What I build

I don't start by deciding what software you need. I start by understanding the process. Some work gets eliminated. Some gets simplified. Some gets delegated. Some gets automated. When technology is part of the answer, I build it or connect what you already use.

Start the Bottleneck Check Free. 5 questions. About 2 minutes. Watch the full talk (7:30)

Inquiry to booking

  • Intake forms
  • Customer qualification
  • Booking flows
  • Missed-call response
  • Scheduling connections
  • Customer information capture

Quotes and follow-up

  • Quote delivery
  • Follow-up sequences
  • Reminders
  • Status tracking
  • Escalation when a person needs to step in

Job delivery and handoffs

  • Job information
  • Team handoffs
  • Reminders
  • Customer prep
  • Internal alerts
  • Exception handling

Job completion to payment

  • Completion triggers
  • Invoicing
  • Payment status
  • Review requests
  • Rebooking
  • Reactivation

Customer front door

  • Websites
  • Service information
  • FAQs
  • Next steps
  • Booking paths
  • Online stores when appropriate

Operational visibility

  • Dashboards
  • Status views
  • Central information
  • Owner visibility without checking five different systems

Custom internal workflows

  • Research systems
  • Contract tracking
  • Data collection
  • Workflows specific to the business

For one cleaning company, that meant a system that researches government contracts.

The process is what gets redesigned. The technology is what gets built when the process needs it.

Where is the business today?

The Owner Dependence Scale
  1. Level 1

    Owner-Ran

    Almost everything moves through you. People wait for your response, and a day away means things stack up.

  2. Level 2

    Owner-Assisted

    You have software, maybe employees. Some things happen without you, but you still connect a lot of the pieces.

  3. Level 3

    Process-Driven

    Routine work has a place to go. The same things happen the same way, and you step in when your judgment matters.

  4. Level 4

    Owner-Optional

    Normal work can continue when you're unavailable.

Owner-Optional does not mean the business no longer needs the owner. It means normal work can continue when the owner is unavailable.

Where should we investigate?

The Four Leaks

  1. The Door

    How someone enters your business. Can they understand what you do and take the next step without you explaining it personally?

  2. The Delay

    Everything between interest and a response. Where does a customer wait because someone hasn't seen, remembered, or responded yet?

  3. The Day-of

    Everything around delivering the service. What do you repeatedly remind, explain, check, or coordinate before the work can happen?

  4. The Dollars

    What happens after the work. What money or repeat business depends on you remembering to do something later?

These are where I look, not a claim that all four are broken. Read The Four Leaks for seven versions of it, in the words owners actually use.

What should we do about what we find?

Eliminate, simplify, delegate, automate
  1. 1

    Eliminate

    Does this need to happen at all?

  2. 2

    Simplify

    Can the process become easier?

  3. 3

    Delegate

    Does this need a person, but not necessarily you?

  4. 4

    Automate

    If the process is clear and repeatable, can technology handle it?

Common questions

Find the first place I'd look

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