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Hello friends,
I had an interesting day today and I thought back on Cody’s lesson … “you need to call Mike Rxxxxxry #xxx-xxx-xxxx”
INCIDENT:
My customer’s carpet was more than 10 years old (probably 15) and they were already stressed out because they were having to list the property on the market. The husband couldn’t remember the last time the carpet was cleaned. I felt a vibe from the wife, cleaned the MBR then asked the lady to take a look. Sure enough I was right. Even though the house was dusty and the carpet was old and worn, she chose to point out the area near the baseboard behind the door and said that her carpet hadn’t been cleaned there and tell me “this won’t pass” (forget the filthy traffic areas that were now clean). Her past carpet cleaners had gotten it cleaner.Bottom Line: I told her that I couldn’t get her “new” carpet. I suggested that she should call the cleaners that she was happy with in the past. That I was in this for the long term and that there would be no charge for the work I had done. I told her that I felt that “it really wasn’t going to work out.” And I left.
She chased me out the door – I don’t think she was expecting me to bail (clearly this was not the outcome she had planned for). But it was better to spend 1 hour on her rather than 4. I believe she was just trying to work me which is a common ploy among some of my customers. I took command of the situation by stating again “I really don’t think it is going to work out” … emphatically and looking her in the eye. Buh-Bye. Ahem … Buh-Bye!
POINT:
I don’t have time for that stuff. I do great work, produce excellent results and have countless return customers. Walking away from a $450.00 job hurts for a minute … but I’m so glad that Cody taught me to go with my intuition because I know that this lady was just a problem and unrealistic. I believe she felt like picking at the work because she was unhappy and wanted to spew her “bitch-spray” at the hired help. And she also wanted to show off to her husband. I won’t have it.I’m glad I walked away. That lady was spoiling for a bad outcome and I wasn’t going to take it. I was gracious and kind. Told her that she “deserved” to be happy. There would be no charge for the work that I had done. She was left empty at the door with nobody to witness or react to her antics.
BENEFIT:
During the vacant time I visited a property management company and got two jobs plus the promise of more.THANK YOU CODY – good advice.
SHE MUST HAVE A SISTER IN JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not believe how your story and the one I just got from an operator in Jacksonville is so much the same. Her final story was my steam cleaner did a much better job last time. My response would have been, then why did you not call him again instead of me??? Oh well my operator was “thick skined” and he just moved on. Thanks for the story, it helps everyone to know that we can’t always satisfy everyone all the time.
Ron
A small percentage of people are never satisfied. Not with a restaurant, a hotel, a drycleaner, a plummer and as we all know a carpet cleaner. It’s funny how one person with a carpet that is say 2 years old and in great shape will say “we don’t expect miracles just do the best you can” and another with a ratty, worn out, old, stained carpet that never gets vacuumed will expect miracles. When you know a customer is never going to be happy and is rude on top of it all the only satisfaction you will get is to do just what you did….don’t give them what they want….which is to spend the next day, week or month complaining about you to everyone they know. These people just want to spend all their time complaining….about anything they can!
It is a fact of life that we just cannot satisfy some people. Learning to recognize who these people are and then passing on their job will make us much happier in this business. There are so many good customers out there waiting for us that we do not need to waste our time with someone like that customer you encountered. Most of our customers in this business are very good and they are very pleased with the job we do for them. It is much better for us to spend our time finding the good customers rather than wasting time on someone who will never be satisfied.
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