P&G Professional™ Survey Reveals Customer Satisfaction is Top Priority Over Company Growth and Profits

September 10, 2014

Cleaning Managers Define and Emphasize Value of Clean

Cleaning industry professionals overall rank keeping customers satisfied (36 percent) as their top business priority, while growing the business (18 percent) and making a profit (18 percent) come in a distant second. This according to the 2014 Cleaning Industry Insights Survey from P&G Professional™, the away-from-home division of Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).

In the survey, cleaning managers noted their primary worries as a reduction in business caused by economic downturn (43 percent) and customer dissatisfaction (38 percent) as it relates to their business in general. And, when it comes to concerns about cleaning or disinfection, customer dissatisfaction or complaints (47 percent) tops the list. The survey results, released today, were based on the responses of 401 cleaning industry professionals and key decision makers across Commercial, Food Service, Healthcare and Hospitality/Lodging sectors. P&G Professional released its first Cleaning Industry Insights Survey in 2011.

As cleaning industry professionals place more emphasis on keeping customers satisfied, they realize the importance of setting the bar high to ensure customer satisfaction. Cleaning managers surveyed note their top three challenges when managing cleaning staff, include: quality of work (55 percent), lack of interest, motivation or dedication (45 percent) and employee turnover (34 percent) – all of which can impact cleanliness and a customer’s overall experience.

“At P&G Professional, creating great experiences that help lead to customer satisfaction has always been our top priority,” said Kevin Wenzel, associate brand director, Global P&G Professional. “Our programs can even help cleaning managers address their top cleaning staff challenges. For example, several of the multipurpose products from our line-up can clean and sanitize in half the time of leading competitors, which can help make it easier for our customers to create a compliant, clean and welcoming environment. It’s quite common for us to see a boost in employee and guest satisfaction when customers switch to our program, simply because our products work so well.”

Defining the Value of Clean

Over half of those surveyed (55 percent) say products that get the job done the first time would be the most helpful factor in performing cleaning services. Products that work quickly (32 percent) and a simpler routine that all staff can get accustomed to (22 percent) round out the top three most helpful factors. Meantime, when it comes to defining value as it relates to cleaning products within their business, 41 percent of decision makers cite high quality or effectiveness, while 33 percent refer to versatility of use/ability to use a single product for more than one purpose, and only 16 percent cite low price point.

Respondents also cite that staff cutbacks have decreased to 17 percent (down from 24 percent in 2013 and 29 percent in 2011). Yet, while more cleaning staff are keeping their jobs, they are being asked to “do more with less.” In fact, the majority of cleaning managers (59 percent) say they are taking a “doing more with less” approach when it comes to staff.

Wenzel continued, “P&G Professional delivers products that can do more with less. Our multipurpose products clean and disinfect in one step to help employees simplify their cleaning routine and minimize rework, which helps them get the job done right the first time.”

Challenges in Effective Staff Training

The biggest challenges associated with effective cleaning-related training in 2014 are similar to those in 2013, with loss of work productivity remaining the top challenge, selected by one in five (20 percent). This is followed by cost of training (15 percent), language differences (13 percent) and availability of qualified training leaders (11 percent). Additionally, training is also cited by nearly one-third (29 percent) of cleaning managers as a challenge when it comes to managing cleaning staff.

“To help our customers meet their needs of training staff, we recently launched P&G Professional University, a web-based resource for cleaning professionals to access training materials, view training videos, and even take quizzes to test their knowledge and earn certificates,” said Wenzel. “P&G Professional University provides training materials from our expert staff and faculty members and is an ideal employee-training resource for any company. To learn more and register for free, check out www.pgpro.com/university.”

Additional Survey Highlights Include:

Drop in Pressure Evident: Pressure to keep operating costs down dropped 10 percent since 2011. But, almost three-quarters (73 percent) of respondents in 2014 report that they still feel pressure to keep operating costs down.
Positive Outlook with Cautious Optimism: Three-quarters (77 percent) of cleaning managers expect business to improve within the next 12 months, however only four in 10 (39 percent) think that the recession is over.
Becoming More Efficient: Cleaning industry professionals rank finding ways to become more efficient (73 percent) versus raising prices (19 percent) as a top priority to improving their bottom line.
Giving Employees a Voice: The feedback of cleaning personnel about the products being used continues to be deemed important by about eight in 10 (81 percent) cleaning managers, including a third (33 percent) who say that it is extremely important.
Pride in Business’ Cleanliness: Two-thirds (66 percent) of cleaning managers are proud of the cleanliness, hygiene and cleaning procedures of their business, similar to results in 2013, with the exception of those in the healthcare sector, which decreased by more than 10 percent.

The P&G Professional 2014 Cleaning Industry Insights Survey was conducted in partnership with Ipsos Public Affairs in May 2014, and these are some of its findings. For the full report, visit: http://ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=6555.

About Procter & Gamble Professional
P&G Professional is the away-from-home division of Procter & Gamble, serving the foodservice, building cleaning and maintenance, healthcare, hospitality, food/drug/mass, and convenience store industries. P&G Professional offers complete solutions utilizing its parent company's scale, trusted brands and strengths in market and consumer understanding. P&G Professional features such brands as Dawn^®, Mr. Clean^®, Comet^®, Spic and Span^®, Bounty^®, Safeguard^®, Febreze^®, Swiffer^®, Tide^®, and its own brand, P&G Pro Line^®. Please visit www.pgpro.com for the latest information about P&G Professional's solutions and services.

About Procter & Gamble
P&G serves nearly five billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Duracell®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, Wella® and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.