Your dirty restrooms are negatively impacting your business

Take a moment and think about the restrooms in your place of business. Do they reflect well on your business, or do they discourage visitors from coming back again, potentially spreading the word about their negative experience to colleagues, friends and family or even on social media?

Maintaining your business’s bathrooms is an important part of offering your customers a pleasant experience, ensuring repeat visitation. Let’s explore the steps you should take to keep your restrooms in proper condition, ensuring that you avoid the negative impact of dirty restrooms.

Determine the Factors That Make Up a Clean Restroom

What makes a restroom clean? The definition of clean is certainly subjective, but there are a few factors that are pretty universal.

Functional— Does everything work as it should, including the door locks, plumbing, hand dryers, dispensers, and the baby changing station? Are the light bulbs functioning, and is there appropriate air circulation?

Stocked Supplies— Does the restroom have sufficient stores of toilet paper, soap, or paper towels? Failure to offer the necessities in your restroom can pull down a customer’s overall impression very quickly.

Cleanliness— Are the sinks, toilets, urinals, and floors clean and debris-free? Is there dirty buildup around the faucets and sink drains? Do the toilet bowls and urinals have stains? Is there dust and buildup on the fixtures behind the toilet seat? What about dust and grime on the partitions and ceiling vents? Do the restrooms smell fresh, or is there a bad odor?

Dry— Is every part of the restroom dry, including the floors and the sink? A wet floor isn’t just offputting, but potentially dangerous. You don’t want to create a hazard where customers could slip and fall, leading to potentially pricey lawsuits.

Avoid Dirty Restrooms with Consistent Cleaning Protocols

Communication with your staff regarding your standards for cleanliness is vital. The most efficient way to ensure that your restroom is at peak condition is to create protocols that must be followed throughout the day. A simple checklist will make cleaning a breeze for your team, and you can determine the appropriate times to clean throughout the day based on the flow of business.

There are three main parts to effectively cleaning your restroom:

Spot Clean–If you have employees checking the restrooms, have them check certain focus areas throughout the day. They don’t need to spend a lot of time there— it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes— but they can do a quick wipe down of the sinks and counter tops, check the toilets to make sure they’re ready for use and check the supplies to see if they need to be restocked.

Daily Clean— This should be done once or twice a day depending on traffic, at a time of day that’s traditionally slow for your business. That will allow plenty of time to do a more thorough cleaning, including closing the restroom to your employees and/or customers so they can get the job done efficiently and safely. Your daily cleaning list should include:

• Restocking supplies, such as soap, towels, and toilet paper.
• Removing trash.
• Wiping surfaces clean and then disinfecting.
• Disinfecting bacterial “hot spots” sometimes missed, such as light switches, push plates, door handles, toilet handles, stall handles and baby changing stations.
• Ensure that fixtures and devices are functioning properly.
• Sweeping or vacuuming the floor.
• Mopping the floor.

Deep Clean— Typically, the deep cleaning is performed by professionals trained to clean in a manner that will break down the soil and remove the buildup that’s unreachable by brushes or mops. Depending on the traffic your restroom gets, this cleaning is scheduled every week, every two weeks, or every month. Like the daily clean, the deep clean should be done at a time that won’t be heavily trafficked. The task list should include the following:

• Thoroughly clean hard-to-reach areas, such as behind toilets.
• Deep clean any soil buildup around fixtures.
• Dust vents, door frames, partitions, baseboards, ceilings and fans.
• Machine scrub floors to prevent soil buildup in grout lines, corners and edges.

Partner Up

You don’t want to lose customers because of dirty restrooms, so it just makes sense to partner with a janitorial service to ensure that the restrooms are properly cleaned.

A janitorial service has the necessary equipment to do the deep cleaning, not to mention the experience and training that will get the job done quickly and efficiently. Also, your service provider will be able to manage your supply inventory, freeing up space in your business and allowing you to focus on other aspects of management. Plus, some service providers can get supplies at a discounted bulk rate, saving you money on must-have items.

Sticking to a strict restroom cleaning schedule will help keep it clean, ensuring that customers will want to visit your business again; repeat business will boost your bottom line, and ensure that you’re able to stay in business for years to come. Remember, your business is nothing without loyal customers.

Do you need a janitorial service to help you maintain your restrooms? Contact us for information about our custom janitorial solutions today!