DEFINING CUSTOMER RELATIONS

Have you got a person on your staff responsible for visiting the customers and making sure they are happy with the quality of service you are providing? Someone has to take care of customer relations, right? I am reminded of a statement I heard Tom Peters make several years ago that really stuck with me and has so much merit. He said, "If you have to have a customer relations department or customer relations person in your organization,what are the rest of the people in your company doing? Makes a lot of sense doesn't it? Shouldn't we all be focused on positive customer relations?

That brings us to the point of defining customer relations. What is your definition? Most people have a difficult time creating an accurate definition of customer relations. Let me give you the one I ascribe to and see if it doesn't cover the subject,

EVERYTHING WE DO, OR FAIL TO DO, THAT AFFECTS THE CUSTOMERS PERCEPTION OF OUR COMPANY.

Think about that. It's a really broad definition, isn't it? It has to be if we really want to be honest about the subject. Here's a great exercise for you and your staff to do at your next get together. Have everyone make a list of those things that would be included in the definition given above. If you have a several people, have them work in groups of 3 or 4 and then have them report back to the entire group with their list. It's a fun exercise, engages the group and makes for a great learning experience. 

Generally when we do this exercise the people focus on the cleaning aspect of making sure the customer is happy with our service. But it goes much deeper than that. Let me list some other things many companies need to address in their training with employees to help assure positive customer relations. These items, while not directly associated with cleaning the facility, affect the customers perception of our company.

1. Having clean (inside and out) and sharply lettered vehicles.

2. Making sure our employees are in nice and clean uniforms at all times.

3. Training our employees in what to say and not to say to a customer and how to say it in a positive, helpful way.

4. Having a friendly, HELPFUL, voice answering the phone when the customer calls and not letting them get hung up in the standard punch 1 for this, punch 2 for this etc. 

5. Creating a "we can do that" culture in your company rather than telling a customer when they request extra service that "we don't do that" or "it's not in the specs".

6. Having neat and clean janitor's closets, no mop buckets with dirty water, no brutes with trash in them etc. Remember, our job is to keep things clean and that includes our own closet.

7. Having a training program so we send people to the job knowing what to do so when the customer sees them working they form a favorable impression. 

8. Doing the things necessary to reduce turnover so the customer isn't always seeing a new face. How many of you have lost an account because the customer said they didn't like seeing someone new all of the time?

And the list could go on and on. 

Another fun exercise is to have everyone list a place where they had poor service and then have them tell whether the problem was resolved, whether they went back, and if they told others about the experience. This one really engages the group. 

See, our business is no different. Customers tell other people if they are happy or unhappy with the service we provide. It stands to reason we should do everything we can to assure they are treated as the really important people that they are.

Customer relations is a very important part of our company and isn't solved by just putting someone out in the field to visit the customer now and then. It needs to involve EVERYONE in the organization. Let me encourage you to do the exercises I eluded to above and see how your company stacks up. See what your employees think customer relations is. 

If we can help let us know. We have a DVD in English and in Spanish entitled "CUSTOMER RELATIONS TRAINING FOR SUPERVISORS AND CLEANING TECHS". It's available on our web site at www.consultantsincleaning.com.    
Just click on the DVD icon and you'll see it. 

See you in Orlando at the convention.