Clean Work = Happy Clients

First impressions on a customer interaction are very important, especially since they have more impact when they are negative as supposed to a positive interaction. People are much more likely to remember a crew leaving a filthy mess all over their house after a visit rather than one that left the house in the exact same state as it was before they arrived. Making sure this first impression is especially important if we are going to perform or propose work in the customers home in the future, as the mess, or lack thereof, might be the difference between getting the job or not.

Before we enter the home, I am 6 feet away from the front door wearing a mask, explaining to the occupant that we will lay a drop cloth in the entryway to lay our equipment on. Then I make sure they are watching me as I put on my foot covers, or shoe ‘booties’. This gives them the reassurance that we are trying to minimize any impact we might have on the cleanliness of the house before we even walk inside.

After entering, we always lay an additional drop cloth under wherever the access to the attic is located in the ceiling, be it a pulldown ladder or scuttle hole. There is inevitably going to be some amount of debris, insulation, etc. that falls down when pulling down a ladder of pushing a scuttle access up and to the side of an attic. Laying this second drop cloth reinforces in the client’s mind that we really know exactly where the mess could occur, and that we anticipate those situations before they occur.

Pulling out dirty air filters are another good opportunity to go above and beyond what we are there for. I ask if the client has any clean filters and if I can take the dirty one directly to the trash can so it doesn’t leave a mess in the house. Offers to clean up any dirt or debris where we have been working goes a long way when the client may be considering using our company for future work. The visual knowledge that we respect the cleanliness of the home plays a lot more into decision making when we are referred to other potential customers as well.

Written by: Adam Davenport