Staff loosing you work? What to do about it | 111

Had the cleaners in. They scratched my black taps down to brass. Got me thinking, how many clients go quiet ‘cause your staff quietly f**k up? In this episode, I talk about what that slip costs you, and why electricians need to get ruthless about experience and quality control.

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Transcript

Scratch the paint off the taps. Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

It's Sunday. I had a little bit of time, so I said, I'm gonna pump out a podcast quickly about a little experience that happened this week. So a little bit of story time.

I've been engaging cleaners lately. I've realised it's wise to pay somebody to clean your house for a couple hundred dollars — not even, $120 I believe it was — to get two cleaners around who whipped around the house and just did the usual: the kitchen, the bathrooms, the floors, the vacuuming and stuff like that.

And it's an absolute luxury when you can do that and not have to worry about doing all that crap yourself.

What I want to speak about is bad experiences — and actually finding out if you or your company has given somebody a bad experience.

I feel a lot of people don't even find out. Their staff member gives a client a shit experience — and no one ever tells them.

Where this stems from is this cleaner. They've come around three times now with this company.

How I found them: they were referred to me from one of my clients. She was carrying on about “cleaner this, cleaner that.” I asked how she found them, and she's like, “I've loved them. They've gone from house to house with me.”

What I reckon is, she’s got a dedicated bunch of cleaners that only work with her. And that’s what I need to find — because I’m gonna tell you my experience.

I've been dealing with this guy over WhatsApp. To be fair, the cleaners show up on time, they’re great in that sense. He’s asking: “What time are you home? What do you want done?” etc.

Told him the scope, gave me a price — all good. They arrived last Thursday. Three of them. Like wild women. Racing around the place.

I was in the office — where I’m now recording this — and I could hear the vacuums, the talking, pounding up and down the stairs.

I thought: fuck, they seem a bit rushed today.

I reckon they were behind schedule. He did send me a photo of them locked in a job beforehand — literally locked behind bars or some grid. Not my problem, but that was their first job.

Anyway, they cleaned the house. And when they left — as usual — it’s not what they cleaned that you notice. It’s what they missed.

Went to wash my hands. Noticed a pool of yellowed water around the sink. They just didn’t clean up properly. Some gunky crap, probably seeped out from under the sink, onto the white stone top.

Then, went to turn off the tap — taps are black — and the cloth they used must’ve been abrasive. It scratched lines into the paint. You can now see the brass underneath.

Very fucking annoying.

Same with the coffee machine. Whatever pad they used scratched the side — looks like when you get your van washed by one of those dodgy roadside car washes. Looks fine... until the sun hits it.

That’s why I never take my car to those joints. You’ll see a Lambo or Porsche in there and think: “What the fuck are you doing?” That brush probably scrubbed a plumber’s ute ten minutes ago.

Anyway — back to the house.

Coffee machine scratched. Taps scratched. Shower not cleaned properly. Windows half-done. I asked for the bottom windows to be done. They just bolted out the door. No explanation.

Now my feeling is — I’m gonna relay this to the cleaner. Not in a dickhead way. I’m not leaving a bad review. But as a business owner, he needs to know.

He needs to speak to his staff. Tell them: you can’t just rush in like maniacs and scratch people’s shit, and half-ass the rest.

I won’t be using them again.

We’ll see if he apologises. Maybe he’ll send a better cleaner. We’ll see. I’ll keep you posted.

But it got me thinking — how often has this happened to you or your company?

Where a staff member gives a bad experience — and the client just goes quiet.

You don’t know what happened. You don’t get feedback. You don’t hear anything — until you realise months later they’ve gone cold.

I think it happens a lot. Especially if your staff haven’t been onboarded properly. Or they’ve got personal shit going on, and they’re bringing that energy onto your jobs.

I’ve had it.

Lost a pub contract in Sydney CBD because a staff member didn’t bring the right part. I warned him going in. Early Friday morning job. Didn’t check the part. Had to apologise to the manager, organise to come back Monday, get the loading dock set up again.

Then the staff member pulled a sickie.

We’ve never had a job from them since.

I didn’t love the job — it was a shit setup — but that’s not the point. If your staff don’t bring their A-game, you wear the consequences.

So, this is a warning.

It’s not a bad idea to call up your clients now and then. Just do a quick quality check.

Especially if you’ve got new staff on the road.

Clients might not say anything unless you poke them. But if you ask, they might go: “Actually… yeah, he scratched the floor” or “He rushed the job” or “Didn’t really like the vibe.”

This is quality control. This is customer experience. And it’s massive.

When I go into homes, I’m warm, friendly, rubbing the dog, chatting to the kids. All that stuff matters.

But your staff? They might just be like: fuck it, in and out. No connection. No care.

And that might be your fault — if you’ve loaded up their schedule with too many shitty little ducky dive jobs.

So just think — any clients gone quiet lately?

Might be worth checking what really happened.