letters and views Ed Samson 1/20/2009 It’s like the customer who calls and says, “I don’t think your people came in to clean last night.” I ask if the wastebaskets are empty, [they respond,] “Yes.” I ask if the bathrooms are clean … I didn’t look yet.” Turns out there is a piece of paper on the floor under the desk. Lynn Krafft 1/23/2009 Frank, I seriously question the wisdom of leaving a log book on premises for cus-tomer comments. I cannot believe that the customer will be more accurately aware of what your service is providing than you are. Furthermore, one of the reasons an out-side service is hired is to remove the responsibility for the service from the ones doing the hiring. Then you leave a note-book and ask them for nightly feedback on what you are supposed to be managing? Wrong move. Pull the notebooks and start doing your own on-site evaluations. By the way, a machinist works every day with measure-ments of 100ths and 1000ths of an inch. The comment in that notebook was an attempt at machinist humor of which you apparently missed the point. You blew off a contract for a wrong reason. The writer wasn’t being a jerk and probably felt hurt that you responded with so little humor and good sense. I’d go back and apologize for having a bad humor day and get rid of the let-the-client-manage-my-cleaning books. months. When I look into it, there is gen-erally a kernel of truth behind such vast exaggerations. The restroom not cleaned for weeks has a little built up soil around the toilet base. The carpet that is never vacuumed has one spot behind a door that is continually being missed. These are legitimate gripes, but were stated in exaggerated ways. I wish customers knew how to voice their complaints in a better way, but I am not paying them so I put up with it. Chaz Townsend 1/27/2009 Frank, what Lynn is suggesting is for you to be more proactive in dealing with customer service/quality control. First of all, make sure the cleaning is good. You should know the status of your service without having to ask the customer. But, do stay in contact with them. Instead of the log book, make sure they know they can contact you with any needs that arise and you will take care of them. If they don’t want to call you, maybe they could leave a note in the sup-ply closet. If for some reason you find something out of the ordinary, like you did 20 years ago, communicate — leave a note, call them the next morning, etc. If you are doing the cleaning yourself, things like this are a lot easier for you than it would be for us who don’t have the lux-ury of being in all buildings every night. To be honest, I was taken aback at how you handled the situation. I’m not judging anyone, though. The good thing about this board is we all have something to do with cleaning, and can help each other out. Therefore, when you post something like that, it’s going to be commented [on] and each person’s opinion will come out. CM "The good thing about this board is we all have something to do with cleaning, and can help each other out." -Chaz Townsend Frank Daddario 1/26/2009 Lynn, 20 years ago I had a customer who never would tear off the paper from his adding machine. It would just continue to pile up under his desk. Not knowing if the paper was important or not I never ripped it off the machine and let it pile up under the desk. The boss called me in one day and said I lost the account. One of the things he pointed out was the paper under that one employee’s desk. Since that time I decided to keep a book at all my accounts to [keep] me informed of any problems at the account, maybe the account needs extra work because of visitors the next day or just to keep me informed of any special needs or concerns. I’ve lost very few account over the years where I had this line of open communica-tion. And I still have my three original cus-tomers I started with in 1987. Get involved To access the CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online™ bulletin board, go to www.cmmon-line.com and click on the green bulletin board button near the top of the page. Dale Muckerman 1/23/2009 I also would think this either had to be a joke or maybe somebody did notice some pictures were moved a little, perhaps from dusting, and were just wondering why. The book is just a set up for miscommu-nication and misunderstanding. If you use it, just plan to get back personally to the customer. I find that customers tend to exaggerate when communicating in short phone messages and e-mail messages. I often have people complain of a restroom that hasn’t been cleaned in weeks or a floor that hasn’t been vacuumed for 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 pro-fessional cleaning and maintenance industry. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. www.cmmonline.com 9
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