Cleaning Up Shop

From paper to the cloud, Top Brass Building Services brought in technology to put people first.

It’s been said that small businesses are the heart of a local community, and for Top Brass Building Services that couldn’t be more true.

Two years ago, Derek and Katie Hawley purchased Top Brass Building Services, a cleaning service company founded in the 1980s, from the original owners who were ready to retire. They were looking for a business ownership opportunity that would allow them to make an impact on businesses.

“Our customer base is made up of small to midsize companies: a lot of ‘mom and pop’ shops, schools, churches, you name it. We set ourselves apart by our customer service and our people know we care,” said Katie.

The company has 150 cleaners, over 700 customers, and operates in four states: Georgia, Texas, California, and, most recently, Missouri. As the company continues to grow, they’re striving to keep their small business approach by providing what national franchise cleaning companies cannot—a personal touch.

“There is a benefit to being a small business. When you are working with your people who are also a small business, you realize you’re cut from the same cloth and a different level of trust becomes established.”

Bye-Bye Paper-Pushing!

Before Top Brass Building Services was under the Hawleys’ leadership, everything was done on paper. Thus, the couple had their hands full updating processes and efficiencies. Everything from contracts to accounting to overall account management was done by hand and then shipped to each branch at the end of the week in order to keep each branch up to date. The company simply couldn’t function at a high level and provide the utmost customer service with the amount of manual processing. To bring their business into the new age, Katie and Derek spent a considerable amount of time investing in the right technology to increase productivity and visibility across each branch.

It took months to get everything on Salesforce, but it was worth it. Now, they manage their entire business online – from sales and operations to accounting and human resources.

“We have done a lot to ensure we can run our business entirely out of Salesforce, which is how we came across Accounting Seed. Now, we can grow our business in every aspect.”

One Integrated System

The combination of Salesforce and Accounting Seed allows Katie and Derek to see their business from a 360-degree point of view. Internal processes such as issuing credits and making deductions on services are all managed through objects within Salesforce and Accounting Seed. And for Katie, the beauty is that it’s all in one place.

“I can’t tell where Salesforce ends and Accounting Seed starts. It’s all one, integrated system,” said Katie.

The power of the Salesforce platform opens the door for configurations and customizations to fit unique business processes. However, Katie, who manages the back office, found that Accounting Seed’s out-of-the-box functionality was just what they needed. While Top Brass needed some custom objects to run their business, they used Accounting Seed without any customization.

“The functionality works for us. We didn’t have to do much to get it up and running and make it work for our business.”

Making Change Where Change is Due

Top Brass Building Services continues to evolve. The duo found that one of the greatest joys in running their own business is seeing its growth and setting their own path for how to get there. With Salesforce laying the groundwork for their company to seamlessly connect with other business applications like Accounting Seed, Katie sees the potential to take their passion for helping people to another level.

“We have the power to make a difference and the power to make things better,” said Katie. “Before we bought Top Brass, Derek and I spent our entire careers working for very large corporations, and it can be exhausting because you can’t make change when you see that things could be better. Now, we can bring positive change to our industry.”

To learn more about Top Brass Building Services, visit topbrassbuildingservices.com/.