Outsourcing

Outsourcing seems to have become a buzzword of our generation. Everyone seems to have really warmed up to the idea of finding viable, experienced, external contractors to care for selected processes and elements of their daily business operation. So the question is, what about you? Are you tapping into the business building power of replication, and creating systems that can easily be taught, multiplied, and outsourced to increase your bottom line and free up your time for things that actually will generate far more money for your window cleaning business?

First off, though: Will this really make that big of a difference for your company?

Well, let’s do a very quick exercise to see what the answer to that question is. There are two parts of your business that I suggest you immediately began implementing systems for, and replicating en masse these necessary parts of doing business in the modern world.

Area number one is time intensive activities. The things that eat up more minutes and hours of your weekly life than anything else you do. Unless these are directly related to the sales and marketing of your window cleaning company, you have got to start creating systems to handle these things externally right now. Without doing that you simply will not have enough time on your hands to achieve the success that you want and that you deserve - as someone committed to improving, and providing the very best level of workmanship for the most appreciative clients at the highest prices in your local market. You won’t be able to. Because you simply will have no time.

Incidentally, “window cleaning” also falls into this category - actually being out there ‘squeegee-ing your heart out’. I know you like it, and that you’ve probably been doing it for some time, but if you truly want to achieve remarkable and explosive business success, then it’s time to hang up the squeegee, and spend your time doing the things that are more profitable – like mastering the Art of persuading people to give you their hard earned money. As soon as possible.

Area number two involves activities that maybe don’t take up a huge amount of your time, but that simply are not that profitable. Running errands, contacting clients who have not paid their bills, picking up equipment, shopping around for specialized tools. All this stuff you need to stop doing now, and all of it can be done by someone else that you designate and train to do so. It’s not going to be really difficult to achieve this, all you have to do is systematize these menial, less important things.

I hereby “Knight” you as a systems designer…

How can you create your own systems from scratch, though?

It’s easy!

The next time you prepare an invoice, document every step you take to complete it, and bingo! You now have a system in place that someone else can follow to do the exact same thing, exactly how you like it, and exactly how you need it to be done.

Repeat the exact same process with the way you answer the phone, the way you handle customer complaints, customer inquiries for estimates, the preparation of detailed proposals, the acquisition of cleaning supplies - in what quantity, what brand, and from what source, and everything else that falls under this category. Even the preparation of your marketing materials, including all of your fliers, postcards, business cards, e-mail management systems, web marketing tools, and every other little single piece of the pie that is currently in play.

Create a system for each of these. It may take you a few minutes the first time around, but it will save you massive amounts of time over the next 3, 6 and 12 months, and work towards accomplishing the purpose to which this entire book has been dedicated: helping you achieve remarkable window cleaning business success faster than you ever thought possible.

You could learn Egyptian brick baking

Keep doing what you’re doing right now! Never think that you know all there is to know about marketing, and constantly expose yourself to the business psychology, and tips, tricks, and techniques of those who have demonstrated proficiency in marketing prowess.

Telling you that is a little bit like preaching to the converted, since you’ve gone ahead and sunk your teeth into this book. Whatever moved you to do that was a very valuable force within, that you need to continue to nurture and strengthen for as long as you’re operating your window cleaning business. Only by doing this can you stay ahead of your competition, and constantly keep evolving, improving, and strengthening the persuasive power of your marketing machine.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and you will find that your competitors will be quite anxious to “flatter” your campaigns starting from the second they see them, so the only way you can stay ahead of the pack is to constantly innovate and create that which is more and more powerful and different and effective. Of course, thankfully, you will be fully capable of doing by this by the time you’re done reading this book!

My personal tip for you: Regularly set aside hours of time on a weekly basis to educate yourself at the feet of these experts. Buy their books, listen to their podcasts, subscribe to their blogs. Do not consider this as entertainment but recognize it for what it is: an investment in your continued business success. And don’t let others dissuade you who will wonder why you’re not out actually ‘working’, but locked up in your office reading a book instead.

Let them focus on the rat race that they’re trying to win, and you focus on what will bring you remarkable success for your window cleaning business. You are not the one who is confused about what comprises a profitable use of time.

Remember that.

Fail to do this, and you could end up spending weeks and months needlessly reengineering what has already been prepackaged for your immediate consumption. You could spend $50,000 on foolish and ineffective marketing strategies over the next six months and learn from that experience that they don’t work, or you could listen to someone who knows how to protect you from such senseless squandering.

You could collect dirt from the forest by your house, take it into your bathtub, mix it with lime and clay, form wooden molds to pour your clay mix into, and bake it in your kitchen oven, if you wanted to make bricks all by yourself. Good old Egyptian brick baking 101. You could do that.

It would just be a really big waste of time, to put it mildly, and so would attempting to teach yourself through experience the hidden secrets of marketing, when they’re all at your fingertips already.

Again, it’s your choice. Some people like to bake bricks. Personally I’d rather buy them for two bucks each.