ARCSI’s commitment to quality business education and professionalism is stronger than ever, with opportunities in all corners of the country in 2014.

First, I want to congratulate Cleaning Business Today on its first anniversary. In just one short year, CBT has become the recognized “go to” publication for our industry for news, information and thought-provoking articles.  I consider it a MUST READ for ARCSI members. 

It’s SPRING! It’s the start of a very busy eight months for ARCSI and its membership. Someone once said that the most important skill to have as a business owner is the ability to recognize that “you don’t know, what you don’t know,” and then figure out where to find the answers. Over the next several months, we are going to help you solve that riddle.  



 
It starts with our six Summer Success Tour regional meetings sponsored by Marathon Data. These fast-paced weekend get-a-ways will cover a variety of key topics that cleaning business owners deal with every day. The experienced team from Cleaning Business Builders has put together a program that will not only help you recognize what you don’t know, but will provide you with a bundle of take-aways that you can start implementing when you return to the office on Monday morning. The program will cover:

 – 20 Guerrilla Marketing Ideas
 – 5 Key Numbers every business should be tracking
 – Hiring, Firing, and dealing with Employee Drama
 – Systems and Procedures to grow your business
 – Developing effective training programs so your cleaners have the tools to be successful
and MORE!   

[EasyDNNnewsToken:Left Justify Embed 300 x 250]ARCSI Board members will be hosting the stops on this tour in Tampa, Washington DC, Morristown, NJ, St Louis, Portland, OR and San Antonio. All of our Summer Success Tour meetings will start with a networking reception where you can talk with some of the most successful owners in the industry and “Speed Marketing Ideas” on Friday evening. Saturday will be non-stop, wall-to-wall education. Register and learn more at www.arcsi.org.  

Also throughout the summer and early fall, there will be six House Cleaning Technician certification classes held across the country. The HCT program continues to grow and there are now over 200 IICRC certified House Cleaning technicians in the field.  

Both of these programs will provide you a snap shot of what will take place at our Annual Convention and Education Conference in Orlando, FL, Nov. 3-7, 2014.  The “biggest show in the cleaning industry” brings together both residential and commercial cleaning business owners and their key staff, manufacturers, service providers, distributors and world class speakers. It will be a week when ARCSI honors and recognizes the top performers in the industry with our Professional Cleaner of the Year, Presidents Award and Image Awards (watch for application information next month). Our 2014 Convention Chairperson, Shirley Wells of Designer Maid, and her committee are already at work planning our convention program and activities. We want and need your feedback regarding programs and topics you want at our Convention. Take a moment and complete our Convention Survey that should already be in your Inbox. 

Finally, there is one more piece of important news from ARCSI. Starting today, we will be merging our Industry Partner Directory with the Cleaning Business Today Vendor Directory. This will give our members broader access to and more information about products and services they need to grow and improve their business. Our supportive Industry Partners will be identified by a special designation so that not only ARCSI members but all cleaning company owners will realize they are companies that support the growing professionalism of our industry. 

The industry is changing at a rapid pace, and you need to know what you don’t know to keep up.

Ernie Hartong has served as the Executive Director of ARCSI since 2009. His background includes 25 years of association management as well as jan-san sales.