We built our business off of complaints-You can too

Did you know that we built our company by leveraging complaints? It may sound odd, but it’s true. And yes, you can do it too.

Let me share a bit of my story. Back in 2007, my husband purchased a cleaning business called The Upstairs for $30,000. At the time, it felt like an outrageous amount of money for a business with only 30 clients. Today, that price seems almost like a bargain.

Fast forward a year later: I left my corporate job, a move my husband fondly called “the hostile takeover.” We had a mortgage based on my previous salary, and no other income except from the homes we cleaned. Reality hit fast—I couldn’t rely on the few clients we had to make ends meet. We had to grow and grow quickly.

I had experience in sales, having led 1,000 reps at MCI, and knew how to sell. But entrepreneurship? That was a whole new ball game. The first month was a wake-up call. The money was going out the door, and not nearly enough was coming in to cover payroll, let alone our other expenses.

As I tried to figure out how to turn things around, I started looking through the boxes that came with the business. What I found was a treasure trove of disgruntled former clients. This was the real reason they sold the business so cheaply—despite once being incredibly successful, they’d neglected their clients over time, and the quality of service had slipped.

But here’s the thing: within those complaints lay an incredible opportunity.

I wrote myself a script, just like I used to do when training sales reps. I reached out to those clients, explained that the business was under new ownership and management, and asked them to give us another shot. Using my sales background, I made sure to communicate our renewed commitment to quality and service.

Within 100 days, we had regained 90 clients, plus 10 new ones fro other sources, giving us 100 clients in 100 days. It was an incredible transformation, all because we turned past complaints into an opportunity.

If you’ve been in business for 10 years, think about how many cancellations or complaints you’ve had. Those clients represent a potential gold mine. Go back, contact them, and explain how things are different now, even if you haven’t changed ownership—sometimes a fresh commitment to quality is all it takes.

From there, we didn’t just stop at winning back clients; we perfected our cleaning process. I found a system, expanded on it, and made sure that every cleaner delivered perfect results 99.9% of the time. This drastically reduced our complaints to just two for every 495 cleanings.

I recommend this approach to anyone looking to transform their business: use a reliable, replicable process that delivers consistent quality. When you do, complaints turn into opportunities—and those opportunities turn into sales.

If you want to learn more about how to create a system that delivers this kind of performance, I’d be happy to share. Reach out to me anytime, anywhere.