Cleaning can be a frustrating profession. You leave the job feeling great- proud about magically transforming a ratty old carpet into a thing of beauty. Then that night the customer calls ranting and raving that “You did a horrible job! In fact, my carpets look worse now than before you touched them!” So you rush back to the job site to check out this so-called “horrible job”! The result?
It turns out that there was ONE small spot next to the sofa that you weren’t able to completely remove. Yet in your customer’s mind this one spot made your entire cleaning a complete failure. How could this unhappy scenario have been avoided?
BEFORE leaving the job do a final walk through with your client and show them the ‘good, the bad and the ugly’. Remember that if you show the client an ‘area of concern’ and explain everything you did to remedy the situation they now ‘own’ THEIR problem. If they discover it AFTER you have left it now becomes YOUR problem!
Simply put, there will always be problems you can’t solve completely in the customer’s home or business. But how the customer reacts to these sad situation depends on YOU and not them.
You must A) fully disclose the situation and B) list all the steps you have already tried plus C) explain why any further efforts may make the issue worse. This “full disclosure” builds a trusting relationship with your client AND even better means you avoid having to make a second visit to ‘fix the unfixable’!
Steve Toburen
PS: With today’s suspicious (and online) customers gaining the home owner’s trust is essential. Share how you put your residential customers at ease in our Strategies for Success: Growing Your Business Facebook Group! (You don’t need to be a SFS graduate to join us HERE– all cleaning and restoration contractors are welcome!)
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