Building Sustainable Success Through Best Practices

In service businesses, best practices matter only when they produce results customers can see and teams can sustain. The strongest organizations do not rely on activity alone. They build disciplined operating habits around leadership, transparent quality, documentation, and talent development-and those habits improve customer and employee retention, strengthen account relationships, and support profitable growth.

Culture still comes first

Regarding labor pressure and recruiting tactics, culture remains the differentiator. One of the strongest observations I have witnessed in the service business and as a Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) assessor is the following: The most important key to hiring and retention is creating a great culture where people want to work and where employees advocate for the company. Respect, consistency, and manager behavior shape whether employees stay, perform, and recommend the organization to others.

That culture starts with leadership. As Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia CEO) asked himself and his team, "Am I open enough as a leader to seek out and trust the input of other people and defer to their expertise where necessary?" The best operators create alignment not by controlling every detail, but by building trust, inviting expertise, and following through.

Transparent quality, not just activity

A recurring theme I witness as a best practice is that effectiveness must come before efficiency. Teams can be busy, fast, and highly active while still missing the customer's real priorities. Best practice means doing the right things, to the right standard, in a way the customer recognizes as valuable.

That is where transparent quality matters. When the customer and contractor share a clear standard-supported by scope, inspections, and a documented quality plan-expectations become visible and accountability improves. Peter Drucker captured the customer side of this perfectly: "Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for."

Documentation is part of that value equation. It cannot be overemphasized: "What is not on paper has not been said." In practice, this means service requests, change orders, site observations, and improvement opportunities should be captured consistently so customers see professionalism, clarity, and follow-through.

A quick view of customer complexity

The graphic below reinforces two useful points for account leaders.

First, customers are balancing many priorities at once. The more complex their environment, the more valuable a provider becomes when they bring focus, empathy, and credible guidance.

The second item the graphic illustrates is an important commercial reality: customers are often pulled in many directions, making it easier for critical service issues to compete with other priorities. For providers, this creates an opening to simplify decisions, connect service quality to business outcomes, and reinforce why operational consistency matters.

Training that has a return on investment

High-performing organizations also treat training and mentorship as operating strategy, not overhead. The notes point to promotion from within, management training, retention tracking, and follow-up as common traits of stronger companies.

These practices strengthen execution in the field while also improving account stability and long-term growth.

That is why best practices should be viewed as a growth lever, not just a compliance exercise. As seasoned executive Jon C. Madonna warns all business leaders, "Nothing stops an organization faster than people who believe that the way you worked yesterday is the best way to work tomorrow." Continuous improvement is what keeps service relevant, differentiates providers in a crowded market, and turns execution into opportunity.

The executive takeaway

The companies that outperform on retention and growth are usually not doing one dramatic thing differently. They are doing a handful of important things exceptionally well: building culture, clearly defining quality, documenting what matters, and investing in people.

Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, in their 1985 book Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, famously articulated the distinction between managers and leaders: "Managers do things right; leaders do the right things."

That mindset is what turns best practice into an immense competitive advantage!