The gift card industry is a big business amounting to billions of dollars in a year. The sales usually peak during the holiday season because a gift card is the gift of choice for those who find it difficult to decide on what to give. Among the gift cards available for giving away is a residential cleaning gift card, usually good for $100 worth of cleaning services.

The residential cleaning gift card works in a very simple way: you buy a card and give it to someone who will then call the cleaning company and makes appointment. The cleaning crew will arrive in the house of the gift card recipient and do the cleaning job that is worth the amount of the card. And this is when the problem starts.

Most cleaning business gift card recipients believed that the card they received will entitle them to a full cleaning of their house. That is what they expect and they will be totally frustrated to learn at the end that only a few rooms or only a small portion of the house will be cleaned. So instead of getting a repeat customer which is the intention of the gift card, the recipient is so disappointed that he will avoid any cleaning business at all.

This problem can be avoided if the sale of the cleaning business gift cards will be handled properly and professionally. The retailers of the gift cards should explain what to expect from the card so as not to create false hopes. The card should also contain a little explanation of its mechanics so that the recipient of the card will not be expecting something that he will not get.

The cleaning business owner or his employees should make clarifications with any person who will call in order to redeem the gift card. Questions as to the approximate size and condition of the house, and the nature or amount of the gift card should be asked. Then the cleaning business owner should explain to the caller what to expect from such gift card. The caller must be made aware that for a $100 gift card, he should be expecting a certain number of cleaners working in a certain number of hours and doing only certain parts of his house. Let the caller know that if he wants additional areas to be cleaned or additional services, he can pay for an amount in addition to the value of his gift card being redeemed.

If the person redeeming the gift card wants only the services that will be given according to the value of his card, you should ask for his priority areas in his house. You can then explain to him how far in his house can the cleaning crew go with their services. For a very huge house, you can tell the gift card holder that you can go only as far as the bathrooms. This is being honest with the card holder so he will not feel shortchanged at the end.

When you are honest in dealing with clients, the chances of getting repeat customers will be better.

For more: How to start a cleaning business