Have you mastered the art of asking questions on a cleaning job? Getting information without intimidating the client on a walkthrough is essential.
Listen to discover how to ask questions to get the answers you want that will make your clients feel at ease.
Listen: The Art of Asking Questions on a Cleaning Job
Watch: The Art of Asking Questions on a Cleaning Job
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. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.
Art of Asking Questions on a Cleaning Job
The art of asking questions on a cleaning job. This is an art that you got to learn if you’re going to stay in business.
Someone wanted to know, what happens if you get on a walkthrough with a customer and the customer is not patient enough to sit through all of your questions?
So, what happens when you get to the customer’s house? You’re not going to sit down and start asking a bunch of questions. The art of asking questions on a cleaning job is about being invisible to the questions. So instead of showing up and then pulling out a little notepad or a clipboard and saying, “I’m going to ask you a series of questions now,” whoa, that’s disarming.
You have to Ask Questions to Get Your Diagnosis
But we know that you have to ask questions to get the diagnosis. We learned this from our doctors. You go into the doctor, you’ve been sitting in the waiting room, thinking about all your aches and pains and what you’re going to tell a doctor when you go to his office.
So finally, you get whisked into a little room by a nurse, and then she asks you a few questions and she fills a few things out, and then she says, “Your doctor will be right with you.” And then you wait a few more minutes. And then the doctor comes in and he has a clipboard.
And he’s looking at it like, “Oh, yes, I’m looking at your clipboard and I’m looking at your chart and all the things that are about your situation.” Then he says, “Let me ask you a few questions.” Then he asks a few questions. And do you know why he does that? He does it to build confidence.
We Build Credibility With Questions
So, when we ask questions, what we’re doing is we’re building credibility. We’re saying, “I know what I’m talking about and this is the reason why I’m asking you these questions. And at the end of all these questions, I’m going to offer something fabulous.”
Whether it’s a cleaning or a deep cleaning or it’s a special project or whatever it is, you’re going to come up with something at the end that has a price attached. But how can you know what it is if you don’t ask the questions?
You Want to Have a Conversation With Your Customer
So, if you get to a customer’s house, what you want to do is you want to have a conversation. It’s going to sound like, “Hey. How are you doing? Oh, this is a beautiful house. Why don’t you take me on a walk through your house? And let’s take a look at your priorities.” And they say, “Yes. Okay, let’s do that.” That’s like the being whisked in where the nurse grabs the clipboard and says, “Hey, let me ask you a few questions.”
So, on this initial walkthrough, as you’re walking through the house with the customer, everything you say is going to be a question, everything. You’re going to say, “Tell me about the rooms that you spend the most time in.” That’s actually a question. You’re saying, how do you use these rooms?
And they’re going to say, “We never go in that room.” Oh, a light bulb goes off. I’m not going to spend the bulk of my time in the room they never go in, so you’re going to end up spending your most time in the rooms they spend their most time in. But you’re not going to know that unless you ask.
There Has to Be a Series of Questions That You Ask
So there have to be a series of questions and it has to be things like, “Hey, while we’re in this room, is there anything you want to tell me about that’s either a magic heirloom that if it falls to the floor and it breaks, you’ll be forever sad, or is there a picture that’s hanging delicately on one nail that if I go to dust, it’s going to fall off and bust. Tell me about that now.”
And then they’re, “Oh yeah, yeah. That picture never was hung properly. I’m so glad you asked.” And they’ll tell you little things about their house as you go. Then in every room, you can say, “What about this room? Are there any delicate pictures?”
They got the routine. They’re going to go, “No, no, you’re safe in this room. Oh, you know what? There is one thing in this room you’ve got to be super careful of.” And now they’re participating in the conversation.
You Need Your Customers to Participate When You Ask Question
So, if a customer won’t listen to your questions and they won’t participate, you don’t have a job. And so end it very quickly and just say, “Hey, thanks so much for having me over here today.“
Either give them a price on the spot or say, “We’ll get back to you” and then you can mail them a price if you want. Its best to give it to them on the spot because you don’t want to go home and spend hours putting together a proposal if they’re not going to hire you anyway. If they’re not going to get involved in the conversation, they’re not going to hire you.
People Won’t Hire You Based on Price
When someone calls and say, “I’m just looking for price,” they’re not going to hire you. They’re not going to hire you based on price. That’s like calling the doctor and saying, “I feel sick,” and he says, “Let me give you a prescription.”
You would not trust the doctor, you would not take the medication, and you would forever be wondering in the back of your head, how did he know what I needed? You would not prefer that doctor to anyone, and this house is not going to refer you to any other houses. It’s not a winning game plan.
So, if someone is not willing to listen to your questions and they’re not willing to participate in the conversation, you don’t have a job.
Practice Asking Questions
The art of asking questions. Practice asking questions in a way that makes it flow off the tip of your tongue. It’s just conversational. “Hey, I noticed this. Tell me about this. Is this something I got to be super careful of or is this just la Marshall’s item that,” and they’re going to say, “Oh, no, no. It’s not really important or whatever. It’s just an average everyday product.”
“Okay, great. It looks super expensive. I just want to make sure that I’m covered.” So, you can have lots of conversations. It’s going to be fun. You’re going to be joking around.
You’re going to be asking lots of questions. And you’re going to be answering lots of questions, but this is the time where the magic happens.
Resources
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How to win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie – https://amzn.to/31c4P0v
Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond – https://amzn.to/2XWZB7h
Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact – https://amzn.to/2WqePjM
Conversation Tactics: Strategies to Charm, Befriend, and Defend – https://amzn.to/3bfYO54
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High – https://amzn.to/34RucEN
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