National Account sites is submitted by National Accounts to the customer, oftentimes after consulting with franchise owners. A franchise owner must be fully compliant to be eligible to service both Regional and National Account sites.

3.3 Lead Management

Lead Management refers to how leads are captured and moved through the sales process. We suggest the following contact cadence when reaching out to new leads:

The first contact attempt should be performed within 15 minutes. You should attempt to contact a new lead 6-8 times, and this should occur over a period of about two weeks, spreading the contact attempts evenly over the two-week period. Use multiple response methods in this order:

1. Phone

2. Email

3. Text

Each of the communication methods mentioned previously should be attempted in different time slots if you are unable to successfully reach the lead. This will increase your probability of reaching the potential lead.

• Morning

• Afternoon

• Evening

• Weekends

Website Leads

Scorpion, our website and marketing partner, has a variety of tools available to assist with managing your leads. One element available in your Scorpion dashboard is a cadence set up for review of listening to your calls. It allows you to determine any gaps in your sales process. Review the Scorpion Guide on how to manage your leads in the dashboard that you are provided. If you have questions about doing this or need assistance, contact your Scorpion Marketing Rep.

Telephone Leads

Many leads will come from potential customers calling your published business number. It is imperative that your phone is answered correctly every time. You should be answering your phone by identifying yourself as ServiceMaster <dba name> (Greeting example: “Thank you for calling ServiceMaster <dba name>. How may I help you?”). Often your phone response is the first impression a customer has of ServiceMaster. So, make it positive and smile.

From the caller’s perspective, the voice tone of the person answering the telephone for your business becomes the personality of the entire business. A positive, enthusiastic attitude should shine through when the phone is answered. Energy and expression should be put into the voice. It is important to interact with a pleasant and "smiling" voice. To compensate for the loss of visual contact, more vocal expression is required when communicating over the telephone than when having a personal interaction.

It may be helpful to physically stand up straight and not slouch prior to answering the phone. Facial expressions and gesturing, as if face-to-face, often are helpful to help create the desirable voice tones. The voice should be lively, and the person must genuinely be interested in helping the caller.

You can find training modules on telephone skills on SMBU.

3.4 Customer Account Procedures

3.4.1 Site Survey

Once a lead is ready to receive a proposal, arrange a time to conduct a site survey. Be sure to bring a measuring tool (such as a laser measurer), and a clipboard or notebook to take notes. During the Site Survey, you will inspect the areas taking note of:

• Square feet of each area to be cleaned

• Total cleanable square feet to be included in the bid price

• Square feet of carpet vs. Square feet of hard surface floors

• Density (# of building inhabitants)

• Service days per year (ask about being closed on holidays)

• Breakroom square feet, number of tables and chairs, and number and type of appliances

• Restrooms – number of Sinks and Flushables, and total square feet of flooring

• When cleaning is to be performed (after 6:00 PM? During the day?)

• During the Site Visit, make note of comments made by the customer of reasons why they are looking to change service providers, and of any specific comments made about things the current provider isn’t doing well. Also, ask the customer:

• If there is written Scope of Work (SOW) or Task Schedule; if the customer replies “no”, inform them that you will be creating a custom SOW to include in your proposal

• If there is a budget they are trying to meet; if they prefer not to answer, ask how many people currently clean the facility and the length of their shifts

• If additional floor or carpet care is to be included in the bid

• When they will be deciding, and what the start date would be

Once you return to your office, you will enter the facility information into the Job Cost Summary (JCS) to create accurate pricing and service execution time estimates. A self-calculating JCS Template can be found by navigating ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Clean - Clean Business Services > Clean Playbooks and Toolkits > Job Cost Summary Template or you can also contact your Camp. Once the JCS has been completed, you will create a Proposal for Services using Proposify, then you will then create the Task Schedule (synonymous with SOW). A SOW must accompany each proposal you present to a customer to clearly define the tasks and frequencies your bid price covers. The JCS is never included in the Proposal for Services, it is an internal pricing document only.

3.4.2 Creating Professional Proposals

ServiceMaster Clean’s required proposal software, Proposify, will provide you with several standardized, digital proposal templates to use in creating a professional proposal. This digital version is the Brand Standard for submitting proposals. It is at your discretion what to include in the proposal, but it is highly recommended that you include:

• Information (including photos) about the ServiceMaster Clean brand.

• Information (including photos) about your franchise business, including yourself and key staff; this may also include a personalized greeting video if using the online proposal platform. Putting the photo and customized video in the proposal will improve your closing ratio so long as your pricing is comparable to the other bidders.

• Detailed information about the services we provide.

• Detailed information about services relevant to the customer site you are bidding.

• A detailed SOW/Task Schedule.

• A page that clearly defines your pricing and what that pricing relates to.

• Any Terms and Conditions you would like to make known at this point in the process, such as Annual Price Increase information, payment terms, etc.

• A page that allows the customer to sign and accept the proposal.

Using Proposify allows you to track the status of the proposal, e.g., when it was delivered, when it was opened, how long the reader spent on each page, etc.

If you haven’t received feedback from the customer within 3 days of receiving the proposal, it is recommended that you make contact with the customer to inquire about any questions that they might have about the proposal. After this contact, it’s appropriate to contact them after one week, then every two weeks for the next two months. After that, a courtesy monthly email to stay in contact is acceptable.

Service Agreement

The Proposify proposal is not meant to be the service agreement (contract) as it may not include all terms and conditions that both parties agree to. Once the customer agrees to the proposal, a service agreement then must be generated and executed by both parties.

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A Service Agreement template can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Sales and Proposals

3.4.3 Proposal and Contract Organization

Keeping track of multiple proposals, contracts, renewals, and other information when you have several accounts can be a challenge if you do not have a system in place. For every new contract, you should stick to the system in place to make sure you have consistent execution. Here are some of the basic pieces of information you will need to include for each customer:

• Important Dates

• Contract Start Date

• Renewal Deadline Date

• Special Customer Occasions (company parties, birthdays, office closures, etc.)

• Scheduled Building Inspections

• Scheduled Customer Satisfaction Follow-Ups

Financial Information:

• Weekly or Monthly Labor Forecasts and Actual Amounts

• Monthly Billing and Payments

• Inventory/Supply/Equipment Budgets and Actuals

Staffing Information:

• Supervisors and/or Managers

• Service Partners (account specific)

• Service Partners (fill-ins if needed)

Place the renewal date on the folder and enter that date into Outlook or an equivalent calendar system. You will then need to enter it into QuickBooks. If you are using an online platform to track labor or other key performance indicators (KPIs) such as your timekeeping system, enter the building and job cost information into that platform. Once the customer signs the contract, schedule your building inspections at this time. Your Camp can assist with determining the frequency of the inspections. Enter the recurring inspections into your Outlook calendar or other calendar platform.

4 SERVICE FULFILLMENT PROCEDURES

4.1 Core Services

As covered in the previous section, your ServiceMaster Clean franchised business has the capability to perform many commercial facility-related services, and some residential related services. When a new owner enters the network training for these core services is provided.

Subsequently, additional training is provided through SMBU, at regional and local workshops, and at our national convention. Periodically a vendor may offer training locally as well. Furthermore, networking groups comprised of owners in the network meet in-person or virtually on a recurring basis and best practices for excellence in service fulfillment will often be discussed during these events.

It is of utmost importance that each owner operates their business with the highest of standards to drive positive brand awareness and open the door for increased local revenue market share.

4.2 Specialty Services

In addition to our core service offerings, ServiceMaster Clean offers a multitude of other facility services. Examples include healthcare cleaning, post-construction cleaning, exterior pressure washing, window washing, kitchen deep cleaning, countertop reconditioning, and many others. Oftentimes with specialty service offerings ServiceMaster Brands Standards will create Toolkits and Playbooks to provide information, training, and step-by-step procedures to ensure excellence in execution within these verticals.

It is important for ServiceMaster Clean businesses to network with and potentially share opportunities with other brands within the Roark Capital Group, previously mentioned in Section 2.1: History of the Company. Work that is required by a customer that falls outside of the core service offerings for a ServiceMaster Clean business can oftentimes be performed by another ServiceMaster Brand or Roark-owned service provider.

When sharing leads, it is important for all parties involved to communicate whether the lead is being offered for "free", or whether some renumeration is expected by the business sharing the lead. In all such instances, any arrangement agreed to by both parties is solely at the discretion of both parties, with the franchisor playing no part in negotiating or collecting any renumeration that has been agreed to.

More detail on Core Services and other services provided by ServiceMaster Clean businesses can be found in the Royalty Remittance Policy by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Royalty Remittance.

5 FINANCIAL REPORTING

5.1 Financial Statements

Financial management, as well as operational management of your business, is key to your success. Having correct financial information will provide you with the best tools to be a profitable business.

The key financial statements/information needed to manage your business:

• Chart of Accounts

• Balance Sheet

• Profit and Loss Statement (usually called P&L)

• Statement of Cash Flows

5.1.1 Chart of Accounts (COA)

The COA is the foundation for having correct financial statements. Having your income classified by service lines will help you file correct royalty reports. Expenses classified by Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) will provide you with the information needed to monitor your productionrelated expenses. These are also known as variable expenses. Fixed expenses provide you with information on what is needed in your business to run operations; leases, building rent, insurances, administrative payroll, etc. Also, the COA records what assets and liabilities are in your business (Balance Sheet accounts).

ServiceMaster has a COA for various business models. All franchise owners must use the COA to organize their accounting files. Contact your Camp for more information, if needed.

5.1.2 The Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet is a statement of the assets, liabilities (obligations), and capital of a business at a defined period. The purpose of the balance sheet is to give information on the company's financial position, as well as what the company owns and owes. Interest on a vehicle or other types of asset loans is deductible for tax purposes as it is recorded as an expense on the Profit and Loss Statement (P&L), but the balance sheet records what the business owes on that asset, and further borrowing decisions should be based on that amount as well. When liabilities are greater than assets, that is a negative equity position which greatly affects your ability to financing and growing your business.

5.1.3 Profit and Loss Statement (P&L)

The P&L is a financial statement that summarizes the income, costs, and expenses incurred during a specified period, usually a fiscal quarter or year. The P&L statement is synonymous with the income statement. These records provide information about a company's ability or inability to generate profit by increasing revenue, reducing costs, or both. Some refer to the P&L

statement as a statement of profit and loss, income statement, statement of operations, statement of financial results or income, earnings statement, or expense statement.

5.1.4 Statement of Cash Flows/Cash Flow Statement

The statement of cash flows (SCF), or the cash flow statement (CFS), is a financial statement that reports a company's major sources and uses of cash during the same period as the company's income statement. It helps to recognize the difference between a company's profits and its cash flows and is one of the main required financial statements of a business or a nonprofit entity.

This statement measures how well a company manages its cash position, meaning how well the company generates cash to pay its debt obligations and fund its operating expenses. The main components of the statement are cash from operating activities, cash from investing activities, and cash from financing activities.

This statement is generated through QuickBooks, and as a best practice, should be reviewed monthly along with your P&L and Balance Sheet.

5.1.5 Accounting Methods

There are two methods that are used for accounting:

• Cash method – an accounting method where payment receipts are recorded during the period in which they are received, and expenses are recorded in the period in which they are actually paid. In other words, revenues and expenses are recorded when cash is received and paid, respectively.

• Accrual method – Accrual accounting is an accounting method where revenue or expenses are recorded when a transaction occurs rather than when payment is received or made.

Cash accounting is not an accepted accounting method for a ServiceMaster Clean operation.

The accrual method is required for royalty reporting. Refer to the Royalty Policy on ServiceConnection for more information. You can review the document by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Royalty Remittance

Examples of a Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Statement (P&L), and Cash Flow Statement can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Financial Tools > Financial Document Examples

5.2 Analyzing Financial Statements Best Practices

5.2.1 Analyzing the P&L

The P&L (Accrual Method) should be reviewed monthly and year-to-date.

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You must use the approved ServiceMaster Clean Chart of Accounts when using QuickBooks.

• The P&L should be run with the percentage of revenue calculated; this is a setting in QuickBooks.

• The P&L should be organized by classes; this will allow you to create P&L statements by division (Janitorial, Healthcare, Industrial, Education, etc.). Separate P&L statements are then reviewed for profitability in each division. Expenses are monitored for proper job costing and coding of receipts to the correct job.

Revenue. Review by service line, each service line has different gross profit margins, as well as variable expense percentages.

Variable Cost Structure. When job costing an opportunity, it’s good to have targets you wish to achieve with regards to your variance costs/expenses, in terms of percentages. Labor is almost always the highest cost your business will incur. Review as a percentage of revenue for each service line - cleaning services vs. commercial specialty and project work. When you review your P&L as part of a monthly review, take a sampling of specific job actual gross profits realized against what was estimated in your job costing.

Fixed Costs as a Percentage of Revenue. Assists you in finding expenditures over and above what you budgeted. Enter in your budget for the year; this provides another component to the analysis, budget versus actual. Instructions on how to enter a budget in QuickBooks is provided in the appendix.

Net profit %. By reviewing Net profit % and comparing to Variable Expense % and Fixed Expense % you can make decisions on how to improve your business

Ratio Analysis - Gross Profit as a percentage of gross sales.

Gross Profit/Sales. Recommended % = 25% - 40%

Production Payroll/Sales. Recommended % = 40%-48%

(Products, Supplies, Materials)/Sales Recommended % = 2.5-4%

Production Vehicle Expense (Fuel, Insurance, Maintenance)/Sales. Recommended % = 4%

Net Profit Before Tax/Sales. Recommended % = 10% and above.

There may be other ratios that you may want to calculate. Consult with your Camp on which ratios would be most applicable to your business.

Break Even Analysis - How to calculate Breakeven in $$

Fixed Costs (Fixed Expenses) in $$ / Gross Profit % = Breakeven $$ Amount

What does this mean? Breakeven in $$ is the point at which you start making profit

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5.2.2 Analyzing the Balance Sheet

Ratios should be calculated at month-end, quarter-to-date, or year-to-date.

Calculate Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) for your business. The ratio should be between 4560 days. DSO over 60 days indicate possible cash flow issues in business.

Aging (A/R Balance - # of months on P&L)/YTD Income. See recommended best practices on collections under Accounts Receivable and the Collections Process in Section 8.3: Accounts Receivable and the Collections Process. DSO should be used as a benchmark as part of the Collections Process

Fixed Assets and Accumulated Depreciation. Fixed assets are a company's tangible, noncurrent assets that are used in its business operations, not used up, consumed, or sold in the current accounting year. Depreciation is the allocation of the cost of a fixed asset as an expense over the useful life of the asset. Depreciation is a "contra account" therefore it will have a credit balance. The best practice is to match the amount of accumulated depreciation on the balance sheet to the depreciation schedules for the fixed assets. Consult with your tax preparer.

Accounts Payable. An account payable is an amount owed to a supplier or vendor for goods or services that were provided in advance of payment. A best practice is to utilize a purchase order system to not only maintain control over expenditures but also for accurate job costing.

Utilize the process of "Three-Four Way Match". Match the vendor invoice with the company's receiving report and the company's purchase order (3-Way) and if the invoice is for material or supply for a job, confirm that the cost was expensed to that job (4-Way)

Long-Term and Short-Term Debt. In accounting, long-term debt generally refers to a company's loans and other liabilities that will not become due within one year of the balance sheet date. In contrast, Short Term Debt is payable in less than one year. For either, the amount shown on the Balance Sheet should match an amortization schedule for each loan. Amortization is the systematic reduction of a loan's principal balance through equal payment amounts that cover interest and principal repayment. Depreciation is the assigning or allocating of the cost of an asset (other than land) to expense in the accounting periods that are within the asset's useful life. Consult with your tax preparer.

Debt to Owners' Equity. The higher the proportion of debt to equity, the riskier the company appears to be. Owner's Equity = Total Assets less Total Liabilities. If the resulting number is negative, then the company owes more than what it is worth.

Debt to Worth (Owners' Equity) = Total Liabilities/Net Worth (Owner’s Equity) – the recommended target = ratio of 1:1.

5.2.3 Analyzing Cash Flow

Besides having a thorough understanding of the cash inflow and outflow of your business using the CFS and a management tool, a critical best practice is balancing your bank statement to your QuickBooks or accounting system cash balance. This will assist you in finding charges/deposits (debits/credits) not recorded in your accounting system, as well as possible fraudulent activity in your bank account.

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The major cash flows are presented in one of these classifications:

• Financing Activities

• Investing Activities

• Operating activities

The net change from these three classifications also explains the major reasons for the change in the company's cash and cash equivalents between two balance sheet dates.

In addition to the cash amounts being reported as operating, investing, and financing activities, the CFS is required to disclose other information, including the amount of interest paid, the amount of income taxes paid, and any significant investing and financing activities which did not require the use of cash.

Financing Activities

• Borrowing and repaying short-term loans

• Borrowing and repaying long-term loans and other long-term liabilities

• Issuing or reacquiring its own shares of common and preferred stock

• Paying cash dividends on its capital stock

Investing Activities

• Securities

• Acquiring property, equipment, vehicles

Operating Activities

Cash inflows and outflows from a company's main business activities of buying and selling merchandise, providing services.

Can a company have profit without cash? The answer is yes. Under the accrual basis of accounting, profit is the amount of revenues earned minus the amount of expenses incurred. Note that revenues are not receipts, and expenses are not payments. Assume that a company uses the accrual basis of accounting. In its first month of operations, it provides $10,000 of services to its customers and allows them to pay 30 days later. It also incurs $2,000 of expenses, of which it pays $1,100 immediately and will pay $900 in 30 days. In its first month, the company had a profit of $8,000 (revenues of $10,000 minus $2,000 of expenses), but its cash decreased by $1,100 (cash receipts of $0 with cash payments of $1,100). If it has no other business transactions, the company's profit in the second month will be $0 (no revenues minus no expenses), but it will have a $9,100 increase in cash (receipts of $10,000 minus payments of $900).

Now assume that a different company had a profit of $60,000 in its first year but paid out $65,000 near the end of the year to acquire equipment that will be put into service on the first day of its second year. During its first year, the company had $65,000 profit but may end the year with $0 cash.

Other examples where cash is paid out, but the profits are not reduced at the time of the payment include prepayments of insurance premiums, payments to increase its inventory of merchandise, and payments to reduce liabilities.

Additional Tools Available to Manage Cash Flow

Contact your Camp for tools available and guidance on managing cash flow in your business.

5.2.4 Line of Credit

In business, a line of credit (LOC) is an arrangement/commitment by a bank or vendor to have funds available to borrow short-term, or to purchase equipment that will be paid for over time. The agreement specifies an amount that the customer can borrow or use in the future, assuming that the customer's financial condition is maintained. A line of credit is meant to make up for temporary short falls in cash. Such short falls may arise when a large job is sold, or a customer is slower than expected in making a payment. A line of credit usually must be paid down to a zero balance once a year and is considered short-term financing.

If a line of credit is used for long term financing by not paying down the balance to zero, the financial institution holding the LOC may roll it over to a term loan. This may or may not hamper your ability to borrow depending on amounts owed and the net worth of the business.

5.3 Accounts Receivable and the Collections Process

Properly managing your accounts receivable is one of the most important elements of maintaining a healthy company. The information in this section is meant to be best practices.

5.3.1 Forms of Payment

The following forms of payment are acceptable for services provided by a franchisee:

• Credit card (consider charging a modest “Convenience Fee” to offset your discount charge expense)

• Business checks

• Personal checks

• Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Payment for services can also include money orders, wire transfers, cashier's checks, debit cards, and mobile payments. There may be additional fees involved in accepting these payments. It is not advisable to accept cash for services rendered.

5.3.2 Collections

If a business or personal check is returned as Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF), or for other reasons, contact the bank the check is drawn on to see if the bank will verify funds. If funds verified, present the check in person to the bank for a bank check or cashier's check. There are also check verification/validation companies that will verify checks before they are deposited.

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However, there still could be a possibility that a check is returned even though it was verified.

Sample of a Collections Process

1. Accountant/Controller/Accounts Receivable coordinator pulls an aging report and Transactions Detail report from QuickBooks for accounts past due.

2. Initial Collections Call - 7 days past the due date noted on the invoice, contact customer to determine payment status. Ask the customer if there are any issues that will delay getting payment and address those concerns.

3. 30 Days (after invoice due date) - send a letter again requesting payment with a copy of the invoice. This communication should be sent via certified mail to document that the customer received the letter.

4. 45 days-Collections call to the customer requesting payment. If issues were apparent at the initial collections call, confirm these have been resolved prior to the call. Ask for a specific date for payment being received. If the customer receives regular services from your business, you may wish to communicate your intentions regarding continued service, with the options being:

• Continue providing normal service but reduce the number of weekly/monthly visits.

• Continue regular cadence of visits, but scale back the cleaning Scope of Work and number of cleaning hours each visit;

• Suspend service until payment is received; or

• Discontinue the relationship entirely.

5. Follow up the call with an email confirming the conversation, expected date of payment, and include another copy of the invoice as well as a copy of the service agreement with payment terms and late payment consequences highlighted.

6. Review your state's guidelines for filing a mechanic's lien. Be aware of timing issues and the process for filing this lien.

7. 50 days - collections call to the customer.

• Language should increase in urgency.

• Explain to the customer the possibility of a lien being filed. Provide a date in which the lien will be filed should payment not be received.

• Inform the customer of your intentions regarding continued service.

• At 55 days you are getting close to the date of the latest invoice coming due, which means you are in danger of doubling the number of the unpaid invoices.

8. Consult with your attorney or CPA on recommendations for a local collection agency. ServiceMaster does not have a preferred provider.

9. 60 days - begin the process to file the mechanic’s lien and consider escalating to a collection agency or your attorney. Before filing the lien notify your commercial insurance carrier of

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your intent to file the lien.

During the collections process it is advisable to document all communication. Phone conversations should always be followed up with an email or letter which restates what was discussed during the call.

Be mindful of the cost of collections versus the amount of the unpaid debt. In some cases, the amount seeking to be collected could be less than the costs associated with the collections process. The ServiceMaster Clean Royalty Policy does have a provision for recouping royalties submitted on unpaid invoices (bad debt), with some elapsed time restrictions. Refer to the most current Royalty Policy to ensure you are aware of the process and time restrictions associated with reporting bad debt.

Neither ServiceMaster Clean field support nor the FSC take part in any franchisee-customer collection efforts. The suggested timeline with associated action items is offered as standard collection procedures.

Chargebacks

Should a customer make known their displeasure with services rendered on a job already paid for, the first step for the ServiceMaster Clean business is to ascertain why the customer is displeased with the service and work to remedy the situation through corrective action. Should that not remedy the situation, try to negotiate a settlement that is satisfactory to both parties. In the absence of a settlement, and since payment has already been rendered by the customer, the customer may take action to invoke a "charge-back" or seek a refund to have the payment reversed, either entirely or partially. The action of charge-back or refund request will vary depending on how payment was made originally. Should this occur, the ServiceMaster Clean business owner has the option to dispute the charge-back/refund request and provide proof that satisfactory service was in fact provided or accept the amount of the updated payment and close the issue.

5.4 Budgeting and Forecasting

5.4.1 Budgeting for Day-to-Day Operations

QuickBooks and other accounting systems have features where an annual budget can be created. After entering the budget for the year, the best practice is to monitor budgeted revenue and expenses against actual performance.

When creating your budget for the year, work with your Camp on setting goals that are attainable and reasonable for your business structure, as well as the financial position of your business. If your goal is to grow your business, you will also need to review your balance sheet as well as your P&L. Getting to the next level of revenue or adding a service line may entail financing equipment, vehicles or obtaining a larger warehouse with office space. Using Debt to Worth ratio as well as reviewing current interest expense may show that financing is not

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appropriate to fund growth (e.g., Debt to Worth ratio is greater than 1:1).

5.4.2 Break-Even Analysis

Break-even is the point where your business begins making a profit. Analyzing your break-even point provides information on how fixed costs/variable costs and fluctuations in revenue impact planning for net profit. This is an important tool in making appropriate decisions on the level of sales needed and what resources are needed to attain the level of sales.

Break-even Calculation:

Break Even in $$ = Fixed Costs/Gross Margin (Gross Profit) %

Using the previous calculation, a business has $175,000 in Fixed Costs, and the Gross Margin is 52%. The point at which the business will begin making a profit is:

Break Even in $$ = $175,000/.52 = $336,538.47. With sales of less than $336,538, the business will be operating at a loss.

Using Break-Even Analysis to Determine Sales for Net Profit %

In the previous example, the point at which the business begins making a profit is $336,538.47. The formula to calculate $$ in profit for a specific net profit percentage is:

Net Profit in $$ = Fixed Costs/Gross Margin % - Net Profit %)

The budgeted Net Profit percentage is 10% (minimum level recommended)

Net Profit in $$ = $175,000/(.52-.10) = $416,667

With fixed costs of $175,000, a gross margin of 52%, and a budgeted net profit of 10%, the business in the example would need sales of $416,667.

Consider the Following Examples

Example 1, Revenue Decreases

Gross margin of 52%, Fixed costs of $175,000. Actual revenue of $350,000

Net Profit = ($350,000 *.52) - $175,000 = $7,000 (2% Net Profit)

Example 2, Revenue goal met, $416,667. Fixed costs increase to $190,000

Net Profit = ($416,667*.52) -$190,000 = $26,667 (7% Net Profit)

Example 3, Revenue goal met, $416,667. Variable Costs (COGS) increased to 50%. Fixed Costs = $175,000

New Gross Margin = 50% (1-.50)

Net Profit = ($416,667*.50)-$175,000 = $33,334 (8% Net Profit)

Managing fixed costs, variable costs, and sales fluctuations will provide the information needed to guide decisions on when to utilize cash reserves, lines of credit, or make changes in fixed/variable expenses through reductions.

Consult with your Camp on Break-Even analysis, Budget Preparation, and tools.

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5.5 QuickBooks Online Training and Support

QuickBooks provides a variety of options, from do-it-yourself resources to live expert advice, to help you get the answers you need and get back to business quickly.

In some instance with new owners, free QuickBooks support is provided for 30 days from the date of product registration for questions submitted online. Those question, as well as a variety of other free support, is available here: www.quickbooks.com/contactme. Using this link you will have access to video training, QuickBooks Q&A, tutorials, and webinars, among other training and support tools.

Ongoing, paid support and support plans are also available through QuickBooks and/or Out of the Box, who offer a 15% discount.

5.6 Reporting Taxes, IRS and State Specific Obligations

Besides reporting taxes to the IRS (based on your corporate structure), there will be tax obligations to the state in which your business is located as well as county and municipal taxes. Consult with your CPA.

5.6.1 Record Retention

If you own a small business, you need to keep business records, whether in digital or hard copies. The IRS recommends saving financial records for up to seven years, although some documents should be saved longer than others. These are necessary for annual tax filings and potential IRS audits. State or other agency audits may have different requirements. Consult with your CPA or attorney for guidance.

5.7 Asset Protection

A business should have an inventory management system for equipment, supplies, materials for operations as well as administration. The business should carry the proper insurance to cover the replacement of equipment due to theft or damage. Consult with your insurance agent/broker for the appropriate limits and coverages for your business. Your franchise is not prone to the same type of inventory loss as other businesses, such as a department store or a restaurant. However, even if you perform a thorough background check on your new hires, you could still be open to theft from either internal or external sources. For this reason, you will probably want to establish an inventory procedure.

We recommend:

• Periodic equipment inventory

• Monthly products inventory

Very diligent monitoring of product and supply cost on a monthly basis. Contact your Camp if you’d like assistance on inventory methods and product usage tracking.

6 SELLING IN YOUR LOCAL MARKET

6.1 Introduction to Local Sales

Sales is essential to the success of your business and in order to grow your business, you must have someone dedicated to sales. To assist you, ServiceMaster Clean has a multi-faceted sales structure in place. But remember, the most important piece of the sales puzzle is you owning your local market by generating direct referrals and optimizing program opportunities.

Sales needs to be a part of your cultural DNA. Each team member needs to know that sales is a priority and that they have a role in the sales process.

In your daily, weekly, and monthly meetings, make sure that sales is a part of the discussion. It’s easy to get completely focused on operational issues, but sales is equally important- so keep in in the forefront.

6.1.1 Value Proposition Statement

A Value Proposition Statement is a summary of the benefits a company provides. Here is an example Value Proposition for ServiceMaster Clean:

“We believe that commercial cleaning is not a commodity, but an opportunity to provide remarkable service. That’s why we focus on mastering the basics and consistent service delivery as foundational to our business. Along with our focus on fundamentals, we partner with you to understand your unique needs and monitor the overall condition of your facility. Serving as an extension of your staff, we pride ourselves on going "above and beyond" your expectations.”

6.1.2 Our Brand

People often define branding as a function of an advertising agency or marketing group. But the truth is our brand can be defined only by the experiences our customers have with us. Interaction with customers and the quality of work does more to affect how people experience our company than any ad campaign possibly could.

The power you have to create a strong brand in the minds of customers will benefit your customers as much as your business. Your customers will have an easier choice to make when selecting this brand because of the reassurance we can provide. Satisfied customers will produce referrals for your business that will result in growth at a lower marketing cost. For your business, a powerful brand can command a higher price than its competitors, increase loyalty, and provide long-term profits.

6.1.3 Importance of Brand Value

Because we operate in a commodity industry, it is essential to bring differentiation and value to our brand. This is achieved by developing what is called a brand value proposition. In essence, a brand value proposition is a statement of what our brand stands for, or what it promises to our

customers. It is a statement not just about our company, but the way we do business. By creating a meaningful brand value proposition, we can more clearly define what our brand will stand for in the minds of our customers.

We value the opinions and needs of our customers and looked to them in defining just what our value proposition should be. Using results from the research, and a follow-up study that tested different positioning lines against each other, we found that the value proposition "Above and Beyond" resonated deepest with our customers.

6.2 Understanding Your Competition

Who competes with you for your customer’s time and money? Are they directly selling competitive products and services, substitutes, or possible substitutes? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How are they positioned in the market? Is your product competitive? Are you losing customers to your competitor?

Wouldn’t it be valuable if you could just get inside your customers’ heads to understand what decision processes they go through when purchasing your product versus your competition’s, or vice versa? The truth is that you operate in a world where your customers are presented with choices. Your job is two-fold. First, you must understand how satisfied your customers are with the experience your product delivers. Second, you must demonstrate the advantages your product has over all other choices (see the next section, Competitive Advantages).

6.2.1 Competitive Advantages Value Proposition

There are two basic types of competitive advantage:

1. A cost competitive advantage is achieved when you can offer your product at a lower price than that of your competitor. This is very objective. You either have a cost competitive advantage or you don’t. If you don’t, then you need to determine if your cost structure would allow you to reduce your prices. The biggest cost in your operation will be labor. However, price reduction is rarely a necessity if you have a differential competitive advantage.

2. A differential competitive advantage is achieved when you create an actual or perceived uniqueness in the mind of the consumer. A differential advantage does not need to be based only on product features. Other elements of the total offering may provide a basis for uniqueness as well. According to marketing data, the two most distinctive differential competitive advantages of ServiceMaster Clean are:

a. The company's responsiveness

b. Our consistent quality of service

What does that mean to your customer? Peace of mind.

You should spend time researching your local market and determine exactly who your real competitors are, if any. One easy way is to look in the yellow pages of your telephone directory or online. To take this one step further, call some of the listed cleaning companies and ask which buildings they are cleaning and what they charge per square foot for a basic service. You might also ask some building managers or owners who cleans their buildings and whether they

are satisfied. You need not tell them you are in the cleaning business, but rather that you are taking a survey. You should do this at least once a year and should be performed preferably by someone outside your organization; otherwise, you may give yourself away and not get authentic or real answers.

6.3 Prospecting

There may be some businesses in this world that consider a sales call to be the time when the phone rings and a customer is asking to buy what they are selling. Yours is not one of them.

Prospecting can be compared to the human heart. The heart continuously pumps blood to all of the parts of the body in order to keep it alive. When the heart stops, the body dies. The heart of your sales organization is prospecting. Prospecting will continuously pump leads to all the parts of your company. When prospecting stops, your company will die.

A sales call is NOT when somebody calls you, but when you pick up the phone to call somebody. This is not to say that you will not also need advertising to support your sales efforts. Advertising will develop some call-in business. If it doesn’t, then you should re-evaluate your marketing plan. However, the time that you spend prospecting will deliver the momentum that your business will need to prosper.

6.3.1 Conducting a Sales Call and Developing Proposals

During AOS training for owners, sessions will include conducting building surveys and sales calls, as well as developing and presenting proposals with Proposify. Additionally, documents including telemarketing scripts and a Sales Playbook can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Sales and Proposals

6.3.2 Customer Relationship Management

It is of vital importance that you set up a quality CRM system as part of your sales procedures, especially when it comes to prospecting. There are many quality CRM platforms available, be sure to choose the one that has the features you require and fits in your monthly budget. There are quality CRM options starting at $15 per month.

6.3.3 Building Rapport with the Prospect

For any business, success often depends on how well - or how poorly - it builds and manages relationships with prospects and customers. Learning how to establish productive relationships should be one of your main goals. It is critical to learn how to build a climate of trust and cooperation in which people will want to continue to do business with you and refer more business to you. Here are some tips to help in your efforts to build rapport with your prospects and customers:

Establish a common ground. Prospects and customers relate to people most like themselves. They want to feel a connection with you beyond that of being just a customer. Therefore, you need to establish a common ground with each customer quickly. You may notice a customer wearing a college sweatshirt. If you or a relative attended that same college, there is a starting

point for establishing common ground.

Listen and show concern. Your customers always want to talk about their most favorite topic: themselves and their situation. The more you talk about yourself or your business, the more you turn your customers away. Don’t get the wrong impression. There is a time and place to talk about your business, but that can be done after you have established a firm relationship. In general, people do not take an active interest in a stranger's life. Therefore, you need to stand out by building a relationship through talking about your customer and offering compliments when appropriate. However, you must be cognizant of the value of your prospect’s time and not let small talk dominate the conversation.

Keep a positive attitude. When you're positive and upbeat, people naturally want to be around you and do business with you. Unfortunately, in today's world, seeds of negativity are all around us, from traffic jams to 50+ hour work weeks. How we choose to look at those situations, however, determines not only our own mood, but also our customer's mood.

Treat customers like family. Your customers want to know that you have their best interests at heart. They want to sense a "we're in this together" attitude. You can easily accomplish this by being genuinely happy and excited to talk with them. When speaking with your customers, add emotion and sincerity to your voice and give them your undivided attention. Your customers will be impressed with your concern for them, and you will quickly surpass their expectations for individualized service. The more you practice this, the easier it will become for you.

Mirror your target. Use this three-step process to build rapport and put your customers at ease.

Step 1. Building rapport is earning trust. Before your target will listen to you, they must trust you. Building rapport starts by lowering defenses. And your target’s defenses are highest right before you start talking business. Studies have shown that words communicate only 7% of an overall message. Body language (55%) and tone of voice (38%) speak volumes.

Step 2. Mirror and match body language. Work quickly to establish rapport by becoming like your target using the technique of mirroring and matching. Start with your body. Like a mirror image, reflects the position of your target’s hand, legs, and the torso. Observe how they use their hands to gesture as they speak and begin to use similar gestures as you speak.

Observe how fast your target is breathing by noting how quickly their shoulders move up and down and then match your own. Note the words or phrases your target uses repeatedly and slowly begin incorporating them. Lastly, reflect the overall emotion of your target. If your target is direct and to the point, be direct and to the point. If they are casual, be casual.

Step 3. Ask the first question. Quickly identify one or two clues as to what may be of personal interest to your target. Do you see pictures of children, sports memorabilia, or artwork?

Be the first to ask a question about what you see and spend 3-4 minutes together letting your target “warm up” by talking about what matters most to them. This lowers defenses and begins to establish a level of comfort with you. The rapport you build now will make it easier for you to ask business-related questions later.

6.3.4 Handling Objections

If you are active in promoting your business, you will be telling scores of people about your exciting new ServiceMaster Clean franchise. The more you go out into the community and promote your business, the more likely you are to encounter people who are not as sold on the concept as you are. Welcome to your first objection.

Sometimes “no” means “no.” In most situations, however, an objection is not necessarily a “no”, even though it might sound that way. An objection is often the customer’s way of telling you that he or she does not have enough information to decide. You may do a fantastic job of describing the benefits of the production process, but the benefits that you describe do not address the concern that the customer has. Sometimes “NO” just means that the customer just needs more information.

Remember that you should always try to answer an objection with a question to achieve clarification and understanding.

Common Objections and How to Overcome Them

There are some typical objections you may face when you have an appointment with a decision maker. While some questions will be about the business’s unique needs, others are common. Here we’ll tackle how to overcome some common objections.

One by one, let’s demystify these objections and present probing questions that could lead to valuable information. This insight could turn an objection into a sale, if not right away, possibly in the future.

The business cannot afford cleaning services. With tough economic times come sacrifices. As commercial cleaning operators know, one of the first to fall on hard times is cleaning services. Often prospects think they can handle these tasks by themselves. You need to convince them that there is no substitute for quality, professional cleaning services. Mention statistics that back up the advantages of using our services.

Start with questions such as:

• If you were seeking a cleaning vendor, how much could you reasonably afford?

• In most cases, we can provide a certified, effective, and efficient cleaning at a very competitive rate. I would like to conduct an audit of your building and its’ needs and determine how we can meet your budget while also providing excellent services. When is a good day and time for this audit?

• You might follow-up by saying:

• “I understand times are tough, but we can offer you a range of services without sacrificing quality at an affordable price. We use a system called Capture and Removal Cleaning that uses innovation to increase efficiency and save you money. Would you be interested in hearing more about Capture and Removal Cleaning?”

The business has a cleaning contract already. Ok, someone else beat you to the punch here. Do not be discouraged. That contract, like all contracts, will come up for renewal eventually.

Be prepared to seize the opportunity when it comes around again by using the current appointment to do some research.

Start with questions such as:

• How long is the current contract?

• Are you happy with the current service?

• Have your employees expressed any concerns with the current vendor’s level of service?

• May I ask the value of the current contract?

• Would you be open to exploring other vendors when the current contract expires?

The business is not currently accepting bids. It is not likely you would even receive a face-toface appointment if the prospect wasn’t in some way exploring the possibility of using another vendor. This prospect is keeping his options open for the future. Use this to your advantage.

Start with questions such as:

• Are there any issues that are keeping you from accepting bids?

• If you were accepting bids, what kind of budget would you be working with?

• When is your current contract up for renewal?

The business has in-house cleaning staff. There are several possibilities as to why this business would not be using a professional cleaning partner. The in-house staff could be relatives or friends. The business may have brought the services in-house to reduce costs. The business may have always had internal staff for cleaning and never explored outsourcing these tasks. All these scenarios present opportunities to state your case for why they should use ServiceMaster Clean instead.

Start with questions such as:

• Are you satisfied with the level of services that your in-house staff provides?

• Are there any areas where they could use assistance?

• What if we said we could still retain your current staff but give them the training of a ServiceMaster Clean employee, would you be interested?

• Are you aware if they maintain the proper insurance coverage to limit your liability?

• Be sensitive in this case as it can affect someone’s job.

The business’s cleaning decisions are not made locally. Many businesses are part of a region, district, or national hub. Although the local facility manager may oversee operations onsite or even have final say, he may still have to answer to decision makers at a higher level elsewhere. If so, this local decision maker becomes your gatekeeper to the higher decision maker. Always probe the local contact for information to enhance the possibility that he can help approve your bid, or perhaps even recommend you to his higher-ups.

Start with questions such as:

• Would you be willing to put me in contact with the ultimate decision maker on the cleaning and floor maintenance strategy within your company?

• Would you be willing to share any insight on what you think they are seeking in a cleaning services provider?

• Is there anything you would share with me that you would like to see in a cleaning provider?

The business does not want to use a franchise business. Previous bad experiences may have influenced your prospect. The prospect may be afraid of a small business tied to a “big, bad, corporate” entity. In this scenario, offer the prospect reassurance that the company’s history of service, level of expertise, superior training, quick problem resolution skills, and proven systems and products are all benefits of using a franchise like ServiceMaster Clean.

Start with questions such as:

• What concerns you about using a franchise business?

• Have you had bad experiences using a franchise business in the past?

The business used ServiceMaster Clean previously and was not satisfied. Somewhere, unfortunately, a bad reputation has preceded you. The prospect would be afraid that your franchise will perform as badly as the last. Even though you did not cause the past bad experience, apologize for their mistakes. Reassure your prospect that each franchise is an independent business and that you will not repeat the other franchisee’s mistakes. Learn what the other franchisee did wrong and if given the opportunity, do it ten times better.

Start with questions such as:

• If I may ask, what kinds of issues did you experience?

• What were the recurring problem areas that this franchisee could not resolve for you?

• If I could assure you that this would not happen again, would you give us an opportunity to give you a bid?

7 MARKETING

ServiceMaster Clean marketing includes the marketing strategies and tactics by both the franchisor (ServiceMaster) and the franchisees, which are used to attract new customers or customers, to increase awareness and drive revenue to their franchise organization. ServiceMaster Clean marketing comprises all the ways customers interact with us and perceive our brand. This section includes an overview of our brand positioning and the marketing tools and resources available to leverage that position.

To effectively market a franchise, there is a balance between the franchisor and franchisee. ServiceMaster focuses on driving a strong, recognizable, and profitable brand with an easy-toreplicate business model. Meanwhile, the franchisee must adhere to the marketing standards set by ServiceMaster, to maintain brand consistency and profitability across the board. Consistency is key, but as a marketer, we know that context is king. From time to time, franchisees need the freedom to operate within their local market to connect with their local community. This portion of the manual outlines details of the brand identity, consumer target, and the processes for creating a marketing strategy and marketing materials that align with national efforts and work for the brand and its entirety.

As a ServiceMaster Clean franchisee, you are entrusted with ensuring consistent and appropriate use of the ServiceMaster Clean brand and marketing materials.

7.1 Guidelines for Using Logos & Marks

The ServiceMaster Clean Marks, sub-brands and logos are visual images, elements, or symbols used to identity of the brand and are the sole and exclusive property of ServiceMaster. The use of any wordmark and/or logo implies acceptance of, and agreement with, the terms of the agreement laid out in the FDD, which are governed by ServiceMaster marketing and outlined within the ServiceMaster Clean Brand Style Guide – a copy of which can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Brand Identity.

You cannot use the marks unless you have our prior express written consent each time. Before each intended use of any material of any nature that bears any of the marks, you must submit samples to your Camp who will send them to a Marketing Manager. We will review the samples of all marketing materials and other materials you submit to us for approval. We will promptly notify you of our decision. We will not approve any use of the marks that violate our marketing standards or applicable law.

If you do not accept and agree to follow the rules as set forth in the policy, you do not have the right to use the wordmarks and/or logos and are prohibited from using them. Any use of ServiceMaster Clean wordmark and/or logos not in compliance with the Brand Style Guide is not authorized. If you violate the rules in this policy, you must cease and desist from all use of any ServiceMaster Clean Marks and/or logos, regardless of the uses otherwise allowed in this policy. In addition, ServiceMaster reserves the right to revoke its approval of your use of the ServiceMaster Clean Marks and/or logos at any time.

7.2 Marketing Partners and Resources

7.2.1 Marketing Partners

ServiceMaster Clean provides a full suite of marketing tools and collateral to support your local marketing efforts.

• From brand identity to downloadable collateral, you’ll find a variety of resources by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Marketing Support and Programs

• BFC is our professional printing partner. BFC provides the option to order in-stock items like doorhangers and sales brochures along with the ability to customize items as needed. You can access BFC by navigating to the ServiceConnection Home Page and scrolling down to find it in the Single Sign On Links or email BFC at servicemaster@bfcprint.com.

ServiceMaster Clean also has partners to provide you with best-in-class local digital support.

• Scorpion is a digital marketing company that maintains the ServiceMaster Clean brand and local websites. In addition to website design and content, Scorpion also provides digital media buying support at the local level. Your Scorpion Marketing Manager will partner with you to optimize your digital spending for paid search, display ads, and more. Ideally, you should meet with your Scorpion manager at least once a month to review your budget and strategy. Contact: servicemasterClean@scorpion.co (no “m” at end of this address)

• The Rallio platform allows you to integrate ServiceMaster Clean corporate social media content into your local social media strategy. You also have the option to partner with Rallio to develop custom content across your social media platforms. Click HERE to start the account setup process.

7.2.2 Free Google Resources

Google Correlate – Identifies keywords with similar time-based or regional search patterns to queries you enter. To start using Google Correlate, you’ll type in a keyword and press “search correlations” to generate a list of related keywords. Once you search the correlations, you’ll get a list of 10 words sorted by association. These keywords are scaled to represent how often people search the two keywords together. This service can improve your SEO efforts by finding additional keywords and helping you better understand your audience.

Google Audience Explorer – Browsing data from the web and YouTube that offers insight into your audience’s passions and interests. This date will help improve your SEO efforts by better understanding your audience, enhance remarketing efforts, and allow you to better identify marketing personas and target audiences.

Google Trends – Analyzes the popularity of top Google search queries across regions and languages. You can use this data to form your seasonal digital campaigns, improve your SEO, and inspire paid creative efforts.

Google Alerts – Enables you to monitor the web for mentions of specific keywords or phrases.

Once set up, you'll receive either email alerts or results via RSS whenever these phrases have been mentioned online. For instance, you can sign up to get notified whenever someone mentions your company, products, executives, or your competition. This PR tool is a great way to stay on top of your business' online reputation and react to online mentions of your brand in a timely manner.

Think with Google. Stay up to date with the latest data, trends, insights and best practices. This platform offers tools like Test my Site, Find my Audience, Shopping Insights, and Grow my Stores to help marketers harness the power of data.

Google Analytics – Helps you measure your advertising ROI as well as track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications. This platform gives you the free tools you need to analyze data for your business in one place, so you can make smarter decisions.

Check your site’s ranking Check your indexed pages by heading to Google and typing "site: yourdomain.com" into the search bar. The number of results Google displays (“about XX results”) isn't exact, but it does give you a solid idea of which pages are indexed on your site and how they are currently showing up in search results. This will help you determine if your site is crawlable for optimal SEO results.

7.2.3 Tips and Tricks for Using Marketing Resources from the FSC

Attend periodic Marketing webinars. The Marketing team hosts educational webinars that cover a variety of relevant marketing topics, such as SEO and social content development, as well as deep dives into NAF-funded platforms like Rallio. These are great resources to learn more about important marketing topics that can inform your local efforts.

Check out the Marketing Section of the weekly newsletter. The newsletter is an important resource to stay in the know about new marketing materials, upcoming webinars, important deadlines, and reminders, etc. The marketing section also includes insightful marketing tips and tricks based on frequently asked questions from franchisees.

• To request to be added to the ServiceMaster Clean Newsletter, submit your request to Newsletter Distribution

• To contact Marketing directly, contact cleanmarketing@servicemaster.com

Utilize your NAF-funded vendors. It’s beneficial to your marketing efforts to take advantage of NAF-funded services like Scorpion, Rallio, and True Reviews.

NOTE: Use the Local Marketing Incentive Program to offset a portion of your marketing budget for the current year. This program is funded by the NAF and was established to facilitate Franchisee marketing initiatives at the local, state, and regional level. The amount available to your business is based on your previous year’s NAF contribution, and these funds have been allocated to create lead generation activity and boost the brand in your local market. Access the current guidelines and reimbursement application form by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Marketing Support and Programs > Local Marketing Incentive Program (MIP) Guidelines.

The principles and standards for ServiceMaster Clean marketing are established to be core to

the insights that are regularly updated and researched by the ServiceMaster Clean marketing team. These marketing standards are outlined in the Brand Style Guide and can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Marketing Support and Programs > Brand Identity, which is owned and maintained by the ServiceMaster Clean Marketing department.

7.3 Logo Specifications

Logo specifications are important guidelines that are governed by the ServiceMaster Clean Brand Style Guide. All applications of the logo must meet the standards that are laid out within the guide.

7.4 Required Marketing Expenditures

The National Advertising Fund, or NAF, is a monthly fee that supports dedicated marketing support from The FSC, national marketing programs and research, creative development of marketing materials, membership to major industry trade associations, national and large regional trade shows, and local marketing tools such as websites, digital support, listings management, and customer reviews resources. Due on the 10th of each month, the contribution amount due is the greater of $20 or 0.5% of gross service sales.

On the local level, you are required to spend 3% of your monthly gross service sales towards Local advertising. Local advertising refers to marketing efforts in the franchisees’ region, with payments made directly to advertisers. Your 0.5% contribution made to the National Advertising Fund is included toward the Local Advertising minimum spend.

Local advertising, sales activity, and other marketing activities are subject to approval by The FSC and must be consistent with the current marketing and sales guidelines. All local advertising efforts by the franchisee must adhere to brand standards and meet all the requirements established in the brand style guide.

For approval on local advertising creative materials, the franchisee can submit assets to their Camp, or to the FSC marketing team for approval prior to launching the campaign. If not disapproved by The FSC within twenty days after the date they received the materials, the franchisee can move forward with their local marketing efforts. The FSC marketing team is always available to collaborate with franchisees or their creative partners on the development of local marketing materials to ensure that the final product meets brand standards.

The NAF is maintained and administered by the National Franchise Committee, or NFC. The NFC provides guidance, counsel, and communication as it relates to all aspects of the NAF. Its role includes representing the interests of the franchise network, oversight of and aligning the ServiceMaster Clean brand with national marketing initiatives, and participating in NAF programs and initiatives. The NAF is managed by the National Advertising Committee (NAC). The NAC is comprised of four regional members, two members of the Franchise Council, and two at-large members selected by the NFC and The FSC. They conduct regular meetings via teleconference, and two face to face meetings in the Spring and Fall.

The NAF may be used to meet any and all costs of maintaining, administering, directing and

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preparing advertising and promoting the programs, products and services offered by its franchisees including the cost of preparing and conducting digital and social marketing activities, television, radio, magazine and newspaper advertising campaigns and other sales, marketing, sponsorships, promotional and public relations activities; producing and maintaining marketing systems and tools, employing advertising agencies; employee salaries, salesperson commissions and other related costs and expenses; the costs relating to any toll-free number maintained by the FSC and used in advertising and marketing campaigns; providing promotional brochures and other marketing materials to franchisees; monitoring and/or managing social media relating to the brand; and such other costs and expenses as the FSC deems appropriate and in the best interests of all or any of its franchisees.

All sums paid by franchisees to the NAF will be maintained in a The FSC account and tracked on a separate profit and loss statement and can’t be used to defray any of The FSC’s general operating expenses, except for such reasonable administrative costs and overhead, if any, as The FSC may incur in activities reasonably related to the administration or direction of the NAF.

Each year, a portion of the NAF monies are dedicated to a Local Marketing Incentive Program that was established to encourage marketing initiatives at the local, state, and regional level. These funds are allocated to promote ServiceMaster Clean to a larger audience and drive brand awareness. Please reference the current Local Marketing Incentive Program for information around eligibility, requirements, and maximum reimbursements, which can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection > Intranet > Library > Clean - Business Services > Marketing Assets for SM Clean > Local Marketing Incentive Program (MIP) Guidelines.

For more information regarding NAF and the required NAF contribution by license type, you may reference your FDD.

7.4.1 Marketing Spend

Marketing Fee

In addition to investing in talent, the future of the brand depends on further investments in systems and tools to help you market and sell better locally. Effective October 2022, an increased monthly marketing fee was implemented to help fund different platforms and local marketing resources that help drive local lead generation and sales activities for your business. Local marketing is designed to enable you at the local level to deliver higher quality leads and enables the provision of sales resources to drive growth. This fee, which has been effective since October 2021, comes in two forms - $125 or $250 - depending on which FDD you are on, and it will be charged on a per-location basis. For FDDs dated 2021 or earlier, franchises will be charged $125, and FDDs dated 2022 or later, franchises will be charged $250. Consult with your Camp for guidance and/or support on the payment process.

Looking ahead, SMC will continually re-evaluate our system and platform needs as well as our fees to ensure we are providing the best tools, which bring the most value to you and your business. Together, we are making the right investment that will help support the local growth of your business.

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Local Marketing Examples

• Print advertising

• Brand networking/local chambers and associations

• Telemarketing

• Direct mail

• Cold calling

• Tradeshows and sponsorships

• SEO/SEM/PPC

• Banner ads/internet advertising/social media

• Public relations

• Marketing materials

• Any lead generation strategies or long-term brand awareness strategies

• Some of these local marketing activities may apply to your Co-op; you should contact your Camp for more information as well as consult the Marketing chapter in this manual.

7.4.2 National Ad Fund (NAF)

The NAF is governed by the NFC and the money is managed by the ServiceMaster Clean Marketing department. This team includes the Senior Marketing Manager and a subset of the NFC, called the NAC. The Marketing department's role is to understand the market, provide recommendations on spending and efficiencies, provide rationale behind projects and other spending, and to manage and deliver these programs efficiently to the benefit of the NAF. The NFC's duties include reviewing recommendations, offering feedback from franchise owners, and granting approval on programs presented by the FSC.

The NAF budget is reviewed monthly and in detail semi-annually at the face-to-face meetings of the NFC. Projects and updates are reviewed more regularly during NFC conference calls. A yearly financial review is completed by a third-party CPA, and that report is provided to the NFC annually. These reports are not posted on the internet as they are confidential financial documents. Any franchise owner may request a copy through the Marketing department.

The NAF renumeration is based on your revenue and is calculated at the time you report your royalties.

7.4.3 Local Marketing Requirements

There are seven key steps when it comes to building your local marketing plan:

1. Analyze & Evaluate

2. Set Goals

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3. Set Your Budget

4. Segmentation & Messaging

5. Objectives

6. Activation Plan: Target, tactics, timing, KPIs

7. Analyze & Optimize

First, you will need to analyze and evaluate your business. How do you measure the success of your business? Through revenue, profit, number of jobs, and number of leads. You’ll need to understand your big picture performance over time and the underlying factors in that performance, specifically the market, the consumer and customer, your company, and your competitors. This initial evaluation will help you set your goals.

When it comes to setting goals, less is more. You need one overarching goal, two at most, that meets the SMART criteria: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. You will first need to define your goal as clearly as possible, identifying a focused, tangible outcome that you want to achieve. Secondly, you will need to determine what success looks like- ask yourself how you will measure success and track progress towards the goal. You’ll also want to ensure that your goal is attainable. While it should be challenging, it should also be realistic. You need to also make sure that your goal is relevant, helping you to meet your immediate and long- term business needs identified in the Analyze & Evaluate step. Finally, you should establish a timeframe in which to complete and measure the goal, as well as timing for progress check-ins.

Once you’ve set your goal, you will need to determine your budget. You should base your investment off your desired ROI using the ROI formula:

Return on investment formula = (Net profit/cost of investment) x 100

Your desired ROI should always be higher than 1 - you want to at least get back what you spent.

Next, you will want to establish segmentation and messaging. Although the traditional purchase funnel is the standard for developing messaging, winning marketers go beyond the funnel to understand the full consumer experience journey using the following table as a starting point:

Once you establish the messaging hierarchy, you’ll need to establish your objectives or the things you must accomplish to meet these goals. You will ideally only have 2-3 objectives per

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goal. When thinking about your overall goal, ask yourself: What must be true in order to achieve this?

Next, you will develop an activation plan for each objective that consists of a target, tactic, KPI, and timing. Your target is focused on what you specifically want to reach. Consumer segments are broad- targets are more tactical descriptions of the people you want to reach in that segment.

Tactics: How you accomplish your objectives

We will review the different types of marketing tactics in the next section. KPIs, or key performance indicators, refer to how you’ll measure the activation. You will then need to nail down your timing- is this an always on tactic, or is it a time-based campaign? What can your budget allow for and are there best practices for the channel/tactic you’ve chosen?

Analyzing and optimizing refers to constant progress monitoring during your activation plan. If you see results that are lower than expected, you’ll need to quickly adapt and make changes.

Local Marketing Tactics

There are various forms of local marketing that can boost your business. For the most updated strategies and tactics, speak with your Camp, set up a call with the ServiceMaster Clean Marketing Department and/or your Scorpion marketing representative, and review the Local Marketing Guide

7.5 Corporate Support for Tactics

How does corporate support local marketing tactics and channels?

Corporate supports your marketing efforts in various ways. Each tactic has varying levels of corporate support. This support is funded by the NAF. The role of the NAF is to generate national brand awareness and empower franchisees to generate quality leads and sales by establishing a national baseline presence and providing tools, assets and support, to build and execute impactful local/regional marketing programs.

In general, the NAF supports:

• National marketing support from Corporate

• National marketing programs and research

• Creative development of marketing materials

• Membership to major industry trade associations

• National and large regional tradeshows

Local marketing tools, such as:

• Websites

• Digital marketing support

• Local listings management tools

• Customer feedback & reviews resources

The NFC is another way Corporate supports your marketing. The purpose of the NFC is to provide guidance, counsel, and communication as it relates to the NAF and its functions.

The Co-op Program can be a cost-efficient way for franchisees in a specific market to work together by combining marketing efforts to develop mutually beneficial marketing campaigns. Corporate provides you a way to control your local, fully customizable, microsite on the corporate platform, through Scorpion. Choosing to use these sites will have a positive impact on your search visibility and leads. In fact, having your own site may harm your visibility and lead flow, as it will compete with the corporate platform and the microsite for your business. Branded collateral is available to download from ServiceConnection and BFC. If you perceive a gap in what is offered on BFC, reach out to Marketing for updated resources.

You can connect your local Company social media to the corporate social media pages through Rallio and syndicate national updates to your local page. This pushes helpful content to your local network without any effort needed from you.

Corporate attends many national tradeshows each year and encourages local franchisees to attend local and/or regional shows.

7.6 Marketing Your Business

7.6.1 Brand Positioning and Target Audience

As leaders in the cleaning and disinfection industry for more than 65 years, ServiceMaster Clean is positioned as a go-to for our commercial and healthcare customer segments. Our brand purpose is to provide guidance and expertise in cleaning and disinfection to keep people safe and healthy. Our brand voice is straightforward, assuring, and advisory, and our key brand characteristics are guiding, genuine, accessible, experts, and committed.

Our target audience is the Concerned Caretaker. Concerned Caretakers are thoughtful and discerning, taking pride in the things and people they care for. When big problems happen that they can’t fix on their own, the stakes are high, and so are the emotions - they seek out only the best people to help save the day. Concerned Caretakers value honesty, expertise, respect, and compassion.

7.6.2 Identifying Your Target Market

Before starting any marketing or advertising activity, it is important to identify who you are trying to reach.

Step 1. Study your market. To gain a broad understanding of your market, you should:

• Evaluate your competition, including their size, location, marketing efforts, and pricing strategy.

• Follow local and regional news to gather leads, contact info, and business interests.

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• Attend key networking events through local chambers and professional associations.

• Go to www.dnb.com or similar resources to gather lists of businesses in your area.

• Identify prospects including their name, address, business type, contact information, and square footage.

Step 2. Consider your approach. To get the most impact from your marketing efforts, concentrate on a specific audience based on select criteria. For example, you could target by:

• Industry category (e.g., healthcare, education, etc.)

• Building type (e.g., multi-tenant, owner-operated, etc.)

• Audience hot button (e.g., cost-efficiency, green cleaning, etc.)

Step 3. Prioritize your targets. Determine the areas with the most potential for growth, based on what you’ve learned. Then identify the core strengths of your business, such as healthcare or green cleaning, and choose the targets that match up best. Turning the reflection inward will also help you narrow your focus. Consider:

• Geography - Can you service your entire territory easily? Perhaps you should consider clustering your efforts around your physical location and other accounts you already have secured.

• Size and scope of facility - Can you serve large properties as easily as small properties? Do you have the cleaning staff and equipment resources? Do you have the financial capability to start-up a large account?

Step 4. Identify need. Gain an understanding of various audience wants, needs, concerns, and frustrations, otherwise known as their “hot button issues”. Potential hot buttons include:

• Cost-efficiency - In today’s economy, savings of time, energy, and money is critical for many prospects.

• Trustworthy employees - Prospects want service professionals who can be trusted in the facility day and night, and who understand that security issues are keys. It’s more than theft and building/data security concerns, it is being able to trust that the cleaning provider and their staff is doing the job outlined in the contract.

• Consistency of clean - Prospects count on a crew who does the job the right way every single time.

• Green cleaning - For a variety of reasons, from government concerns to tenant health, some prospects may inquire about green cleaning.

Step 5. Select marketing activities that best suit your approach. You will achieve the greatest success when you provide prospects with the right information at the right time. Think about your audience, their facility, and their cleaning needs.

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Who They Are

Why They Buy

What They Buy

Pricing Attitude

• Decision maker Influencer

• Office/property manager

• Management staff

• Projecting a successful image

• Providing a clean environment

• Often buy add-on services: carpet & floor care, upholstery, etc.

• Less price-driven

• Looking for overall value

• Influencer

• Property/facility manager

• Decision maker

• Business owner

• Administrative staff

• Providing a clean environment

• Protecting the company’s assets

• Primarily cleaning services

• Fewer add-ons: carpet & floor care

• More price-driven

7.6.3 Marketing Planning, Budgeting, Tracking and Refining

Planning Your Attack - How to build a marketing strategy

• Primarily cleaning services

• Very few add-ons: carpet care

• Very price-driven

Step 1. Set your goals. Begin your planning by establishing marketing goals and setting up an annual calendar. Prioritize your marketing plan, so that it is realistic, and results can be measured. Remember that your plan is not carved in stone, but also remember to check it weekly or monthly to keep your marketing efforts on track. Include on your calendar events like:

• Various marketing and promotional activities

• Monthly communication vehicles

• Peak seasons for key industries

As a rule of thumb, marketing experts recommend investing at least 5% of your monthly time on marketing. That’s only 2 hours a week.

Marketing Activity by Quarter

• Cold Calling: Continuous Year-Round

• Direct Mail: At least 2 postcards or business letters each quarter

• Online Marketing: Update throughout the year

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Continuous Year-Round

• E-Mail Marketing: Monthly/Quarterly

• Networking Events

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• Local: Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, other events monthly

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• National: Identify key events throughout the year (BOMA, IFMA, Education, Healthcare, etc.)

Step 2: Determine your budget. Building a budget helps eliminate overspending, as well as underspending, provides coordination of marketing vehicles, and allows measurable results. Your sales and marketing budget may include the following tactics:

• Salesperson

• Business cards and marketing collateral

• Online Commercial bid sites, such as PlanHub

• Local, County, and State purchasing or procurement department – register as a vendor for RFPs

• Direct mail

• Online (Rallio, Pay Per Click, Local Banner Ads, SEO, etc.)

• Print ads

• Tradeshows & networking

Step 3. Choose your method of communication. Though radio, television and billboard advertising may look appealing, remember that your target audiences are businesses and community leaders. Direct mail, websites, and networking events are best for business-tobusiness advertising. Always consider the strengths and weaknesses of each marketing vehicle to reach your specific audience.

Don’t forget about the power of public relations. Advertising costs money, but some of the most influential advertising is word of mouth. That’s why you want public relations in your marketing plan. Every time you meet a person, use it as an opportunity to tell your marketing story – about your business and the services you offer.

Step 4. Keep track of your ROI. Tracking your ROI allows you to measure your results. Always review previous initiatives and determine if they have been effective (cost + time = results). Incorporate the proven ones into your marketing plan.

Be sure to use the goal setting, sales and marketing planning, and ROI tracking spreadsheets available in the Marketing Workbook, which can be found by navigating to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Clean-Business Services > Marketing Assets for SM Clean.

7.6.4 Suspecting

Suspecting is the process of evaluating your market in terms of possible accounts, where they are located, types of accounts, and competition. It is also the process of identifying which suspects turn into good prospects.

Marketing your business involves multiple processes so that you build your business in steps. Your initial sales thrust should be directed towards buildings that are 15,000 sq. ft. or less. These buildings are usually easier to acquire, and you will be able to build on your experience

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with the smaller accounts.

Once you have the experience, an excellent goal would be to target 50,000 sq. ft. or larger accounts. Please keep in mind that if you are selling in a small market, the availability of those size buildings may be limited.

How to Suspect

For the suspecting step, you do not need help, experience, nor specialized training. What you do need is time, ambition, and a desire to succeed. If you are familiar with the town where you are located, then you have a slight advantage. If not, do a little more canvassing around town to become familiar and to discover potential accounts. As you travel about town and cold call, make a note of each potential account and jot down some vital information:

• Company name

• Address

• Contact name

• Contact title

• Phone number

• Email address

• Square footage

• Facility type/industry

The ideal situation would be to store this information on all possible accounts in one easy to access location for you to use in your marketing campaigns.

The contact person's name and title can usually be attained by asking the receptionist in person or by phone. You can also search for this information through your local Chamber of Commerce and online sites such as Google searches, BOMA directories, etc.

Whenever you visit a prospective account, be sure to wear business attire. A coat and tie are still the most widely recognized symbol of a businessperson. This will set you apart from most of your competitors, and positive differentiation gives you an advantage. We are professionals, so let’s dress like professionals.

7.6.5 Building a Prospect List for B2B Sales

Once you have identified the types of facilities or industries you want to target through your sales and marketing efforts, it is time to build a prospect list. But where do you start? There are several different sources to consider:

• Cold calling - get feet on the street to identify prospects by a specific geographic region within your territory, targeting city blocks, office parks, etc.

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• Google Maps and Google Earth - many of our franchisees use Google Maps and Google Earth to search by specific areas or business categories to build their prospect lists according to locations and approximate sizes of prospective customers.

• Local Chamber of Commerce - if you are a member of your local Chamber, you should have access to a list of other Chamber members

• Networking groups - if you are a member of a local organization or association (USGBC, BOMA, etc.) capitalize on that relationship to build your prospect list

List procurement sources - often you can buy or download a list online inputting your specific criteria (geography, industry, employee count, etc.). Potential sources include DNB, InfoUSA, USAData, Experian, Reference USA, etc.

NAICS Codes

NAICS codes are the best ways to find your target audience - these are the governmental classification for the type of business. You can use these codes with most list sources when building a prospect list. These codes may be found at: https://www.naics.com/searchnaics- codes-by-industry/.

7.6.6 First Contact - Mail and Email

Now that we have collected the names and vital information for numerous buildings, we are ready to send out our first "introduction to ServiceMaster" mailing. This can be done in a couple of ways.

As you customize your plans for direct marketing, it is important to understand that prospects experience a four-stage transition from awareness to purchasing action. These four stages are:

• Awareness

• Interest

• Desire

• Action

If a prospective customer is not aware of you, they cannot buy your services. Once they are aware of you, they must be interested in your services; however, unless they need or desire your services, they will not buy, no matter what the price is even if it's free. Only when they need or desire your services will they allow themselves to be moved into action to buy. Action to buy only happens after the first three stages are completed.

The key to moving a prospective customer through the four stages is consistency and frequency. Too little advertising or changing the image has the same effect as no advertising at all.

Your e-mail/direct mail program must contain four important elements:

• A targeted audience

• Professionally created messaging material

• Consistent, regular mailings

• Phone follow-up

Before you send your first marketing piece, you must commit yourself to the program. You must identify the time and the money to make this program last a minimum of three months. You should expect the first two or three marketing pieces to yield low results. Think of this as the time needed for the program to increase the prospect's awareness of ServiceMaster.

In the months that follow, you will see your results increase as long as you have remained faithful to the program. If you skip a month or two and then begin your mailings again, your prospects will not remember the past mailings. Therefore, you will be starting the cycle over again.

E-Mail/Postcard Program

The first program to use is the ServiceMaster Postcard Program. This is made up of a number of different postcards each identifying a problem that many of your prospects experience. The postcards are designed to be used either by mailing them to your prospects, or they may be personally delivered. From the postcards available, select one that you would like to use in your first mailing. From your list of prospects, select 100 names that you would like to mail to.

IMPORTANT: Send only as many postcards as you are able to follow up with a phone call within two days of your prospect receiving the postcard. If you send out a mailing and do not follow up with a phone call, you will greatly reduce the number of sales you make and, therefore, the cost effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

Select 50 of the 100 prospects and mail a postcard to them. The next week, mail a second postcard to the same 50 prospects. Again, on the third week, mail a third postcard. On the fourth week, call these businesses to set up an initial visit. Be sure to make a note of the responses you get on the phone. With a few exceptions you will continue to mail postcards to the same 50 prospects until they agree to an initial visit.

In the second month begin the mailing campaign over again with the second group of 50 prospects. Also, in the middle of the month, you will be mailing another postcard to the original group. A sample postcard program can be seen on the following page.

As indicated in the following sample program, you must follow up the mailings with a phone call. Based on the first phone conversation, you may call the prospect once again. For example, after your first phone call, you may not have been able to talk to the prospect or he/she says that they are not interested at this time. In this case you will be calling back again after the second month. If, however, during the first phone call, the prospect said that they would be interested in talking to you in a couple months, you may not need to make a second phone call. Keep in mind that even though the prospect has told you that they will talk to you in a couple months, you still need to send the postcard each month. Remember O.O.S. = O.O.M. Out of Sight = Out of Mind. This cycle will continue month after month until the prospect agrees to see you on an initial visit.

If after a complete of years of mailings and sales presentations the prospect chooses another

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cleaning company, do not give up. Continue the mailing/calling cycle. Some of your best accounts may take years of work before you make the sale.

Sample Postcard Program

Identify 100 prospects. Split them into two groups of 50, Group A and Group B.

Letter or Email of Introduction

Depending on your resources and growth objectives, business letters and emails can be used in addition to your postcard program. Business letters should be concise and to the point. They should also be personal and designed to garner interest. This will serve to "soften" the customer for our telephone call in a few days. Along with your letter, you can include key marketing pieces such as slicks or overview brochures.

Be sure you call the customer within five days of the time he receives the letter. We want to approach him/her while ServiceMaster Clean is fresh in their mind. Never send out more letters than you can follow up with a call in that five-day period. The more "irons in the fire," the greater your chances of landing the accounts. You can never place the ServiceMaster Clean brand before too many prospective customers. The wheels of business take time to turn. The larger the account, the bigger the wheel, and the longer the time for a decision. You will not be swamped by too much prospecting.

For sample letters that you can customize to meet your specific needs navigate to ServiceConnection Intranet > Library > Marketing Assets > Cleaning Services > Business Letters.

7.6.7 The Phone Call

Now that we are mailing a substantial number of introduction letters, it is time to make the follow-up phone call. There are certain "do's" and "don'ts" when we make the phone call.

You should be organized and smooth with what you will say. If you are not a natural at sales, then have your message written out in case you stumble. Before making your first calls, be sure to practice in front of a mirror and with your spouse, audio recorder, or some other means.

We are not trying to sell the customer over the phone. Our objective is to set an appointment so we can have a face-to-face meeting. Once we get into their office, then we will sell a little, ask questions, and listen.

Follow the five-step telephone approach as outlined in this section. Try again to whet the customer's appetite enough so that he will allow an appointment (and possibly a survey).

Five-Step Phone Approach

Follow your letter with a call within a few days to ask for an appointment. Use the five-step telephone approach.

1. Who you are

“Good morning, Mr. Smith. I'm Bill Thompson from ServiceMaster Clean.”

2. What you do

“We are in the business of contract building maintenance. We maintain the offices of many top companies such as yours all across the United States and Canada.”

3. Why you’re calling

“The other day we mailed you some of our literature telling you about our services. Have you

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received it?”

4. Ask Questions

“By what method are you presently maintaining your building?”

“Are you satisfied with your current level of service?”

“Do you have a high turnover of maintenance personnel?”

“What would you like to do to improve your current level of quality?”

5. Ask for consideration

“Mr. Smith, the reason for my call is that I would like to set up an appointment with you to tell you a little about our company and our service, and but more importantly, discuss any opportunity we might have to bring solutions to you. It would take me about 15 minutes. Are you available next Tuesday morning about 10:00?”

7.6.8 The Cold Call

One of the fastest, most effective, and affordable marketing activity is prospecting, otherwise known as “cold calling”. Cold calling is the act of walking into a business unannounced and asking for the name of the person who handles the cleaning and floor/carpet care maintenance services (the decision maker).

When you cold call, the individual you will most often encounter is the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is well trained in getting you out of the business as quickly as possible, but there are some key phrases that can be used to retrieve the information you need.

What information are you trying to collect?

Decision maker’s name

There are typically 6 scenarios you will encounter when requesting the decision maker’s name:

1. Businesses that made a contract change within the past 6 months

2. Businesses that will be making a contract change in the next 6 months

3. Businesses that are currently seeking bids

4. Businesses that are happy with their current provider and do not anticipate making a change

5. Businesses that clean their own facility

6. Businesses with decisions that are not made locally

Where to Start

Use a market potential report to pinpoint the areas in your territory that have greater opportunity for commercial cleaning. This report will identify key zip codes on which to focus your prospecting and marketing efforts.

Once you know the areas in which to focus:

• Create an electronic map of your territory/licensed area that contains zip codes and street

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names.

• Highlight the zip codes that have the highest potential for business.

As you cold call your market, highlight the streets you have visited on your electronic map. Be sure to retain this information.

How much time should be dedicated to cold calling?

• Block time on your calendar each week for cold calling. It is recommended that you cold call at least 3 times per week if not daily. Try to spend at least 3 hours per session. Have a goal of obtaining 100 new prospects per week.

• It is easy to accommodate cold calling in your daily activities:

• As you visit customer sites, cold call the area.

• When you present a bid, cold call the area.

Conversation Starters

When you enter a facility and greet the gate keeper, you may want to say something like this:

• “Hello. I was wondering if you could help me.”

In most cases, the gate keeper is the receptionist, and his/her primary responsibility is to direct people. Their typical response may be:

• “What can I help you with?”

Some possible scripts are as follows:

• “My company ServiceMaster Clean has recently expanded into this area and we are looking to offer our outstanding cleaning services to local businesses. Can you tell me who would make the decision in selecting a vendor-partner for these services?”

• “I would like to find out when your cleaning services contract expires, so that I can submit a bid. Can you tell me who the appropriate person to contact is?”

• “I was interested in finding out if your cleaning company is also responsible for maintaining your carpets and hard-surface floors.”

The answer to any of these questions is to provide you an idea of where the company stands with their current cleaning provider. Remember, the goal is to simply determine the decision maker’s name.

Contract Change - Last Six Months

If the gate keeper indicates they have already decided on their cleaning and floor care services, ask for the date their current contract expires.

• Gatekeeper: “We signed a contract for our cleaning services a few months ago.”

• You: “Great, it sounds like you are all set. Could you tell me the date that contract expires? I would like to contact you about a month in advance to provide you a free quote so that you and your boss can ensure the pricing is in line for next year.”

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Don’t forget about up-selling other commercial services such as:

• Carpet maintenance

• Hard-surface floors

• Window cleaning

• Upholstery

• Tile and grout

• Post-Construction clean up

Contract Change - Next Six Months

Often when cold calling, the gate keeper will indicate they are already under contract. Just as with the last scenario, your goal is to obtain the name of the decision maker and the date when their contract expires.

Also try to gather some additional information:

• Is the cleaning services contract put out to bid every year?

• How long have they used their current provider?

• Are they happy with their current provider and their service?

• Does their current provider also perform any of the following services?

• Carpet maintenance

• Hard-surface floors

• Window cleaning

• Upholstery

• Tile and grout

• Post-Construction clean up

• Countertop Reconditioning Currently Seeking Bids

A prospect who is currently seeking bids or is ready to make a change is a great opportunity. This may be a situation where they are just unsatisfied with their current provider, or it may be standard protocol to put out a bid each year.

When you find a prospect who is currently accepting bids, react quickly. Delaying your response even for a couple days may eliminate your chances of participating or securing the bid.

• When talking to the gate keeper, be sure to find out:

• How to be included on the bid

• The person responsible for making the decision

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• Critical dates

• When the new contract would begin

• When preparing a bid proposal, look for services that would bring added value such as carpet and hard-surface floor maintenance, formalized inspection process, green cleaning, and recycling programs.

Not Interested in Changing Current Provider

Respect a prospect who indicates they are happy with their current provider. After all, if you were their provider and were doing a great job, you’d want them to be loyal to you as well. However, this is the perfect opportunity to up-sell them on other services, such as:

• Carpet maintenance

• Hard-surface floors

• Window cleaning

• Upholstery

• Tile and grout

• Post-Construction clean up

• Countertop Reconditioning

Clean Their Own Building

Small offices and many industry-specific buildings often have an in-house cleaner. You should still try to obtain the decision maker’s name, as often that employee is unable to offer periodic project cleaning (carpet, hard-surface floors, upholstery, windows, etc.).

Decision Is Not Made Locally

Sometimes you will find prospects where the decision for cleaning is made by someone who is not located in that facility. This could be a national or regional office, or even a property management firm.

Try to obtain the name and contact information of the decision maker. Also ask whether the decision for project cleaning (carpet, hard-surface floors, upholstery, windows, etc.) is made by that same individual.

• Also try to gather some additional information:

• How long have they used their current provider?

• Are they happy with their current provider and their service?

• Do they have a local contact with their current provider?

• How many cleaning companies have they dealt with over the past year?

Following Up

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Now that you have information on your prospect, what are your next steps?

• Call the Prospect to Schedule an Appointment

If you are unsuccessful in reaching the decision maker, be sure to leave a message. Try them again the next day. After making two calls to them, send them a short introductory letter. In the letter, tell them you will be calling them the following week to discuss and be sure to track all data in your CRM.

Later, you will be able to filter down to your most successful geographic areas, industries, or facility types for future prospect marketing opportunities.

Planning Your Sales Call Activity

• Annual sales goal – $100,000

• Size of building – 10,000 sq. ft.

• Avg. price – $1.00 per sq. ft.

• I need 10 sales

• At a 20% close ratio, I will need 50 surveys.

• At a 10% sales call to survey ratio, I will need 500 sales calls.

• I need to plan 50 days for surveys (one survey per day). This will leave 200 days for sales calls.

• I must average 2.5 sales calls per day.

Successful Cold Calling

Step 1. Do your homework. Using market research, identify and focus on your target market. Find out as much as you can about the company or individual before the cold call so that you have the advantage of knowing their business and needs.

• Prospect list maintenance is key. Use your CRM to keep your lists up-to-date and organized.

• Prospects with whom you have an existing relationship

• Prospects with whom you have received a referral

• Prospects you know little about

The better you understand the prospect, the better you’ll know how to build the relationship - and relationships equal referrals.

Step 2. Send small promotional items to break the ice. A simple, unique $5 promotional item can help break the ice and helps your business stand out from the crowd. When you call, the item should serve as a tool for recognition.

Step 3. Focus on the goal. The only goal for making the call is setting an appointment. Don’t try to make the sale. That will come during the appointment that you’re setting up. Write out a script

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template to help guide your conversation, hitting key points like who you are, your objective, and setting an appointment. Best days for seeking appointments are: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday if hosting an event or entertaining.

Step 4. Prepare for in-person visits. How you look and sound is sometimes even more important than what you say. Make sure to always wear a ServiceMaster Clean logo, so that your prospects will learn to associate you with the brand.

Dress Code

Professional business attire

Business casual attire

Examples for Men

Suit and tie

Dress shirt

Pressed/starched pants

Casual attire

Unacceptable attire

Golf shirt

Cotton pants

T-shirts, sleeveless shirts or tank tops, jeans, shorts

Examples for Women

Suit (pants or skirt)

Dress shirt/sweater

Pressed pants or skirt

Golf shirt

Cotton pants/skirt

T-shirts, sleeveless shirts or tank tops, jeans, shorts

Step 5. Be persistent. Most new sales are made after the fifth contact; so, don’t be quick to give up after the first few calls. Remember, you are going to get some “NOs”, but that just gets you closer to the next “YES”. Make a point to arrive at appointments early and maintain consistent office visits to create awareness of ServiceMaster Clean and to build trust. Above all, keep practicing cold calling and maintain a positive attitude.

Remember these key points:

• Keep visits brief

• Treat gatekeepers and staff well

• Tell who you are and what you do

• Always say “thank you”

• Exchange business cards

• Ask for the opportunity to solve their cleaning problems

7.6.9

Telemarketing

There are several different ways to implement a telemarketing program. The one recommended here has proven to be very successful. The main function of this program is to follow-up on previously completed marketing programs, such as an email or direct-mailing campaign. In this case a telemarketing effort can be very effective and increase sales when performed properly. All types of people have been telemarketers - high school and college students, young and old, men and women. No real experience is necessary, but a positive and enthusiastic attitude is required for success. When placing an ad (see included samples), try to consider more than one source. Also, turnover can be high, so interview as many prospects as possible for future

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Tracking results is crucial in order to measure the effectiveness of both the telemarketers that have been chosen and the program.

Remember that your phone contact with each prospect does not end once you have scheduled an appointment. It is essential that you follow-up to confirm the appointment, confirm your next visit once the initial visit is made, thank the prospect whenever the opportunity arises, and contact him or her on a regular interval whenever you are unable to schedule an appointment. Be sure you have a place to properly track each prospect once contact has been made.

The best telemarketing times typically are:

• Tuesday through Thursday

• 9:30 am-11:30 am

• 1:30 pm-4:00 pm

Three hours per day is a good standard for the maximum number of hours a telemarketer should make calls, as efficiency will usually go down after three hours. Do allow your telemarketer at least one addition hour per day to organize their results from the day and prepare a recap of the day’s efforts, and to celebrate with them any appointments being set that day.

Training

To become a successful telemarketer, it does not require a long period of training. You may want to do telemarketing yourself first, so you can experience what it is like.

Training should follow these guidelines:

• Hire on a trial basis for two weeks. Although anyone can make phone calls, effective and quality telemarketing is something that not everyone is suited to.

• Review job descriptions and standards of performance with the new telemarketer.

• Demonstrate and review proper phone technique to use with scripts. Teach them to:

• Speak slowly and clearly. Never rush.

• Communicate sincerely. Do not just read the script over the phone.

• Be positive, enthusiastic, and put a smile in their voice.

• Be good listeners and ask good questions.

• Try to turn prospects into appointment opportunities. If any technical questions are asked, tell them to say they are part of the marketing department and they will have the manager answer that question at the time of the appointment.

• Remember each call is a new opportunity, so remain positive. When they give a “no” response, it usually means not now. Plan to follow-up and call again; you have a great service to offer.

• Do proper recordkeeping in a customer relationship management software package.

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• Review each telemarketer’s technique and daily results for the first week. After the first week, review the performance and expectations on a regular weekly basis.

• It is important to have the right environment for your telemarketer. A quiet, comfortable area to make the calls is recommended.

Compensation

How much you pay your telemarketer will depend on what the market in your area is paying. There are several ways to pay:

• Hourly wage

• Hourly plus incentive bonus

• Commission plus incentive bonus

A successful telemarketing program requires consistent performance. You must stay committed to the program and understand that with the right telemarketer, you will achieve good results.

Telephone Script

• Who you are

• “Hello. My name is <Name> from ServiceMaster Clean.”

• What you do

• “We are in the business of contract building cleaning.”

• Why you are calling

• “We sent you a <e-mail/letter/postcard> several days ago and I wanted to confirm that you have received it.”

• If yes, “Then you will know the purpose of this call is to arrange an appointment with you so I can come by and introduce myself and leave you some information. Are you available Tuesday morning or would Wednesday afternoon be better for you?

• If no,” I sent you a <e-mail/letter/postcard> of introduction along with the note that I will be calling you to arrange an appointment so I can come by and introduce myself and find out about any cleaning or maintenance issues you might have.”

• Closing:

• “Goodbye. Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to our meeting on Tuesday.”