Trust
One of the most important pieces of a cleaning company’s identity is customer trust.
Your customers trust that you will arrive when you say you will. They trust that you’ll perform the services that you agree to do – and do them well. They trust that you are a sound investment of their resources.
If you fail to meet these expectations, you may lose the trust of your clients, which means you lose contracts. When you lose contracts, you lose income. When you lose income, you lose your business.
Trust is essential.
So, what is the key to maintaining the trust of your customers? Accountability.
What Should Accountability Look Like?
According to Webster’s Dictionary, synonyms for the word accountability include:
- Responsibility – a duty that binds to the course of action
It is the responsibility of your cleaning staff to accurately and thoroughly complete the duties that they are assigned. If Angela is responsible for the floors, Jeff is responsible for the trash receptacles, and Geri is responsible for the bathrooms, they must be held accountable for the quality and consistency of their work they are responsible for in those assigned areas. - Answerability – being called to account
So, what happens if Angela skips vacuuming up the dirt and crumbs from the corners of the break room floors? Or if Geri fails to wipe the fingerprints off the walls of the bathroom stalls? Who will hold them accountable for the oversight or blatant irresponsibility? It is important that your employees know who they are answerable to, and that they understand they will be held accountable for errors. Having to personally correct their own mistakes can be an especially useful training tool for new employees. - Liability – being legally bound to a debt or obligation
The reality is, your cleaning company has entered into a contract with your client, and you are liable for the work that you agreed to complete for them. They are trusting you to follow through, and if you fail to do so, it creates a problem… A big problem.
Inspections Tracking: Making Accountability Tangible
One effective way to ensure your cleaning staff follows through on their responsibilities – before the customer discovers any irregularities in their work – is with regularly recurring cleaning inspections.
Inspection templates should be customized for each facility to include all of the required services. Inspections should be conducted on a tablet or smartphone in the field, and each service should be broken down into scored areas and task steps so that the responsible individuals can be held accountable for the quality of work they personally completed. The cumulative score for the team is then based on the total of these individual scores.
By maintaining consistent inspections tracking forms for each customer, you will be able to observe patterns and hold specific employees accountable for (and/or provide additional training for) work being poorly done, or to recognize those who are doing their work well.
The Value of Accountability
Accountability – including responsibility, answerability and liability – is an essential characteristic of companies that know to be trustworthy. Regular inspections tracking not only improves staff performance, but also results in increased customer satisfaction and retention rates.
Connect with Janitorial Manager to learn more about inspections tracking or to schedule a FREE DEMO of our management software. Discover how you can increase the success of your cleaning business, starting TODAY!
