You ever hear the old saying, “no news is good news?” It’s not always the case. Here’s why I love customer complaints and why you should too.
There I was . . . sitting at a dining table in a local Montana Restaurant. My food was half-eaten and the waiter asked me if everything tasted alright. I told him yes and asked for a to-go box. The problem here is that I absolutely did not like the taste of my food. The cooks had over-salted the steak and it was dominating every bite. I left that restaurant and I never went back again. But no news is good news, right?
No Complaints –Just feedback
Had I complained to the waiter about the situation, he might have made things better. Maybe they would have taken 50% off the bill or made me a different meal. Perhaps a free desert? Either way, restaurants are no different than cleaning companies; we want satisfied customers. At what level does the complaint need to go in order for the problem to be solved? Hopefully, not far. And what can we do to get a confession from our customers that there might be a lack of attention somewhere? Checking in with our customers is so important. Glad to hear the good; curious to know the bad.
A complaint is just a disguised reason to improve
Feedback from customers also creates opportunities for better company systems. I remember when we started a new account that had six important offices that required to be shut and locked each night. We received several complaints about missing locked doors and couldn’t get our cleaners to be perfect 100% of the time. I used to say to my team, “It only takes one time to get pregnant, and it only takes one door being unlocked to get a phone call.” The emails and phone calls still came because we kept forgetting.
So, instead of viewing this as another customer complaint, we took ownership of this problem and created a foolproof system. We decided to implement Manager Walkthroughs for that facility. It worked out so well that we made it mandatory for all five and Seven-day a week accounts. Now, not only did we solve a security problem, we perfected the cleanliness of these facilities by catching things our regular cleaners may have missed.
What it boils down to is being honest and fearless. We promise to take responsibility for these mess-ups. Maybe there’s a trash we don’t see, or an office we never knew about. Nothing ever ended a cleaning contract quicker than silent resentment. Please, never stop giving feedback. For more information on how we can keep your facility clean and take ownership for any mistakes, please visit our services page here or contact us anytime!
Mickey Dayton
Chairman & CEO
Priority Clean LLC
“Bringing Value Back to the Cleaning Industry“
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