Your customer insists you use their cleaning supplies. They could be discount cleaning supplies or organic cleaning supplies. Or they could be from an MLM (Multi-level marketing) company. What do you do when your customer insists?
When a customer insists you use their cleaning supplies ask why. All cleaning supplies don’t work as advertised. You have your favorite cleaning supplies and a cleaning routine. Is this a ploy to give you cleaning products to resell?
Listen: Customer Insists You Use Their Cleaning Supplies
Watch: Customer Insists You Use Their Cleaning Supplies
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.
Customers Who Want You to Use Their Cleaning Products
How do you deal with customers who want you to use their cleaning products instead of your own? Many cleaners have clients like this and wonder how to deal with it, like this cleaner who says…
“How do I handle clients who insist that I use their homemade products or an MLM cleaning product that isn’t as effective as my regular ones? I have to spend a lot more time when I use those products, and time is money.”
Landscapers Wouldn’t Use a Client’s Supplies
All right, so here’s the thing. If you hired a professional landscaper to come over and mow your yard and, when he got to your house, you said, “Wait, before you mow my yard. I don’t want you to use that big riding lawn mower that you guys stand behind and ride along because it’s too noisy. I want you to use my little push mower because it’s quieter, and I got a kid in the house sleeping. Can you do that?” it’s ludicrous, right?
They have a system of the way that they do things, and they know exactly how it’s going to operate. They don’t use your little hand mower on a regular basis.
They don’t know how it operates and, even though they do that for a living, it’s a different product. So, they’re not going to be able to do the job in the same amount of time and they’re not going to be efficient.
House Cleaners Also Have a System to be Efficient
It’s the same when a house cleaner comes to your house. So for you to show up and say, “Well, listen, I found this amazing product that my friend recommended to me, so can you use this cleaning product?” That is unfair to your cleaner’s process and their time.
For the most part, those are the cleaning products that you’re going to find in a multilevel marketing company anyways. For the most part, they’re great.
But you have to respect your cleaner’s systems so that they can get the job done in an efficient manner. Because they have more houses to clean than yours.
Find Out Why They Want You to Use Their Product
If there’s a customer that insists on you using a product for whatever reason, try to find out why. Why do they want you to use theirs when you have gone out and bout your own cleaning business supplies?
Say, “Why when I’m showing up as the expert, do you insist on me using new cleaning supplies that I have not been trained in?”
If it’s for them to have you sell their products to their other customers and then you become a distributor and all these things, that’s a sales tactic. That has nothing to do with the cleaning itself.
Ways Around Using Customer’s Cleaning Products
What you might say, “Hey, when I come, I will do things my way. Then, when I leave, you can maintain everything with the products that you think are so fantastic. Is that fair?”
Most of them will say yes. That’s like if you had a lawn mowing company come once a month and, they used their equipment. Then, on the other three weeks, if you mowed your yard yourself with your own little hand mower, right? There are ways around that.
Some Cleaning Products Don’t Work as Advertised
Now, there are some products on the market that don’t actually work as advertised. So, that’s key to know. We have a private Facebook group for situations like this.
You can come to our group and ask people, “Hey, has anybody had a chance to use this product?” because there are products that come up all the time.
People might say, “Hey, there’s this great new product.” Or, “No, they have a fancy advertisement, but the product is crap”.
Use Facebook Groups to Share Great Products with Other Cleaners
Now, there are some products on the market that when you try them, you’re like, “Oh, my goodness, this is amazing.”
Then you can share that with the group where people are like, “Hey, have you checked this out?”
Then everybody goes out buys versions of it at their local supermarket or online. And then they try it out, and they take before and after pictures, and they post their stories and all these things.
Clients Might Know Something That You Don’t
If a customer is insistent on you using their product, find out why. What is the real motivation behind this?
Is it because you think that the wood furniture that you have can only be treated with this particular chemical? If that’s the case, maybe they know something about the wood furniture that you don’t know.
You should hear them out. Say, “Please share with me what it is,” and if it’s a valid offer, you could give it a try.
Sign a Waiver or Disclaimer to Protect Yourself
Now, if it’s a product that you’re unfamiliar with and they insist that you use it and you want to give it a try. Then you should sign some kind of a waiver or have a disclaimer. It says, “I’m using products, and I am not trained on your products, and so if something malfunctions and leaves stains then I’m not responsible. and my insurance doesn’t kick in and buy you a new sofa.”
Because there are people who will insist that you use a particular cleaning chemical with the intention of suing your cleaning company. If that’s the case then you should not only not use the chemical but you should leave that situation altogether.
You can Use Customer’s Cleaning Products if You Have Protection
Yes, you can use customer’s cleaning products. But before you do, you have to make sure you are protected in case anything goes wrong.
There are customers that have some great things that they will introduce you to. As a house cleaner, you get to try them out.
So, be smart about the opportunities and make sure that you cover your bases so that you don’t have a lawsuit waiting around the next corner.
*** Resources From This Episode ***
You Deserve Better: Success in real-life negotiations! – https://amzn.to/2OXevCO
Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills – https://amzn.to/2N7RkVF
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It – https://amzn.to/2N7MKXB
4 Essential Keys to Effective Communication in Love, Life, Work–Anywhere! A How-To Guide for Practicing the Empathic Listening, Speaking, and Dialogue Skills – https://amzn.to/2Pr0QEZ
Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone – https://amzn.to/2N8fOyf
Talking to Crazy: How to Deal with the Irrational and Impossible People in Your Life – https://amzn.to/2MuO4Yo
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