Missing Puzzle Piece

In past episodes during COVID-19, I have shared at nauseum how I've educated my local community on the "9 Mistakes in Disinfecting". I have shared it in every group that would allow with several others upcoming! In my latest edition to my BIB networking group, I blazed through the 9 mistakes in 5 minutes. Since we were all on Zoom, some members had spouses in the background listening. I just wanted to get this information out there. My friend Bill Downs called me after the meeting. "Ken, my wife was listening to the call and said that we need to have Ken over here!" I scheduled the estimate, completed it the following day, and sent the proposal email by Saturday morning!

While vacuuming Monique's house, I discovered that I sucked up a jigsaw piece into my vacuum. This is a nasty thing to look for, but I know that Monique loves her puzzles and I know how I'd feel if I finished the whole thing except for 1 piece. I told her what happened and asked her how important her puzzle piece was. She felt bad to make me search for it inside my dirty vacuum bag. I could tell it was important, so I dug through my nasty bag and found the piece, cleaned it off, and returned it. This was a simple act of service, but it goes a long way toward trust building and allowing me to optimize. Think of the missing piece of the puzzle. This is what it looks like to go the extra mile is. It's the missing piece that most companies ignore. I choose to add this piece over and over and over again. This simple core value has helped me thrive in business.

Let's wrap this up on a fun story. As I've already shared, I did a 1-hour presentation to my chamber on the 9 mistakes. This week, I took a few hours and followed up with all 30 participants from that call through email and VidYard. Several personally thanked me. Some joined my weekly cleaning tips newsletter. One of the 30 names was familiar. It took me a moment to connect the dots. 'Ah'! Last summer, I did my "New to Harleysville Tour" where I solicited 25 offices for cleaning. This tactic does work, but the conversion is very low. I did add a biweekly office cleaning, Gehman Design Remodeling, but that was it. One of my visits was a newer accounting firm with the perfect profile small office for me to clean. I really wanted it. I did all that I could to be a Go-Giver and offer my professional advice on helping them make a better first impression. They were grateful, but it didn't go anywhere. Fast forward 10 months. The decision maker for this office was on my chamber call. They have yet to reach back out to me, but I have noticed they open my weekly emails multiple times. I believe this is a future client. My name is top of mind and their level of trust in my company is increasing.