Productivity Secrets From a Growing Business: Spekless Case Study

As the popularity of AirBnBs rise, so does the need for another easy online booking service: cleaning.

Many AirBnB hosts are regular people — not owners of large hotel chains — who either manage their property in addition to their day job, or rent out their current living space.

Spekless aims to make booking cleaning services for customers as easy as renting out their space.

The crucial part of this business? Technology.

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A modern cleaning company that excels through book-on-demand services

“We’ve taken the honest, hard-working maid service and brought it to the 21st Century. Consistent, quality cleaning enabled by online booking and digital communication,” the Spekless site explained.

With features like instant booking, secure online payments, and immediate communication, Spekless brings an innovative approach to the cleaning industry.

In order to make booking super simple with responsive communication and easy payments, Spekless needs cleaning company technology that can streamline the business so they can focus on customers.

What sets Spekless apart

• Its technology-enabled cleaning platform
• Connecting cleaning professionals with customers seeking quality services
• Providing fantastic customer service and support
• Using SMS, calls, and web chat to maintain a responsive communication style

There are only so many hours in a day

The Spekless vision is ambitious. Many issues can arise in the pursuit of providing a high-quality, fast booking service.

For one, keeping the price down while providing a superior service on-demand.

Knowing that customers are primarily managing properties in their free time, Brad Edward, founder of Spekless, is always seeking ways to keep his own business costs down so he can pass those savings onto customers.

He keeps his company as efficient as possible, and hires remote staff for various tasks such as customer support. A remote team also helps Spekless save on all the expenses that come with opening a physical office space.

Despite adding to his team with remote hires, Brad was finding it difficult to manage all aspects of the business: leading the vision for the company, business development, marketing, and day-to-day operations such as payroll, paid time off, and other administrative tasks.

Then, he reached a breaking point: Brad missed the Monday payroll deadline.

He realized there had to be a better way to manage a cleaning company.

Discovering efficiencies with Hubstaff remote team management

To track hours for his mobile team and streamline his business operations, Brad turned to Hubstaff.

“After missing payroll, I needed to find a way to automate payments so that my business could keep running whether I was at work or out of the country,” Brad explained.

Hubstaff checked all the boxes.

The productivity-focused software for cleaning companies was the first time tracking tool that Brad came across for managing a remote team, and hasn’t used anything else since. The reviews he read online made him want to try it right away.

How Spekless uses Hubstaff to grow

With Hubstaff, remote team members can track time from a mobile, web, or desktop app. Those hours are then compiled into easy-to-export timesheets and used to calculate payments. Brad can review timesheets — using Hubstaff’s built-in approval process — and then send payments all at once.

The whole process is streamlined so that paying team members on time is as easy as clicking a button.

“Once I realized I could pay employees based off the accurate time worked, I was sold,” Brad said.

Accurate timesheets, easy payroll

The two primary features that Spekless uses are online timesheets and automated payroll for its team.

“I love that I can see the number of hours worked by each employee that week, and then use that information to pay them through a PayPal integration with Hubstaff,” Brad said.

Brad hasn’t missed payroll since.

And, he’s discovering more ways to save time.

In Hubstaff, companies can add custom paid time off settings for each team member, and track vacation, sick, or other time off. Accrual rates can be set per team member in addition to team holidays.

This is another feature that helps Brad more easily manage his remote staff. There’s no question about who’s available when, and what PTO balances are.

One more responsibility is taken off a growing list of tasks.

More automation, more time for client service

Since using Hubstaff, Brad no longer has to remember payroll for his whole team every week, on top of the other responsibilities he has. The process and the headaches associated with it are all taken care of.

“Hubstaff allows me to take automation of administrative tasks to the next level, and has been critical to ensuring my virtual staff is taken care of, “Brad explained. “I don’t have to worry about manually managing payments or vacation days, Hubstaff can do it all for me.”