Month: July 2017

I’ve always welcomed complaints. It’s an opportunity for my customers to see how good my complaints department is.

I’ve recently been on the other side of the equation. My van needed some bodywork repaired and a few areas of paintwork ‘touched up’. I took it to a specialist who was recommended to me. When I picked the van up three days later, I was frankly shocked by what I saw. There were at least three runs of paint on the bodywork, one of them about eighteen inches long. Also he’d sprayed over rust on a wheel arch. And there was paint on the trim.

The workshop was closed when I collected the van on a Friday evening so he’d left the key in a hidden place for me. It gave me the weekend to reflect on the quality of the work. I began to realize how we Brits hate to complain and the effect that the thought of complaining has on a customer. I lay awake at night wondering how he would respond...

Would I have to argue with him? Would he try to justify his bad work? At one time I thought “should I just pay him and never use him again”? And I realized that our customers must sometimes go through the same thing when they have concerns about our cleaning.

There’s a wonderful scene in the British comedy Fawlty Towers where two elderly ladies are complaining about the food but when the owner Basil Fawlty asks how things are they pretend everything’s fine. Instead they say to each other that they “will just not come back here again”. And that’s the worst situation for your carpet cleaning business.

So what will help in this situation?

A strong GUARANTEE actively promoted in advance. People need to trust you before they will commit to using you to clean their carpets. And of course, all buying decisions are based on emotion. Prospects need to FEEL that they can trust you to look after their best interests. People perk up and pay attention to a guarantee so it’s an excellent selling tool not just a statement of company policy.

You should never underestimate the power of a guarantee. Tom Monaghan of Domino’s Pizza built his fortune-building USP on one: "...delivery in 30 minutes or less...GUARANTEED!"

If you cannot strongly and fairly guarantee your carpet cleaning, you ought to find other work to do.

For you to get real benefit from having a guarantee, you need to use it as a marketing tool. If you don’t advertise your guarantee, you have the liability of one without the benefit. (because you would always put something right anyway, wouldn’t you?).

And it matters how guarantees are worded. “Satisfaction guaranteed” is OK but you can make it sound much more exciting than that…and you should!

How about a 100% No-Risk Iron-Clad Money Back Guarantee? And then explain exactly what that means…that they have no fear of complaining!

Why not add a multiple guarantee, say a 30 day Spot Removal Guarantee?

Or a Seven Day Spillage Guarantee? That if they have a spillage in the next seven days, you will return and spot clean it free of charge?

And why not preface all that by saying “I’m very serious about my guarantees.” And mean it.

All of these things put the prospects mind at rest. After all, you do want to correct any problems don’t you? It’s an opportunity for your customers to see how good your complaints department is. But tell them in advance with a strong guarantee.

Once you've cheerfully corrected any concerns, you will likely have a customer for life.