Erfolgreich in einem austauschbaren Dienstleistungsmarkt

0:00Unternehmer/Gast On a exhausted cleaning business in San Diego. So, we sell like >> Exhaustive? >> Exhaust hood cleaning. >> Exhaust hood cleaning. Got it. >> we do like grease removal from ducts, fans, hoods, um, in restaurants in San Diego. >> Cool. >> Where we're at right now, just hit month six. Um, >> Is that like 18-wheelers? Like semis that you that you do that on? >> Mhm. >> What is that is that >> have like a van with a hot water pressure washer and chemical. Roll in roll in the restaurants. Go in and >> and truck. Okay. Oh, so restaurants.

0:26That's Okay, got it. Understood. Okay. >> So, like in all the restaurants there's a hood system above where they cook. Grease gets in there. It's like a fire hazard. So, everyone has to legally do it. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> It's a great business. I It was described to me differently in a different setting. So, yeah, it's a cool business. Very >> That's why I kind of explain it or else people are like, "What the hell are you talking about?" >> Yeah. >> So, uh, we just hit month six. We're doing like 6K a month right now. But, we have people on it's a subscription-based business. So, um, our book right now for like yearly recurring revenue is like right around 100K.

0:56>> Cool. >> Um, I think what's stopping us right now is just like not a clear offer. >> All right. >> Because I deal with restaurant owners who only care about their bottom line. It's like a money thing. They're like >> Most business owners. >> Yeah. >> True. >> And they're like, "Well, if you can give me a better price, I'll give you a shot." And right now I'm just like the hungry kid that's like, "Yeah, I'll beat your price easy." Right? So, I think what's stopping us is figuring out pricing and offer with a service that more or less is the same no matter who you go with. But, we have added value adders with like customer portal, streamlining, back-end support, things like that.

1:31Alex If that makes sense. >> So, you say that to the business owner? >> Say that to the business owner? How so? Can you give me >> There's good, fast, or cheap. Pick two. >> Mhm. >> And so, the problem is you can have somebody else who can do this. Like, to your point, like you started with the premise that this is a commoditized service. I would just break I would just erase that from your memory.

2:00Alex Because at the end of the day, like you have to believe you have to believe before anybody else that it's not a commoditized service. And so, I would say, "What are all the reasons that somebody who sucks at this sucks?" >> Mhm. >> And let's fix all of those things. >> Mhm. >> And so, what's really interesting about good like what does good even mean, right? So, good is basically the absence of hard. Right? And so, I think about this when I'm creating a product or service and this is actually been really helpful for me in terms of like how you operationalize value in terms of quality is you think what are all the things that suck about the existing services?

2:32What are what what makes it hard? And so, a lot of people use the term friction, right? And so, something that is easy, you can't make something easy, you can only make it not hard. >> Mhm. >> Right? Like if I said, "Make it easy." It's like when something's easy, all the hard vanishes and all that's left is the outcome, right? And so, if we want to make our products or services easier, which then means more valuable, we have to remove all of the elements that make it sucky. >> Mhm. >> And so, if we're thinking about the competition that you're competing against, like maybe a lot of them are, you know, not that personable. They maybe have terrible service. Maybe they don't do a complete job. Maybe they're not willing to come back if something happens. Um like is there um like what risks does the restaurant incur if it's a shotty job? Is there a cadence that they have to like maybe we can treat it in a way that allows us to come half as frequently, so we're more per uh more per cleaning, but uh they they don't have to pay it as often, right?

3:24So, we have higher gross margins and that actually works fine for us and it's less for them. Like you know where I'm going with this? >> Yeah, yeah. >> And then and then from a from an economies of scale perspective, it's like how can we increase Now, you're super early on this, but like over time it'll be how can we increase route density? Um so that like we don't waste as much time and so we get more efficient with the routes. Um and we can ultimately make more than our competitors or at least increase our gross margins even we keep our price fixed. >> Right. Now, that makes sense. One more question. So, everybody has to get done at least twice a year. So, we're signing people up a year agreement anywhere from twice a year. Some people do quarterly, some people do like three times a year.

3:58So, based on what you just said, would you recommend potentially going more towards just pushing semi-annually, but keeping price higher so that they feel like they're paying less over the year? >> Yeah, I'd look at my gross margins. I mean, real real, I'd rather sell someone more. >> Yeah. Right. >> Start at four, down sell to two, um if you can, and then probably play with payment terms. Which is like, can I stack more of that cash up front versus getting paid quarterly, >> Pay in full up front. >> Yeah.

4:24Alex >> Okay. >> Got you. But, big picture, I mean, we I would like if I'm you, I'm putting all my effort into trying to figure out how to decommoditize my service, >> Mhm. >> um because it is probably the most important thing. Otherwise, you're right, you will just consistently be dealing with If you are the same to the customers, the first chapter of offers, right? Like, if you're the same thing to the customer, these two things are about the same, I'll buy the cheaper one. It's the worst comparison, it's not the fight you want to fight. >> Mhm.

4:50>> So, it's like, I put all my effort whenever I start any business or any product line into like, why is this different? >> Mhm. >> Like, that's my full full like, I don't even think about pricing, I don't think about anything until I answer that question. >> Mhm. >> And I have to at least be able to articulate it to them really simply, which is like, here's the five things that happen that suck. Here's how we don't have any of those five. And for that, in exchange, instead of paying this, you pay this, but this is why it's worth it.

5:14>> Right. And then in that, our only form of outbound right now is just like door-to-door, knocking on restaurants, and then cold email. So, then building that offer out with the decom- decommoditize, if that's even a freaking word. And then, put that into the offers, the emails, the texts, the cold outreach, basically, and just sell the out of that. >> Sell the out of it. >> Heck yeah. >> [laughter] >> Thanks, dude. >> Here you go.

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