The customer journey starts at question one. Here's what Joyce does at question four.

I interviewed Joyce last Friday. She's about a year into owning her cleaning business, and she's been burned more times than anyone else I know. Got a nightmare cleaning story? I bet Joyce can top it.

My favourite part of the interview was when Joyce talked about trusting her gut and following one very simple rule:

"If the person asks more than 3 questions, they're probably not the client for you."

That's a lesson Kevin Perreira, founder of Convertlabs, shared with the community. We've applied that same rule ever since, and it's helped us dodge a lot of complaints.

Let me explain why it works.

We've been talking about the importance of understanding the customer journey, and having your ICPs clear in your head before you hit publish on anything online. ICPs are "Ideal Customer Personas," and I went deep on ours in this post. Go read it if you missed it.

In short, we have Jordan. Jordan works full-time, makes $130 to $200K a year, has an active social life, and refuses to fight with her partner over whose turn it is to clean the bathroom. Jordan values her time and values people who love to clean.

Then we have our "Opposite Persona," Nancy. Nancy has all the time in the world. She's cleaned her house her way, for free, her entire life, and now resents paying someone else to do it. She's a micromanager. She cares deeply about getting the most for her money, and she wants the cleaner to do it her way. Nancy complains about every little thing. Jordan barely notices because she's just so happy someone else is doing the stuff she hates.

Now, what about the three questions?

Nancy almost always opens with: "What are your rates?"

Once you answer, she either signals dissatisfaction or disbelief and disengages, or she keeps going. What tools do you use? Can you just clean part of the house? Then comes the line about her last cleaners. Either positive ("They did X. Will your cleaners do that too?" while you read between the lines that her last cleaners dropped her), or negative ("My last cleaners did X so I fired them!" while you think, "Yeah, Nancy, that's because you're being unreasonable").

You learn a lot in the first minute of a phone call.

In the beginning, you'll get more Nancys than Jordans. Nancy bounces from one cleaning company to another, never happy, which is exactly why a brand new cleaning business will get her call right away. She's like a vampire on the hunt, spotting fresh blood in the market.

If you're three weeks in and your calendar is empty, the urge to book her anyway is real. Two paths from here.

You can decline her. The Nancy you take today will steal time from the Jordan you could be serving next month.

Or you can book her, eyes wide open. Accept that she's likely to complain, and treat the whole thing as paid practice. Complaints are part of running any business. You'll get used to handling them, and you'll stop losing sleep over them.

For context, 2 to 5% of customers complain in this industry. There are days when it feels like 100%. Focus on filling your schedule with recurring Jordans, and you'll start to hear the silence. That's the signal it's working.

If you're getting more complaints than 2 to 5%, the cause is one of two things. Either you're overpromising and under-delivering, in which case you need to get better at setting expectations. Or you're hiring the wrong cleaners, in which case you need to get better at spotting the good ones.

Jordan comes in softer. She'll never open with "What are your rates?" That's too direct, and the price isn't really her concern. She'll start with something like, "I'm thinking about getting cleaners in and I wondered if you could help me understand..."

You ask her questions, she lets you lead. She wants someone every couple of weeks. She's busy and she just wants the problem solved. She gives you her house size and number of bathrooms. You quote her, you book her, and the same cleaner shows up on the same day every two weeks. Three questions, max.

That's the entire customer journey in a nutshell. The first three questions tell you what the next three years with that client are going to look like.

Back to Joyce

In the Hot Seat call, Joyce told us about the moments she'd get a call, hear the warning signs, and think, "Hmm, this might be a Nancy. But maybe I can win her over."

And then Joyce gets burned.

Nancy complains about some small detail in the one clean she booked. She's offended that the hold even went on her card in the first place. How dare we?

Joyce panics and tries to manage Nancy down to avoid the dreaded one-star review. Her emotions go on a rollercoaster of doom. She fears Nancy's wrath. She loses sleep. She refunds Nancy. She loses money. All because she tried to turn a Nancy into a Jordan. Trust me, that's the longest, most expensive lesson you can teach yourself.

Now, Joyce sticks to Kevin's 3-question rule. She literally counts them. The minute Nancy lobs question four, Joyce says, "I don't think we'll be the right fit for what you're looking for." Boom. Done.

I usually go with: "Oh wait, when were you looking to book in again? The only team we have that can handle the type of clean you're looking for is fully booked for the next 3 months. I can add you to the waitlist though?"

I save Nancy's details for the mythical day a very desperate cleaner shows up willing to work with anyone. That day never comes. We protect our cleaners and we keep filling their schedules with Jordans.

One more thing

Adam is one of the mentors inside the Inner Circle, and he comes from a sales background. When Adam had his discovery call with me, I could tell right away he's an excellent salesperson. I told him what he needed to learn in this space was to be slightly less-great at sales, and much better at discerning who we actually want to work with.

The cleaning industry is growing year over year, everywhere in the world. Beginners worry so much about closing the sale that they miss the real lesson: there is more demand for great cleaners in your city than there are great cleaners.

Our job as cleaning business owners is to find the great cleaners, keep them happy long enough to fill their schedules with good, consistent, reliable clients, and then get out of the way.

That's the whole job. Find great cleaners. Fill their schedules with great clients.

The owners who treat every lead like a sale to be closed burn out fast, quit, and leave a stain on the rest of the industry. We focus on quality.

To finding your Jordans, Vic