Can You Provide Client References? What to Ask and Why

Short answer: yes, we do provide references, and we hand them over gladly. If you are about to sign a commercial cleaning contract and the company you are talking to gets vague or awkward when you ask to speak to a couple of their existing clients, treat that as information. A cleaning firm that turns up on time, does the job properly and doesn't leave a mess of billing surprises behind it has a queue of customers who are happy to say so. One that doesn't will stall. We have been cleaning offices, surgeries, warehouses and shops across Gloucestershire long enough to know that the reference call is often the moment a buyer stops worrying, so we make it easy rather than making you chase.

This article walks through what a real reference looks like, why we are comfortable giving out client contacts, the questions worth asking when you get one on the phone, and how references sit alongside the other proof you should be collecting before you commit a building to a supplier.

Why we are happy to hand over references

There is a simple logic to it. We keep clients for years, not months. When your average contract length runs past the three or four year mark, you build up a roster of site managers, office managers and facilities leads who have watched your teams work through the awkward stuff: the Monday after a bank holiday when the bins are overflowing, the flu season when half the office is coughing and everyone wants the desks wiped down, the surprise client visit that meant the reception needed to gleam by 8am. Those are the people whose opinion actually means something, because they have seen us on a bad week as well as a good one.

We ask a handful of our longer-standing customers whether they are willing to take the occasional call, and most say yes without hesitation. People who are genuinely looked after tend to want to pass that on. So when a prospective client in a similar sector asks us for references, we don't reach for a polished PDF of curated quotes. We give you a name, a company, a job title and a phone number, and we tell you to ring them and ask whatever you like. We are not in the room for that call and we don't want to be.

The honest reason we do this is commercial, not saintly. A reference from a comparable business does more to win trust than any sales pitch we could write, and it costs us nothing when the work is good. The only companies who fear the reference call are the ones who have something to hide.

What a genuine reference looks like

Not all references are worth the same. A star rating with no name attached, a testimonial with initials instead of a company, a glowing paragraph that reads like marketing copy: none of that is a reference. It is decoration. A real reference has three things you can check.

• A named person at a named organisation. "R.T., a very happy customer" is worthless. "Sarah, office manager at a firm of accountants in Cheltenham" is something you can actually verify.
• Relevance to your situation. A reference from a 200-desk head office tells you little if you run a small dental practice. Ask specifically for a client whose building, hours and sector look like yours. We keep our reference list broad enough to match you to something close.
• A live contact route. A phone number or email that reaches a real human who agreed in advance to speak. If a supplier gives you a name but no way to reach them, you have been handed a decoration again.

Ask for two or three, not one. A single reference can be a friend or a fluke. Two or three from different sites and different sectors show a pattern, and a pattern is what you are really buying: consistency across buildings, not a single lucky result. If you are weighing up our commercial cleaning against another quote, the spread of references matters more than any one shining review.

The questions worth asking on the call

When you do get a client on the phone, the temptation is to ask "are they any good?" and accept the polite "yes, fine" that follows. You will learn far more with specific questions that are hard to answer with a reflex. Here is what we would ask if the boot were on the other foot.

• How long have they cleaned for you? Longevity is the single best signal. Anyone can impress for a fortnight. Three years means the standard held.
• What happens when something goes wrong? This is the important one. Nobody is perfect over a long contract. The question is whether a missed bin or a marked carpet gets sorted quietly and quickly, or whether it turns into a fight. Ask for a concrete example.
• Is it the same team each week? High staff turnover is the quiet killer of cleaning standards. A stable team knows your building, your alarm code, your quirks. Constant new faces means constant retraining and constant slips.
• Have the invoices matched the quote? Ask directly whether the monthly bill has crept up with extras that were never discussed. Reliable billing is part of a reliable service.
• Would they switch if a cheaper option appeared? A client who says "we get other quotes but we stay" is telling you something a scripted testimonial never could.

Listen to how the reference talks, not just what they say. Genuine enthusiasm sounds different from a favour being returned. If someone gives you a warm, detailed answer with a specific story, that is worth ten "yeah, they're good" replies.

References are one leg of the stool, not the whole thing

We would be doing you a disservice if we suggested references alone settle the matter. They tell you what past clients experienced. They don't prove the company can carry the risk that comes with putting a stranger's team in your building after hours. Pair the reference call with the paperwork that protects you.

Ask to see public liability insurance and employers' liability cover, and check the amounts and dates rather than nodding at a certificate. Ask whether cleaners are vetted and, for sensitive sites like schools or care settings, DBS checked. Ask how they handle keys and alarm codes, because that is your security they are holding. Ask for method statements and COSHH data if chemicals are being used around your staff. A company that references well and insures properly and vets its people is a company worth a contract. One that only manages one of the three should give you pause.

This matters even more in regulated sectors. If you run a dental practice, a pharmacy or a care home, your cleaning supplier is part of your compliance picture, and a reference from a similar regulated site is gold because that client has already tested whether the supplier understands the rules. Our deep cleaning and specialist work in those settings comes with references from operators who face the same inspections you do, which is a different order of reassurance from a generic office review.

How we run our reference process

When you ask us for references, here is what actually happens. We look at your building, your sector and your hours, and we pick two or three current clients whose sites resemble yours. We check with each of them that they are still happy to take a call, because circumstances change and we won't hand out a number without a fresh yes. Then we pass you their details and get out of the way.

We don't screen the call, we don't sit in on it and we don't brief the client on what to say. That would defeat the entire point. The value of a reference lies in it being unmanaged. If we curated it, you would be reading a testimonial with extra steps, and you would be right not to trust it.

We also keep our references current. A rave review from a client who left two years ago tells you nothing about the team cleaning your building next month. The people we point you to are live customers on live contracts, so what they describe is the service as it runs today, not as it ran when the photos on the website were taken.

If you would like to speak to a few of our clients before you decide, just ask. Call us on 0800 069 9055 or email [email protected], tell us what sort of building you run, and we will match you to references who actually resemble your situation. You can read more about the range of sites we look after on our services pages, and see who we work with across the county on our locations pages.

Frequently asked questions

Can you provide client references before I sign anything?

Yes. References are for the deciding stage, not after you have committed. Ask for them while you are still comparing quotes, and speak to the clients before you sign. Any supplier who only offers references once the contract is in place has the sequence backwards.

How many references should I ask for?

Two or three is the sweet spot. One reference can be a friend or a one-off. Two or three from different sites and sectors show whether the quality holds across buildings, which is what you are actually paying for. We are happy to provide several matched to your type of premises.

Will the references be relevant to my type of business?

They should be, and ours are. Tell us whether you run an office, a surgery, a warehouse, a shop or something else, and we will point you to current clients in a comparable setting. A reference from a business like yours is far more useful than a big-name logo from a sector you have nothing in common with.

What if I ask a competitor and they refuse to give references?

Take it as an answer in itself. A cleaning company with happy long-term clients has no reason to hesitate. Reluctance, delay or an offer of anonymous testimonials instead of real contacts usually means the references would not survive a phone call. That is worth knowing before you sign.

Are your online reviews the same as references?

No, and you should treat them differently. Reviews are useful for volume and pattern, but they are public, brief and sometimes anonymous. A reference is a named person you can question directly about the things reviews rarely cover, like how billing is handled or what happens when something goes wrong. Use both, and lean on the reference for the hard questions.

Do you provide references alongside proof of insurance and vetting?

Yes. We treat references, insurance and staff vetting as a set. Alongside client contacts we will show you public liability and employers' liability cover, explain how our cleaners are vetted and, where the site requires it, DBS checked, and walk you through how we hold keys and alarm codes. References tell you about the service; the paperwork tells you about the risk.