Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems

After nearly a quarter-century of providing the highest-quality commercial cleaning services across the USA and internationally, Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems is showing no signs of slowing down. Founded by Jacques Lapointe in 1991 in Providence, Rhode Island, the company has become a globally-recognized leader and premier choice in commercial cleaning. Lapointe envisioned growing a local commercial cleaning company through a national platform and with over 10,000 franchisees worldwide, and his vision has translated into an outstanding success.

In 2012, Dennis Thompson – then Vice President- helped shed some light on the company’s history, its explosive growth, and what put Jan-Pro ahead of the competition. Fast-forward to 2015, and Thompson is now the Chief Operating Officer at Jan-Pro Franchising International. With major developments including the launch of a sister brand, Maid Right poised to tackle the residential cleaning market, as well as the development of the parent company Premium Franchise Brands, it has certainly been an exciting three years for the company.

“There’s been a lot going on over the last three years,” said Thompson. “We’ve developed a parent company for our franchising brands, and we launched a new brand – Maid Right – which is a residential maid service.”

Officially launched in January 2014, Maid Right is built on trust, reliability and delivering high-quality cleaning services led by invested franchise owners. Utilizing the cleaning processes perfected by Jan-Pro, busy homeowners can place their trust in Maid Right knowing only the most advanced cleaning methods are being used safely and effectively. According to Thompson, the brand has been a success, and he only expects more in the coming years.

“It’s been a strong brand for us and we’ve expanded that to over 40 US markets in a little over a year,” he said. “That brand has been received very well and we continue to launch in new markets and see tremendous growth.”

“With Jan-Pro and now Maid Right under the umbrella of Premium Franchise Brands, I’m expecting these brands will accelerate in revenue growth over the next three to five years,” Thompson adds.

Along with the introduction of Maid Right, Jan-Pro has continued to grow exponentially with the addition of a number of markets overseas. Thompson, however, notes that they haven’t forgotten their domestic markets in the process.

“Since 2012, we’ve expanded the Jan-Pro brand internationally,” he explained. “We’ve taken on several new international markets including: Peru, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. We’ve had some tremendous growth internationally as well as domestically, we’ve had 8-10 new domestic regional markets added on”

It’s All About Technology

One of the biggest differentiators which makes Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems a leader in the commercial cleaning sector is simple: technological evolution. Jan-Pro services a myriad of vertical clients including medical facilities, fitness centers, schools, day care centers and many others. Improved processes through incorporating advanced technology enables Jan-Pro to deliver highly specialized programs while achieving optimum results. EnviroShield, Jan-Pro’s proprietary electrostatic disinfecting system is a prime example of their commitment to improving health and indoor air quality for its customers. Jan-Pro’s latest technological advancement destroys harmful bacteria in any environment, safely for staff and visitors well after disinfection is complete. EnviroShield is Jan-Pro’s environmentally friendly and effective answer to that challenge.

“Number one, it’s safe,”Thompson said of the EnviroShield system. “It has a minimal toxicity of any disinfecting solution on the market, but it’s rated with hospital effectiveness.”

“The most important part of the process is that the disinfecting solution does not kill by poisoning, which creates superbugs,” he continued. “Our solution actually destroys the bacteria and the viruses mechanically; it destroys the structure of the cell membranes and renders it ineffective. That’s the big difference in our disinfecting process and solution versus what the mainstay solutions have been for the last 30 years.”

As the mainstay solutions such as quaternary ammonium compounds become a thing of the past, EnviroShield is being embraced by hospitals and related organizations. For Jan-Pro, resting on their laurels is not an option; as the company is always striving for the latest advancements, particularly in regards to their chemistry.

“We continually look for improvements in our technology,” said Thompson. “And updating the chemistry of our EnviroShield system is definitely proof of that.”

“In January of last year, we launched an extension of our EnviroShield brand called EnviroShield Endure,” he explained.”It’s a tremendous disinfecting system, but the missing component of that was to have long-term disinfecting capacity.”

When Jan-Pro sprays the EnviroShield system, it completely coats 100% of the surfaces and remains active in killing bacteria, fungus, mold, algae’s and viruses on a surface for 48 hours. According to Thompson, Endure has drastically improved upon the system’s ability to not only disinfect but protect surfaces from harmful bacteria.

“Our EnviroShield Endure process now has given us the opportunity to take an anti-microbial solution, and when we spray that solution it becomes part of the surface through polymerization,” he said. “We actually have six months to one year success of inhibiting microbial growth on those surfaces. We’ve taken the EnviroShield system, which had the efficacy of 48 hours, up to one year through our Endure system, which is a tremendous advancement in technology and disinfecting.”

Moving Forward

Adaptability is a cornerstone of any successful business venture, and a trait which Jan-Pro Cleaning System certainly possesses. One changing landscape which the company is prepared to tackle is marketing; as the validity of online advertising has become apparent, Jan-Pro is set to update their strategies in order to reach the most potential franchisees and clients.

“Marketing has changed dramatically in the last five years,” said Thompson. “The digital age has been ushered in and anyone that’s not utilizing that to the best of their abilities, you’re probably going to be deficient in your growth.”

“We are in the process of redesigning our website to ensure its accessible not only from a laptop or desktop, but also on mobile,” he continued.”Our goal is to have 100% of our offices making a commitment to digital marketing, and that package includes a myriad of things. We’ve hired two companies externally to handle that functionality; one company will handle all of our franchise sales and marketing, and the other will handle our customer sales and marketing side. That’s going to be coming online May 1st, so we have most of our 93 US regional markets participating in that. ”

Beyond simply reaching a larger demographic, the company remains committed to delivering only the highest-quality cleaning services. While the competition may rely on the lowest prices to draw in clients, choosing Jan-Pro comes with a guarantee of satisfaction.

“Most of competitors are selling on price, we’ve actually taken a 100% opposite view of that,” Thompson explained. “We believe that customers that buy commercial cleaning services have been disappointed in the past because they’ve paid a low price and gotten poor service.”

“We’re promoting dramatic differentiators to the customer,” Thompson continued.”We have a guarantee which is -in my opinion- unmatched in the industry. We guarantee to customers that we’re going to develop a customized cleaning schedule for you, we’re going to execute that to 100% of your satisfaction, and if you’re not happy with it, call us and we’ll fix it within 24 hours and you’ll get a complementary cleaning if we don’t.”

As a company that not only survived, but in fact managed to grow during the 2008 recession, Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems is poised to reap the benefits of a recovered economy. With goals of continuing a steady growth rate of 12-15%, as well as the expansion of the sister brand Maid Right, the company certainly has a bright future ahead of it.

“Coming out of the 2008-2010 recession, we were able to sustain positive growth through that time, and now we’re starting to see economies heal up a little bit,” said Thompson.”If we can grow $30-40 million per year in the next five years, I’m hoping we’ll be a $450-500 million company in five to seven years. That’s just for the Jan-Pro brand.”

“Our expectations for Maid Right, in the first five years, will hopefully be 150- 200 regional franchises sold domestically.With both brands continuing to show strong growth, the future looks very promising.”