As the owner of a carpet cleaning company, I can tell you cutting corners does not work. It doesn’t. If I went to a client’s home and cleaned their living room carpet and left dirt in the corners - yes, it would be easier, faster and cheaper - but leaves the client unhappy and gives my business a bad reputation.
Instead, put the shortcuts aside. If you’re looking to grow your company, there are 3 key areas where investing in the business will actually make you more money in the end.
Let’s dive in!
1.Happy employees, happy business
Building a team of hardworking, respectable employees who will represent your company in the field is no small feat. That said, if you can keep your employees happy, they will do more for your business and reputation than I can describe here. So, how can you incentivize your staff?
An approach I’ve taken, is paying my staff well above industry standards. As a small business, there’s also a lot of flexibility as it relates to paying performance-based bonuses and commissions. Align your incentives with tasks and goals you’d like to have completed. Be creative about how you can use compensation to drive desired behaviors in your employees. As an example, can you pay a bonus to your employees every time they earn a 5-star review? How about a sales contest?
There are plenty of opportunities to not only incentivize your team but also to encourage behavior that will help achieve business goals. Happy employees will greatly benefit your company today and tomorrow.
2. Buy it nice or buy it twice:
Ok, so maybe you aren’t going to buy the most expensive tools for your technicians to lose in their trucks on jobs, but hear me out here.
When it comes to the big purchases, or specific tools necessary to do the job right, if you insist on buying cheap or heavily used equipment, it’s going to cost you more in the long run. If your equipment is out of service or breaks down in the middle of a job - you’ll end up losing money and looking foolish in front of customers. It never hurts to have more machine than you think you’ll need that allows you to scale your business and take on bigger jobs. Spending the extra money to buy quality tools today will pan out for your business down the road.
3.Fear the paperwork, not technology:
A few years ago, we were writing paper invoices, doing estimates in Excel, time tracking on one software, doing our books on another, scheduling on another, payroll processing on another and so on. I found myself spending hours trying to combine all of this information. I was angry and I was inefficient.
Instead, I adopted an all-in-one software that combined pretty much everything we do into one handy app that can be used from a mobile device or a computer. Scheduling, time tracking, estimates, invoicing, payment processing and more was taken care of. It even connected with my online accounting software too. Integrations with companies like NiceJob automated our review generation and reputation marketing and also made post-appointment follow-ups easy. Simplifying processes through technology has saved me so much time and allowed me to focus on growing my business, not just on navigating through paperwork. It pays to invest in technology that’s going to improve your business over time.
About the author:
Andrew Rohr is the owner of MSS Cleaning, a carpet cleaning company in Denver, Colorado. He has a passion for growing and improving service related businesses, pushing them towards improved performance while delivering the best customer experience possible.
