by Tim Whitt, author of “Infested: Ending Workplace Drama, Ending Toxic Employees, and Building a Successful Small Business“
Shortly after starting my pest control business, Pied Piper, I was maintaining a beautiful lake house when the owner asked me if I maintained the lawn. With a strong ego and a rigid idea of what my business was “supposed” to be, I looked at her and gave her a categorical and definitive answer: “No.”
She looked at me and asked, “Why not?”
I had no answer. But after I packed up my truck and left, I realized it was a good question. I came home and it troubled me. After that, for days, even weeks, I thought about it and realized that it wouldn’t take much to get into this business. My rigid “no” was not based on business logic. It was just a reflex.
I repeated his question to myself: “Why not?”
One of my existing chemical suppliers also sold herbicides and fertilizers, so he came in and showed me the ropes. I trained one of my most trusted employees, retooled a truck we already owned for the lawn market, and began our quest into a whole new industry.
I am so happy to have exchanged my instinctive “no” for flexible and constructive curiosity. Today, lawn care represents 30% of our revenue, adding millions of dollars to our bottom line over the years.
I often think about this meeting. I had her as a lawn customer, but I had so much more. I learned some invaluable lessons that have stood me in good stead ever since.
If you’re looking to grow a service business without burning out, here are five rules for expansion:
1. Listen to the pain.
Customers don’t buy services; they buy solutions to their headaches. Always pay attention to what your customers are complaining about. Do they have pain that you can treat? You never know when that need may present a huge opportunity.
I didn’t start a lawn care division because I was deeply passionate about turf; I started it because my clients already trusted me to be on their property and they needed to solve another problem. Remember: need equals opportunity.
2. Cross-Train and Cross-Service.
Customer acquisition is the most difficult and expensive aspect of running a business. You spend time, money and sweat to get a customer to trust you. Once you have that confidence, why refrain from solving their other problems?
Think long and hard about how you can cross-service your existing customer base. For example, if you are a plumber and already install bathtubs and showers, perhaps you should add a tiler to your team.
Look at your current vendors and staff and ask yourself how you can reorganize what you already have to open up a new revenue stream without doubling your overhead.
3. Let go of the knee-jerk “no” (and check your ego).
When faced with a new idea, concept, or request, our instinct is often to protect our routines and say “no.” Usually, that “no” is just fear disguised as expertise. We want to protect our systems and our ego. But I firmly believe that the simple two-word question… “Why not?” – this is what distinguishes true entrepreneurs from technicians.
It’s easy to protect your ego by sticking only to what you know. It’s much harder, and much more profitable, to let a client question your boundaries.
4. Build a system, not a side hustle.
Once you say “why not,” you can’t just do it. If you add a new department randomly, you will end up creating drama in the workplace and degrading the quality of your core business.
When we added lawn care, we didn’t just throw fertilizer in the back of a pest control truck. We have built an ecosystem around this. We used a supplier to train us, specific dedicated equipment and clear standards.
If you want a new source of income to be successful, it needs to be systematized so that it doesn’t depend on your daily exploits to make it work.
5. Grow at the speed of confidence.
The advantage of growing an existing services business is that you don’t need a massive advertising budget. The smartest blue-collar bosses don’t spend a dime on flashy marketing; they build a referral engine based on trust. When you solve one problem perfectly, your customers will be happy to hand you the next one.
The relentless opportunist
In my industry, we spend a lot of time exterminating pests because they are fierce opportunists. They don’t wait for a door to be opened; they find the slightest crack in a foundation and enter it without hesitation.
As an entrepreneur, you have to be just as relentless. Don’t wait for an engraved invitation to expand. Find that little crack – that simple “Why not?” – And leave the possibility draw the plan.
Tim Whitt is an entrepreneur with 45 years of pest control experience: 30 years in business management and 15 years building Pied Piper Pest & Lawn from the ground up. A speaker, coach and author, he offers field-tested wisdom and practical business tools that help new and established businesses. His new book is “Infested: Ending Workplace Drama, Ending Toxic Employees, and Building a Successful Small Business“. Learn more about TimWhitt.com.
