Ask a House Cleaner, Dark Side of Referrals, Savvy Cleaner

The Dark Side of Referrals in House Cleaning

There’s a dark side of referrals that nobody will teach you in-house cleaning training. The dark side of referrals is the covert contracts from clients who refer friends. 

A client gives you a recommendation and the referrals don’t work out. The dark side of referrals is that it costs you the network of neighbors linked to that referral. 

You could also get fired by the client who gave you the recommendation. 

Yes, it’s great to get cleaning customers from referral marketing but not all referrals are equal. 

A savvy cleaner understands networking, marketing, and communication to prevent this from happening. 

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Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.

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Question: The Dark Side of Referrals in House Cleaning

Today’s question comes from a house cleaner who’s in kind of a bind. She wants to know how to deal with client referrals and what to do if they don’t work out?

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Answer: The Dark Side of Referrals in House Cleaning

Dark Side of Referrals - Karen, you'll love my maidShe cleans houses for a lady we’re going to call Karen. Karen lives on one side of the street and on the other side lives a woman we’re going to call Janet. For the last two years, Janet’s been watching the house cleaner go to Karen’s house every other week. So she asks Karen, “Hey, who’s your house cleaner?” Karen says, “Oh, it’s so and so. You should give them a call.”

The Referral Nightmare

Dark side of referrals - Janet, you'll do it my waySo, Janet calls the house cleaner and it turns out that Janet is not a good fit for the house cleaner. She is super high maintenance, she’s ornery, and she hovers. Janet gives lots of feedback and criticism. She is more the “do it my way” type. Plus she also has her own cleaning supplies. By now the house cleaner is already freaked out by this. And it doesn’t help the fact that Janet fills the mop bucket and shows the house cleaner how to mop the floor.

Okay, wow. If I showed up at your house and then you gave me your cleaning supplies, and you told me how to do my job, I would be out the door. The freaky thing about it is, Janet called for help because she needs the help. If she was going to do it herself, she should just do it herself and not ask for a referral.

Fear of Losing Customer’s Referrals

Dark Side of Referrals, You lost all your businessNow, here’s the problem. The house cleaner wants to get rid of Janet. But now she’s afraid that if she gets rid of Janet, that she’s going to lose Karen. Because Karen gave the referral of Janet. Does that make sense? She’s afraid she’s going to lose the original business if she gets rid of the referral.

Well, this happens a lot in the house cleaning industry. Where you make friends with a customer and the customer likes you so well, that they refer you to their relatives or their neighbors that live nearby. Then if something goes south with any of those people, you’re afraid you’re going to lose the whole network of referrals. That is what we call the dark side of referrals. Because there’s this covert contract that says if I don’t take your referrals, you fire me.  If you don’t know about covert contracts.  It’s a spooky concept. But the concept is this. If the customer likes you well enough that they gave you a referral to family and friends, you need to be right up front about it.

It’s Your Business

Dark Side of Referrals - KarenNow, the reality is you own the business. You get to decide who your customers are. If you were to go to a customer and say, “We’re not a good fit for each other,” they may get upset and they may talk to their neighbor that referred you. So, go first to the original customer that gave you the referral.

Go to Karen and say, “Hey, listen, Karen. You gave me the referral of Janet. Thank you so much. I appreciate you looking out for me and I appreciate you bringing business my way. But, after working a bit for Janet, we’re not a good fit for business and I don’t want that to come between us.” Now, Karen tells you, “No, no, no, no, no. It’s fine.” Remember that you are the business owner and you get to pick your customers. Don’t buy into the covert contract and just assume that you’re going to get fired if you get rid of the referred customer that isn’t working out. 

You Have the Right to End the Referral

Dark side of referrals, restaurant patron turned awayThis happens in all sorts of businesses. If a customer shows up to a restaurant wearing the little to no clothing, or drunk and belligerent, the restaurant has the ability to turn them away. They can say, “You know what? You do not get to eat here.” And they will escort that person off the premise. They get to decide who eats at the restaurant.

Now, we’ve seen it on the airlines where someone will show up and misbehave. The airlines will call security and the security will escort that person off the flight. The airlines don’t tolerate crap either, and neither should you. As a business owner, you get to decide who you’re going to work with.

Be Professional    

Dark Side of Referrals - Karen, gives lots of referralsSo if you are afraid that you are going to lose your customer because you don’t like the referrals they gave you, don’t be. Go back to the customer and have an upfront conversation with them. Whatever you do, do not go into details. Do not say, “Well, Janet said this, and did that.” Because now Karen is going to think, “You know, she’s going to talk smack about me, too.” Then you might actually get fired by Karen.

What you’re going to do is be professional. You’re going to go back to Karen and say, “Karen, thank you so much for the referral of Janet. We worked together one or two times,” or whatever the truth of the situation is. “I discovered we were not a good fit for each other, but thank you so much. I appreciate you helping me build my business. I just wanted to let you know, so that doesn’t come between our working relationship.” Throw it back to her as, hey, I appreciate it. Like, hey, give me more referrals. This particular one did not work out, but I do appreciate the referrals just the same. So that she will want to keep giving you referrals because the next referral might be awesome.

Not Everyone is A Good Fit

Cinderella Shoe, Not a Good FitHere’s what people don’t realize. I’m a perfect customer and my best friend might not be a perfect customer at all. We just happen to be best friends. But her personality might clash with you or vice versa. People don’t realize that. They don’t realize that the people that they refer may not be a good fit. And so it’s your job to let them know in a diplomatic and kind way. But don’t buy into the covert contracts, because that will make you crazy.

That is the dark side of referrals. Now that you know, you can go build your business with lots of referrals and you can do it the right way. All right, that’s my two cents. Until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.

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Resources For This Episode

Endless Referrals, Third Edition – http://amzn.to/2k5eemo

The Last Prospecting Guide You’ll Ever Need: Direct Sales Edition – http://amzn.to/2fDDZcl

The Sniper Approach: How to get referrals without the BS – http://amzn.to/2wZXfYU

The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself – http://amzn.to/2fCgr7u

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking – http://amzn.to/2xJH0Og

Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits, and Crush Your Competition – http://amzn.to/2xKHXGh

Self-Improvement 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know – http://amzn.to/2ywfh1n

The Referral of a Lifetime: The Networking Systems that Produces Bottom Line Results…Every Day! – http://amzn.to/2xKfKiZ

How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+100 Rule for Turning Your Business Network into Profits – http://amzn.to/2yx1kjw

 

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