Professionalism

The owner of Allied Gate and Orbit Cleaning has decided to step up and become actively involved in both companies, working with everyone on ways to improve our business in sales and customer service.

He has invested in a training course for all sales members, and is working on several other things to improve on our customer service.

Right now, 99% of sales for Orbit Cleaning, are through Groupon campaigns. One of the things he has implemented is to get customer emails when an appointment is set, and sending them a Customer Letter explaining what techniques the technician will perform while in their home, as well as how to prep the rooms for their arrival. (Can you tell I've recited this several hundred times?)

It's a great idea, since many customers don't read all the fine print when purchasing a Groupon, or take the time to ask, and this lets them know exactly what they will be getting.

Anyway, the owner carbon copies me on a couple emails he sent out last week and I was a little shocked, appalled and embarrassed these emails were sent from the owner of the company.

First, he puts in the subject line of the email "Orbit Cleaning". That's it. Nothing else that would give the receiver any idea what this email is.

Second, he puts in the body of the email "open attachment". Exactly like that. No capitalization. No punctuation. No salutation. He did add his name and Orbit phone number in the signature.

The attachment was in a Word document, rather than a PDF, so not everyone may be able to open it. Again, not very professional.

I opened the attachment.

This is what he was sending out to clients we are hoping to become repeat customers, or or who will refer us to others ~

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Aaakkkk!!! I could not send this out to clients. ("Dear Customer's"???) It looks like an 8th grader put it together from a template downloaded from Microsoft's website. (Which, for all I know, is exactly what it is!) Plus, at the very bottom it says we use PayPal.

We don't.

Not good to have that in a letter as a payment option.

So, from now on, I send out the emails where I put in the subject "Orbit Cleaning Customer Letter". No surprises what they're getting in their in-box. And I address the client in the body of the email.

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In my opinion, it looks 100% better and much more professional.  I did change the email a little to say "We look forward to seeing you on (date and arrival time), and thank you for choosing Orbit Cleaning."

And I attach this for them ~

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Not only does it look much more professional, but it addresses anyone who uses our services, and adds that little personal touch by being addressed directly to the client.

After seeing this, I thought maybe this is why they keep our "VP of Sales"!  LOL