SETTING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

Recently, there were several questions coming in by text or email all relating in some way to SETTING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS.  In this video, I begin by sharing a story from years ago when I lived in Clearwater, Florida.  We were residing in a home and came to the realization that previous owners covered wood flooring with carpet.  There were circular rings caused by water damage, perhaps from plants.  This is most likely why they chose to cover this beautiful wood floor with carpeting.  Well we were going out of town on vacation and decided to have the wood floors refinished.  When asking about those circle stains, the owner responded cautiously.  He said something like this: “I have no idea whether we can remove those stains because I don’t know how deep it goes.  All I can do is try my best, but I really can’t promise those stains will come out.  I always like to under promise and over deliver.”  This was a great life lesson for me about the importance of SETTING CUSTOMERS EXPECTATIONS, and something I have always applied to my own business.

EXTERIOR CLEANING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

SETTING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS is equally important in the exterior cleaning business.  Our main objective is removing stains, but we must be honest and upfront about the reality of whether the stains can be fully removed.  We must always also under promise and over deliver.  We don’t know how deep the stains are or whether those stains have damaged the surface on deeper, unseen levels.  The longer the stain has been there, the deeper the penetration and the more difficult removal will be.  We deal a lot with organic growth such as algae which acts like a sponge.  That algae retains moisture, which is what causes unseen damage below the visual surface.  It can deteriorate paint or discolor brick.  So we are able to educate the customer about these things both verbally as well as on the written estimate.

RESULTS OF SETTING EXPECTATIONS

At about 4:45 in this SETTING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS video, I discuss the positive results of this important strategy.  They are always more willing to understand and accept results that may not have been what they were looking for.  Trying to explain this AFTER the job, they tend to be much more suspecting and more likely not to use your services again in the future for repeat business.  They tend to think “well, he’s just making this up as he goes along.”  It’s unprofessional, and you will not be grow your business if you are not SETTING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS.  If you are dealing with oxidation, here is another post that might be helpful for that.  By the way, when we returned from vacation, those stains were gone.  We were expecting those stains to have remained, but it really could not have looked any better!  If this post has been helpful to you, check out my online video school with over 250 videos for on demand, self paced learning.  My passion is helping new pressure wash business owners not just survive but succeed in this industry.