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How to Restart Your Retail Business with STER-OL & GaiaDigits

How to Restart Your Retail Business with STER-OL & GaiaDigits

As Ontario looks cautiously at reopening more retail and business locations this spring, owners, operators, and managers across the province are looking for ways to restart their operations in ways that provide both maximum safety for their customers and maximum opportunity for their business. That’s why STER-OL Infection Control,  in partnership with GaiaDigits Inc., recently hosted Restart Your Retail Business Safely, the first in an ongoing series of webinar discussions designed to help Ontario businesses get set up for success using advanced tools and techniques to keep risk down and customer satisfaction up.

For those who signed up but couldn’t attend, you can watch the entire webinar below.

The Restart Your Retail Business Safely webinar covers a variety of topics vital to business owners, including:

  • Understanding Different Levels of Cleanliness
  • The Benefits of SteraMist® for Your Business
  • Encouraging Shoppers to Visit Your Store with Proper Disinfection
  • Making Your Employees Feel Safe in the Workplace
  • Knowing When to Sterilize

During the lunchtime session, Natalie Weber, Vice-President of Business Development at STER-OL was joined by GaiaDigits’ Senior Solutions Manager, Tiana Hoffman and special guest Rich Van Patten to demonstrate how the superior sterilization qualities of SteraMist® combined with the advanced employee scheduling system of GaiaDigits means that Ontario’s retail businesses can reopen this spring safely and securely, protecting their staff, welcoming back customers, and enjoying a successful shopping season.

If you’re interested in learning about how SteraMist® can protect your business from pathogens, click below to get a free quote now.

STER-OL’s  Ultimate Home Moving Guide for 2021

STER-OL’s Ultimate Home Moving Guide for 2021

While Ontario readjusts to the third stay-at-home order, there are many residents who are taking advantage of one essential service that has only picked up momentum in the last few months: real estate. With the housing market in the province continuing its hot streak despite a new wave of COVID-19 cases, residents are being forced to ask themselves a new question: how do we prepare to safely move homes during a pandemic?

That’s why we’ve created this handy guide for vacating your current home, and getting your new one ready to move into. If you or someone you know is preparing to move, be sure to send them these tips. And even if you aren’t moving homes this spring, taking advantage of these tips will help your home feel like new.

 

Before Moving Day

Even today, moving doesn’t have to be a frustrating or chaotic experience. The important thing is to plan ahead, ensuring your move is done safely, and with care. Begin preparing for your move with some easier tasks, like updating your address of vital forms and documentation. If you’re moving during the week, try to take some time off work so you don’t have to rush. Reserve a moving company for the big day or, if you’d prefer to refrain from using a moving company, reach out to friends and family to see who would be willing to lend a hand.

Planning your packing is just as important as planning how you’re going to move it. Creating an inventory of all the items you want to bring to your new home, using a list or spreadsheet, will save much time and confusion when sorting through all your items. It will also help you determine what you don’t want to make the trip, and for those items, holding a garage sale or putting the items up for sale online will let you lighten your moving day burden, while pocketing some extra cash.

The last thing to do before you start selling and packing those items is ensure all your items are properly sterilized. Using SteraMist® to completely sterilize all your items, from furniture to electronics and even paperwork, ensures all your possessions are completely safe from any potential germs or pathogens, keeping you, your friends, and the moving crew healthy, and ensuring your new home will stay spring clean.

 

On Moving Day

After completing the steps above, when the big day finally arrives you’ll be ready to take on the challenges that lie ahead. Begin by getting an early start on the day. Begin packing your recently sterilized items and get them ready to move to your new destination. If you booked an appointment with a STER-OL Infection Specialist to sterilize your new home, have the specialist sterilize your new home before you begin moving your belongings inside. Because SteraMist® is so quick acting and environmentally safe, a complete sterilization session can be done with almost zero downtime. Once your new home is sterilized and germ-free, begin moving items in, using your inventory sheet to keep track of things as they come inside. You’re nearly ready!

 

After Moving Day

Once you tip the moving crew and thank your friends for their help, all that’s left is to get settled. While your home will look and feel fresh once everything finds its place, it’s important to set a regular cleaning routine to ensure germs and pathogens don’t build up. Using our cleaning guide for homeowners, you can be sure to keep your home feeling fresh for many years to come. That begins with a deep clean.

4 Business Advantages of Using SteraMist®

4 Business Advantages of Using SteraMist®

While topics like infection control and sterilization may not be at the forefront of most business strategies, the fact is having a safe, reliable, and dependable way to routinely sterilize your workspace is vital to your business success. Though more Canadians are being vaccinated against COVID-19 every day, case numbers continue to hit record highs as the Third Wave of infections take hold. If the province is to avoid another lockdown, we must all do our part of help stop the spread of dangerous pathogens.

For businesses, maintaining a safe, germ-free experience for customers and staff alike is vital. Routinely sterilizing workspaces means staying open for longer, without worry – that’s just good business. SteraMist® offers four key strengths that benefit your business, preventing the spread of dangerous germs to maintain a healthier, cleaner environment that keeps you open for longer.

1. The Six-Log Kill Rate

There are a few traits that make SteraMist® unlike any other sterilization solution available. First is it’s construction. SteraMist® works by using Bit Ionization Technology (BIT) and a very low (7.8%) Hydrogen Peroxide solution to create a powerful but gentle sterilizing mist. When it comes into contact with germs and pathogens, that mist has a six-log kill rate, meaning it destroys 99.9999% of all germs it encounters in an environment. Over the counter cleaning supplies don’t provide that much protection.

 

2. Dry Mist Protects All Surfaces from Damage

Thanks to its use of BIT, SteraMist® sterilizes surfaces by using a, well, a mist! This powerful mist slowly expands to cover all surface areas in a given space. Not just desks and tabletops, but even hard to reach surfaces that are typically out of arm’s reach. The use of a mist means that, unlike liquids, sprays, and wipes, SteraMist® is perfect for offices, retailers, restaurants, and other commercial spaces that contain a multitude of surfaces enjoyed by the public. The mist is even safe on sensitive surfaces like electronics and paperwork.

 

3. Leaves No Residue Where Applied

The power of SteraMist® comes from its application. Taking just seconds, the hydrogen peroxide solution is converted into a fine mist thanks to the cold arc reactor, killing 99.9999% of dangerous pathogens almost immediately to achieve true sterilization. This is different from other branded cleaners you may find at the corner store. Their lower efficacy rate means they can at best provide sanitization or decontamination to a given space. Worse, because they often rely on liquid-based agents, they often leave a residue or film behind on everything they touch.

SteraMist® goes further.

By operating with a strong mist that reaches places other cleaners cannot, SteraMist® can treat over 10,000 sf in an hour without leaving any odours or residue behind. That means more uptime for your business while keeping customers and staff safe.

 

4. Creates a Healthier, Cleaner Environment with Near-Zero Downtime

Authorized for sale by Health Canada, and approved by the US Food & Drug Administration, and the US Environmental Protection Agency, SteraMist® has been used the world over to create healthier, cleaner environments. Homes and businesses across Ontario have sterilized their spaces with SteraMist® knowing that in doing so they are keeping their spaces germ-free and their friends and loved ones safe.

How to Spring Ahead to Business Success

How to Spring Ahead to Business Success

Spring is finally here and people everywhere are ready to shake off the winter blues. Likewise, businesses from big to small are looking to not only rebound from a tough 12 months, but adapt in a new commercial and retail environment – one still dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As customers look to cautiously step out and enjoy the better weather, shops, retailers, restaurants, and even larger offices and facilities have an opportunity to capture some of this renewed interest, attention, and value. 

To do so, however, requires managers, owners, and operators rethink some aspects of their business, and aim to provide new ways for patrons to enjoy new experiences at their establishments. After you’ve successfully completed your business reopening checklist, use these 4 tips to help your business not just survive, but thrive in a post-pandemic world.

 

1. Focus on Your Core Customers

When developing an approach to cultivating new business, start at who makes it all possible: your core customers. These are the people who have a genuine interest in what you offer, are most likely to buy your product, and enjoy the wide range of services. Once you’ve identified your basic customer demographic, it’s time to explore how you can provide them with even better products/services that fit their desires in this new landscape. For example, small business retailers who may have invested in purchase fulfillment via online shopping over the fall and winter may want to begin to explore if their core customers are interested in returning to an in-store experience. If so, creating that experience for those customers can drive stronger connections through a renewed and unique retail experience.

 

2. Use Direct Connections to Drive Interest and Loyalty

This follows directly from the first point. Your customers – and potential customers – are out there and looking for what you can give them. But with so many brands and companies also reaching out into the airwaves, cutting through the noise to reach your customers can be a challenge. This is where businesses are getting creative during the pandemic. To start, building interest through social media is a great way to open up potential relationships that last. Not merely through posting product offerings, but reaching out directly to communicate with community members in real time. Having a social media presence is instrumental for companies in both business-to-customer and business-to-businesses spaces, letting them get creative with messaging and marketing, and grow their brand to their core customer base.

 

3. Provide Safe, Memorable Experiences

You’ve identified your core customers, you’ve started reaching out to them, and now you’ve built direct relationships with the people who are most interested in your business. Great work!

After spending so much time inside, separated from so many others with a different routine, customers are craving the chance to venture out into the world and experience new, different things in a safe way. Whether you run a small shop, a restaurant, an office space, or even a commercial facility, your business can adapt to provide a safe, memorable way to experience what your company has to offer. Start with safety: use SteraMist® to completely sterilize your business space to get it ready for patrons. With its ability to reach difficult surfaces and 6-log kill rate, SteraMist® is the superior cleaning solution that goes beyond simple disinfectant wipes and sprays to provide superior, safe sterilization for your customers, your staff, and your employees.

4. Build Long-lasting Relationships

Long-lasting relationships are the key to success in any industry. While companies have been building customer loyalty online through social media and in the real world by providing safe, fun, enjoyable experiences in sterilized environments, constantly striking new relationships is crucial to growing any business and welcoming new clients into the fold. At STER-OL Infection Control, we have welcomed a litany of new partnerships to help expand our services across the province, including with GaiaDigits Inc., Daedalus Safety Group, and A-Tech Engineering. By working together with our many partners and affiliates, we look forward to continuing to provide the many businesses and people of Ontario with long-lasting sterilization services that are able to help businesses of all sizes thrive in this new environment. 

Get your company set up for success this spring with a FREE quote today.

4 Small Business Innovations for 2021

4 Small Business Innovations for 2021

With most regions in Ontario currently operating under Grey or Red Zone public health conditions, businesses everywhere are readying themselves for a spring season unlike any that has come before it. Having just crossed the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are rethinking how they can deliver their products and services with long-term staff, customer, and corporate health in mind. The changing mindset is letting companies of all kinds deliver some creative solutions that everyone can learn from.

Below you’ll find 4 ways small businesses are innovating their way to success in 2021.

1. Hold Virtual Classes or Workshops

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many businesses were left scrambling to translate their core offerings into new decentralized and completely online formats. For many small businesses that provided services locally, the reduction in physical overhead and expanded reach to folks at home often proved to be a boon. Fast forward a few months later, and virtual, contact-less delivery is the new norm, with many often preferring to to go this route over visiting a physical location.

For businesses, that means refocusing efforts on delivering a great virtual experience for anything, whether it be classes, workshops, or online-only events. Last month, STER-OL Infection Control attended the first Virtual Business Expo with the City of Vaughan in a great example of how entire townships are rethinking virtual space. Companies of all sizes would do well to invest in building out this area.

2. Rapid Customer Service Responses

Being responsive to customer desires will always be a core principle for success. When people were encouraged to stay home to prevent the spread of illness, many found themselves with more time to browse, shop, and buy online, and that meant increased workload for businesses and their customer support staff. Anyone who has ever sat on hold for too long can tell you what a frustrating experience this can be.

Through social media and automated systems, however, small businesses helped lead the way to a new style of customer service. By being attentive, responsive, and engaging with customers on a first-hand basis, many businesses found a path to increased success during the pandemic. How can your business leverage these same tools to build capacity?

3. Pop-up Office Spaces

Sometimes, meeting in person is still the best way to make progress. That’s okay! As long as proper precautions are taken and guidelines are followed, there’s no reason why people can’t come together safely to complete and transaction or host a brainstorming session. Many businesses, however, are using this moment to rethink their office layouts and their corporate footprint. This has given rise to the pop-up office: a temporary space meant for only a few use-cases, where employees and customers can safely mingle for a specific reason or event before closing down. Pop-ups were often used to build hype for a product launch or campaign, but are now finding new life during COVID-19. Done correctly, they can be alluring to staff and customers alike.

4. Rethink Workplace Health & Safety

Traditional storefronts and office spaces certainly haven’t gone away, but they are being redefined. Changes to capacity, seating, and style are remaking the on-site experience – with hygiene being the central focus. While plastic barriers, hand sanitizer, and physical distancing remain crucial in overcoming the spread of illness, businesses must remain vigilant when it comes to keeping spaces clean and sterilized.

For its part, STER-OL Infection Control recently announced two new partnerships, one with GaiaDigits Inc., and another with A-TECH Engineering Ltd. to continue to offer enhanced sterilization services across the province. By taking advantage of SteraMist®, the most advanced sterilization product available, we have been able to help countless businesses keep their staff safe, their customers happy, and their businesses operating smoothly with almost zero downtime. Whether you operate a storefront, office space, or larger commercial facility, SteraMist® is the one innovation that companies big and small can use to see their way to success this spring.

Get a free quote today to have your businesses sterilized with SteraMist®.

STER-OL Infection Control Specialist and A-TECH Engineering Ltd. announce strategic partnership to deliver superior protection for buildings

STER-OL Infection Control Specialist and A-TECH Engineering Ltd. today announced the availability of sterilization packages aimed at solving current emergency disinfection needs while addressing poor ventilation.

STER-OL Infection Control Specialist, currently used in both healthcare and commercial settings in and around Toronto uses state-of-the-art technology, SteraMist® developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in response to the 2001 Amerithanx attacks to neutralize anthrax. It was further developed to terminate hard to kill airborne and surface pathogens with a 99.9999% success rate. The system was then used to eradicate MERS in Seoul Korea, and in the global fight against Ebola in 2015. STER-OL Infection Control is now using the system to sterilize any type of environment in various sectors, including healthcare/ambulances, commercial, residential and transportation.

A-TECH Engineering Ltd., an advanced energy company with their vast experience in Building Automation and HVAC Controls, provides the necessary skills and expertise to evaluate, diagnose and implement necessary building ventilation improvements. A-TECH Engineering employs a unique process that can penetrate HVAC coils at any depth and provide superior disinfection that can kill germs and microbes efficiently. The process is completely safe, fast, and requires no downtime. It not only improves indoor air quality, but also increases HVAC efficiency and lifespan. Additionally, A-TECH Engineering provides access to tailored indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring solutions allowing real-time tracking and alerts directly to building personnel enabling faster action to be implemented.

Together, STER-OL Infection Control Specialist and A-TECH Engineering Ltd. deliver a fully integrated complete solution creating enhanced safety for all occupants in any building.

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For more information, please contact:

Natalie Weber
VP – Business Development
STER-OL Infection Control
[email protected]
416-999-2026

Cory McCracken
VP – Sales & Marketing
A-TECH Engineering
[email protected]
647-556-5544

About STER-OL Infection Control Specialist

STER-OL Infection Control Specialist provides superior disinfection/decontamination services using the most advanced technology on the market. The touch-free application of SteraMist®, is the world’s most effective disinfection system which allows us to safely sterilize any environment, with minimal to no interruption. No clean-up is required before or after treatments, and no residues or odours are left behind.

  • First developed by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in response to the 2001 Anthrax Attacks
  • Further developed for the purpose of neutralization of hard to kill spores
  • International used in the global fight to eradicate Ebola 2015 and MERS in Seoul South Korea
  • SteraMist is proven to kill all known bacteria, spores and inactivate all known viruses on surface by a “six-log” or 99.9999% reduction

 

About A-TECH Engineering

A-TECH Engineering is an advanced energy company that works to create smart, efficient and healthy buildings with innovative IoT-empowered building automation and integrated HVAC systems in addition to providing power and emission reduction solutions.

  • Building controls and automation
  • Data analytics and monitoring via smart cloud
  • IoT and AI energy solutions
  • Smart building optimization and system integration
  • Ventilation and indoor air quality improvement