Customer expectations vs your own

I feel that understanding a customer’s expectations is an essential skill to cultivate. It helps you bid jobs more accurately, puts to rest the “how clean is clean?” issue, and helps you leave the job with a very satisfied customer. Today’s job really illustrated this, especially in regards to the ever-haunting question of “how clean is clean?”.

After four normal windows i began to encounter windows that wouldn’t come clean with two washings including steel wool scrubbing. They were plagued by some nasty hard water and other staining. Additionally, i was only doing the outsides and the insides were terrible - one of those jobs where you feel there’s no point because the windows are going to be horrible and they won’t be satisfied.

So, after doing a few i call the home owner outside and point out the windows I’ve cleaned vs ones i hadn’t, which was a huge difference. I was about to explain, though, that despite very thorough cleaning - and I’d be happy to show him the process - these windows simply won’t come clean without a more extensive treatment. Before i could even begin to say this he excitedly remarked how he walked from one of the rooms that i hadn’t done to one that i had and was amazed. Like the glass was missing! Now I’m telling you, the glass looked awful, anything but invisible. And yet, he was delighted. Said they hadn’t been cleaned since the 80’s. I told him fine, just wanted to make sure he was happy with the result. I then finished the job quickly and stress-free. At the end he thanked me several times and remarked again how great the windows looked.

Now for me to be happy with those windows would have required at least double the time that i spent. More, really, cause i woulda done the insides too. But that didn’t matter. He was happy and when i subsequently went to the bank, I was happy. It’s all about understanding expectations.

7 Likes