Most of the questions we at BRC Systems receive concern two primary questions:

1) Marketing and Sales
2) Business Systemization

Once in awhile we get an email or call from someone with a question that seems like a "no-brainer" for some, but is extremely important for us because the advice-seeker's livelihood may strongly be influenced by our answer. We at BRC Systems fully believe in the "working smarter and not harder" concept, so we tend to view things a bit...hmmm...against the grain I guess is a good way to say it.

Now before I delve into this topic deeply, I expect some dissension. I expect some to write me telling me that not only did they "do it", but they "excelled at it", and what I will say to you is "AWESOME!" I don't have a problem with anyone making a great living doing what they love, but I do have a problem with blanket advice and statements.

My own cleaning company has offered many services over the years. As a matter of fact, my own father, who sold me my parents' cleaning and restoration business and is now a successful Realtor (Hi dad!), reads this very e-zine. He and my mother started and owned their cleaning business while I was stationed in the Air Force for 10 years. When I opted for early retirement from the Air Force in 1994, I went to work for them as a general cleaner, with a focus on carpet cleaning and restoration. I eventually bought the business from them.

I took courses, gained Certifications, and read any and everything one could imagine in the cleaning industry. I even dreamt about the next issue of ICS and Cleanfax arriving at my doorstep. In 3 years I became a Master Cleaner and Master Restorer.

But there was one teensy problem and that problem was there was a side of my parents' cleaning business I loved, and a side I hated. Most of our customers today (and even many of my own friends) don't know that our cleaning company started as a housekeeping company and our company added (and dropped) a dozen or so services over the years.

Anyway, the reason I disliked the rest of the business had nothing to do with the physical work or quality that we were producing. We had between 3 and 4 carpet cleaning technicians at the time and 13 housekeeping employees before I came to a stark realization. We were busting our butts making very little money on the "everything else but the carpet cleaning and restoration" side of the business!

When I started to learn how to read an income statement I figured out something very quickly - we were working extremely hard on the dozen EXTRA services we offered for much less profit than we were receiving on the cleaning and restoration side of the business. We had a problem but we really didn't know it.

Truth be told we were plain working harder and not smarter and it took us YEARS to realize this. Mom had a stroke when she supervised 22 housekeepers and it's at points in our lives like this that we learn the lesson that extreme stress just isn't worth it. We finally came to the realization that the dozen extra services took much more work than the cleaning and especially water damage restoration side of the business. Within 2 years after that realization we dumped everything except carpet/upholstery/tile cleaning and restoration.

We were finally working smarter and not harder! The returns on our time, energy, and resources became optimized and we had a laser-focus on our niche market for the first time since our company's inception.

I learned some life-long lessons in only a couple of years. I learned to ask myself 5 important questions:

If I add this service will it require me to:

Get more training?
Get different tools?
Do more marketing?
Hire specialized employees?
Detract from my niche?
If my answer is YES to all of the above, I consider it a new niche and must be departmentalized - as if it was a separate business entirely.

There are two more questions that I ask myself before adding any service:

1) Have I already dominated my niche?
and
2) Is there another thing I could be doing that will return more with the same or less effort?

The honest answers to those 7 questions have opened up an entire world of understanding to me, and hopefully for you too.

Obviously it makes sense to add services that tie in with services we already offer and that we don't need to spend much time, energy, and resources to do well. For instance adding upholstery or tile/grout cleaning to carpet cleaning services is usually a good idea because it's a natural progression type of service. Housekeeping, however, is a "YES" answer in just about each of the first 5 questions above. The same goes with janitorial services, and several other "no-brainer" services we hear about from other cleaners and restorers.

By focusing on the things in our niche market that maximize our time, energy, and resources we can become a much more profitable company with less effort. Customers don't spend more money on each service with generalists; they spend more money on specialists. Any economics professor will agree that the profit margins vs time invested of the specialist who focuses on their niche market will always beat those who are viewed as a generalist. (size of market notwithstanding)

My advice this week is simple; dominate your niche before jumping into other uncomplimentary services. If you don't you won't be maximizing your time, energy and resources and will likely end up working harder and not smarter like I did at one time.

Thanks for reading. Again, if you've had success in an uncomplimentary service you've delved into BEFORE dominating your niche market, I'd love to share that in next week's BRCbuilder's e- zine.