Customer Today

[Charlie Lyman]

Customer today got one of my door hangers. Said they had been using someone else for a while. I asked them why they were switching... bad service... re-soil problem.... just plain bad job???? They said the work was great, no problems afterward, they were unhappy with the cleaner being on his cell phone making sports bets while he was supposed to be cleaning.
OUCH!!!!
Just something to consider.
I know someone posted about using an I-pod.....
I wouldn't want to loose a customer over something like that.

 

[adamh]

Dude, I was on the phone with you betting on the BSU game!!!

 

[XTREME1]

I was betting on the results from cleaning at Mikeyfest

 

[Blue Monarch]

$100 on rug doctor.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

More customer relationships are lost over real or perceived discourtesy than a "bad cleaning job".

Consumers rarely have the ability to judge a decent cleaning job (note how many bad cleaners stay in business for years), but they can tell right away if you or your staff treat them with respect.

Showing up late, raiding the refrigerator, horseplay between technicians, arguments about religion/politics/current social issues, sales efforts to sell unrelated services (health and beauty aids), asking the client or a family member out, dumping waste water down the driveway, etc. are just a few examples of things I hear about make a consumer decide not to call a cleaner back.

And these issues rarely result in a complaint to the office, so they are rarely known about, except to everyone else in the community.

Food for thought.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Good post, Jim. I see you have "been there/ done that" out in the real world. Repeated studies have shown that for every customer who summons up the courage to verbally complain there are 24 or more who will just silently take their business elsewhere.

I call them "passively dissatisfied". No, these clients aren't steamed up enough to call you and complain. They may even use your services again. BUT they ARE unhappy enough to go elsewhere IF the opportunity presents itself. In other words they are "ripe plums for the picking" by your competition.

This stuff isn't near as much fun as taking cat pee out of the carpet or bickering over truck mount specs. But focusing on the "Emotional Dynamics" of working in the residential environment (and specifically on the behavior of your techs in the home) is what will make you wealthy in this business.

Steve Toburen CR
Director of Training
Jon-Don's Strategies for Success

PS Thanks, Charles, for a good reminder on the negative Moments of Truth that cell phones can produce in the home. Many of our SFS members have banned personal cell phones and personal calls inside the home. Instead, they give a company cell phone to carry inside the customer's home and promise the employee that the office will call the tech if they receive a call re: any family emergency. I don't think some of you realize just how addicted your employees are to their cell phones- or how many of your customers that drift away because of this lack of respect. Something to think about.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Thanks Steve.

You're right: I've "been there, done that", but I won't admit to which ones I did!

At least there weren't cell phones in the 70's.........

 

[Charlie Lyman]

Adam,
That means you lost twice.... once on Oklahoma and then your customer.

 

[alazo1]

Consumers rarely have the ability to judge a decent cleaning job

So true. I remember in the restaurant days. It was a diner. 3 well known ones in the same city. If we hired a waitress that previously worked in one of the others her clientel would follow. We served good food, so did the others, the difference was in the service.

Albert

 

[Jim Pemberton]

A friend of a friend rescheduled a social visit with us. When we later visited, she apologized and gave us the reason:

"I'm sorry, the people who cleaned my carpet (franchise name deleted) told me we couldn't put our furniture back in the room for two or three days until the carpet dried".

The worst part: She was happy with the job!

I didn't have the heart to say anything to her about it. The carpet didn't look very good, either. Its amazing what some customers accept, and what others demand.

 

[Greenie]

I whole heatedly believe this is one of the things that holds back most small companies from really making a good living in this biz.

They get it in their head that the customer will really appreciate a superior attention to detail cleaning, when in fact they don't have the skills or knowledge to know the difference between an average clean, and a superior clean other than the obvious stain that wasn't removed.

As much as it goes against my nature (as a cleaner) they are much more likely to judge you by all the "other stuff" than your actual cleaning job.

Proof is the $49 multi-truckers who service the same coupon customer time after time, if you query them, it's "good enough", someone actually answered the phone, the tech showed up, the job was quick etc...

I can't believe how many owner ops answer their phone like you are inconveniencing them, or just plain let the voice mail pick it up, shot in the foot before you ever get started.