If you aren’t including customer service training – even professional reading – for your staff, you may be losing more business than you’re gaining.
Often the focus of training is on getting different areas of the house or office cleaned in a specific way, with specific products, to meet a specific time allotment – all designed around an efficiency rate optimized to minimize job costs and maximize job profit.
But many cleaning services have learned the hard way that if you stop there in training your staff – whether in the office or in the field – you’re creating huge gaps in your service consistency and in your overall customer service.
Smart Selling on the Phone and Online: Inside Sales that Gets Results by Josiane Chriqui Feigon
Recommended by Kyra Deprez, Operations Manager for The Boardwalk Cleaning Company
When I first started with The Boardwalk Cleaning Company, I was assigned to read two books (second appears below). At the time I had a ton of experience with customer service and sales, but it was all in a face-to-face atmosphere. Reading this book was paramount in learning and understanding the differences between selling in person and selling over the phone.
212: The Extra Degree by Sam Parker and Mac Anderson
Recommended by Kyra Deprez, Operations Manager for The Boardwalk Cleaning Company
This one I still like to flip through now and again. It is full of short essays, quotes, and tidbits to inspire greatness in customer service and beyond. At The Boardwalk Cleaning Company, we continue to use both of these books as we bring on new office staff so we ensure that we have a consistent approach to our training, customer service and sales.
Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service by Ari Weinzweig
Recommended by W. Luna Martin, Owner of A Clean Dream Home and Lifestyle Services
I was assigned to read a small book about Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, MI, and how they became a standout company on customer service. I actually went out and bought the book afterwards to keep in my personal library. Now that I live in Michigan and am not far away from Zingerman’s, I look forward to experiencing what they have to offer firsthand. NOTE: the guide is available in English, Spanish and Russian and audio CD.
Customer Satisfaction is Worthless – Customer Loyalty is Priceless by Jeffrey Gitomer
Recommended by Liz Trotter, Owner of American Maid Cleaning
This book is such an easy read and jam-packed with info! I first introduced this book to my Team Coaches when they were brainstorming how to get our clients more engaged and talk to us more. I loved that they were able to find concrete actions to implement and had a feeling of it being easy also. It’s one of our go-to books whenever we aren’t feeling the love from our clients.
