Does ‘Don’t Worry About That’ really means ‘DO worry about that?’
I want to share with you a wonderful little lesson I had yesterday when I was working with one of my lovely housekeepers on a client site.
We were doing the usual checks to make sure we were on top of the house and as part of staff training, that everything had been done.
When we got to the kitchen and we checked everything, chunk by chunk, top to bottom, everything was beautiful. BUT there were a few bits of sticky bits of something inside the hinges and down the front of the Aga oven.
I explained she had done a fabulous job, just missed these bits, and asked would you mind doing it? She said, “Oh no, the client said not to worry about that because she has been making marmalade and made a terrible mess”.
I said “Oh right, ok”…. but in my mind, I thought there was no reason why we should not clean that. And it’s always nice, I feel to go that extra mile. When someone says, “Oh no, don’t worry about that” – really, I think on the whole they want it done. Maybe DO worry about that!
So I suggested that to the housekeeper – that when someone says they don’t want something done, it’s normally actually because they do. Obviously, make the right judgment call in each situation but of course no harm could be done, so we quickly cleaned it up, and then the Aga looked absolutely sparkling.
Then to reinforce this, when we were leaving and I passed by, I mentioned to the client the wheely bins were not in their normal place and that I wanted to dispose of the rubbish and she said: “Don’t worry, just leave it there”. I thought where I should leave it, but in my mind, I thought NO NO NO NO NO!” ….. and I explained it was not a problem, we will dispose of them on our way out.
So, what I want to say is that customer service is often about going that little bit extra and I notice a sometimes us housekeepers when we have not been trained or not sure of the spirit of customer service, we leave things for the owner to do.
But, these things only take a minute to do to blow the customer away. I believe in trying to leave a home with a completely clear slate wherever possible, nothing out of place, everything is done.
Even down to, if the client has left a used cup of coffee on the side to go that little bit extra to put it in the dishwasher or wash it up. So, it’s always looking at little, tiny things that leave the statement that you have been there and done a wonderful job!