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– Hey, Welcome back. Micah and Michael here and today I want to cover a mistake that you may not believe but cleaners won’t actually listen to what you say. So, I’m serious about this. You’ll have these lists that we provide you and all these things and you’ll find the best cleaner and she’ll tell you all the best things or he’ll tell you all the best things about how they do their property cleaning. And, at the end of the day they’re going to do exactly what you expect. So, I come from the Marine Corp, and the saying is you inspect what you expect. That’s the case in property management. Because it’s so geographically challenging, and there’s time requirements, and those cleaners are trying to make a living so they’re going to try to clean as many properties as possible, just human nature is to cut as many corners as they think they can get away with.
– So, you know I think the key point here is, you’re going to have your check list, you’re going to have your parameters, but as Micah indicated, it’s really important that you set the tone for the relationship from the beginning as you’re interviewing them. What your expectations are and when they do make mistakes, and they will make some of those mistakes, not to call them out on it Micah and be nasty to them about it but just say “Hey, we have a protocol” if you would “for a reason and here’s the reason and here’s why it works. Now, if you’re not comfortable following that protocol that’s okay.” And I think part of this, and we’ll teach this in another lesson, is not just to have one cleaner for all your properties obviously, to have multiple cleaners but have the same expectations for all the cleaners.
– Absolutely. Guests aren’t going to cut you slack, especially when it come to a cleanliness issue. I think that’s probably sin number one in our industry. You know, clean the properties and so at Real Joy we inspect 100% of our turns after they’re clean so we’re in every property every single time, our paid staff. You need to have that same mindset. I know you may only have one property but you or somebody on your behalf, has to check behind the cleaners. We love these people, you just have to understand, they’re the 80% solution. They’re hard-working, they’re very busy. They have all these random things that happen to them. Maybe a tool breaks down, like a vacuum or something, or they get stuck in traffic so they’re rushing. And so, it’s okay to say “hey why did you miss these few things, we talked about this” and they’ll tell you and if they’re good people and they’re trying, your job is just to train them. And if over time they realize okay, this is a good job, this person pays me every single time, I make great money at it, I should probably try to do this checklist. And then your job is to keep explaining why the checklist is in place, just so they don’t have this mental breakdown of what to do while they’re in the unit. It’s not because you think they’re bad, it’s just you want to train them and then give them these tools to remind them. So, it takes a little while. Please don’t be one of those Airbnbers, Do-it-yourselfers, that goes out, hires the first guy on Craigslist or wherever that says “I’m an expert at Airbnb cleaning” because they’re not. They’re just not. Most cleaners have actually never been trained to clean so, go through our cleaning modules, our processes there, how to train those cleaners, what to expect and train them yourself no matter how good they are. If they’re too prideful to be trained and they just say “look, I’ve cleaned my whole life I don’t need you to train me” then you don’t need them to work for you because when you have criticism they’re not going to listen to you they’re just going to bail on you.
– And the criticism that comes from the guests is not directed at them it’s directed at you and that’s who’s pissed.
– At the end of the day, it’s your brand, it’s your property. So, don’t make that mistake. Train your cleaners, don’t expect that cleanings an easy job because it’s not. Follow up with them, inspect what you expect. We’ll see you at the next lesson.
– Thanks.