Protect yourself — educate customers

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Protect yourself — educate customers

by Jeff Cross

If you are like most cleaners, you don’t enjoy being blamed for something that's not your fault.

And, it’s going to happen. Imagine this: You perform a job that seems to you to be completely satisfactory, and you find out there was some misunderstanding that could have been cleared up before the job began.

You are probably nodding your head and saying to yourself, “Yes, that’s happened to me.” It may be one of those stories you don’t like to tell too often — especially to other cleaners.

Joey Pickett, of Service Consultants in Lexington, KY, had compared education to excuses.

Pickett said that anything you tell the customer beforehand is called education, and anything you tell the customer afterwards is called an excuse.

Pickett called this one of his “Joeyisms” — and, it makes perfect sense.

It’s always best to have good communication with your customers, he said, and if you have any concerns or think the customer might have some concerns, it is best to discuss this in detail before the job begins.

Otherwise, if you have to explain yourself after the job is completed, the customer might think you are making excuses.

Almost all customers of professional cleaners enjoy or at least appreciate being informed of what to expect before a job proceeds — especially if it protects their interests. Not many customers like excuses.