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Meet Christopher Robin of Lolli Maids in Galleria

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Robin.

Christopher, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I had a background in IT (Information Technology) having worked for several corporations (Dell, Compaq, Shell, National Oilwell) before I was laid off during a downturn. The job market was tough at that time and so when money started becoming tight I looked for a way to make ends meet. I decided to take a chance and place an advertisement that I cleaned houses. Something I had never done before or had prior experience of. When I received my first call I was a bit surprised and unprepared. Nevertheless, I bought the things required for cleaning and showed up at the customers’ home. I began cleaning and it was a long process – each step of the way I was asking myself what should I clean next. My first cleaning took me almost 8 hours. I continued to receive calls little by little and as I became more experienced I began to understand customers’ expectations better. I was able to bring my cleaning time down to under 3 hours per session. During this time it became more difficult to handle the calls I was receiving – each call was taking away from me cleaning so a job that was supposed to take 2 hours would take 3 hours as I booked appointments and fielded questions out in the field. I decided to hire someone to answer calls for me on a per call basis. This freed up my time with less interruptions. Once I began receiving more appointments than I could do myself I hired my first employee. I continued to work in the field and share the work with my employee. It was during this time that we received our first break. Our reputation had begun to form and we received a call from a popular television show on Spike TV called “Bar Rescue” – They asked if we would participate on the show helping to clean up their renovation of a bar makeover in Houston, TX. We provided services and had a great outcome. We were even invited to the shows taping which was an exciting opportunity for us. During this time I decided to leverage my technical background and create a website so our customers could book online. Once released, our bookings steadily increased as our customers had an easier way to book without having to call. This gave us enough business to hire a second full time team. I continued to work with both teams in the field as profit was not enough for me to step into a management only role. Our next break came about 11 months after this when BMW contacted us to clean and maintain a multi-million dollar home in Memorial for a private event for the release of their new 740 series car. The entire living area was converted into a showroom complete with kiosk – and the outside area had different model cars on display set up like a runway show with lights and everything. The house was mostly glass and marble so it was truly an exceptional home to host the weeklong event. Several months after this we were approached again by another television show MTV’s reality series “Grossbusters” for two separate locations. This helped to further solidify our reputation and with the great online reviews we had been receiving our brand began to take shape. We hired additional teams as business increased and I started to work part time in the field taking a step back to focus on managing the business and putting in place the processes and things that we had neglected in the beginning to begin formalizing the business. I continued to work part time in the field for several months during this time – until around Feb 2017 at which time we were approached again during Superbowl LI to clean Houston’s most expensive super-mansion at 43M, again another beautiful home in Memorial. It was a huge endeavor and was successful with a crew of 10 employees. Since that time we have continued to build our reputation locally and revamp our website with a completely new system that includes online booking – automating the majority of repetitive task such as appointment reminders, billing, and giving customers ability to manage all of their accounts themselves. In addition this this, we have an app that allows both the employees and customers to manage the accounts from anywhere using any smart device. This has helped to cut down on the number of calls we receive from maids needing information and customers asking for reschedule request, updating account notes, account services, and updating billing info. We have in effect become more modern and streamlined our process to be more efficient. I still spend my time out in the field occasionally dropping in on employees for random quality control checks and to chat and establish relationships with customers. The reason our business has grown is word of mouth and treating each customer individually and like family. Though there is not a perfect company out there; we always try to make the right decision in every situation in favor of our customers. We simply put the customer first. Having a diverse background in customer service and technology has worked well for the business. We have grown a little each year but our focus continues to be very simple: provide the best quality and customer service for our customers. Having grown up in a small town; and later moving to the “big” city – my values never changed – to treat others the way you want to be treated. I actually care about each of our customers and want them to be happy. Another aspect of our business is transparency. We are very up front about pricing so there are no surprises; and customers can personally reach me when they need to – usually receiving a response within minutes. We also make it easy for our customers to reach us by email, phone, chat, skype, or even text. We know many of our customers are at work and not able to talk on the phone – so we make it easy to book appointments by providing multiple options. And lastly, another quality ingredient is how you hire. We hire very discriminately. Each of our employees go through an interview process, references checked, background checked -if they pass then we take them into the field and I personally train with them to see if they have what it takes. If they pass, I then will place them with a supervisor and repeat the process. At the end the supervisor and I made a determination together whether to hire. Once hired the employee starts out as a helper and then based on merit move up from there. They are on a 90 day probationary period – so if we feel it is not working out we may not keep them. I feel I have an obligation to the customer to provide the best quality possible – I realize without them we would not exist. What I have seen with other companies is they ignore the customer and show a lack of care – you cannot ignore your customer; they are important. Customers have many options in the marketplace. It’s very competitive in this industry. But if you let them know they are important to you it goes a long way. It’s not uncommon for customers to call us and book an appointment after being disappointed by a big-box name brand competitor. We never mention names but some national brands are carried strictly on the volume of their advertising alone – they charge high prices and advertise prolifically – but if you review their reviews they fall short on quality and have frequent complaints. They simply have forgotten why they are in business and are concerned only with their bottom line. These companies will overbook and overwork their employees offering compensation plans that are tied to how many 5-7 jobs per a day that they can complete. They rush from job to the next. You simply cannot get quality by rushing a job – you need to slow down in order to see the details. This is another aspect of our business that we have structured differently. We pay our employees well so they can provide for their family – most are single mothers with children at home. We want them to be happy so they can do a good job. We want them to feel valued and respected. So we work their maximum 3 jobs each a day and pay them well so we can retain quality people. This gives them ample time to do a job correctly and not to overwork them. All in all, I would say that the core values of the company are strong and are stressed daily with the employees. These qualities have cumulated to create a company with a strong reputation and brand that continually innovates.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Our biggest challenge is hiring and retaining the best people. We pay our employees a competitive rate higher than industry standard to motivate them to do the best job possible and retain them within our business for long term; helping to curve costly turnover rate which is high for this industry. Like any business we have to make changes on a regular basis as we adapt to the market, our customers, our competitors, technology; so we have changes many times during our initial establishment. Once you have the right people training becomes your biggest issue as many starting employees may have experience with other companies whose culture and focus was not customer centric. We have to train them to our process and let them understand our company is different; what we expect and what we will not allow. The least challenge? Our customers – they are simply great!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Lolli Maids – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our company provides cleaning for apartments, high-rises, homes, offices in and around the Houston, TX area. We are known for consistent quality, focus on details, customer service, and customer experience. We have been blessed to have received media attention with SpikeTV’s “Bar Rescue” and MTV’s “Grossbusters” reality television series and having worked with companies such a BMW and HEB. In addition, we were responsible for cleaning the most expensive super-mansion valued at 43m helping to solidify our reputation. What’s sets us apart from other companies is our focus is on the customer – value, experience, quality, and expertise. I micromanage the business to a certain extent as I want to make sure no small detail is lost. Though we are not a perfect company we are an honest company that always makes things right and puts the customer first. We are very personal – I communicate with each of our customers on a regular basis. Other companies run their business impersonal like a business. I run my business like family for both my employees and customers.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I would like to say we will franchise at some point and I have been approached by companies wanting to do so – But I have told them very specifically that unless we have a business model that can guarantee the quality and experience for the customer remains unchanged that I am unwilling to consider it. I simply will not compromise on quality and the customer experience. I supposed where companies are focused on money – I am focused on people. I feel if you put people first and do a good job that the money will come as a byproduct of that. We will continue to look at ways to add value for our customers including additional service offerings such as carpet cleaning and possibly home security. I want to make the whole experience for our customers a seamless and pleasant one.

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