them? They could — and would — make our life totally miserable! Life is too short. When a client calls to cancel, we handle it very professionally: We ask that they honor our 30-day notice but do not argue about it. If they want to terminate today, so be it. My advice is to keep the building clean as per your specifications — or even cleaner — until the last day, then move on. I would not burn your bridge. We have had a dozen clients return to us over the years after they found out about other companies in our industry. We send a letter thanking them for their business after we stop cleaning, too. In fact, we send letters to all of our clients about twice a year thanking them in one way or another for their continued business. Melissa Jent 3/30/2010 Ok, please explain to me: If you are not going to make people honor the contract, then why bother having a contract? This, to me, makes no sense. Why not just have a piece of paper that says we are going to clean your building and you are going to pay us X amount of dollars? I don’t think it is going to cost me $16,000 to have this case brought to court. Sorry, I don’t agree with not holding them to the contract. As for them taking me back, I don’t want to clean the doctor’s office. I was not terminated because of work, I was terminated because the new office manager had a power trip and wanted to hire her own people. As for the restaurant, I don’t really want that back either. I can’t keep help there because the staff doesn’t do their part, and nobody wants to work seven days a week — and neither do I. mine, almost word for word. We call ours an “agreement” rather than a contract. Knowing that customers can cancel at any time, ours allows either party to cancel upon 30 days’ notice. We’ve been canceled without notice. Customers don’t like to give 30 days’ notice and have cleaning staff with keys. Just like when many companies layoff employees, they immediately shut down computer access and have a guard escort them out the door. You don’t want either of these accounts at this point, so just move on and don’t burn the bridges. Tell them you enjoyed serving them and please call if you can be of serv-ice in the future. If these two accounts are a major portion of your business, you need to diversify. Don’t have all your eggs in one basket — keep this in mind this Easter Sunday. jobs anymore because they were a pain. Well, go replace them with something you would rather do! You brought up a good point about why you should even have a contract if it can’t be upheld. I understand where you are coming from. However, that’s the way it is. When I go in to clean a doctor’s office or something like that, I’m not really too con-cerned about having them sign a detailed agreement and trying to hold them to it. If they want us out, we will go. A difference may be a large government contract in which a lot of money is invested. In these cases, there will always be a con-tract for both the contractor’s and the client’s protection. Usually, you will agree to their terms and it’s very legal and can be upheld. However, we aren’t talking about something like that. Chaz Townsend 3/30/2010 I agree completely with John and Ed. However, I do understand that this is not the best news or what you were probably looking for. Though it’s difficult, try not to take it per-sonal when you get terminated. This is real-ly difficult when the reason was not you and maybe something political and out of your hands. However, this happens. Our company has been terminated when it was our fault, not our fault, purely political, etc. However, the best thing to do is move on and continue working hard to build your business. I bet you pour your heart and soul into your business. When you do this, it’s hard not to let your emotions get in the way of making decisions. However, it’s vital to your continued success to focus on the positive and not spend your time and energy on a losing battle. Like John said, these people would you make you miserable anyway. In addition, it sounds like you wouldn’t want to do the Melissa Jent 4/1/2010 Thanks everyone, I have come to the con-clusion you all are right. Willie Dorr 4/8/2010 We live and we learn. Take the advice and grow from it. Don’t take it personally — look at it as business. CM Get involved CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online ™ viewers as well as CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® magazine readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor on topics of interest to the professional cleaning and maintenance industry. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. Ed Samson 3/30/2010 Re-read John’s comments and you'll have www.cmmonline.com 9
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