FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The new year has finally moved into February.  Richmond, VA is a-buzz with new ventures. Valentine Specials and Promotions abound, and our busy season here at Classic Touch Cleaning goes into gear. Does yours? Are you ready? Are you taking care of yourself as well as your home, family and job? Let’s talk. As a busy person taking care of yourself can easily be overlooked. Not on the grand scale, but on the daily scale. Make time for sleep and for wise eating. Don’t complicate it, just do it. Promise yourself.

As a busy business owner, I too experience these issues, and am constantly working to improve my time management.  The good news, for us all, is that a great cleaning service like Classic Touch can help. Give it some thought.

Along the same lines I will share with you how I came up with our slogan…”….Making time for what Matters”.  When my son was in early middle school he said to me out of the blue one day, “…your time, Mom,  it’s what matters”.   It was a wonderful grammatical juxtaposition, and it was charming. Truly the statement was so accurate and well said that I had to adopt it for our company! The slogan became CLASSIC TOUCH CLEANING …MAKING TIME FOR WHAT MATTERS. Years later, during a home visit from college, he said to me “Mom, you’re not selling good service, that’s what you do. You’re selling ‘free time’,  that’s the result of your good service.  Your customers enjoy healthier living and more free time because you came and that trumps it all when people are so busy!!” 

The fact is, he Is right. We can accomplish so much but at what cost?  Look around. What do you need? What do you want? If help at home comes into your equation, please call us. We would be happy to help. At Classic Touch Cleaning That’s How We Roll. In Richmond, Henrico, Hanover & Chesterfield.  We may not be the biggest but we think we are the best!!

Thanks for reading!! Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are the first two snows in years that have caused so little problems for our cleaning business.

This is something we count our blessings about! The snow is dry, light,  not very deep and we can handle it. Several of our customers have called up and said cleaning is optional today because your people are more important than our house. WoW! Thank you …and my hats of to you! We really appreciate your thinking. In this snowstorm we are cleaning these customers anyway because WE CAN, but it’s nice to know that when you work hard and care for people, homes and families that they in turn care for you. THANK YOU,  THANK YOU, THANK YOU !!

Although today we did start an hour later  than usual, we will still be able to get to everyone. The issue is that not only do we drive to you and then climb your steps…either with our hands full of cleaning supplies and tools as usual, or if we carry less up, then we make more trips up and down the outside steps.., but we also need to perhaps reroute our routes to be more efficient and that might cause me to have to call you about your time of visit. We thank you all for your cooperation.

For example: on many normal days, a team might clean a house in Mechanicsville and then go to short Pump and then back to Mechanicsville to work out the times of entry requested by the different customers. On snow days we try not to have them do that extra driving and you guys are wonderful when I call.  We work very hard not to wear out our welcome with phone calls and interruptions into your lives and yet be available for good communication. Your friendliness and helpfulness on the phone is greatly appreciated.  Everything is a two way street and we always are aware of that.  Thanks so much!!!

So thanks to all our people. You add much good to our lives, we are trying to do the same for you!

,WE’VE BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR 30 YEARS!!  CLASSIC TOUCH CLEANING was started in 1984 making this year,  2014, our 30th anniversary!  In professional housecleaning services that is a record that makes us proud. It means we have kept working hard, kept loyal customers and brought in new customers and have been attentive to their needs.

At Classic Touch we work hard to have open communication with our customers because we realize that entering anyone’s home time after time demands a relationship!  We need to know what you want and how you want it done. We need to be the very best we can all of the time so that if there is a glitch (snow day, etc.) our customers are so happy with our service nothing will cause them to look elsewhere. We are very careful of what we define as problems and we work to keep change in routine away from your doors. We work hard to accommodate your requests, and, if we can’t, we can usually come very close and can find a workable solution. We work with you. It is not our needs but yours that make our days flow.  We do have policies to keep chaos at bay and we use understanding and conversation to make things work.

For example, every time we enter your home we leave a comment card. Everyday I read the comment cards that are returned from your homes. If anything is out of the ordinary we know it right away and we deal with it as needed.  Our customers often thank us for this.

We are small and content to be so. It makes us a tighter unit all working for one goal. We believe that a happy housekeeper does the best job. We like our customers, they are really nice people and we consider ourselves lucky to know so many!  They stay with us and we get to know them and their wishes. It’s a win-win situation.

It is a pleasure for me to talk with a customer on the phone or to visit their home. I know our crews feel the same way. What an honor to get to go out everyday and serve the needs of other people and help their lives run more smoothly.  What are we selling? Health. Serenity. Free time. Free time trumps lots of things because time is all we have and we all want to use it the best ways possible. For us it is cleaning your homes well so we can, at the end of the day, go home to our homes and families and enjoy our times together, feeling good about the way we have spent our days. Stories to share, dinners to cook, homework to help with, bedtime, feet up, then getting ready for tomorrow.  It’s a good cycle and we count our blessings and thank God for this opportunity !!

IS IT THE 3RD WEEK IN JANUARY ALREADY?

OMG!! A new start and more organization. Things are looking good here.  When I think of successful companies I think of sparkling clean images, ones we all feel good going into. That’s our motto…no matter how new or how old a space is, what makes is special, head and shoulders above the others is cleanliness!  Walt Disney had it right when he said an investment in top notch cleaners is an investment in being a top notch business… or in being home sweet home.

SERENITY…that’s what it is all about, and HEALTH . This is why we want to go home and relax, why we want to go home and nest, why we just want to go home. Being the brightest, cleanest, calmest and most lovely place we can be each day is our goal. Nothing takes it down two notches faster than dirt.

I think it is somewhat a natural instinct to want our surroundings clean. We can ignore it. We can become desensitized to it,  but when we have an opportunity to have it ALL we also want it all clean!!  If we listen to our body it will tell us what we need to eat. It will also tell us that we feel better in calmness and order. Why do people like to go to certain places more than others. Think about what is the common denominator for you. Is ‘CLEAN’ part of the quotient?

Call Classic Touch Cleaning and plan your year. We will clean one time to catch you up so you can start over. We can also come at regularly scheduled intervals, every 2 weeks, every week or every 4 weeks or even from time to time to help you meet your cleaning goals. Out with the old, in with the new. A new brooms sweeps clean. Don’t let the watch pot boil over…A bird in the hand is NOT ALWAYS worth 2 in the bush!! If your past housecleaning hasn’t been working for you, please call us. We’ve been in business since 1984. We know what we are doing!! We would love an opportunity to serve you and show you what we can do for you!

We are in RVA and PROUD of it!

first post 2014

It’s a New Year and the crews are working in homes around town today as they did on December 24th and December 31st.  Everyone’s confused because we all feel like it’s Monday constantly, with a day off in the middle of the week for the past 2 weeks.

AS GLORIOUS AS THE HOLIDAYS ARE, ITS ALWAYS GOOD WHEN LIFE SETTLES BACK INTO A ROUTINE AND WE CAN FOCUS BETTER ON YOUR NEEDS EACH DAY.

I HOPE IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

Here’s a cleaning tip for this week:

When all the festiveness and decorations have been packed away and your home might still need some swparkle, call Classic Touch for a pick me up. It will do you and your home some good. How about $25.00 off that visit if you mention that you read this January 2nd, 2014 blog. Expires January 31, 2014

July is a good time for mid year reflection. I find that cleaning my own home is an excellent starting point for this. There is something healing about changing pace from the fast demands of the world and retreating into myself to give my own home a good cleaning. Not only does cleaning produce better health for everyone, but it creates serenity and peacefulness in my environment…as opposed to the chaos of everyday realty. It creates serenity and peace of mind. (a bonus we can explain to employees!)

Why do the public areas of large institutions, public or private, pay such attention to the physical appearance of their public face? The entrance areas cost a fortune to produce and more to keep immaculate. We enter them and feel the immediate calm. It is amazingly sustaining for us as humans to have order and beauty. It speaks to us of safety and security and serenity. It is the same with our homes…only harder to master than a lobby in a building. After all we are not just passing through …we are living there. The service we offer to the world is a very intimate thing, causing innumerable challenges that we as owners struggle through daily. Many people outside of our industry couldn’t believe what comes through our desks. Most of us do it well or we wouldn’t be here, but it is not easy. Cleaning my home myself, when no one else is there, if possible, reignites my pride in what I do, what we do, and helps me stay in touch with the importance of our work.

Cleaning for myself also helps me teach, correct, supply, understand and lead. I don’t suggest we all clean our own homes. I only want to share with you my feelings about our fledgling industry and the pride we need to be feeling in the services we offer. We are not just cleaners, we are some of the most important hinge-pins of our culture. And when we do it well and professionally everyone benefits. That’s why it is so important to grow this industry professionally. There are so many niches we can fill. We are the silent creators of peace and calm helping the world to be able to function better. We make space for thinking, for relaxing, for engaging one another in healthy pursuits. We make arriving home the sigh of relief it is meant to be. I am so proud of each of you who were brave enough to stand up and be an owner of a cleaning company, stay with it, join ARCSI to learn and grow your skills, and to care about doing it to the best of your ability.

Thank You. My hat’s off to you. You are AMAZING people!!

Breaking News:  RESIDENTIAL HOUSECLANINGS are on the rise.  A recent indicator of economic improvement is the recent surge of homeowners who are turning back to their professional residential housecleaning services.  All around Richmond the phones are ringing. At Classic Toiuch Cleaning the phones are ringing off the hook. Manager, Brenda Stankus, says that this is the best spring influx of new and returning business in 3 years. House cleaning is often perceived as a luxury whenever money is tight, but that is often false economy in today’s culture, as both adult members of the household are employed outside the home and do not have time to clean.  A healthy household finds time to be together and professional residential housecleaning services like Classic Touch Cleaning help greatly with that goal. The money spent is but a pittance compared to the luxury of guilt free leisure time

Richmond residents are telling us that they would much rather have Classic Touch Cleaning do their housework for them and spend their free time doing things they choose or are passionate about. SPRING CLEANINGS are an additional help to the household and are very different from routine cleanings. In fact research shows that without annual SPRING CLEANINGS routine maintenance falters. So pack your bags, go to the beach and let us come in and clean for you…or don’t pack your bags, stay right where you are, have us come in and clean for you. Classic Touch Cleaning can do a top to bottom cleaning or regurarly scheduled maintenance, at your pre-determined level, by your wish list to get you the clean you are dreaming of. 

Just remember: 1. the economy is on an upturn; 2. you are busy, 3. we can help. Call Classic Touch Cleaning today at 804-262-6979 or email us at [email protected]

Let’s get clean for April…and the coming summer! Call or write to schedule a basic deep clean or heavy deep clean to keep your home lovely and healthy! $25.00 off if you mention this blog. Thanks for looking!!

…but it doesn’t look like snow! The robins are nesting and so are we.
If you have the urge to fix up your nest, as I do every spring, give Classic Touch a call. We can help you get ready to paint and redecorate or help you clean up afterwards.  Use our March Coupon of $20.00 off your first cleaning to help you save money  too!!

Don’t hesitate. We love to clean and soon the yard will be calling you… and it will be so nice to have your spring projects done, that screened porch cleaned and you ready to sit on it and enjoy a good book (before school’s out!).   804-262-6979

[email protected]