When I visit a home to find out how we can help someone with cleaning needs, I will usually ask, “How can we help you?” I may need to change my approach because often the response is, “Well, I want my house cleaned.”
As simple and obvious as it may sound, there are actually a lot of variations in types of cleanings, houses, people and their specific needs. For example, a single gentleman living alone with no pets may want the very basics and with little frequency. “Just do my floors and clean the bathrooms.” My next visit may be someone who wants a more frequent, very detailed cleaning, and with a lot of instructions. Some may not even know what they are looking for, but just know they need help.
We have to take into consideration that some people may like or want to do certain things, like dusting their prize collection of knickknacks, figurines, glass vases or statues. It’s important that a cleaning crew knows the specific needs and wants of each individual person we serve. Specific instruction as to how they want a surface or room cleaned is valuable. The customer should feel confident that there will not be damage and that the surface, such as a high quality wood floor or a special type of kitchen counter, is being properly cleaned and treated with care. This is their home, it’s personal. Very few services out there are as personal as someone coming into your home on a regular basis, being around your children, pets and touching your stuff.
Giving up a job such as house cleaning is sometimes difficult for someone who has taken pride for many years in the work he or she has done to make the house a home. It’s uncomfortable to admit to needing a little help, unlike all the years before. With that in mind, a cleaning crew needs to be aware of and place importance on the requests and desires of the customer.
So, what are the basics? A good cleaning of the bathrooms including toilets, counters, sinks, showers, tubs, glass doors, mirrors, light fixtures and floors. In the kitchen, all the outside surfaces, counters, sinks, outside of appliances, stovetop and inside the microwave. In the living areas and bedrooms of the house, dusting of the furniture and cleaning the floors.
How about the deeper stuff? Along with all of the above, someone may want all the fans cleaned, the baseboards scrubbed, the light fixtures cleaned and shined, the cabinets oiled, the blinds cleaned, the inside of the oven and the refrigerator cleaned, the pot shelves dusted. How about the tops of those kitchen cabinets?
Regardless of the depth and instruction on the particular job, the company that does that job needs to understand the customer, understand the instructions, genuinely care about the home and take pride in the work.
Wishing everyone a wonderful summer! QCBN
By Lucy Leyva
Lucy Leyva is the proud owner of MTO Janitorial LLC, and Prescott Maid to Order LLC, both local cleaning companies based out of Prescott Valley, serving Northern Arizona since 2005. For any cleaning inquiry, please contact us at 928-772-0004 and/or visit our website at mtojanitorial.com.