Do What You Say

I had been in the cleaning business for about five days when I figured it out. It was a day after my first in-home estimate. I had spent about 45 minutes talking about my new company with the potential customer. I spoke about our cleaning abilities, our rates, and our arrival times. The customer liked what she heard and agreed to a one-time cleaning.

We arrived the next day and cleaned her house. No big deal. Just another house. We did our job and took the money. We called her the next day to see how we did. That's when it happened. She was amazed. Really amazed. She couldn't believe the level of professionalism that we had shown. Uhh?

She praised our cleaning team for arriving on-time for the appointment. She praised our manager for calling to receive her feedback. And she praised me for spending so much time with her. That's when it dawned on me. Nobody else did it.

Nobody did what they said. Was it really this simple? You bet it is.

Doing what you say goes along way. The vast majority of service companies don't adhere to this policy. It's a lost art. Everybody's too busy trying to make more money. They all want to make the next sale.

The first step in making a customer happy is simple. Do what you say.