Do Clients Really Come First? A True Story.

Do clients come first? Yes. ALWAYS!!

You know the experts say that you should and can blog about just about anything.

They say as long as your post is interesting and somewhat associated with what you do on a daily basis, go for it.

I say that because of the situation I happened to find myself in recently. In close to 20 years as a Textile Pro, you and I would think I’ve encountered it all. Life, however, being full of surprises, always presents us with something new.

Last week, around Noon, I arrived at the home of a new client in Atlanta. Everything went well; from the greeting, to the initial walk thru, to setting up my equipment.

A little detail that’s relevant to the story: while shopping around, my client, who has a 2 year old son, decided to go with my firm because of my baby-safe carpet cleaning product.

Okay, on with the story. I’m getting started and, what’s this? I can’t find my floor wand!!!

Where, or where, could it be? There were two possibilities: it was either removed from my van or, (more likely) left at the previous day’s client’s home waaaaaaaaaaay up north in Canton, GA. In either case, not good.

I brought these developments to my client’s attention. It’s an understatement to say that she was more than understanding and insisted that I do what was easiest and best for me. Her understanding was very generous, because it meant that I could drive up to Canton to pick up my floor wand and return to her home.

A critical detail: her 2 year old was slightly under the weather and usually takes his nap at 2pm. *Eeeeeerrrrrrch* problem. If I drove to Canton, it would mean interrupting her son’s nap time. The thought of that didn’t sit well with me at all.

For the sake of standing on my soapbox; I’m there to make things better, not become an inconvenience.

Right at this moment, an alternative came to mind.

Apparently, I’m one of a select few Textile Pros who chooses to detail all 3 “faces” of a staircase individually, one step at a time, using an upholstery tool.

By using this upholstery tool on her carpet, I would get the carpets just as clean, if not cleaner (as a result of the meticulous, precise cleaning the upholstery tool provides).

I would also have her son’s room finished well before his nap time at 2pm. The only “problem” was using this tool required a laborious effort like I haven’t encountered in some time. Using this tool required cleaning of her 3 areas on my hands and knees, by hand, 6 inches at a time. Ouch!

Oh well, that’s my problem, not hers. I am there to make things better, even at my cost.

So I got at it. As you can see from this before after picture, things turned out GREAT.

I assured my client that although I was using a stair detailing tool, there would be no compromise in quality. Throughout the process, I asked her to view my progress and make sure she was pleased.

Using the upholstery tool added only another hour or so to the process. Since this was well within the time frame my client allotted for her cleaning, her plans weren’t affected.
After completing the cleaning, I set out an air cooler to dry her carpets as I proceeded downstairs to clean her sofa & ottoman.

Afterwards, I headed back to Canton to pick up my floor wand, which was conveniently waiting outside (I contacted my previous day’s client prior to arrival) and all’s well that ended well.