“Happy customers are your biggest advocates and can become your most successful sales team.” —Lisa Masiello, TECHmarc Labs
Communication is the foundation of any great relationship. If you run a janitorial business, your success often depends on how you interact with your clients.
At the beginning of a new cleaning contract, communication is usually quite good, but it often starts to break down over time. This disconnection can result in problems going unreported, expectations not being met, and trust eroding between you and your client.
To help you build better client relationships and run a more successful business, here are the top five things that you should be communicating with your clients.
Cleaning Management Solution #1 - Clarifying your customer’s expectations
Even if you have an agreement in writing, you should also have open and honest discussions with new clients to ensure that everyone is on the same page. In your initial talks, you can identify exactly which services will (and will not) be included, the procedure for additional cleaning requests, and your client’s expectations regarding cleanliness levels.
Establishing open communication at the beginning of a new contract is also a terrific way to build trust with your customers during the critical early stages. When a client sees that your business has a genuine interest in understanding (and exceeding) their expectations, they’re far more likely to retain your services for the long term.
Cleaning Management Solution #2 - Staff delays or cancellations
Everybody knows that life can be unpredictable, but few things will upset a client more than cleaners turning up late—or not at all—without being notified beforehand. You should lay out a clear policy for delays and cancellations in the written agreement and initial janitorial communications, so your client understands the process and knows that there’s a system in place.
Sometimes, no matter how much planning goes into a schedule, life can still get in the way. But you can always make the best of a bad situation by keeping an open dialogue with your clients and having a backup system in place.
Cleaning Management Solution #3 - Accidents or damaged items
Your clients understand that accidents can happen, but it’s how your business manages them that makes all the difference. By placing a strong focus on communication and utilizing instant reporting software, you’ll ensure that when an accident does occur, you’ll hear about it from one of your staff—and not an angry customer.
Instant reporting makes it easy to solve small problems before they turn into large ones, saving your business valuable time and money. In the highly competitive world of janitorial cleaning, you need to be honest, proactive, and helpful if you want to retain your customers and grow your business.
Cleaning Management Solution #4 - Requests for feedback
In creating software to improve janitorial communications, we often see companies that are hesitant to ask for customer reviews in fear of receiving negative feedback. However, one of the most effective ways to improve your janitorial business is to know exactly what you’re doing right, as well as what you can improve on.
Remember, just because a client doesn’t complain about something, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any problems. There may be services that your staff are performing adequately but could be doing better with the benefit of feedback. Likewise, your clients may be delighted with other areas of your services but won’t go out of their way to tell you.
One of the best ways to encourage regular feedback is by using the right communication tools, such as instant client messaging so they can share feedback with you at any time, quickly and easily.
By encouraging customer feedback and keeping the communication channels open, you’ll find it much easier to exceed your client’s expectations, and you’ll avoid finding out about problems when it’s already too late.
Cleaning Management Solution #5 - Additional cleaning opportunities
As your employees become familiar with your customers and their facilities, it can be beneficial to suggest additional cleaning services. Do the windows need extra cleaning? Are there areas of the carpet that require special attention? Not only can you generate extra revenue for your janitorial business, but you can also provide additional value to your clients and build a stronger, more trusting relationship.
One of the hallmarks of every successful janitorial company is a keen attention to detail. By making suggestions to your clients about how you can improve the cleanliness of their facilities, you’ll retain more customers and build a more profitable business.
Need Better Cleaning Management Communications?
Communication is the foundation of every successful janitorial company. Whether it’s between members of your team or between a manager and a client, you need open, effective, and reliable dialogue channels to ensure that everyone is working toward the same goal.
If you’d like to improve your cleaning client relationships and run a more successful janitorial business, we’ve designed intelligent, cloud-based software that can help you manage your entire operation.
With the help of Swept Janitorial Software, you can effortlessly manage your scheduling, time tracking, notifications, problem reporting, staff performance, and communication channels, all within a single, easy-to-use platform.
Swept’s janitorial software helps janitorial company owners build trust with clients and get ahead of the competition by giving them the tools they need to spend more time managing their business and less time working in it.
