Does Practice Make “Perfect” for Commercial Cleaning Companies?

Episode 35

 

Ray

Joel, we’re back and we’re talking about practice. Practice makes perfect. Does it?

 

Joel

That is a question for the ages.

 

Ray

Well, we’re both old. Let’s get into it.

 

Joel

We are old. Oh, my God. Anyway, yes, we have more than 100 years of experience sitting here. When I was a master trainer for the ISSA, one of my closest friends, and even today continues to be one of my closest friends. Brant Insero. (Hey, Brant!) Brant, this one’s for you. This is one thing that has stuck with me that you have talked to me about. Brant was a very good bowler. And he would talk to me about how he would stand in front of the mirror, and he would hold the bowling ball. And, you know, constantly practice, practice, practice. Like making sure that when he would get the ball and he would stand, that his wrist was always at the same spot and that his fingers were where they were supposed to be. And then actually watch his approach and how he would let the ball go. And the follow through and everything. And he used to tell me, does practice really make perfect? Well, if you go, every part of what you’re doing is sloppy. All you’re doing is practicing sloppy. And you really aren’t ever going to get better. So yes, practice does make perfect, but you have to have perfect practice to make perfect.

And this is what the Michael Jordans, the Brant Inseros, the Wayne Gretzkys, the Tom Bradys.

 

Ray

I know…

 

Joel

I know, I’m sorry. I’m a Bills fan. Those individuals, they spent countless hours before practice, during practice, after practice, perfecting their skills so that they would become better. So, you as a business owner are like, well, how do I relate that to a cleaning company?

 

Ray

Oh, let me think.

 

Joel

Well, as the owner of your company, aren’t this like the number one thing in your job tasks to sell work? So, you should be practicing your sales pitch, so it doesn’t sound like a sales pitch. (because) Nobody likes to be sold. If you are a person that works on the project team and you are the lead performer on that project team. You should be practicing whatever it is. Are you a carpet technician? Are you a floor technician? Are you practicing and doing things to the best of your abilities at all times? Are you measuring your chemicals? Are you “glugging” them when you glug them? You’re being sloppy. When you’re using the things in the right ratios, you’re being safe. And it’s perfect practice. So, there’s so many things. And even as a business owner. It’s not just sales, because then you got to put on your HR hat. You also have to recruit new employees. You have to train and develop employees. You have to train and develop supervisors and managers. Are you just going by the seat of your pants and training them, or do you have written out policies and procedures? Do you have a standard set of ways that you train people?

Is it documented, and are you going through each step, making sure that you’re not missing steps? Or if you’re training a new employee, are you replacing them and having the current employee that you can’t stand because they’re doing a horrible job? Is that the person that’s training that employee that’s taking over for them?

 

Ray

Can I jump into one other situation there, Joel?

 

Joel

Sure.

 

Ray

How do you respond when perhaps an upset customer gets a hold of you and they have been nothing but a string of four letter words?

 

Joel

Snow, rain.

 

Ray

Oh, yeah, those. Yeah. You know, part of that perfect practice, perfect response.

 

Joel

You have to prepare for the unexpected, and you have to practice customer service skills, and you have to practice keeping your cool, because you usually, most people, when they feel attacked, are going to respond in a way that’s very defensive. And that’s the time that you have to stop, take a breath, listen to what they’re saying. Not necessarily how they’re saying it. Listen to what they’re saying. Do ask them to lower the tone, because usually if you come at them hard, they’re gonna come harder. So, you want to deescalate the situation as quickly as possible. Because once you can deescalate and you can talk like two grown adults and treat each other as respected adults, then things tend to go a lot better.

 

Ray

Sure. I mean, someone understands that you heard them and that you will remedy the situation.

 

Joel

And I once learned at one job, LEAFF was one of the acronyms that we used, which was L – E – A – F – F.  You listened to the problem, then you empathized, then you apologized, then you fixed the problem, and then you followed up with the customer.

 

Ray

Okay, nice.

 

Joel

Leaf with two f’s. So, that you made sure that you heard them, then you apologized about that problem. So, well, you empathize. “I’m sorry, Ray. I’m sorry that that happened. I apologize that it happened. We were short staffed last night.” Be honest with them. Be transparent. “We will make sure that we either credit, you know, your account for the night of missed service in the area.” If that’s what the, the problem happened to be. “These, these are the now systems that we put in. We’re fixing it. And then I want to follow up in a couple of days and a couple of weeks and a couple of months down the road to ensure that your problems have been resolved.” So, deescalating.

 

Ray

That is a big area of practice, Joel, along with other technical skills. Thanks for sharing that today.

 

Joel

You’re welcome.