Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL EP 182 ( 2 of 3) Charity Cleanings Gone Wrong-What no one tells you.

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CBL EP 182 ( 2 of 3) Charity Cleanings Gone Wrong-What no one tells you. · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, everyone.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is Shannon Miller with Cleaning Business Life.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host today, and we are continuing on with our mini-series of charity cleanings.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to talk about charity cleanings got wrong, what no one tells you.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So there's been a couple of things that I've seen come to light in the last couple months with charity cleanings.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And most specifically, no one really talks about what goes wrong in a charity cleaning.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like what happens if they're mad if they don't get the results they're looking for?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: What happens if they want a second free cleaning?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: What happens if they want to write a bad review because they're not happy with the cleaning that you've done?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: It happens.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you've and if you've been in business for any length of time, you've either experienced it or you will.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're going to talk about the side of charity cleaning that most people avoid.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Ta-da! The part where good intentions turn into bad outcomes.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And most people get into this because they want to genuinely help.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and sometimes there are bad deals going wrong, just like within business, right?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's bad business deals, there's bad charity cleanings, and you wanted to help, you said yes.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't define anything clearly, which is where you always get in trouble.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And now everyone involved is operating on assumptions.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're thinking that you're going to restore.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's been thrown around a lot lately, too.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to restore their home back to what it what they remember in the 2000s, right?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's actually not the case.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're just helping to sanitize so it's livable if that's air quotes for you who are not watching.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: If it's habitable.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these properties are not habitable and they need to be taken down and built from the ground up.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the gap.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is where things start to break down.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So the thing that I see the most is expectation.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So they're remembering a point in time when things were light and fluffy, their house was immaculate and beautiful before whatever traumatic event caused them to live in the squander that they're living in.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that is expectation.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So they're wanting it to be pristine and white, super white again, and everything that the media and social media has depicted to you on what cleanliness is.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where you can get into a lot of trouble because if you do not set clear expectations, you're going to have people who are going to want another re-clean, right?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because technically, in charity cleanings, if you were an operator, this could come up.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: You could do a charity cleaning and they're like, well, I'm not happy with this.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want to re-clean.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or they can want a second free clean because they liked it so much they want they don't know how to keep it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So they're looking for a second time, or maybe a third.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen that.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Or they're wanting it to be this snow white environment that is not physically possible because of the age and the condition of the home and how long it sat in those conditions.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you're very specific over what that expectation is going to be for the end result.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I talked a little bit about expectation in the other episode about not being able to complete the job as promised.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: So when you first arrive on site, either your cleaning tech is trained to do this, your crew, or you're physically going over to the location and you're assessing what exactly is going to be required for this job and what kind of labor hours are necessary.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I had a little lady one time, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Her son was not well mentally and had an episode, is how she labeled it.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And they couldn't turn the apartment because it was just, it was awful.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was, it was probably one of the worst ones.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I can only think of one other instance over in Cottonwood that it was horrific.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't believe that people were living in this environment, but they were.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But this particular person relapsed and had some mental stuff going on on top of it.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So he had two bathrooms.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So he proceeded to use one bathroom until it didn't work anymore.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's because he wasn't flushing anything that he was doing.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it just piled up layer by layer by layer by layer, and then it overflowed.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And how they found out, and this happened in the second bathroom too, is it started to drip down because it was a second second floor apartment, and they couldn't figure out what it was until they went in because he was hospitalized.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, oh my word.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we had to go in and we actually, there was so much fecal matter and urine.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It should have been a remediation cleaning, but no one could get it until like I think it was two weeks out.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So the maintenance person went in and got a lot of it out, but couldn't get it sanitized.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we actually, I had to get hazmat suits, and we ended up wearing this is a good pro tip.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: We ended up taking shopping bags from sprouts because they were thicker, and we used them as booties over our suit so that we could walk across and not have all that stuff seep up into our suit and then contaminate us.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very horrific job.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: He we even found his wallet in the layers of stuff that didn't get cleaned up by the handy person.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was bless her little heart.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: She was and like 89 years old and wanted to make sure that the apartment was cleaned.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: We just did the sanitation part and then a cleaning company, um, not a cleaning company, a carpet cleaning company came in and sanitized everything.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I believe they ended up having to pull the carpet for sure that because it was a completely furnished apartment.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: They had to pull the mattresses, all of the furniture had to be replaced.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So she, her, her sweet little self, she re paid to replace all that stuff for her son who was not well.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that was not a charity cleaning, but that's an example of an extreme cleaning where you can get yourself into a situation.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe I charged, it was a one two-bedroom, two-bath, like 800 square feet.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I ended up charging like 2,500 bucks for having to like get the walls and all of it.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there was lots of like, you know, PPE that we had to use.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was just wild.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure that the expectation is clear and that way you don't get any frustration or have any conflict.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the uncomfortable truth is when boundaries are not specified, it causes all kinds of issues, right?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I told the 89-year-old lady, I'm like, I don't know if we can get it clean to where they need it to get it rented out.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: They had ended up having to tear out the subfloor because it was leaking.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, it was leaking into the other person's ceiling.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you you just never know where you're gonna come across.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta have really good gloves.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't have any clear boundaries, then they'll give you boundaries.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So something to think about.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not always intentional, it's it, but it happens.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: They'll ask for more, they expect more, they start stretching what you originally agreed to.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, come on, just do your civic duty, do your Christian duty.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard that many times.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're in a position where your generosity is being pushed past what you intended because you didn't, you were like, wow, uh, this has never happened before.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't know how to pull it back without feeling like the bad guy.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of sucks, right?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: No one, you you intended on doing a good thing, and then you end up being the bad guy because you're like, no, you can't have more, right?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So something to think about.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a team, this is where things get really serious because you're gonna bleed out and labor on a job that you're already providing free labor on, because these guys are not doing it for free.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not just about you, it's about them.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if they feel that they're being sent into situations that are unclear, disorganized, or unpaid, guess what?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: They'll quit.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: You don't ever want to put your golden unicorns in a situation where they're gonna leave you.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they may not say it right away, but they'll feel it.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually, if you send them on two or three in a row, they're gonna be like, Are you punishing me on purpose?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to do that.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a much bigger problem than just one bad charity cleaning.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And most of the time, the issue is not the client, it's just the lack of leadership on the job.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it scope creep is immense when you are doing these types of cleanings.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's strong boundaries, you have to have parameters on what exactly you're going to give them.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't, they will unintentionally or intentionally take advantage.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So no structure, no communication, no defined scope, no boundary causes.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Chaos.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't set it, but it got set for you because they just are like, well, she said she's gonna give us free cleaning.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that entail, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: How many of us have been on a job where you did the deep cleaning?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, but you didn't do this, this, and this.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, did you not?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is this your signature right here on this agreement?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: It says this is what we're doing.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's not listed anywhere on here.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's an add-on charge.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're happy to do that to add it to your bill, right?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, how to fix it moving forward?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: The solution is to stop, isn't is not to stop giving, it's to start leading, setting expectations, to find exactly what is included, limit how often you do it, either monthly or quarterly.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: You decide.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, it's up to you, not me, not what I say, not what the customer says.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's up to you.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And communicate that clearly, and most importantly, stick to what you said because structure protects everyone involved, and you certainly don't want your cleaning text quitting on you over that.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how you get out of the ickiness of having people have scope creep on these charity cleanings, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then we we talked a little bit about leaving a bad review.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I if you felt that the job did not go well and you're hustling because you got to do video, you had video, you had a media release signed and you didn't feel that the job went grateful, do not push for a five-star review because you just might get a bad one.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you get an awful review from someone that you gave a charity clean, make sure that you respond in as most professional manner as possible.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: It personally will involve a phone call from me if that happens, and I'll be like, you need to take this down, and they'll be like, no, I'm not going to.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, well, then we're gonna do it this way, right?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna respond back as professionally as you can.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna provide before and after photos, and you're gonna tell everybody, including God, that you did it for free.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that it does not reflect bad on you.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then there was another scenario where they weren't happy and they wanted a reclean.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure that they they understand this is a one and done that they're not getting a reclean and that sometimes the scope of the job is more expansive than what you anticipated.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: There have been a couple of issues where someone was a little nitpicky and we went back to clean.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was something minute, right?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was, I think it was just a test to see if we'd come back.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: So just you decide, right?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're either going to go back or you're not gonna go back, and hopefully there's no repercussions from the bad review.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's also the scenario of, well, she gave me one clean.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, she gave me two or three.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something to think about when you start to dip your toe into the waters of charity cleaning.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: You again, I reiterate, you decide how much labor you're going to donate, or is it gonna be an entire like Allen's Day thing where a bunch of cleaning companies come together?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have 12 or 15 houses scheduled all together, and everything is run.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's a leader, everyone wears a shirt.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's a whole thing, right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you decide what is best for you and your business, not the client.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to give them a second cleaning, by all means do so.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't want to give them, say I'm really sorry.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: In order for us to serve the most people in our community, we only allow one per cleaning per year.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you guys have any questions, I hope to hear from you.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and if you could, if you want to build a business that runs, these are my little mini commercials on systems, not stressed, check out all of my books.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: I believe there's seven.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting ready to put eight and nine up there on Amazon.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: You just Google, not Google, Amazon my name, Shannon Leanne Miller, and boom, it's right there.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: You guys take care.