Systems are the Key to success

I am sure everyone has herd the term "Business Systems' or to "systematize " your business. What this means is for every function in your business there is a system or procedure set up in place and implemented.
What this means is that when it is fully implemented your staff know exactly what they have to do and how to do it and if there ever unsure they always have the operations manual or system manual to fall back on to.

What this allows you as the owner to do is not have to run around and micro manage the business and this will allow you more time to do the important things like work on sales, customer service, marketing they key jobs that actually bring in work.

As a new business owner its hard to work out where to start in systematizing your business. By this stage you should have the basic operations manual for the practical part of your business weather its mowing lawns, washing roofs, or cleaning carpets in place but we all know there is a huge amount of work done behind closed doors in any business. I recommend for one week keep a note pad on you and write down every single job you do for the business that's not on the job site related, Such as pay roll, order supplies, health and safety, accounts ,marketing, sales, website and social media, and so on. After the week you will be surprised at everything you have done. Now over the following month site down and write a manual for each and every task you have on your list. The manual needs to be detailed and in simple plain English so all your staff and understand it as they will be the ones implementing it.

Once you have done this compile them all and ad them to your company's operations manual, Over time you will ad, change and adapt the manual as you find new ways to be more efficient.

The key is to be as detailed as you can be, In my business Wash Rite House and Roof Wash i even have manuals for how the guys wash the service vehicle's. Why may you ask? I have them to ensure all the vehicles are washed and presented in a uniformed way and so i can easily know who is not doing it to the required standard as it will stand out from the rest which are all the same.

Dont think this is a quick process, you will always be working on and updating your manuals as long as your in business, But now you have them in place your main role will be to manage the manuals as the manuals will be running the business for you. A key point to know is that you will have staff that wont like to follow the manual or think they have a better way to do things, Listen to there way try it but if its not more efficient than stay with the manual. If they refuse to abide by the manual fire them and get someone who will.

When your team is on board you will find that you will be able to take 2 weeks or even 6 weeks off and your business will still be running and still making you money while your not there, And this is the whole point of systematizing your business. To give you the freedom to either work on growing the business or doing person things outside of work you like to do.

Client interaction is the key

Now your business is up and running and you have done your first paying job or two you need to turn your attention to client interaction. What i mean by client interaction is you need to interact with your clients post job completion, Why may you ask? Well for a few key reasons. first you want to try and upsell to that client any services you offer but they have not used as of yet, second of all you want your company's name to be front of mind for them when they think house washing or any field you operate in.

The first question i always get from new business owners is how to i interact with the client without sounding desperate for there work? Well its easy below is a list of a few ideas that i do in my house wash and roof wash.

• After the job send the client an email asking how they found your service.
• If they reply saying they where happy with your service reply with a short email offering them the chance to post a review on your Facebook or google page. Most people who will do this will also like and follow your page, now they will see all your updates and they will never forget your business,
• When quoting always get an email address and ad that to your email marketing database to send out monthly or quarterly newsletters.
• If you know there birth date or see there birthday on social media send them a short message wishing them a happy birthday or if there a really good client send them a small gift.

By doing these small steps and they are very basic which is good for new business your clients will think you really care and they will never forget who you are the great work you did for them.

Another great idea is if a client refers a friend to you send the original client a thank you card and a bottle of wine or the referral, I do this all the time and you will soon have a list of 20 clients who refer 2 or 3 jobs a month to you, There is no better advertising than free advertising.

If you live in a small town i would recommend that every time you drive around your local neighborhood you wave to most cars you drive past at slow speed regardless if you know them, It wont take long until you get the reputation of the nice guy in the house wash truck that always waves to to them and you will be surprised how often they will mention that to you when you go and quote there job that they see you waving to them.

I will have posts later on in regards to email marketing and social media marketing and how to get business from these area's.

Your First Paying Job

Your First Paying Job

Time has come to do your first job for your first paying client that's not your mother's house or a family friend's house. Your first true customer!

The day before you do your first job site down and write down step by step house you will do the job, What you are doing is writing the first of many versions of your operations manual, For example it should be something like.

1. Knock on door and introduce myself to the client and talk them through what you will be doing.
2. Walk around job to familiarize yourself with the job your there to do and make notes of any safety issues you will be dealing with
3. Set up equipment.
4. Step by Step key points on how you complete the service your there to do.
5. Clean and pack away equipment.
6. Walk around and inspect the job completed with the client to ensure they are happy.
7. Farewell the client and leave a business card or other promotional material with them.

As you do more and more jobs you will keep on updating and adding more and more detail to this manual. You can only do this over time and with experience. To give you an experience my Operations manual for my business Wash Rite an exterior house and roof wash company is around 60 pages, The manual for just washing houses is 3 pages long.

The morning of your first job arrives and your all nervous, don't be you have your step by step manual and all you have to do is make sure the client is very happy at the end of the job. Sounds easy well it is. If you cant make a client happy stop your business and go get a job.

You don't have to be the quickest or the smoothest contractor in your field but you must be the person with the highest attention to detail and best communicator with the client and if you do these two things in my experience the customer will always be very happy.

A big concept i have always tried to instill into my staff is its always better to go one step above and beyond what the client is wanting than to go one step to short. In short in my industry when we are washing a house and we have only quoted on washing the house but they have a child's play house in the back yard we will always wash that as well and not charge or even mention it, Little things like that are remember by the clients. By doing these small things you build a brand than people will defend and promote to anyone they know.

It does not take flash brand new equipment to give good service, don't be ashamed of humble beginnings only be ashamed from bad service.