Do You Keep Your Promises To Cleaning Clients Or Are You Full Of Hot Air?
How many times has someone you've done business with made a promise to you that they didn't keep? For example,
- "Stop in on Thursday to pick up your printing order" -- but the order wasn't ready.
- "Your cable technician will arrive between 8am and noon" -- but he didn't show up until 1pm.
- "I will call you by 10am tomorrow morning to update you on your appointment" -- but they never called.
Why are Businesses so Bad at Keeping Promises?
It's so frustrating, isn't it? And unfortunately it happens way too often. The sad thing is, many of these same companies boast about their great customer service all over their website, social media pages and advertising. But in the customer's eye, customer service means doing what you say you will do and following up when you say you will. In fact, these days, that is the MINIMUM expectation when it comes to customer service. People expect you to go above and beyond just doing what you say you will -- it's called under-promising and over-delivering.
"Young" cleaning companies often start out doing a great job at keeping their promises. They may not have a full schedule yet and have the time to be "johnny on the spot" to fix any issues. But as they grow and become busier, they may not respond quite as fast as they used to, leaving clients wondering what happened.
Other cleaning companies have never put any thought into providing their employees with customer service training. Some of their employees are naturally responsive, but others may not be, especially if they've never had to deal with clients before. And if the boss doesn't place high importance on quick response time and keeping your promises, miscommunication will happen and clients will be disappointed.
So what I want you do to is to take a moment and think about all the things you and your staff promise to do for your clients. For example, when a customer calls, asking someone to come over to clean up a coffee spill, does your receptionist say she'll send someone over within the hour, but then your supervisor doesn't show up for 3 hours? Where was the communication break down?
In order to rectify a problem like this, you need to have better training and follow up systems. Perhaps a customer log placed by your office phone that lists the reason for the call, what needs to happen, by when and by whom. Then train everyone that answers the phone that it is their responsibility to make sure any promises they made are communicated to the person responsible, and that follow up occurs to make sure the promise was kept.
If you make a policy like this, then take the time to document the process and use it to train everyone involved. It's great to come up with a process, but it won't work if no one knows about it.
Follow Up - the Key to Keeping Your Promises
It's so easy for your staff to make promises to customers - especially if they're making the promise that someone else has to fulfill. But if they don't do the important next step of following up to make sure their promise was kept in a timely manner, then they're potentially causing customer frustration that can result in your customers seeking out another cleaning service - or worse, writing all about their bad experience online. And the sad thing is, you may never know that the reason they left could have been avoided had your employees simply kept their promise instead of filling them full of hot air.
Customer Service Training Program for Cleaning Technicians (PDF Download)
Your customers generally judge you, your reputation, and your quality of service by the way your employees handle themselves and deliver on the promises you make. Do your employees really know how to represent your company in the way you want it to be represented?
The Customer Service Training Program for Cleaning Technicians will pay big dividends with your customers!
Why is customer service training so important?
- 96% of unhappy customers don't complain, however 91% of those will simply leave and never come back. – 1st Financial Training services
- One unhappy customer will tell 9 to 15 people about their experience. - White House Office of Consumer Affairs
- 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated. – McKinsey
- It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. – “Undertanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner
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