Will the same person be cleaning my house, or will you send a different house cleaner every time? A solo house cleaner can only do so much so what happens when a customer is resistant to change?
How do you soothe your client’s concerns while you grow and scale your cleaning business?
Listen: Will the Same Person Be Cleaning My House?
Watch: Will the Same Person Be Cleaning My House?
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.
Will the Same Person Be Cleaning My House Each Time?
“Will the same person be cleaning my house each time or are you going to send somebody different, every time somebody comes to clean my house?” There was a house cleaner that wanted to know, what do you say when a customer says, “Is the same person going to come back every time to clean my house, or will you have lots of people?”
So, this house cleaner is only one person. When a customer asks you that question, it’s okay to say, “Right now, I’m only one person. But I’m in the process of hiring people. I hope, long-term, I am not the only person that comes.”
“However, that said, I like consistency as much as you do, and I really want to get the look and feel for your home and find out the way that you love to do things. If in the event that I grow and I expand, which I hope to do, I will have other people working with me.”
The New Cleaners Will Train With the Main Cleaner
You will have a plan in place where the new cleaners will train with the main house cleaner. That way, you will have two people, the original one and the trainee. Now, two people that are familiar with your client’s house, they will know the pets, they know the kids, they’ll know the way the client loves their house cleaned.
One of those people will probably move over to be the deep cleaning person, and the other person will be the maintenance cleaning person that you will send on a regular basis. If in the event that the main person ever gets sick, go on vacation, call out, or have a family emergency. Then you will have another person that can come in and clean the house that knows all the things about the way the client loves their house cleaned.
Tell Them That You Plan to Have More Workers Eventually
You can tell the client that you would love to have the same person every time, but you can’t guarantee that your long-term plan is to have two or three people. You will want them to be comfortable in your client’s space so that you can always deliver the top quality that you are promising to the client today. Then ask them if that’s fair.
If they say, “Yes, that’s fair,” now they understand the scope of your vision, because there is nothing worse than getting in a situation where, number one, a house cleaner comes in, and they do the job and they work for a couple of years, then they try to expand.
Then the homeowner’s like, “Oh no, no, no. We only want you.” “Well, I can’t grow and scale my business if it’s me, right? I need extra help in order for me to be able to do more things. That means I have to have other help.”
You Can’t Be Sick as a Solo Cleaner
Now, the scary thing is when you are only one house cleaner and you don’t have a replacement for yourself, you can’t get sick. You can’t call out. You can’t go on vacation, you don’t get to have family emergencies. If that happens, that brings your business down because you don’t have a replacement.
So try to start thinking big term, at least have a replacement for yourself. At least have one other person that can step in for you.
Make Friends With Other Cleaners as a Solo Cleaner
If you are only one person and you haven’t grown or haven’t expanded ye then become friends either on Facebook or in a local community club with another house cleaner that you can do reciprocal trades with.
What that means is, if you get sick, they will come in if they have an opening, and help you out. If they get sick, you come in and help them out. You work as an independent contractor where they make the bulk of the money and you make a small percentage fee. With the agreement that they will not steal your customers.
It has to be a working agreement so that when you go to cover for them, you do not steal their customers. That is unethical, and that’s not the way to build a long-term collaboration.
Put That Stuff in Place Right Now
You want to put that stuff in place right now. But the easiest way to do it is to answer the question right upfront with the customer. Instead of saying, “Oh, yes. I’m the only person that’s ever going to come,” not true if you’re going to stay in business for very long.
You want to say, “Oh, absolutely not. I hope to have lots of people that will work for our company. I can always guarantee that it will be somebody that is comfortable with your home, your family, your surroundings, and the way that you like your home cleaned. Someone that makes you feel comfortable in your own space.”
Let Them Know Your Long-Term Plan
What that might mean long-term is that you are person number one, you have another person come in and help you while they get comfortable, then you have a third person come in and work with them until they both get comfortable.
Now you still have the two people that can work and replace each other should one get sick, goes on vacation, or what have you. That might be how you grow your businesses on a rotating scale of people, but you may have one house cleaner that is the main cleaner for that home.
That is how I would answer that question because I don’t want to find you in a situation where you’re scratching your head saying, “I was trying to grow my business and yet I’m stuck because my customers only want me.” Your business will grow when you learn to replace yourself. I know, it’s so hateful and yet it’s so much the key to success.
Resources
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Powerful Phrases for Effective Customer Service: Over 700 Ready-to-Use Phrases and Scripts That Really Get Results – http://amzn.to/2ho3Ndc
Customer Service Training 101: Quick and Easy Techniques That Get Great Results – http://amzn.to/2hfnhNm
The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service – http://amzn.to/2zvChPM
Permission To Succeed – http://amzn.to/2xN2VlS
4 Essential Keys to Effective Communication in Love, Life, Work–Anywhere! – https://amzn.to/2VbQVYE
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