Latest / The Kelly Jedele Show / How To Scale Your Business: The Early Stages
Transcript
- Kelly Jedele: it's not your job to convince people to hire you. your job is to stay in front of people so that when they're ready, they know you're there. That is your job. To be consistent and to show up so that people choose you when they're ready. Kelly: Welcome to the Kelly Jedele Show. I'm Kelly. 17 years of building businesses and zero interest in hustling myself into the ground. If you want the business and the life, you're home. Let's get into it. Kelly Jedele: One of the biggest questions that I get is how to grow your business. If you have a small cleaning business or trades business, how do you get leads? How do you grow? How do you get more clients? So today I'm going to be talking about that specifically. Hello and welcome to the Kelly Jedele Podcast. It is so nice to have you back. I get this question from several cleaning business owners and tradespeople over time. So in my DMs on social media or People just when I meet out in public, how do you grow your business? How did you get it to the size that it is today? Now I will tell you, I've had my business for 17 years. So you do anything for that long and hopefully your clientele will grow. So that is one thing. But how did it work in the beginning? I think is what most people are asking me. So I want to give you five different things today that will help you along the way to build your business as you are growing in the early stages. And the first one is you wanna be top of mind because when you tell someone about your business in that moment, if you have a cleaning business, they may already have a cleaning person. They may they may already have a cleaning company, they may have their teenagers cleaning their house, they may be fine doing it themselves and not spending the money. But down the road, when something else is happening, say for instance, they have a baby. Or they're having a party or they're getting married or they're moving, anything like that. You want to be top of mind. And that is point number one, to be top of mind. And that's the whole thing about marketing is you're not going to get that person as a client the first time you send them an email or the first time you give them your business card. But if you continue to market to them. Which could be through social media or it could be through an email networking campaign, it could be networking, it anything, but just to be top of mind so that they remember you when they need you. So you are the person that they think of. And the second one is brand yourself. So in the very early stages of Let Kelly, my branding was me, right? I had I wore a Let Kelly branded shirt, which was a polo shirt and tan pants. And I wore that shirt everywhere I went. That was when I was cleaning, when I was dropping off my daughter at school, when I was networking. That was me branding myself. And I also had business cards. I had a website, which is not as relevant these days, but it is kind of like a business card. And we I I just put my name out there often. So you have to brand yourself so people think. Branding, they think cleaning, they think Kelly, they think cleaning, they think you in your city. So one of the things that I know for sure right now is I have a friend Tariq, and he is the dumpster guy. And for the last six months to a year, I want to say about that time frame, maybe a little longer, he has been the dumpster guy. And so every single time I think of a dumpster guy or a someone that needs a dumpster, I think of him because he has put his name on. all of the things. I have a candle in my kitchen that says 1-800 Junk Pro because of Tariq. So I also see him at all the events. He's got his name. He has social media, Facebook. He's commenting on my stuff. I see him everywhere. And he talks about his business, but he also shows up as a friend. So he is a person that I could just talk to about business. I could talk to about life. Like it's just He's just in my ecosystem of business owners and connections in my world. So be like Tariq, you know, brand yourself so that you are the person that your clients and friends think of when they need you. So that's the second one. Brand yourself. The third one is networking. So consider that the networking that you do, the people like if you have a networking group that you go to, that particular networking group is your sales team. So you're out there building relationships with these people at your networking group and those people are out there looking for clients for you. So if someone says to them, my gosh, I need my place clean, they're gonna say, hey, have you talked to? Yeah. So there's a person out there on your behalf talking to them. So when you go to networking events, find one that works for you. In the beginning, I went to one that was Thursday mornings. I went to that one for several, I think a few years every Thursday morning. And it was drop off my daughter at school and go to the meeting. And then there was also another one that met, I think it was Thursday lunch, when was Saba. And that one, I became one of the coordinators and the leaders for that group. But it was the the Consistent, consistent, consistent behaviors with those groups that really bring move the needle. So having a cleaning company, we're super easy to refer, right? But also there are several cleaning companies. So you have to find a group where you feel comfortable, where you find your people, where you feel like you fit and you enjoy the people. Build relationships with them. Show up for them. So and also refer their business. So every time you refer someone else's business, like you can be in a group where there's a lot of trades, that's really helpful. So if they have a lawn care company, they got a pool guy, they have a pressure washing company, a contractor, those type of things. An interior designer, a decorator, those type of people are all going to be referring you and you referring them to your clients. Because a lot of times my company doesn't do exterior window cleaning. But I have a guy that I refer all of our exterior window cleaning to. And I met him through a person at a networking company. I didn't meet him, I met a different person who referred me to him. And for 15 years now, he's the guy that I refer for window cleaning because he does a great job. Same thing with carpet cleaning. I met a carpet cleaning guy and he's the guy that I refer to carpet cleaning. So when you have that branding and networking team. you can have more people on your behalf going out and telling about your business. And this is so important because you have like even mom's groups, like it doesn't necessarily have to be about business. But when you're in groups that that you talk about your life and what you do, other people are going to be interested and know. Your neighbors would be good, like if you live in an apartment community or if you live in a neighborhood with other homes. Get to know your neighbors, let them know what you do. Because those people, once they get to know you, like you, and trust you, they will refer you. Now, this is the long game, right? It's not like an immediate gratification. It's not gonna, you know, bring in clients for this coming Tuesday. But I'll tell you what, once you build that email list, just like me, when we have a few clients that have canceled like we did last week, I'll send out an email to our top 3,000 clients. And we will fill those spots like that. Now that's because of time, right? I've t over time we've built our email list. And so I have different chunks of, you know, our 600 regular clients or 3,000 in our database or 8,000 over time. It's probably 10,000 now. But you know, those numbers can get really big. But I'm also very careful about using that. But those are the ways that you can get things immediately, but you gotta play the long game with the relationships. And that's so important that these people know you and you are committed to building your company and you are just there, there all of the time, ready to do a great job, be on time at a great price. And the next one is showing up, whether you're online or in the room. Now I went to a a girlfriend's birthday party last night and it was completely social. There was no no context for business, right? I didn't even have my bag nearby, I didn't have business cards in my pocket, like I was there. For social. I was there to celebrate my friend and social. Did we talk business? Absolutely. Absolutely. It's just a way to show up. When people meet you, that's who you, that's who you are. But when you meet and when you show up as yourself, people are always watching. Mama was always right. People are always watching how you act. Do you show up on time at places? Are you someone that you can give good advice? You know, are you referring to other people that are are you kind to people? Are you accepting to people? You are a reflection of your business. So when you are out doing things, if you're in the run club, if you're if you go to a church, if you're in a community, if you're a salsa dancer, you know, whatever you do, people see you and associate you with your business. And so if they know what you do, you have to tell them several times. They're not listening. But you can find these things at social events and online. So when you have a Instagram, an Instagram page or Facebook group or something like that, talk about your business. It's okay. At first it might f feel a little cringy. I know it did to me just recently when I started doing more social media and for the podcast and for speaking. It but I know that In the beginning, we want to make sure that people know. So, and and as you go, people will just see more and more and more of you. And so if you just show up in their feed, you know they're gonna interact with you, yes or no, it doesn't matter, but you're reminding them that you're there, you're top of mind. So that is the fourth one to show up for as you online and in the room. So, and then the fifth one is the follow-up. The fortune is in the follow-up. So you can tell people all day long what you do, but if you don't come circle back and follow up with them at one time, two times, seven times, twenty times, they're gonna forget who you are. We clean homes that, you know, the client will, you know, do a one-time cleaning and then they don't sign up for recurring cleaning. And so we will continue to send them emails because eventually they'll want us to come back. But if it It's two, three months before they want us to come back and all of a sudden their home is dirty and they're like, what was that one go Kelly, let Kelly, get Kelly? You know, they like they don't remember. They need to have a reminder. So if they're like, yeah, we need a cleaning and then I happen to send them, we happen to send them an email or they happen to see a Facebook post from me that week, boom, that's when they're gonna sign up. So it's not necessarily that immediate first time. It's the follow-up and the follow-through. The long game is what it is. So with those five points, you have to be top of mind for people so that they know exactly to hire you when they need you. Not necessarily the first time. Brand yourself. So whether you're wearing your logo, whether you have your business cards, whether you're on social media, whether you're driving a marked car, whatever. We had magnets on the car for a long time. And then networking. So networking is another one. show up online and in the room, and then the last one is follow up. These are the things. combined all together, which will build your business. And you've got to do it all and you've got to do it consistently. And the more you do, the the more your business will grow. So you you it's not your job to convince people to hire you. It what it is, your job is to stay in front of people so that when they're ready, they know you're there. That is your job. To be consistent and to show up so that people choose you when they're ready. I hope this helped. If you have any questions, please DM me in Instagram or Facebook or here in the comments. I would love to hear more. So and if this hit or if you know someone that it might might help, please share this podcast, send it to someone that would be helpful. And also like and subscribe to the podcast because that always helps get us more visibility. So and if you want to be a sponsor of the podcast, we're also looking for sponsors. So Thank you so very, very much for your time today. I love you so much and we'll see you next week. Have a great day. Bye! Kelly: That's the show. One favor before you go. Send this to one woman who needed to hear it today. Strong doesn't mean solo. I'll see you next week.