Work Ethic

[Brian R]

Rant Alert.


Let me start by saying....Yes, I know...It's my own damn fault.


What the hell is wrong with people? You give them work for a good amount of money and they do crappy work, horrible customer service and have a general over all "I don't give a damn" attitude.

I just don't get it. Even if I'm getting screwed on a job (figuratively) I still try to give the best customer service I can and make damn sure the customer is happy.

I've tried I don't know how many subs in the North Dallas area and I just can't get a grip on how these guys operate. Talk a good talk blah blah blah.....But then they end up 0 and 2 for some big jobs. (near $1000)

Customers pissed, threatening exposure etc etc etc. I have to pick up the pieces and make it right. And it isn't easy once they've been scorned. Ugh.



No really, I was raised to suck ass when you're working for someone in the customer service world. It's a game....but it means everything.
"Yes maam" "Yes Sir" etc and finish with a happy customer.

I don't know if the customers just don't like these guys and therefore the work is horrible......the guy cleans tile like nobody's business.....or if these guys just decide to say "F it" and take their money.

I'm not sure I've made a complete or even a clear sentence yet because I'm so pissed, done, over with and generally just amazed at people this morning.

I've never......Yes I do mean never....Screwed over a customer when it comes to bad work or customer service. And I DON'T EVEN CLEAN THAT GREAT!!! It's all about making the customer happy and just doing the best job possible.

I just don't get some people....is it a sign of the times? The area? the world? My dumbass? Blows me away.


If you're getting paid.......AND getting paid well....Shouldn't you give two craps about the job you do and the impression you leave on someone?

This has been the hardest part about subbing out. Less control over people means you have less control over people....and how they act.

I may be done subbing......Leasing has been working out well....But my Sac area is leased out by one of the best subs I've ever had. Is that hope? Is that area? Did I just get lucky and pic the right dude?

Ok, I'm done.


Wanna read the email?



brian, we are very, very disappointed with the service we received yesterday. your crew was over an hour late. so late that my wife had to leave to pick up our child right as they arrived. she was gone for 30 minutes in which time the crew informed her that they were "all done". they did not flip any couch cushions, they did not even move our coffee table (which is a very light piece), they did not sweep or vacuum, they just rushed in and rushed out.. there were still bits of dirt on the tile floor. what they heck did they even do? and 45 minutes work for 800 dollars. just because my wife was home alone does not mean that you can take advantage. your level of service was simply unacceptable and i will be sure to make my opinion well heard to your managers as well as on line.



:shock:


Wish me luck. :|

 

[joe harper]

It SUCKS....to be EMBARRASSED....by a sub.... :x :x :x :x :x :x


Until you decide your FUTURE path with subs.... :!:

Require that EVERY client must confirm their SATISFACTION over the phone PRIOR to
the sub leaving the JOBSITE..... :idea:

MAKE THIS A POLICY.... :!: :!: :!: :!: :!:

It is good protection for the CLIENT & the SUB...... !gotcha!


"ps" Also REQUIRE the sub...CALL the office upon ARRIVAL...and DEPARTURE...!

 

[Brian R]

I hear ya Harp. Those are great ideas.

I would like to give the sub freedom....but not at this expense.

The whole point of having subs is to get a little freedom myself. lol

PITA......I guess I just want things to run themselves and run smoothly. To many rabbits I'm a chasin.

 

[joe harper]

Brian,

You are standing in "NO MAN'S LAND".................and you KNOW-IT... :!:

You have one foot on the dock....&....one foot in the boat... :|

Either get in the boat and buy a TM, and train an employee.....

Or get your ass back in the office....book the work....and TAKE YOUR LUMP'S.....


If Jen and your daughter want to go back to CA.......? It is time to pack-up and go home.
Texas, was never going to fit your STYLE... :!: If you still want to experiment with your
vision ...? Bring the family to FL. The girls will LOVE-IT here...!!!

I will hook you-up... :shock: Central Fl. is the way to go... 8)
We can run COLE....back to GEORGIA.....
I own the DOMAIN Carpet Pro....we can PiggIe-bAcK....on his AD BUDJET... :shock: !gotcha! :mrgreen:

 

[Royal Man]

I would at least not pay them for the work until they clear it up.

As a sub it should be their responsibility to contact the client and re-do the job.

Have you called the subs and reamed their asses? (Not in a Bob F way)

You should have this situation covered in your sub agreement. That the subs have to sign off on. Along with all the other terms conditions and responsibilities of the subs.

 

[joe harper]

Dave..

Re-read the E-MAIL... :shock:

There is NO WAY...you send the SAME sub back to that job.... :!: :!: :!: :!:

I am sure ...Brian has recource with the sub.....

His PROBLEM is....Mitigating the DAMAGES that are sure to come from the poor service. :idea:

 

[Ross Buettner]

Pick up the ball that got dropped.

Show in person. Aplogize, discount it at least 50% (yeah, you gotta eat someone elses crap), or re-do it yourself.

One bad line like this can spread like a disease.

You aren't in control of things like you should be in this case. Take it upon yourself to fix it and show that control.

 

[boazcan]

Holy smokes, Brian.

You better borrow someone's truck and get over there asap. No need to pay, call, or write that sub at this point. It doesn't matter if he did an awesome/spotless job, you cannot do that in 45 mins. No customer will ever justify $800 in 45 mins. Plus it was done when she was gone. It all went wrong on this one.

Get'er done while the get'n is still available.


p.s. The only reason I am still in business today is because at least 90% of the cleaners have no ethics around here. I couldn't survive without them. 8)

 

[Bee Busy]

do you have a TM out there? if you do, i would call them back immediately, go redo the things the custys unhappy with and refund them ALL of the money. last thing you want, is them BBQing you on the internet with google or yelp. after reading that email to you, i'd be worried what's coming your way publicly not to mention their family/friends/business associates

 

[joeynbgky]

Are u close to the customer? Go redo the job urself... fire the sub. Why not pop into jobs why the subs are working to check on them? Get a used tm and do it urself. How much of the 800 did. The sub get?

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

 

[Brian R]

I should have taken the $ out of the post. Sorry.

I'm working with the customer to get it fixed.

We'll see what happens.


With that said....Not all of what the customer said IS true....But I"m sure it's true in their minds.

I know they were there longer than the said time frame.....Customer's get that wrong all the time.

Nothing was really said about whether or not the areas were clean.

We don't give on time appointments...and they know this

We don't move furniture...especially for the deal price ....they know this.

We were to do a partial clean on a huge sectional.....2 prices and they paid the lower one to just clean the seating areas...Something I offer.

A little bit of debris on a tile floor does not mean it wasn't cleaned right.


With that said...Customer is always right and I've been in these types of situations before.

The whole reason for subs (the way I do it) is so I don't have to own equipment etc. Hence the backfire of course.....Risks and Rewards etc.


My opinion? The wife wasn't happy with a few things but was OK enough to pay the bill. She then vented to her husband who of course went overboard. It happens.


I'm not saying my sub didn't screw up....He did....In more ways than one. Unacceptable.

But I'm sure it wasn't as bad as all that.


Either way, It's a problem and I'll take care of it.

I've stopped all tile cleaning marketing as of right now. I can't do it myself without a TM or porty (in my opinion) and I'm not buying one at the moment because I'm moving out of this area anyway.

 

[Brian R]

Brian,

You are standing in "NO MAN'S LAND".................and you KNOW-IT... :!:

You have one foot on the dock....&....one foot in the boat... :|

Either get in the boat and buy a TM, and train an employee.....

Or get your ass back in the office....book the work....and TAKE YOUR LUMP'S.....

If Jen and your daughter want to go back to CA.......? It is time to pack-up and go home.
Texas, was never going to fit your STYLE... :!: If you still want to experiment with your
vision ...? Bring the family to FL. The girls will LOVE-IT here...!!!

I will hook you-up... :shock: Central Fl. is the way to go... 8)
We can run COLE....back to GEORGIA.....
I own the DOMAIN Carpet Pro....we can PiggIe-bAcK....on his AD BUDJET... :shock: !gotcha! :mrgreen:

Man....that's the truth if I ever heard it. I'm not sure why I jumped back on the truck other than missing it a bit. But it really get's in the way.

FL was the other option before starting TX. We chose TX because of family and knowledge of the area.

We're heading back to CA but not without hesitation. Prices, economy, politics....you name it. What a cluster ****. But it's my home.

I may just go back to sitting in my office all day and create the work....I was good at that.

I'll keep my OP equipment and just clean my house and maybe my families houses every once in a while to keep the bug off me. shiteatinggrin

 

[Dmreed4311]

"We don't move furniture...especially for the deal price ....they know this."

800.00 is a deal price? what is your full price?

 

[XTREME1]

I would at least not pay them for the work until they clear it up.

Yes as well as being a marketing guru you are now a contract atty.


The key Brian and you should instill it in your subs it isn't the dollar amount that dictates how well you work it is your own standards. I never pay attention to how much I am making or how much time I am spending, I just do the best job possible all the time. Yeah sometimes I **** up and eat a few lost dollars or not make as much as I should but it all works out in the end. Unlike yoakum I believe a customer who believes they got the best job possible is better than any free tell a coworker marketing program

 

[Brian R]

"We don't move furniture...especially for the deal price ....they know this."

800.00 is a deal price? what is your full price?

Most of that job was tile and grout cleaning....The deal price was for the carpet cleaning.

Tile area was clear of furniture.




Greg, I hear ya.

Funny thing is.....after speaking with the sub...and knowing his rep. The job was done well.
He just didn't make the customer feel that way. I'm thinking that was the issue.

The hubby came home and didn't like the ticket and the wifey didn't help.

Not making excuses......There is no excuse for an unhappy customer (except a choice few shiteatinggrin )

It's all about customer service, education and that warm fuzzy feeling.....Which he didn't give to them......Just quality work isn't enough (I'm the one who preaches that all the time).

Not to get too personal...For all I know he reads the threads.....But the guy may not be the same guy because his sister was murdered a few months back and hasn't worked for me in almost a year.
He is 0 and 2 for happy customers since he's been back and I'm trying to give him a chance because of his situation.....and he does seem to want to make things better.

My position is hard....as is most of your/our positions. If this continues I'll have to drop him....But I really believe in helping people....both cleaners and customers....


We'll see what happens. I AM optimistic....I just wasn't happy when I posted this thread.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Funny thing is.....after speaking with the sub...and knowing his rep. The job was done well. He just didn't make the customer feel that way. I'm thinking that was the issue...

It's all about customer service, education and that warm fuzzy feeling.....Which he didn't give to them......Just quality work isn't enough (I'm the one who preaches that all the time).

Amen and amen, Brian. You KNOW this stuff. Heck, you could TEACH Value Added Service and the 80% Principle:

"80% of how the home owner decides if it was a 'good job' or a 'bad job' is based on how the FEEL about the person actually doing the work."

OK, Brian, time for some of the Tough Love you have patented on this board. This is one of my new favorite sayings. (Last week in Roselle the class was chanting it- go figger!)

"The fish rots from the head down!"

With respect, Brian, how much time and effort have YOU invested in pre-orienting each sub-contractor on the Emotional Dynamics of working in customer's homes? The average person working in this industry (including owners) doesn't have a clue.

You do "have a clue" and you can and should share this with your people. Then (and only then) hold their feet to the fire.

Steve Toburen
http://www.SFS.JonDon.com

PS Thanks for listening to "my rant", Brian. I really do feel your pain. I encountered the same thing over and over in my business till I got good and mad ... at myself. Then I started training my employees AND subs in Value Added Service and 90% (but not all) of these nasty, ugly complaints went away like magic. Life is too short to be afraid every time the phone rings and it most definitely is too short to be afraid to open your emails!

 

[Brian R]

You're right Steve......I'll have to have a talk with him and go over this.

It's such and easy concept.....It's the whole "big picture" of being in the customer service industry....I just expect guys to know/remember this stuff.


Sometimes it's NOT good to be the "king".

 

[Royal Man]

This is Why I take time out at least 2 times throughout the job to talk to the client. Just doing the job and getting the check is not enough (like said above) Having a 2 man crew helps this a lot to have the extra time to spend with the client building some repoire.

THe client leaving right a way can be a problem and I have seen husbands( or 3rd party) get mad (usually because of the amount) and they blame it on the work. When this happened to me (A long time ago)I came back and had a beer with the husband. A little hand holding (or beer)goes a long way.

 

[Brian R]

I'm just going to start sending anyone who works for me here first.


http://sfs.jondon.com/3003/resources/pa ... e-training

 

[Greg Cole]

Brian,

You are standing in "NO MAN'S LAND".................and you KNOW-IT... :!:

You have one foot on the dock....&....one foot in the boat... :|

Either get in the boat and buy a TM, and train an employee.....

Or get your ass back in the office....book the work....and TAKE YOUR LUMP'S.....


If Jen and your daughter want to go back to CA.......? It is time to pack-up and go home.
Texas, was never going to fit your STYLE... :!: If you still want to experiment with your
vision ...? Bring the family to FL. The girls will LOVE-IT here...!!!

I will hook you-up... :shock: Central Fl. is the way to go... 8)
We can run COLE....back to GEORGIA.....
I own the DOMAIN Carpet Pro....we can PiggIe-bAcK....on his AD BUDJET... :shock: !gotcha! :mrgreen:

Good luck with that Harp! lol Loving Florida. About to open up in another city there!

 

[XTREME1]

Funny thing is.....after speaking with the sub...and knowing his rep. The job was done well.
He just didn't make the customer feel that way. I'm thinking that was the issue.

No offense but how well can an $800 in 45 minutes be well done?

 

[Steve Toburen]

I'm just going to start sending anyone who works for me here first.


http://sfs.jondon.com/3003/resources/pa ... e-training

I can't argue with that, Brian, but remember the procedure is set up to train the manager how to sit down with and train his or her employees. (Or subs.) Your sub-contractor will not read it (does anyone actually read anymore?) on his own. Much less apply it.

Steve Toburen
www.SFS.JonDon.com

PS Here's a thought, Brian. Why not pay a "bounty" for each positive review a sub gets? This is the basis of goal-directed behavior. What gets tracked (and rewarded) gets done. Maybe that Pavlov was on to something!

The hidden advantage here is after training your people in Value Added Service and focusing their attention on it with the reward even if the home owner doesn't become a Cheerleader at least the sub in pursuit of the bounty won't be ticking them off.

 

[Brian R]

Funny thing is.....after speaking with the sub...and knowing his rep. The job was done well.
He just didn't make the customer feel that way. I'm thinking that was the issue.

No offense but how well can an $800 in 45 minutes be well done?

I don't believe they were done that quick. Perception of the customer.

I've had customers tell me they will be there in 15 minutes and show up in 45 thinking nothing of it.

 

[Jay D]

Why are you moving? Was it something I said? :roll:

 

[Brian R]

Why are you moving? Was it something I said? :roll:

No. If anything, you would be a good reason to stay.

 

[hogjowl]

Just be glad they were using a portable (which is bad enough). Imagine how pissed they would be if, on top of all this, they'd also been using a rag spinner.

 

[Brian R]

Just be glad they were using a portable (which is bad enough). Imagine how pissed they would be if, on top of all this, they'd also been using a rag spinner.

TM

 

[hogjowl]

I seriously doubt it ...

 

[Brian R]

I seriously doubt it ...

I seriously doubt that you seriously doubt it.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Poor customer is everywhere, so much so that I'm amazed and astonished when you actually get what you expect. Of course that doesn't give your sub the right to continue delivering poor customer service. :x

People just don't not realize that's the life blood of the company, the very thing that keeps you afloat is pleasing the customer.

We get ton's of rave reviews and while we put emphasis on customer service by using a lot of the SFS principals, I think it's more that there are so few companies (service, retail, restaurants) that put any effort at all into it. :shock: Sad because it only takes a little effort for people to notice that you care.

Sounds like you already fired him as a sub, good you cannot afford to have anyone that doesn't understand how important customer service is.

Dan and I were just discussing this yesterday, he took his daughter to a doctors appointment and he said the receptionist there is just nasty to deal with. Rude and appears bothered when anything is asked of her.

I told him I would not put up with her, in fact when I spoke with doctor I would tell him how rude she is and how she is not doing his practice any good. Now I wouldn't expect him to do anything, some doctors like to have a bull dog at the front desk. However if enough people complain he would think about it some. Again the receptionist doesn't understand who actually pays her salary! :x