When you own your own cleaning business you soon realize the importance of keeping customers satisfied.
At the end of the day you worked hard to get them and now you want to keep them in a blissful state as long as possible. You don’t want them to ever leave you. Those checks in the mailbox are a real treat!
When the customer is happy they are much more easy to manage not to mention more profitable. This is because if they like what you do they are much more likely to spend even more money on your services. It is a win-win scenario when done correctly. Lets get to the nuts and bolts part right now.
7 Sure Fire Ways To Keep Your Customers Satisfied
Important Tip: You need to be able to answer YES to each question below.
- Was your service delivered when you said it would be? In other words did you honor the original start date? You never want to yo yo around when you are going to start work for the customer. Set a date as soon as possible and stick to it. The customer doesn’t like or want uncertainty.
- Did you keep your word? Remember all those promises you made before landing the account? You know, where you said you would personally train all new recruits and that you will show up each week to inspect the work being performed (or whatever your unique angle is). Were they kept? The customer is keeping score on this you know! Be a man (or woman) of your word.
- Were any problems resolved quickly? Your not perfect and neither is your staff. Mistakes will be made and customers know this for the most part. But the real measure of how you perform in the customers eye is how you handle a problem when it occurs. Act quickly and make sure the outcome was favorable to the customer. Hint: Err on the side of a highly favorable outcome to the customer.
- Did you follow up with your customer? Touching base with your customer after your service was performed is often overlooked. If the job was a one-time effort then you would want touch base immediately afterward. If the service is part of a long-term effort (daily or weekly service) then calling them after a week or two would be a good idea. You need to make sure they are pleased with how things are going. Stay in-front of any issues before they arise.
- Is your company easy to get a hold of? In other words “how often do you check your voicemail and email?” When your new you probably don’t have someone to answer that ringing phone when your not there. But that does not mean customers should wait hours (or days) for a return call. Same goes for email. It is not too much of a hardship for you to be diligent on this so buckle down and come up with a system for regularly checking messages.
- Are you staying in contact with your customers regularly? This does not mean every six months. Having them call you doesn’t count either. Stay in front of them and offer them value of some kind. Rest assured that if you are not in front of them your competitors are.
- Are you viewed as “responsive” in the customers eyes? You need to register a yes on this one. If your not “responsive” then that means logically (to them anyway) that you “don’t care”. You may know that your busier than a one-armed paperhanger and just have not gotten back to them yet. The customer however doesn’t know this (and they don’t care either). Always be responsive and attentive to those who pay your mortgage!
Well there you have it. The 7 Sure Fire Ways To Keep Your Customers Satisfied is not difficult to implement and should be a priority for your cleaning business. Getting in these “habits” is a good idea from the get go.
Many people wait way too long before ever realizing these methods are not a elective option, but a requirement for survival. Follow these 7 steps and see your business take off!