Improve your customer service today. Put these cleaning business tips into practice and fill your schedule with happy clients.
When most people think about customer service work, they likely think of jobs where there’s a lot of interaction among people, like a retail or restaurant position. But commercial cleaning companies rely on good customer service as much as anyone. That’s why it’s always good to have a few cleaning business tips for improving customer interactions in your toolbox.
Right now, you might be wondering what sweeping up dirt and dusting desks has to do with your interactions with clients. We already know that excellent customer service includes high-quality, reliable work. If we assume that your team is top-notch and your work is flawless, what more could your customers want?
If your teams work after regular business hours, they might not even have that much opportunity to interact with clients. But that’s precisely why you need some good cleaning business tips for good customer service. It’s easy for clients to take a cleaning crew for granted, especially if your team works late and has limited contact with clients. Unfortunately, that also makes it easy for a competitor to come along and undercut your price. And that’s just one example.
Whether you work right alongside school staff, after hours at an office building, or in a fast-paced medical facility, there’s a lot you can do to make sure every interaction with your customers leaves a positive impression – even if it’s not in person.
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5 Cleaning business tips to make clients sing your praises
1. Customer Satisfaction is Your #1 Priority: Of all the cleaning business tips, why put this one at the top? When clean floors, spotless bathrooms, and stain-free carpets are on your task list, customer satisfaction means getting your job done, right? That’s partially true. Again, part of good customer service means doing good work. But sometimes, it’s more than that. It’s spending a few minutes chatting with staff about their weekend. It’s bringing positive energy to the workplace. It’s answering questions or helping someone move that pile of boxes. Treating your customers well can make up for those mistakes that invariably happen, and it can help justify higher prices or renewing a contract when the time rolls around. Of course, there are multiple ways to reach this goal, some of which are listed below. But no matter what’s on your checklist or in your business plan, customer satisfaction has to be a priority, or you’re on the wrong path.
2. Keep Firm Boundaries: You can go out of your way to provide excellent service and yet still maintain firm boundaries. In fact, good boundaries prevent scope creep, where your clients gradually expect more and more without compensating you. While this might seem the opposite of prioritizing customer service, it doesn’t mean you can’t offer an extra hand or be friendly and pleasant. What it does mean is that you are a professional, and your time is valuable. The customers you want on your roster will understand and appreciate that.
3. Be Easy to Reach: Even with flawless service, one of the more important cleaning business tips is to be easy to get in touch with. Things come up all the time that could impact your team. Maybe there’s a broken pipe flooding the building or a chemical spill. There could be an important meeting coming up, and your client wants to make sure a conference room is sparkling. It’s frustrating for clients when they can’t reach you in these or similar instances. Make it easy for them by using janitorial software that includes a communications app (like Janitorial Manager’s JM Connect!), so you or your on-site team is just a tap away.
4. Create a Great Working Environment for Your Team: This may not be the most intuitive of cleaning business tips. However, there are several reasons to create a good environment for your team, and in a lot of cases, the benefits pass on to your clients as well. For example, employees who feel valued and comfortable at work perform better, stick around longer, and treat customers better. This gives your clients an amount of familiarity with your company and results in happier people working in their space. In other words, happier employees = happier customers.
5. Be Upfront With Mistakes: Mistakes happen. If you work somewhere long enough, you will break something, spill something, or forget something. It’s bound to happen. Your best approach when these events occur is to be transparent about them. Get in touch with your client, tell them what happened, apologize, and explain any change in the process so it won’t happen again. In most cases, people can be forgiving as long as you are clear with them.
When you put customer satisfaction at the forefront of your business, you’re setting yourself up for solid, long-term relationships that will benefit you, your team, and your clients.
If you are ready to bring your cleaning organization to the next level, take advantage of a free call with Janitorial Manager to see how our software can make your janitorial operation more successful.