Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 28th November 2024 Issue no. 1140
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Kansas City business awards lifetime services to local veteran
Task Force Window Cleaning has awarded Joe Wolfe of Prairie Village, Kansas, free window cleaning, pressure washing and gutter cleaning for life. The company cleaned Joe's storm windows, soft washed his house, pressure washed his fence, driveway and patio, cleaned his gutters and cleaned his dryer vent on April 13, 2019.
Task Force Window Cleaning recently awarded the same lifetime service to a veteran of Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraq/Afghanistan at the VFW Post 846 BBQ Competition.
Lane Boland, Task Force Window Cleaning's founder, was called out to Joe's home to provide an estimate. Upon arriving, Joe complimented Lane on his company's efficiency. This elicited the response: "I try to run my company similar to the company I commanded in the Army."
Joe, in his 80s, snapped to attention and saluted the former Army captain, introducing himself as Corporal Wolfe. He asked Lane how his wife and fellow team members accept such rigid Army discipline. Lane told Joe, "She's actually the boss, sir."
Immediately, Joe proudly showed Lane his honorable discharge certificate, showing that he left the Army in 1947. He told Lane that he had graduated from Kansas before entering the Air Force as a lieutenant. Seeing he was at the home of a WW2/Korea-era veteran, Lane saw an opportunity to kick off his initiative to provide his team members a sense of mission beyond just profit...
Many small business owners share a common frustration with the level of dedication and sense of teamwork among their workforce. This problem is further compounded by a shortage of younger workers seeking 'blue collar' employment to replace retiring baby boomer team members.
Lane Boland feels the solution is two-fold:
1) setting the company's culture to instill a shared sense of mission among team members, and
2) offering equity based on performance and positive business outcomes. Task Force Window Cleaning schedules 'on the clock' community service projects and requires all team members from the CEO on down to work. The company's two primary causes are veterans and supporting breast cancer fighters. To entice otherwise cubicle-bound young people to come and work for a blue-collar service business, Lane calculates each worker's production to the company's gross profit quarterly and awards no less than 20% of that value in Task Force equity. The other ingredient to the 'secret sauce' is Task Force Window Cleaning provides every team member with a clear career path from trainee to service expert to estimator to division manager to partner. Partners vest into subsidiary LLCs that represent each metro market that Task Force Window Cleaning serves.
The proof is in the pudding; in just four months Task Force Window Cleaning went from a staff of one to 15 and grew from $0 in monthly sales to over $77,000 in monthly sales. The company looks forward to promoting its first partner and expanding into Texas, beginning in December. The value of Joe Wolfe's service is over $3,000.
"We are honored to serve a veteran whose generation's life's work enabled us to live, work, play and raise our families with freedom," says Lane. "It is critical to our workforce development plan to instill a culture of respect and admiration for the hard work and contributions of others, especially our veterans."
Corporal Joe Wolfe, honorably discharged in 1947, said after his service clean: "I need sunglasses to look at my house, and I can't thank you (Task Force Window Cleaning) enough!"
In honour of Memorial Day, Task Force Window Cleaning is offering 'The Joe Special'. The first 100 customers to call in asking for 'The Joe Special' will receive a free dryer vent cleaning and $100 off any combination of services. Additionally, Task Force Window Cleaning will donate $25 to Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to children of fallen or service-disabled veterans, for each 'Joe' customer.
Task Force Window Cleaning is Kansas City's best-reviewed disabled veteran-owned home exterior service, providing window cleaning, pressure washing and gutter cleaning. It is also said to be America's only 'pay for performance' home exterior service. Every team member receives a base salary and is bonused, based on the performance review of each job.
T: 913-322-1001
W: www.taskforcewindowcleaning.com
2nd May 2019