Mastering the Daily Clean: Simple Routines for a Lasting Effect
1. Cover Basic Training With Strategic Team Scheduling
Deciding how to train cleaning employees depends on how you organize your business and the size and scope of each job. If you typically send one cleaning person to each home, sending a new hire along can be beneficial on-the-job training.
However, the more team members you have, the more essential it is to have every new hire work with each seasoned employee. While you want to ensure every employee understands the company culture and branding expectations—such as what uniform they wear or how they communicate with clients—they should also become familiar with how each cleaner performs the necessary duties.
The more experience each new maid has on the job, the better their long-term performance will be. By providing extensive and partnership-type training processes, you can help instill confidence in even the greenest employee. Starting them off right (and with plenty of resources) guarantees they remain committed to doing a thorough job.
Here are general guidelines on how to train maids:
- Develop a standard method for each job, such as how to remove stains from grout or how to properly steam clean carpet, and provide staff training for housekeeping and procedures for every member.
- Offer multiple methods to achieve the same result so employees can use what works best for them while delivering consistent results.
- Pair up each new cleaning staff member with an experienced maid to learn the ins and outs of the business.
- Issue employees a uniform or mandate specific colors or dress codes for uniformity.
- Practice customer introductions with each staff member, such as requiring that they give a greeting, introduce themselves, and cover any legal or technical details at the start of the job.
- Explain how to handle property damage and outline insurance coverages and policies for reference.
- Establish parameters for scheduling and responsibilities, making sure each employee works in every area of the business.
2. Concentrate on Soft Skills
Soft Skills include personality attributes and social awareness. It can be challenging to train these qualities, but you can encourage traits like emotional intelligence and overall “people skills” in your staff.
Rather than focusing on performance metrics, encourage your cleaning service staff to build personal connections with clients. You don’t need to know every customer’s life story, that much is evident. But, being sensitive to their needs and expectations is the first step toward ensuring repeat business.
Soft skills encompass the following traits and areas:
- Communication abilities
- Creative thinking
- Work ethic
- Teamwork
- Networking
- Decision making
- Positivity
- Problem-solving
- Time management
- Flexibility
- Motivation
- Conflict resolution
Focus on hiring employees with positive personalities and can-do attitudes, and the physical house cleaner training aspect of onboarding will be the least of your worries.
3. Give Your Employees the Power to Upgrade Customer Service
Although ensuring a thorough cleaning job is the best way to provide excellent customer service, your employees should feel confident in going above and beyond. By allowing your staff to give your clients “extras,” such as a complimentary carpet deep clean or a ten percent discount, you are increasing their ability to deliver amazing service.
Your cleaning business training program should also include tactics for providing great customer service, such as:
- Taking notes on client preferences and passing those along to team members.
- Having answers to client questions.
- Returning phone calls, emails, and other correspondence promptly.
- Allowing time gaps between jobs to minimize arriving late to a task or needing to leave early to be on time elsewhere.
- Showing up to the job in uniform and with all the necessary tools and equipment (plus backups as necessary.)