Customer service , at the highest level, is the continuous process of consistently doing three things: obtaining, cultivating, then protecting the satisfaction of each customer. Statistics show that across all industries, over 90% of customers are loss due to dissatisfaction with customer service. In the commercial cleaning industry specifically, a little less than 60% of customers say they switched to another commercial cleaning company due to lack of being satisfied. These facts help make it very clear as to why the proactive members of IJCSA embrace the value of keeping its customers happy by pursuing certifications that drive excellent outcomes.https://www.ijcsa.org/Find-A-Cleaning-Service-Janitorial-Service

First, to obtain the privilege of providing customer service, every cleaning business should ensure that it hires employees that truly value customer service themselves as individuals. Customer service always starts with the people that will be providing it. Yes, it's critical to hire experienced cleaning professionals, but it's even more important to hire employees who naturally desire to serve the customer with excellence. We cannot "sell" customer service capabilities to new and existing customers until we first have the "right people onboard" to help us execute properly. We should never hire an employee (to do a customer service oriented job) if he/she does not value customer service.

Second, in "cultivating" customer service, it's important that we empower our employees by having processes and an operations manual that gives a clear understanding of what customer service should look like through all phases of interactions with the customer (conducting the estimate, sales, cleaning, auditing the cleaning performance, listening to employees' ideas on improving the customer experience, reporting problems/issues, etc.). This will ensure that the customer receives the same quality of service EVERY time (or at least almost every time). Whether we have 5 employees or 100 employees it is critical that every cleaning business has someone internally who consistently audits (evaluates) the team's cleanings. It's best to catch an issue while conducting your own assessment rather than to have the customer find it first (if your resources allow it).

Finally, the aspect off customer service that "protects" or ensures customer happiness consists of us (as owners) checking in with the customer at a frequency that is mutually agreed upon (i.e. weekly, monthly, etc.). Showing a proactive, consistent dialogue with the customer makes it much easier to address mistakes/dissatisfaction (by us or our employees) because a true relationship and partnership with the customer would truly exist. Speaking of which, the way mistakes/issues are handled with the customer will define the ultimate memory the customer will have of us. Taking ownership of the issue, retraining the team (on corrective actions needed to address the issue), then putting an audit measure in place to review future inspections (that the issue is truly resolved) are all necessary for the "protecting" of a quality customer service experience that we desire to provide.