Pyschological Odor "warfare"

I read this on a website http://www.cleanfax.com

Psychological odors?

From Volume 21, Issue 4 – April 2006
Here’s what to do when you’ve done your job properly but the customer thinks otherwise.
by: Larry Lightner

The customer insisted that she could still smell cat urine odors in her living room, and she was adamant that I do something more to solve the problem.
I had already pulled back the carpet, removed and discarded the pad, and thoroughly cleaned the plywood floor, the carpet backing and the face fibers.
Then I had applied a high-quality urine stain and odor remover, allowed proper dwell time and, following directions, re-cleaned the cleanable surfaces.
I then put everything back — including new padding — and it was as good as new.
I asked the customer if she was satisfied with everything as I wrapped it all up, and she replied, “Yes!”
Troubles begin
Two days later she was back on the phone and insisting that I do more.
I now knew I was dealing with far more than an odor problem; I was dealing with a psychological odor, and not a real odor.
I made the trip back to the customer’s home and inspected my work.
I could smell nothing. It was a perfect job and I was very proud of it.
I cautiously explained the difference between real and psychological odors, but she would have none of it; she smelled cat urine!
It was a lost cause.
Psychological odors
Just what is a “psychological odor”?
The best way to answer that is to first bring to memory something we all learned in high school, and that was about the good doctor Ivan Pavlov and his dog.
If you recall, Pavlov rang a bell before he fed the dog, and he did so for a period of months.
It got so that the dog would salivate in anticipation of the meal, before being fed.
Finally, Pavlov quit feeding the dog after the bell rang, but the dog salivated whenever it heard any bell.
That was what we call psychological conditioning.
Psychology, according to one dictionary, is the “study of behavior, mind and thought.”
It is very easy to apply this to carpet cleaning and odor control.
In your customer’s mind
If we smell a positive or negative odor when we enter a room, it triggers the same kind of response in our brains as Pavlov’s dog.
If it is a good odor, such as food or floral, and we smell it every time we enter the room, after a while we will smell that odor, even though it is not present, when we continue to enter the room.
Now, if it is a bad odor, such as urine, it will trigger the same response if it is there every time we enter the room, even after the offending odor is removed.
That is because, whether a positive odor or a negative odor, our brain tells us that the non-existent scent is real, and for all practical purposes it is; our brain has been conditioned.
This is where we get into trouble with odor control.
Try to live your customer’s experience
Sometimes the best way to relate and solve a problem is to experience it yourself. I learned this firsthand long before I was a carpet cleaner.
I lived in the cold climate of eastern Pennsylvania and, usually in mid-October, when the weather turned just right, I would fire up the wood stove.
I had a mustache, and the first couple of start-ups would cause “puff-backs” of smoke and the smell would linger in my mustache for days, even if I scrubbed it.
One year I had shaved my mustache off, and it was in September when we had a cold snap that very much felt like October. I immediately smelled wood smoke in my non-existent mustache that lasted until the weather turned warm again, and I hadn’t even fired up the stove.
I now live in New Mexico, and one year the weather felt like October in Pennsylvania; you guessed it, I smelled wood smoke!
I still do on rare occasions when the temperature is just right. That is “psychological conditioning.”
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the odor is real.
Now when I get a difficult customer, I explain what happened to me and usually, with nine out of 10 customers, the problem is rectified.
Except for the one out of 10 who believes the odor is real no matter what you do or say, even if the source has long since been removed.
Fixing the psychological problem
How do I correct the situation with those other nine?
I thoroughly remediate the problem, then set about to re-educate the customer’s brain.
A word of caution at this point: With so many chemically sensitive customers out there, you should always check with your customer about any deodorizers or chemical treatments you plan to use.
After removing the offending odor, I spray the surface with a pleasant odor, and also use the same on all of the doorframes.
Now when the customer enters the room, he or she will encounter a pleasant experience and over the next several days the brain will be re-conditioned.
After the new smell is gone, the brain will say that it still smells it.
Immediately after spraying, I will call in the customer and ask how they like the new odor, then I will explain psychological odor to them.
That usually will close the deal and make them quite impressed with my expertise.
With the truly hardcore, when all else has failed, I’ll ask them to bring in someone they trust who has a good nose, and ask them not to tell the third party what they want them to discover.
The third party will take a good whiff and smell nothing. Usually that will cure about 50 percent of the doubters.
If the customer still insists they smell the foul odor, I usually cut my losses and tell them they have no recourse left short of moving out of the home.
Fortunately, I seldom meet this type of customer.
Recondition the customer’s brain
Today’s urine odor removers work great, but many do not leave behind a “replacing” odor that helps with overcoming the psychological odor.
This is when you can add a scent in addition to the routine deodorizing steps. You can use this method when all of your reasoning efforts have failed.
Most female clients prefer heavier, sweeter scents, such as cherry or vanilla.
Men, on the other hand, dislike sweet scents; they prefer mild scents like citrus or apple.
I remember a couple who had bought a used recreational vehicle. It smelled strongly of cigarettes and they both wanted it removed.
I scrubbed down everything and then placed hidden cherry odor blocks. I also sprayed the doorways.
She loved it; he hated it. I had to remove all of the cherry and, even a year later, he was complaining.
I lost them as customers because he wouldn’t accept that it was psychological.
Because women are my primary customers and seem to have very acute sensory perceptions of odors, I prefer to use cherry or vanilla and hope the man never catches on.
That’s often the case.
So if your best efforts at odor removal come up short, try attacking the psychological side of things.
You have to fool the mind.

Jeff Hill