ServiceMaster News

This Christmas, staff at ServiceMaster Newbury put their annual Secret Santa presents to good use and instead donated toiletries for Two Saints’ clients in Newbury. “Selecting presents for people who really need them is not only a pleasure, but has also given us a sense of purpose and community.” said Nicola Loxton, PA to the Managing Director.
Two Saint’s mission is to significantly improve the lives of those who are homeless, vulnerable or in need of support by providing high quality, effective and reliable housing, support and learning services. In 2016/17 they provided 8,545 nights of emergency accommodation and assisted 1,484 people through their floating support service.
If you would like to know more about how you can help Two Saints, please visit their website http://www.twosaints.org.uk/support-us/.

Chris Wright, Alcumus auditor visited ServiceMaster Newbury head office on the 10^th October to conduct a thorough 6 monthly audit of our Quality and Environmental Management System (ISO9001 and 14001).  In his report, Mr Wright states “The audit of the QMS and EMS has shown the systems to be robust and effective. The company continues to make continual improvements to the management system by making use of improved computer systems that will further streamline the company processes for the benefit of its staff and customers.”

Jane Paisley, QA Manager, would like to thank all the staff for their hard work in ensuring our procedures are followed and congratulate everyone for laying the groundwork for a successful audit with no non-conformances.

 

ServiceMaster Newbury, had a stand at the Great British Expo that was held at the Green Park Conference Centre, Reading on Thursday 5^th October.  The stand was managed by Abby May and Stuart Guerreiro, if you are interested in arranging contract cleaning for your business call Abby on 01635 39971.

ServiceMaster Newbury and The Laundry Basket hosted their 4^th annual Coffee Morning in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support on 29^th September.

The event started at 8am in The Laundry Basket, hosted by Danielle Bradley Driver (left) and Frances Meadows (right) before moving next door to the ServiceMaster offices.

Eve Dee Shapland, who organised the event, would like to thank the staff and their families who supported the event by baking, eating and distributing cakes to neighbouring business.

We are delighted to have raised £389.95 for MacMillan Cancer Support.

Commercial Service Manager, Inga Parnell (pictured right) was invited to judge a fancy headgear competition in aid of Cerebra at Expro Fluid Analysis in Reading.

Cerebra is a charity dedicated to helping families with children with brain conditions discover a better life together. This is achieved through their mission of listening to families that have children with brain conditions and using this information to inspire the best research and innovation.

Congratulations to Expro Fluid Analysis, Reading for a profitable fundraising event!

Nick Dee Shapland, Managing Director, was presented with the prestigious Marion E. Wade Award at the 2017 National ServiceMaster conference on the 12^th July 2017.

Having previously won the award in 1997, 2006 and 2013, Nick was delighted Deeland Ltd t/a ServiceMaster was again recognised for displaying “the highest achievement in the pursuit of excellence and professional management” in 2016.

Nick was quick to praise all the staff at Deeland for their leadership and hard work and congratulate everyone on building a successful team.

 

Thanks to everyone’s generosity, we have managed to raise £140.20 for MacMillan. We held our MacMillan Coffee morning on Tuesday 27^th September this year, so we would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to everyone concerned whether that was cooking, serving or eating.

The clean you expect, the service you deserve.

“25 year Anniversary”

On the 4^th February 1991 Nick Dee Shapland started up ServiceMaster Contract Services Newbury and Reading as a sole proprietor.

The first week, following training, was about putting a weekly programme together, in order to create new business. This comprised of driving around Newbury prospecting for customers and picking up compliment slips on the way.

Nick would return home, file the prospects names, produce and send out 20 prospect letters per week, 3 days later he would follow it up with a telesales call. The first appointment was with the Abbey National Building Society in Newbury, this was the first cleaning contract to be won by Nick, and he remembers the euphoria when he was told he had won the contract.

In August 1991, Nick introduced himself to Vodafone, a relatively new business to Newbury at that time, to promote the ServiceMaster Spotlight Carpet Care, a carpet maintenance programme for office buildings. Two years later, office cleaning followed and for the next 10 years ServiceMaster had the cleaning contract for Vodafone in Newbury.

In 1998 the business became a limited business, Deeland Limited t/a ServiceMaster. In 2001, Nick decided to open a Launderette in Boundary road, Newbury, The Laundry Basket.

In 2003, Nick had the opportunity to tender for Sovereign Housing Association for the countrywide communal cleaning contract for the South East and South West Region. Sovereign Housing confirmed the appointment of ServiceMaster in June 2004. The cleaning contract would run from 2004 to 2012 when Sovereign were required to go out to tender, the contract was renewed in 2013.

Over the 12 years that ServiceMaster has worked in partnership with Sovereign Housing we have introduced many innovations to the communal cleaning programme. Nick highlighted it’s a privilege to work closely with housing associations such as Sovereign, as its given him insight to the important role they play in the community, we have learnt the importance of working closely with both the housing association and its tenants, the customer, which many cleaning contractors do not always have the infrastructure to deal with.

In 2008, Nick was starting to work on the business, rather than in it and the theme of the 2008 AGM was the Pursuit of Excellence. In 2009 Deeland Limited was in a position to set up a Human Resources Department, with its own Personnel Manager, who was CIPD Accredited, this enabled the business to embrace its culture  of   Principles – People – Performance

In 2009/2010 the business was restructured with 7 departments, we introduced a Quality Assurance Management Programme, QAMP, comprising of Monthly meetings for each department, with set agenda’s. The results of which, to see the interaction between staff was something to behold.

Nick said that introducing the Human Resources Department was his eureka moment, as it not only enabled the company to look after the welfare of its people better, it also ensured the company was able to acknowledge it’s peoples performance, positive or negative and the company was well protected both legally and  financially. It also brought about how Nick was seeing his business and how important it was for our people to be on the same wave length, Nick’s philosophy became:

“It’s not what we see, It’s how we see it together, that determines our future and our success “

In 2010 Deeland Limited was awarded ISO 9001 and ISO1400 by ISOQUAR UKAS approved. Today ServiceMaster has its own Quality Assurance Manager to ensure its procedures are followed and its personnel utilise them.

Awards

Since Nick started up his business in 1991, Deeland Limited has been recognised by both its Franchisor, ServiceMaster and the British Franchise Association. Winning ServiceMaster’s top award for its franchise network, the Marian E. Wade Award on 3 occasions, 1997, 2007 and 2013.

In 2013 Deeland Limited t/a ServiceMaster won the British Franchise Associations (bfa) top award for Customer Service, based on their Business Culture and their Quality Assurance Management, which enables their people to achieve and maintain a high level of customer service.

Today Deeland employs over 450 people and has an annual turnover of 5 million pounds. We are in a strong position to grow the business even further, as our business culture and our Quality Management produces GREAT TEAM WORK, which our customers appreciate.

Nick has purposely not mentioned any names in this article as he acknowledges that over the 25 years he has been in business he has received great support from all his staff, from the past to the present and recognises there have been those who have gone above and beyond for the business and for that he says a big thank you!

At ServiceMaster Newbury we support Cardiac Risk in the Young – CRY, therefore last month during CRY awareness week staff have raised a total of £ 419.50.

All our cleaning Technicians, Area Mangers and Area Supervisors also played their part by having the CRY logo sign on their vans.  They also carried collection boxes and information leaflets with them to handout when they visited various sites, which raised £345.00.  Thank you to everyone that took part and contributed to CRY.

We held our Macmillan coffee morning on Friday 25^th September and raised £265.89.

A massive thank you to everyone that came along to support us and to all of our amazing bakers, who donated cakes and biscuits to make this a successful event.