CBL EP #156 House Checks: The System That Protects Your Reputation

As your cleaning business grows, consistency gets harder — and that’s where house checks come in.

In this episode of Cleaning Business Life, Shannon Miller and Miss Jamie break down house checks as a system, not micromanagement. We talk about how walkthroughs protect your reputation, prevent “week-later” complaints, and reinforce quality without creating anxiety for your team.

You’ll learn when to use house checks, how often to do them, and why they matter most for one-time cleanings and client retention.

Resources and templates mentioned in this episode are available at KleanFreaksUniversity.com.

Here is the link to apply for the scholarship

https://forms.gle/c122YU6oNRG7Tic19

Erica Paynter is the brains behind My Virtual Bookkeeper, a bookkeeping firm for cleaning companies, and the creator of Clean Co. Cash Flow Academy and the Clean Co. Collective. She’s on a mission to help cleaning business owners make sense of their numbers without boring them to tears! Erica’s all about turning messy books into profit-packed powerhouses.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Tempo: 120.0

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:46

Welcome back to Cleaning Business Life, the podcast for cleaning business owners who want real systems, real profit, and a company that runs without you losing your mind. I'm Shannon Miller from Clean Freaks University.com and I'm here with Miss Jamie. Today's episode is House Checks, the system that protects your reputation. Because as your business grows, consistency gets harder, not because your standards have changed, but because you can't personally see everything anymore. House checks are the follow-up system that keeps your quality tight, your clients confident, and your brand protected. Without turning your team into anxious wrecks, we're breaking down how to do them smart, simple, and sustainable. Let's go. I can tell you that. Welcome back, everyone, to the podcast Cleaning Business Life, where we dig into one of the most vital and yet often neglected because it's extra work systems in the cleaning company, and it's called house checks. Or some people call them quality control. Sometimes people want to hire a quality control clean. As your business grows and maintains consistency, it becomes harder because you have more systems that are kind of running themselves. So you have to have a follow-up procedure to make sure that things are of quality and consistency with your brand. And that's where health checks step in on your front line and for your reputation. And I think for all one-time cleanness is in my contract bundle, it's a requirement for us. We require someone to do the final walkthrough. And the reason for that, I have found because I'm talking about the client, right? Right, but but with the client, it makes it it puts the responsibility on the client or the homeowner or the property management, whoever it is to walk it. Then that responsibility is on them. And then you don't get the phone call. And we often, how many times have we seen this? Three weeks later, I didn't like my cleaning. You missed all this stuff. You're like, dude, it's been three weeks. Well, guess what?

SPEAKER_02: 4:02

Guess what, you guys, I'm going through this right now. So a lady wanted a MOOC. We came up, highly recommend it. Great. For one of her rentals. And mind you, she's 81. And this was last Monday. She she or uh the job was scheduled for last Monday. But we had already, you know, did the walkthrough. There's no carpet. Something about the windowsill. She wanted inside windows done. Cool. There's, you know, but she wanted us before the carpet got laid.

SPEAKER_00: 4:43

That makes it way easier because then you can vacuum the floor. Yeah, made it so easy.

SPEAKER_02: 4:49

Okay. I, of course, I had two of my employees. One is newer girl, but still, she's she's really good. I I I did a couple of checks. I did do one bathroom. I you know, I'm just still so kind of soul free. It's like, got it. Okay, I gotta let it go. Thank you so much. I always feel awkward, like, okay, thanks. You got it? Good. Bye. But you know, they know, they know. So went to town, had one of my team leads or manager, whatever, on this job. She was in the kitchen, did all that. The windowsill guy, we had to wait. We couldn't get the windows. So the next day, I think you get the windows. I'm not understanding the wanted the sills on first before we did the windows.

SPEAKER_00: 5:46

Oh, so you're an actual installer of the windows. And windows. Okay, now okay, that makes sense. That's a second trip, then that costs more money.

SPEAKER_02: 5:56

We went, so she was leaving out of town from Monday to Wednesday. And I said, Well, I require payment when the job's done. Okay, I'm trusting you. I'm like, do you mind I we live in a small town? Like, my name, this is my baby, this is my everything. So she leaves me a checkup for like$850.$850. And cool, we got everything done. Yesterday, I get a call. A week later, over a week. Over a week. Mind you, the wind me and Chris went back and did the windows the next day. Get this darn job done. Right. I'm not waiting for your windowsill guy anymore. Right. He should have had this done before me. Right. So I'm not no longer waiting for your windowsill guy. That's why I don't like other vendors on the job. Exactly. And that's what I said. And so even the hood's contractor goes, he calls me and he goes, Jamie, you guys did such a great job. Your team, he goes, but I didn't know you were gonna be here. Otherwise, I'd have pulled that oven out for you to get and the fridge. Because I require them, if they want clean behind there, please move it yourself so I don't mess anything up because I've had that happen. Right. And so I was like, hey, don't worry about it. I'm gonna come back and do those windows, regardless of if those windowsills are done. He goes, So if you want, you can just move it then and then I'll grab it real quick. Me and Chris did the windows. Here it is, a week later. She calls and something uh she goes, she goes, I don't know why you're not answering my phone calls.

SPEAKER_00: 7:59

Maybe she dumped the wrong number.

SPEAKER_02: 8:01

No, she goes, Jamie, I trusted you. I'm dissatisfied. I'm gonna show you what I'm dissatisfied. I would like to schedule an appointment to show you what I'm dissatisfied for. Oh, so she can scold you. I called right back, and guess what? I called her three times throughout the day, right? Not not back to back to back.

unknown: 8:22

I can't.

SPEAKER_00: 8:22

That's the I'm so ashamed of you. That's that parent talk. I am so ashamed of it. She's 81. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 8:33

I was like, I in and out, I'm doing that's a crazy time right now. Right now I'm on a podcast, you know. Sometimes my phone is off. I will call you back. Right. Um then it's like you're not answering the phone, anyways. I didn't say that, but so I right now I have Kayla over there. She goes, So what was the complaint? Exactly. Well, Kayla goes, Do you want me to stay there and fix it? I was like, take pictures of everything, see what she's dissatisfied about. And I told her, I was like, there's no word, like I'm not gonna run off. We're in too small of a town to be uh oh, you did me dirty, kind of dip. I know I'm like small towns, we know what that's like, really? Yeah, so we're gonna find out here in a little bit. This is real going on right now. Yeah, this is happening. Taylor is there right the second time.

SPEAKER_00: 9:38

So, did you see any of the photos?

SPEAKER_02: 9:40

No, not yet, because no, I want to know. I know me too. I'm so curious, but it is a week later, and it literally says in our contract that she signed to she has to sign it in order to schedule me. She has, you know, sometimes whenever you want look back, you're like, so you got 24 hours to get back a hold of me and tell me, or is it 48? It's one of the two.

SPEAKER_00: 10:11

48, I believe.

SPEAKER_02: 10:12

Uh 48. To look, sit back and look and like, okay, this was missed. This was we will come back and fix it. Here it is a week later. So having a somebody check off on that, and I had to do a gentle reminder of you did sign your paperwork that stated 48 hours. You were you your contractor who you work closely with even said it is a great job. I'm curious to know what it was that she was saying. What it was, and so here it is a week later, and I don't know what we I mean with her.

SPEAKER_00: 11:00

She called you a week later. You're you've got someone back over there, you owned it, you're they're fixing whatever it is. I'm curious to see what the photos are. In our paperwork, I don't know if it says it in yours, but it says if if you cannot do a walkthrough or your proxy can't do a walkthrough, your real estate agent, whoever that is, cannot do walkthrough, our lead on the job will walk it with the assumption that everything is good. It and then it just it throws it right back in their lap, and they can't say anything because that they they raised it says part of the deal is that when we do this, we are expecting either you to do a walkthrough or your proxy to come and do a walkthrough. And even if your husband does a walkthrough and you still don't walk it, like it, it's on you, it's not on the cleaning company. We do everything we can possibly do. And I know I'm on my soapbox and you guys have all heard me talk about it, but our paperwork states if unable to walk at the end of cleaning, we completely understand our lead on site will walk the job. We also snap photos and a short video. Yep, should do it. Yes, that's pretty standard nowadays because that's not back in the days where I used to dare you to try to find dirt after a week and a half, right? So and then it just falls back in their lap. So house checks in general, especially for one-time cleanings, you are you're you're looking for quality and it it and it's not more like spot checking, like with regular house checks when you go to visit your clients or your lead goes to visit the clients. You're going there to kind of make sure that A, everything is good. I popped by someone the other day who was a longtime client, dropped off the schedule, and is now back on the client. I personally went over there and I thanked her for her business and I wanted to see where the cleaning tech was in their perspective of the job, right? So, and and it was nice to see because they had done some things to get rid of some of the clutter that they had always said they were going to do and they finally did it. Right. She looks fantastic and she's glowing, and you know, it's just great to see people like that. Yeah, it really is. It it is good for you to be involved in your business that way. And if you cannot be involved in your business and you need to train someone to go over there, and if you can't train someone to go over there because you don't have enough work for them to do that all the time, what you do is you take a lead or someone more who's close by and they can do a house check and you pay them a little bit extra for that. I won't go into all the craziness of the strategy behind that, but house checks in general are for spot checking. I used to do way back in the day, I would do house checks and I wouldn't announce. Sometimes I would, sometimes I wouldn't. It would just be a surprise. I'd happen to be in the area doing whatever, and I'd go by and see Mrs. Smith, and I was mostly there to love on their dogs and to visit with Mrs. Smith. They totally love it. It creates connection, it makes them worthy of keeping your business because you still are doing that face to face. Takes five minutes of your time when you're already out. Now, in the bigger cities, probably can't do that so much. But us for those of you who live in a small town, I still consider a small, even though I looked the other day about how large my freaking town has gone. Where your population is it? They said that I I think between the four towns we have 250,000 people now. We when I first moved here, it was like 37,000 people in my town. I wish we could get a little boon. So we have issues. I mean, we got now, we have crime where we didn't have crime before.

SPEAKER_02: 14:36

Um right, but we do, we I mean, we have over a hundred plus recurring clients, you know. It does get hard. Some of the clients, I well, you know, I I still stuck at the walkthroughs. Yes, I am, you guys.

SPEAKER_00: 14:57

Well, to get it down, like this is what I'm looking for in a walkthrough, and they have to shadow you. There isn't a video. I mean, I guess we could make a YouTube video of someone filming us walking through the house on what you look for, on why you're doing the psychological things that you're doing. Oh, yeah, that could be on the agenda for next year. I'm not promising anything because we both have really busy schedules. Yeah, we got things too. There is a method to the madness, so you should be doing and then this doesn't even touch commercial. We won't, we won't even touch that topic because that's a whole different level of quality check. But there should be a it should be randomly or it should be on a schedule. Hey, just to let you know, Michelle, I'm gonna be doing house checks, and then that's when they freak out, and you can see them like catching things up that they have been letting slide.

SPEAKER_02: 15:46

Well, you know, and it's not also doing quality doing house checks isn't trying to catch um them doing something wrong, your your employees doing something wrong, it's just uh to prove prove that you care, and and and it also gets uh a consistency of anybody like okay, Starbucks. I have there's so many people at Starbucks that know how to make my drink. It's a venti iced brown sugar oat milk chicken espresso. That's a lot with brown sugar cold foam. Yes, I I know I need a diet, but there's they all know how to make this drink, right? And different, not just here, but if I went to San Francisco, they know how to make an ice brown sugar, oat milk, shake, and espresso.

SPEAKER_00: 16:45

Right, it's like McDonald's. Everybody needs to learn how to do the same thing, and having systems in place provides consistency, and that's a system, and it's a system, so it does it, it it does have some accountability and it has brand consistency, but it it mostly it's enforcing the system that you have used. And let's be honest, way back when, when we were employees, and I probably was I was a good employee, I would not be a good employee now, but I was went above and beyond. If you told me to do something, I just followed all the steps. Well, I don't think that those types of employees are present anymore. I think that there are some that you can find, but we get last days ago. Mrs. Smith comes in and she has a personal crisis every time, then it becomes a therapy session. So instead of like doing the baseboards every single time, you're over there listening to Mrs. Smith while you're waxing on and waxing off. For those of you who are not watching the video, I'm doing the whole karate kid. Karate kid wax off. What was the name of that thing? And the the it had the little peg sticking out of it. There's an actual name for that. Oh, the speedball. Yeah, he did the speedball and then he did the whole arm thing. Oh, yeah, you know what? I don't know, some sort of like it looks like a tree without any bush uh branches, it's got stumps. But in any case, I think it really does enforce systems and it then it provides the same thing so that way if Michelle is out sick, Jamie can come in and and she just knows that she needs to do the same thing. Oh you should really schedule them randomly on your schedule. So when you're looking at your 12-month schedule and you're planning next year, you know that on the 3rd of January you're gonna do house inspections, and then you might not do house inspections until the 6th of June. Or and then you might do a final one if you're gonna do three in a year, you might want to do one in October. I certainly would not do any house inspections over the holiday season. The whole point of the holiday season is for you to get in and out, not add in extra stress. And let's be honest, people have glitter all over the place. There's no holy glitter, any sort of like house check.

SPEAKER_02: 19:47

So holy glitter, yeah, it's everywhere. I love that you put a PDF. I'm just looking over my show notes, you guys, and she Shannon put a PDF. I didn't see this till just now. Of what to look for and a quality check. Oh, I love this.

SPEAKER_00: 20:09

I think Shannon it's a little off-centered. I just try to cover everything because how many books have a urinal? Not very many. There are a few boxes that have urinals make it their own, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 20:19

Yeah, no, I love that, and they expect it by right, and you have to hand it in.

SPEAKER_00: 20:27

I love it, so that makes it easier for you. There's no like having to reinvent the wheel, it's a very simple process, and then you can just you know make it your own. And then the key areas to inspect some of the sneaky places I look. I'm looking, I'm rubbing my finger on the blind. So I'm walking in, I'm looking at the overall room, I'm looking for long stringy cobwebs, which happen in the fall because it's all the time, and you can't you cannot see them right. So I'm looking, then I'm walking over to the blinds and I'm running my fingers on the blinds, and I'm talking the whole time. I'm doing I'm just running, I'm not saying anything other than they can all see me run my fingers across the blinds. Well, it's a again, like you said, psychological psychological thing, like oh and then I'm looking in the bathrooms and I'm I'm running my fingers along that shower bar where that glass door sits, and I want to see if they've cleaned it. I'm looking at the light fixtures. If I'm going into the bedrooms and that I know that the there's no storage underneath the bed, I'm actually laying on the floor and I'm looking under the bed to see they got those dust bunnies. Right. What if they did it? Well, it wouldn't be a drug. I won't say anything in front of the customer.

SPEAKER_02: 21:39

Don't say anything in front of the client, right?

SPEAKER_00: 21:41

Ever. No, it's not about degrading them or making them feel small. It's usually like a QA, like, hey, what happened with Mrs. Smith's bed? Oh, well, she said she didn't want it. She had storage under there, and they just removed it, and I was gonna get it this time. Okay, nothing said, but right, right, okay, just a simple I know, you know, I know that you are looking, right? It's like it's one of those. So you're just looking at those are some of the I'm looking at the lamp. So when I'm looking at the lamp uh on the tops of the lamp, I'm seeing if they've dusted inside of the lamp shade. I'm seeing if they've wiped off said lamp, right? I'm looking, and those are the light bulb. Right. The light bulb. I'm looking at the door jammed, I'm looking at the switch plates. Baseboards are kind of not as prevalent as they used to be, especially well, the bathroom for sure. They should be hit every single time, but I leave it up to the you know, my team to decide if it needs to be dusted. Or wiped and usually wiped as an upcharge. So there's vents. You're looking, you're just looking at the general placement of things. It could be that Mrs. Smith, when you got there, has some sort of audit going on. And two of her dining room tables, her formal dining room and her kitchen, have paperwork everywhere. So that hasn't been touched in months because it's a long process. You know, there's a lot of things that happen in people's lives that you don't have to say anything. You're just there to look. You're not there to criticize anybody. Um, if there is a discrepancy, ask why didn't Miss Smith, why are those dust bunnies in her Mrs. Smith's buttons? Oh, she, you know, it becomes that thing. Then you can start to ask the questions on what are relevant. If it's a blatant, like I've shared the story way back when, when I was a Marrimaid, I worked with this girl. I think her name was Mindy. Mindy was not a very motivated individual, and she was the person who was in the princess tub. And then this is when texting was still big. And she was texting, and I was in, I was a Marrymade. I cleaned the whole house while she laid in the tub texting her lover or whoever it was. I mean, probably. Who knows? T H that kind of dynamic. And if I hadn't cleaned, if I would have just walked off the job, Mandy would have been like, well, Shannon didn't do it, right? But it's think you don't know until you get there about what's going on. Like apparently, Mandy, upon bringing it to Gene and Bruce's attention, Mandy did that with every single person. And so every single person in every single house for like the last eight months, Mandy didn't clean. She just sat in the princess tub or the bathtub of the client that wasn't used, and she was doing her thing on the phone. So you just don't know until you start to ask the questions. Right. And then there it should be a grading system. Excellent, acceptable, needs improvement. That's entirely discretionary. I like to give people an opportunity to say face because once I go there and I look, then I know and they know that I know. And it makes it easier that way. Well, I write up if it's something that's really bad or needs to be addressed. Like, for example, if Mrs. Smith calls you to complain, then that person actually gets house checks like four or five times in a row, right? Hey, Mrs. Smith complained. I'm on you. And then you walk over there and it is that, then you're like, okay, Michelle, we're gonna have to do a little bit of it. Sounds to me like you you may you need a fresh little training. Right. And a little bit of maybe extra training. Maybe you forgot how things are supposed to be done. And then that at that point, you unfortunately have to be a little inconvenienced. You either go over yourself or you send a lead over there, and they have to wait until that lead arrives before they can leave. That is the caveat for that house check. And then after they're able to pass all while they're on pay.

SPEAKER_02: 25:28

Okay, go ahead. All while you're paying them, right? You know, so make sure you pay it. Because I think I broke it down to it was whenever I first started hiring employees, I think I got it down to where it was like$3,500. I think it's about a little$4,000 and up to get a fully vetted. Somebody follow around with them, you know, uh just uh giving their shirts and making their kit.

SPEAKER_00: 26:07

It's expensive. It it is it can be, but it's worth it though to pay the minor things, it's still worth it.

SPEAKER_02: 26:16

It's a worth it, and and especially if you believe in them, like you know that right. This is this is whenever it's like, oh, okay, like this. I don't know with my situation what I could have done different, other than you know, throw it back in her face, say, you know, you signed the paper.

SPEAKER_00: 26:37

But that's the dialogue in her head.

SPEAKER_02: 26:39

Yeah, she's 81 and she uh you can tell clearly that she's already ready, you know, she's ready to just run you through the mud.

SPEAKER_00: 26:51

And so um that she does that with everyone, or genuinely there was a flop-up, but we'll figure that out as soon as we see the picture.

SPEAKER_02: 26:58

I will. And man, I really am super excited. I hope that you guys go in to the show notes because Shannon left us a PDF. I'll be down. I think this is great. The PDF, uh, and you can make it your own. You can put, you know, if you don't want to do it like this, it's structured so well enough to where you can just make it your own. Where would you put these? Is this in their employee file? In your file.

SPEAKER_00: 27:30

Oh, you would have to if they if the person knew they were doing an inspection, they would have to either swing by the office if you have a physical brick and mortar, or you could, and these are for W-2s, obviously. If they are if they know they're doing home inspections, they can print it on on their printer and you can reimburse them.

SPEAKER_02: 27:47

That could the inspector, and then make the team or the cleaner, whoever sign off on it, say this insert such and such scene. Here's this. I need for everybody to sign.

SPEAKER_00: 28:05

Right. And there are companies that have full-time quality inspection, which I hate. It doesn't put any accountability on anybody, it's just an extra layer of I'm trying to protect my brand. When you do it my way, it make it gives them the freedom to make conscious decisions, good decisions, you hope, for you and your company because they are part of your company. It is a team that you are building. When and I've seen it with a lot of the larger franchises, they have a team of three come in there, and then they have a fourth person come in there who does the home inspection really every single time. And I don't think that that holds anybody accountable. It just wears them out. It's like going to when I was younger, I don't have it here. I actually have an article that was written about me when I worked at Ruby's Diner. That's how long ago that was in Costa Mesa. Oh, okay. They had this rigorous, and the reason why I got hired is because they gave you a written test and I got 99 out of 100. And they're like, Yeah, they're our person. What was stressful is you had to hit a certain amount of number points, certain touch points. So you had to say certain things every single time. Well, after a while, you get employee fatigue. And then the person doesn't want to do it anymore because it's too stressful because they don't know if they said the right thing or not said the right thing, they don't know if they're going to get in trouble, they don't know anything. It's just this rigorous inspection process that happens every single time. And I think it can wear people down and it ruins the company culture. Granted, when you did get a really good customer review, they gave you like 300 bucks at the time, and that was a lot of money. But that's why when you do it the other way, where you have inspections that are random or you have a quality control issue and you send someone over there, it works way better because it's more give and take. But when you have too much structure all the time, where it's it's there's pressure to perform to expectation, and not everyone is able to meet that, and it gives them anxiety, and you'll have people quit. So, what happens when you get to the escalation phase of someone not being handy help handy helping? I can't even talk. I need more coffee. When you have someone who has given you the I'm so disappointed in your speech, you do what Jamie does. She sends someone back over there, they're doing whatever needs to be done, and and you're gonna take you're gonna document the incident. So it's either gonna be one incident where it's gonna be it's the customer's fault, and she was looking for something extra because she paid$850. It's the customer's fault because they're she was she didn't communicate, whatever it was, or it's the cleaning tech's fault and we genuinely missed something, or it's the person who took the order, so that would be you or me, or whoever's answering the phones. Maybe maybe we got backtracked because the kid was screaming and we did forgot to write down must do closet, right? It just it things happen, we're human, so just own it because so many times I had this happen the other day. Someone reached out, they had 1099s, and the 1099 put lime away on the brushed bronze faucets. Oh, ruined all of them in the bathroom. And I see she goes, What do I do? I'm like, You get to own this one, and she was mad and and disappointed, and all the things that come along with that.

SPEAKER_02: 31:22

So yeah, it's such a huge lesson learned, and it's stuff that I mean, I don't know if you're really following all the groups. I I know not everybody follow follows them like you and I do. That's where we get a lot of our content, really. I mean, honestly, but everybody tells you don't use the you know, like and that's I didn't know that citric acid for the could eat away if you don't rinse it right really well off of your fixtures, it can do the same thing that that lime away did, which is turn it black, right?

SPEAKER_00: 32:10

So it burns it. So what happens is it's called brushed bronze. Underneath the faucet is normally copper, and then they enamel it, and enameling is a heat adhesive, so they're putting it in a kiln and they're heating it up and it's sticking to the faucet. Now, with normal wear and tear, it should be okay. But when you put something in the aesthetic, it peels off that enameling. For those of you who are not watching, I'm using my hands and a gesture, you'll have to catch the YouTube video, but it peels it off and then it comes off in big chunks. And then what happens is because it's copper, it starts to oxidize, so it turns green or or it gets burned, it turns black. Like we see how many times have we walked in the bathroom and there's bleach marks on the all of the faucets because someone thought bleach was gonna clean their faucet. Oh, yeah, and it burned and it's like purple and a black, that's yellow, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 33:00

Yeah, yep, yep. Uh how yeah, house checks, and uh you I did a house check. New clients, brand new clients that get deep cleans and then they go on to recurring services, always gets a follow-up, always gets I always uh until I can find somebody, but usually I'm still trying to let go of that control a little bit. There are times like I'm like, Haley, can you she's in the kitchen, so it's like you want you know this house. She's like, Yeah, I got it. So, but a new client. I did a house check, you know, while they were doing it, and then I seen something in she's a newer hire. I said, What's that in your bag? Because that is not we don't use that here. I don't know what that is, and I it's it was in Spanish. And I said I I the the client was not there, right? But you don't know nowadays, so I had to wait until after you know everything, but I did, I I went up Miriam was upstairs in the bathroom, and I said, What is that? Can you can you grab okay? Because I don't speak Spanish, there's a language barrier. But yeah, there was we don't do that, and I don't know if I wasn't clear enough, right?

SPEAKER_00: 35:07

You know, so so it's a house check is a it's a value, definitely, and it does really help build your brand, but just you decide. I mean, when I worked, you guys have all heard me talk about how when I was in with Mary Maids, we used to give out all these stupid cards every time, and I would have clients get so mad, and they're like, I'm not filling out this darn card and I'd throw it in the trash. I'd be like, I'm just waxing on. I don't know, lady, I'm just here to clean the bathrooms.

SPEAKER_02: 35:37

I'm not that's what we're supposed to do. At least you followed. I'm I'm curious to know their their what their training program the Merrimaids.

SPEAKER_00: 35:48

I'll tell you what the training program was. I got hired, I got an hour and a half of training. They're like, okay, come back tomorrow. I'm like, okay. And then that was it. This is how we do the bathroom and this is how we do the kitchen. Everything else had to figure out my I legitimately, they're like, Well, we're short-handed, so you get an hour and a half. I'm like, okay. How is this like, oh my god, it sparkles? Okay, great. I'm doing a good job. Yeah, especially how experiment because no one's doing anything.

SPEAKER_02: 36:14

Perfect. Yeah, it was just obviously not structured, and that is something that we are all trying not to do. Like, I'm in I'm in a growth spurt, and I'm hoping everybody that's listening and following along that you guys are growing with me because I'm in this growth era, like, okay, we got it. We we know how to get the clients, we know that they're gonna come and go, come and go. It sucks whenever that whenever you get lose a client. Okay, oh, we're back up again. We're past that point. And I'm I'm throwing my hands over, like, we're past that point. We know that, and this is for our true listeners, and I'm hoping that you guys are like, Oh, okay, she's she's at this point. I'm at this point. Of so I I want right now, I'm at a point to where okay, I want this structured. I I got people helping me with my social media, a little bit of the back-end stuff, like help me send out some emails and da-da-da-da-da. I got the bookkeeper, so I got that handled. I'm at a point where now I'm like trying to structure my employees' company culture, and this is just going along so well with I with what I'm at. It's because I'm right there, right live, obviously, with you guys, you know. And this is where we're at. We're trying to structure the employee part, and they, you know, come and they go too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 38:01

So if you go back to the show notes, look for the templates, and and these are just my opinions on house checks. I think that they're important and vital part of how we run our companies and our businesses. And I do, I cannot reiterate that when you give people performance anxiety, they will not stick around. It's just it's too much pressure that people like myself put on themselves to because I'm a type A. I'm like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right? So I'm like, oh my god, I missed part two of you know paragraph three. So don't do that to your cleaning text. Right. Um, you're not creating company culture by creating a corporate entity. We're just housekeeping. And yes, there are some really large house cleaning companies out there who have hundreds. I I've seen we won't name names, but I've seen a lot of people who have like 100 cleaning tax or 200 cleaning techs. I see a lot of larger businesses that run entirely remote. Yeah, off 1099s. I'm like, I hope to god you don't get busted. But um, because that when you're that large, you cannot not have employees because it's too they're in uniforms and company cars and all of the stuff. I'm like, you're treating them like employees, you're gonna get dinged. No, I'm not. I'm like, okay, fine. Okay, but yeah, house checks help, especially with one-time cleanings. And then obviously, if you have an issue with a complaint, and then obviously there can be a personality issue. And I've had this happen with servers, and I try to be as delicate as I can. There, and I'm older now. So when I was younger, I used to just put up with people's shenanigans, and it would just be torture. Like you would have when you went to college, right? You took a class and you had the person who is the most awful professor you've ever had, and you're like, I don't know how I'm gonna handle nine weeks with this person, right? When to my age, you're like, Oh, you know what, we're not gonna, we're not gonna mesh. Sorry, this just isn't gonna be so sometimes it happens with customers. You have people customers have to be managed just like cleaning techs, and there are some really high maintenance customers who require a lot of energy and effort. You have taking a big breath in, right? And you have to decide whether it's gonna be worth it to you long term or not for your cleaning tech, too, right? For your cleaning tech, because it's gonna be they have to, they're the ones managing them and they're responsible. So, you guys have all heard me talk about Tom Lynn. Tom Lynn was a spitfire, she was a hundred pounds wet, and she used to and she was required to take medicine, and so she would go over to take her medicine and she'd flick the pills behind her, and they would land in the sink, and then she'd turn the water on and run the garbage disposal, and she'd be like, take that. She would also drink Budweiser beer when we were there in the middle of the day. She would flash the gardeners, and she's in her 80s, right? She'd flash the gardeners and she wasn't wearing anything underneath. She just she had to be managed, and and then eventually Tom Lynn died. But I will always remember her and all of the stories that went, I mean, I could tell you hundreds of stories of this person. I can imagine her younger days how much she had to be managed because she just was she wow, she was a Spitfire. So you have to decide whether it fits in. But if you get a personality conflict, is what my long dissertation really meant to say. Separate them, pull the cleaning tech out and say, I'm gonna sweat you out. I have guys, I'm like, okay, this person doesn't like guys, I'm gonna give you this client instead, right? That's just cut and dry. There's no personality, don't take it personal. But sometimes it really is a personal thing and they just don't get along. Don't force anyone to do it. Just say, let me get you another cleaning tech, we'll get you in here, or go through the protocol and figure out where the source of the problem is. Sometimes you have to change out cleaning techs because they're not doing a good job and that person needs to be retrained. Sometimes it's the stress of trying to get their kid in the next city over and they're trying to, they don't say anything to you, so they figure they can slam it home every time, and then they end up missing the last two bedrooms, right? So there's all kinds of things that can go wrong. So this is why you need to check in. And I people want you, we're we've become a society where we don't like to connect face to face anymore. I prefer to do it face to face. Do what works for you, what's best. You can do it through a text message. Hey, I'm just checking in. You could do it with the voicemail, you could shoot over an email. But I'm telling you, the connection part right now, that piece is more important than anything else right now. People are running stagnant because they don't have a connection to their base, they don't have a connection to their customers. The cleaning text are just a number, and people are starting to feel it. They want to feel like they belong to something bigger.

SPEAKER_02: 42:42

Yeah, that's my two cents. I love it. That's great. So, you guys, if you are listening to this, go into the show notes. Shannon left us a little gold nugget. I already have mine, I already have mine printed out. I did that's funny. I was looking over the show notes, and then I'm like, oh, you got there's actually a PDF here. So I'm going to be implementing that. That's I I love it.

SPEAKER_00: 43:10

That I'm gonna see how and you could pre-kit them out so that way you don't have to do it later if it's a logistical thing because you cover a large area, so you could pre-print out 10 of them, slap them in a folder, and say, This is for something I'm working on for um house checks. Make sure you keep it in your car. And yeah, and then you can say, Hey, remember when I gave you those 10 pieces of paper, is I keep in your car? And they're like, Oh yeah, but they're crumpled. It's all bits out of shape because the kids are smoothie on it, and you know, it's right here, I got it.

SPEAKER_02: 43:39

So oh, I like this. It's a good one. House checks and and just a total customer service to retain stand out amongst your your competitors, you know, and really show that you care.

SPEAKER_01: 44:00

Yeah. So that's yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 44:23

And if you want the house check templates, walkthrough standards, quality control systems we talked about today, head on over to cleanfreaksuniversity.com. That's where we break down step by step so you're not reinventing the wheel or chasing problems weeks later. Thanks for spending time with me and Miss Jamie, and we'll see you in the next episode.