Was your retail store in a constant state of chaos during the busy holiday season? That rush may be over, but if you’re still struggling to keep your store clean, it’s time to reevaluate your cleaning strategy. If you need a little extra help keeping your store clean and safe throughout the day, consider day porter services. Keep reading to learn how they work and why they might be the right choice for your business.
What Is a Day Porter?
As their name suggests, day porters keep your store clean throughout the day. Instead of cleaning your building just once a day, porters clean messes as they occur, ensuring that every customer enters a safe, inviting space. Depending on your store’s needs, your day porter crew can:
- Perform basic cleaning
- Remove trash
- Clean spills and other messes
- Dust shelves and displays
- Sweep and mop floors
- Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces
With a day porter team to keep your store clean and tidy during business hours or high-traffic periods, your janitorial crew can focus on deep cleaning and building maintenance. That means your store will be cleaner day to day, and you can extend the service life of your floors, displays, and fixtures.
Why Are Day Porters Essential for Retail Businesses?
If you already have a crew that deep cleans your store after hours or during slow periods, you may be wondering if you also need a day porter. The reality is that day porters are essential if you want to get ahead of the competition. Here’s why.
Day Porters Provide a Great First Impression
A dirty store can turn away a customer before they even have a chance to check out your products. Without a team of day porters, it’s almost inevitable that your store will start to look dirty after a few hours. By cleaning messes as they happen, your day porters create a great first impression for customers no matter when they enter your store.
Day Porters Reduce Safety Hazards
Messes are both unsightly and dangerous. Employees and customers can trip and fall if you don’t immediately clean up spills or remove items blocking your isles. You might end up dealing with an expensive workers’ compensation or general liability claim, and your reputation may take a hit.
It’s your day porters’ job to look for spills on a regular basis and address them quickly, so you don’t have to worry about potential safety hazards lurking around your store.
Day Porters Prevent the Spread of Germs
Ever since the COVID-19 virus emerged, keeping your store clean has become more important than ever. Employees and customers don’t want to feel unsafe or at risk of illness when they enter your facilities, and with a day porter, they don’t have to.
Day porters regularly disinfect high-touch surfaces like door handles, phones, and counters to prevent germ buildup. Ultimately, day porters can maintain a healthy environment in your store and help visitors feel safe during cold and flu season.
Want to learn more about how day porters keep your store clean? Check out our blog to get a glimpse into a day porter’s daily routine.
Signs You Need Housekeeping in Your Retail Store
Not sure if you should add a day porter team to your retail cleaning services? Here are a few signs that your grocery store or retail shop needs housekeeping throughout the day.
Your Associates Double as a Cleaning Crew
Do your sales associates frequently have to stop what they’re doing to clean up a spill? If so, they probably don’t have the time they need to best serve your customers. You didn’t hire your employees to keep your store clean, so they shouldn’t have to be on double duty during their shifts.
If you want to free up your employees’ time and let them focus solely on customer service, you should hire a day porter crew to handle daily maintenance.
Your Store Never Seems Completely Clean
Your floor and restroom cleaning team only has so much time to clean your store before it reopens or gets busy. When they have to clean up major messes at the end of the day, your team members have less time to focus on deep cleaning. After a while, things start to fall through the cracks.
Have your customers been complaining more often about messes, dirt, and empty supplies in your bathrooms? A day porter team can keep your store clean between custodian visits and maintain a higher level of cleanliness over time. Plus, if you choose the same janitorial services company for day porter and deep cleaning services, your teams can coordinate to ensure nothing is missed.
You’re Concerned About Spreading Illness
If you’re worried that your store might be contributing to the spread of disease, you need day porter services. No matter how many people enter your store, a day porter team can take care of the viruses and bacteria they leave behind. With regular sanitization of high-touch surfaces, you can create a safer environment for your customers.
Turn to Carlson for Retail and Supermarket Cleaning Services
Do you want your customers and employees to feel safe and comfortable in your retail store? After-hours or once-daily commercial cleaning services won’t cut it. You need a dedicated day porter team to keep your store as clean at closing time as it was when the first customer of the day walked in.
Carlson Building Maintenance offers a full range of cleaning and maintenance services for retail and grocery stores. All of our day porters work for us, not a third-party cleaning company, which means you never have to worry about inconsistent quality. Our team members always go the extra mile to keep your store clean, whether they’re disinfecting high-touch surfaces or restocking supplies.
Are you ready to take your store’s cleanliness to the next level? Contact Carlson today to learn more about our day porter services for the retail industry.