Top of Mind

This week started off with an excellent "Freedom Zone" in my Total Life Freedom Mastermind. The guys already knew that I landed a new client because the previous cleaner was uninsured. I gave an update how Kim was so happy with my first cleaning that she promoted me inside of a neighborhood closed group. Then I went on to explain that her neighborhood is a new development with half of the houses under construction and the builder's model home at the corner. They knew that my goal was to add 15 houses in 2020 of a certain demographic, size, location, and price. Once I mentioned one last piece of information; this house is my ideal client and the others in Kim's neighborhood are duplicates. The mastermind pounced and said, "Ken, you need to farm this neighborhood." Think of the possibility of having 10-15 new houses of the same type, demographic, and price hundreds of feet apart. I could optimize this solo business 4 houses per day at $175 per visit. That $75k in revenue on 2 days per week or $62k per year income/profit! I could add a 3rd day and earn $100k in profit on 3 days per week cleaning in one neighborhood.

• I asked more about "farming the neighborhood" and they gave me some excellent ideas like:
• Creating a business PDF for Kim to email or text to her friends and offer Kim $50 for any referrals that hire me for a recurring service.
• Introduce myself to the sales guy of the builder and offer to clean their model home for free in exchange for the exclusive rights to advertise to their clients.
• Serve the neighborhood by picking up trash and spend time there with the family. Residents will think we live there and wonder why we're picking up trash. "We clean houses here and working with the builder to keep the neighborhood clean for new owners."
• Create content around "How to Break Up with Your Cleaner" and "How to Hire a House Cleaner" and get to builder and Kim.
• Get into neighborhood's group page and offer to do a live Q&A on cleaning and disinfecting. Offer a promotion on the Q&A.
• Place doorhangers on the 10 houses immediately around Kim's house after I clean.
• Get those interested onto my "cleaning tips" newsletter.

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This strategy keeps my name and company top-of-mind, which brings me to the meeting I had with Lauren Allegrezza of "Marketing to Mission". She asked me the question that everyone has always asked. "Why did you leave engineering to clean?" I answered that in my Solo Cleaning School Introduction episode. Lauren was able to draw something different out of me. We were talking about the strategy of Top-of-Mind Marketing and it connected to my reason for leaving GE differently.

I told Lauren the story of buying my Honda Pilot. I never noticed Pilots until I wanted to buy one. Suddenly, they were everywhere. Then I thought about my time at GE. In the beginning, I was happy at my job, aspiring to management, and happy dating my girlfriend Teresa. Once I decided that engagement, marriage, and a family was next, I started noticing marriages around me. I wasn't happy about what I noticed and it made me realize that the environment I worked was not conducive to a long, successful marriage. In the case of the Pilot, the more I saw them, the more I wanted one. In the case of my GE job and co-worker's marriages, it was the opposite. This is why I lost heart and eventually ended up in a career where I could control the work I did, the people I worked with, the money I made, and the time I worked.

In an effort to stay top-of-mind with former prospects, I added to my mailing list and Google My Business reviews, and also re-connected with Asher's Chocolates and Sammy's Bullfrog Cafe with helpful hints. They were happy and said they'd be in touch. I don't know how long this will take, but if I stay top-of-mind with enough companies and homeowners, the sales will come! They always do.