Business (and life) is seldom easy for a cleaning and restoration contractor. After all, even in good weather you are at best a ‘Tolerated Irritation’ in your customer’s home! Plus now you also have homeowner’s COVID-19 fears to deal with!
And your lurking 600# gorilla in the room for the next three or four months will be… WINTER! Ah yes, I get cold chills even reflecting back on our shared ‘joys of winter’! For example…
Every winter my techs skidded into ditches and (worse) into other cars! (Here are five safe winter driving steps!)
And we all face the daily struggle to stay safe, warm, dry and healthy during winter! But your biggest ‘staying busy in winter’ challenge is…
Your customers DREAD having their home cleaned with the cold, mud and snow outside! (Can you blame them?) BUT WAIT!
I turned a ‘winter negative’ into a positive by first commending a residential caller, “You know, you’re smart to get your carpets cleaned in winter! Your carpets will dry faster with lower humidity and a warm home! Plus, winter is when you’re spending more time inside.”
Even so, too often my clients would CANCEL when the weather turned suddenly ugly. (And ALWAYS at the last minute!) So I got ‘proactive’ by taking the fear FEAR out of their winter cleaning. Here is what I learned (and recommend in SFS Training): Anticipate (and calm) your customer’s ‘weather concerns’ when you…
Explain your ‘winter comfort procedures’ during your initial phone booking conversation.
Get your customer’s ‘winter worries’ issue out in the open by adding these phrases to your written Phone Format:
1. “Don’t worry about any bad weather blowing in because we’ll install a temporary Door Guard that will keep your warm air in and the cold air out…”
2. “We’ll put down a fresh, clean door mat and our employees will put on clean shoe covers before we enter your home…”
3. “We use specially protected, clean hoses for the interior of your home…” HINT: Carry your ‘pristine hoses’ into the home in these mesh “hose bags”.
4. “Our technicians will also be super careful to make sure no water drips on to your walk or driveway …” HERE is a great QuickTIP on how to do this.
Restoration HINT: Remember that residential cleaning customers have PLANNED for their cleaning. (And hopefully for their driveways to be plowed!) However, a traumatized insured that wakes to 3″ of water in their living room obviously isn’t thinking about clearing their driveway and walkways. HINT: Add in a question about ‘current vehicle access’ to your restoration Phone Format. Then…
Keep a few (well-paid) snowplow drivers on-call for emergency service. (And carry a couple of aluminum snow shovels and a stiff broom on each of your vans.) Now what is the Exactimate code for snow removal? Hmmmm…
Commercial HINT: Do yourself a favor by adding encapsulation cleaning technology to your winter commercial arsenal. Your warm, dry and safe employees will thank you! Download our SFS Guide to Building Commercial Encapsulation Routes- Part I HERE– no charge! (Part II focuses on “how to do it” encap techniques HERE. And yep- it is a free download too!)
Reminder: We’re having great conversations all year round in our Strategies for Success: Growing Your Business Facebook Group. You don’t have to be a SFS Training graduate to join our 1,000’s of cleaning and restoration contractors all focused on… GROWING YOUR BUSINESS! (Just CLICK HERE to join us!)
One more GREAT resource: Our 3 hour online SFS: ‘Winning over your caller’! LIVE seminar! We’ll focus on ‘Lead Conversion’ tactics to dramatically increase your closing ratio on texts, Facebook Messenger, Yelp, emails, website chats and yes… even over the phone! CLICK HERE to learn more…
And hey- be sure to stay WARM and SAFE out there this winter!
Steve