When starting a foreclosure cleanup business, you will almost inevitably reach a point in which you need to hire a cleanup team to help you. As efficient as you may be as a person, the stringent deadlines set by clients are enough to overwhelm even the hardest of workers.
I've put together some tips for working with your foreclosure cleanup team effectively. When hiring new employees into your foreclosure cleanup business, it's essential to find people that are on “the same page” as yourself. Reliability, attentiveness and a level of professionalism are all requisites of the job.
Dealing With Your Foreclosure Cleanup Team
When working with a foreclosure cleanup team - especially a new team - it's essential to show them around each property and point out every job that may be overlooked easily. A great tip is to leave a to-do list for your team so they can check off every job you assign them, this way there's no confusion as to who’s doing what and you can personally inspect the work afterwards.
Staff Management In Foreclosure Cleanup Business
If any of your team members have “half-assed” the jobs you've assigned them (or they've overlooked anything completely), then you will need to approach the team member/s responsible for the jobs in question. It's necessary to make sure you don't come across as nitpicky. If your team begin to think you’re being “nitpicky”, they will most likely begin dismissing or resenting the things that you tell them to do. When you need to approach any of your team over any issues, make sure that you also highlight the positives of their work. In addition, It’s necessary to ensure your team fully understands the importance of your companies reputation for excellent work – also how it affects securing foreclosure cleanup contracts in the future.
Feedback When Starting A Foreclosure Cleanup Business
Ken Blanchard once said “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Well this is true of both your employees and yourself. Obviously feedback from your clients (banks / lenders etc) is imperative, however, feedback from your team is also important. You should let your team know that you're open to any ideas they may have in regards to Improving the effectiveness of your business. This allows every member of your team to work in unity with one goal and gives everybody an opportunity to contribute, as opposed to having your team feel like they're mindless drones with no further value to your company.
Positive Reinforcement Of Foreclosure Cleanup Team
It's important to positively reinforce excellent team performances i.e. if all of your team meet every criteria on the to-do lists you’ve set in a time-efficient manner. You can reward staff with bonuses, so long as they don't become an expectation (as they are with bankers!), otherwise a bonus loses its value as an incentive to do a good job. Early finishes, flexibility with working hours and positive appraisal are great ways to keep your team motivated and striving for excellence, however, these are incentives for excellent performances and should not be taken as liberties. It's important when devising your own incentive scheme to ensure that your team can't “cut corners” in order to receive bonuses. This may take a little trial and error or planning on your behalf.
Respect In Foreclosure Cleanup Business
I’ve stated previously that it’s important to be approachable in regards to feedback from your team. However, It’s also important to maintain a level of professionalism. Never let your positive incentives for a job well done be misconstrued as you being a “pushover” that can be taken advantage of. It can be a delicate balance, however, it really just boils down to being fair, honest and flexible when you’re team are performing well, and not as flexible when they’re slacking off. Remember that respect is earned not bought, and just because you’re paying your teams wages does not mean you automatically have their respect.
I highly recommend anybody that's actually serious about starting a foreclosure cleanup business to read this. Or at least starting a successful foreclosure cleanup business that will last i should say.
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