Adding Value To The Customer Relationship

How do you add value to your customers? Now you must be wondering, what “value” I’m talking about”.

I know you know how to clean, and there is value in that, but that’s not what I’m talking about now. Value goes beyond just cleaning for someone and collecting a check for your effort.

Ideally you want to extend your reach, and become more than just a just a run of the mill cleaning company. Adding value means acting more like a “consultant” to your client.

Keep in mind, the vast majority of your competition is “run of the mill”. So when you add some additional value, you leap frog ahead of them (the competition) in the eyes of both your current customers and future customers.

How is this done?

Well…that could be answered in dozens of ways, but I’ll try to illustrate one for you. Just this past week, I went to visit the new office of one of my existing customers.

It’s a brand new building that they just had built, and we are coming along for the ride. This will make the second office we clean for this group (when you make customers happy, your company grows when their company grows).

My companies purpose for being at the new office was to wax the new floors (bonus money), and do some post construction cleanup (more bonus money). We performed the work without incident, but we noticed a few things that could be improved upon.

This is where I added value.

Since the office is brand new, I suggested they purchase a mat for outside the door to help collect the dirt (especially the rock salt from the winters snows we are getting here). I offered to look into this “to save him some time” and report back to him (every time you save a customer “time” you add “value”).

For the record, I explained to my customer that “walk off mats” placed outside an entrance will eliminate much of the sand, dirt and grit people track into his facility. I further explained that it takes approximately seven steps to remove all this loose dirt from the bottom of someone’s shoes (when you “educate” the customer, you add “value”).

If dirt and grime never get the chance to enter the building, it can’t do any harm (and it sure makes our job a lot easier too). Did you notice that I shed my image as just the “cleaner” and quickly transitioned to a “consultant”. The average “run of the mill” cleaner never bothers with any of this.

But I’m not done yet…

While I was there, I also noticed a few things that my customer may want to speak to the builder about before they move in. This included an inside door that was never stained, a light switch that didn’t work and a window that didn’t open properly (when you look out for the “customers interests“, you add “value”).

To summarize, I could have just gone in and waxed the floors and left it at that (no one would have known the difference). But by adding value at every opportunity, I created a stronger position for myself “in the eyes” of the customer. In other words, I became a consultant. 

This my friends is how to keep your customers for a long time and get rich in the process.

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