Hi Contrarians,

Get a load of this…

We recently picked 2 owners at random from inside our Contrarian Community and asked them what their BIGGEST problem is right now. Then, we helped them brainstorm how to solve it.

Welcome to a case study segment we’re calling The Problem Profit.

Get it? Profit, like prophet? Cool? Cringe? Who gives a sh*t. Let’s get down to business.

Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn...

✔️ You. Are. Not. Special.

✔️ Case Study 1: Michelle’s cleaning biz

✔️ Case Study 2: Ross’s vending biz

✔️ Now THAT’s what we love to see…

You. Are. Not. Special.

Sorry, but it’s true. And neither is your business.

As of last year, there were 33,185,550 small businesses in the US.

That idea you had? Unless you’re the dude who was reportedly making $20k/month selling “tiny cinder blocks” back in 2018… Someone’s already done it.

That problem you’re facing? So have 10,000+ others.

And guess what? Those are good things.

Because whether you’re just getting started, figuring out how to grow, or even trying your hand at sales for the first time… Odds are you’re FAR from the first employee, founder, or owner to face your current challenge.

Know that even though we’re diving into just 2 people’s SMB challenges today, there may be thousands of others who could benefit from learning about them.

So let’s dive in, shall we? Starting with an industry that’ll get any boring biz builder horny for profit: commercial cleaning.

Case Study 1: “How can we build a pipeline of good employees?”

Owner name: Michelle

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Industry: Commercial cleaning

Problem: “We’re looking to create a pipeline of new talent to help us serve our commercial cleaning clients.”

Initial thoughts: The core question we’re dealing with here: If you’re a local service business (in a country dealing with an aging workforce and ongoing labor shortages), how do you hire more good people? The answer? Incentivize. Incentivize everyone.

Problem 1 brainstorm

Idea 1: R&B, baby

Not rhythm and blues. Referrals and bonuses.

“The best way we found [to attract new, good talent],” Michelle told us, “is actually to just start creating relationships with people… Give them a little bit more of a view into the job rather than just a phone conversation.”

GREAT tip. But still, that talent needs to come from somewhere.

The truth is that the best employees, across any business, are often those that you either steal from somebody else or are referred to you by one of your best.

So here’s the idea: Institute a companywide policy for referrals and bonuses. If somebody refers a new employee who stays longer than X months, they get Y dollars.

What gets measured gets managed, and when you:

• A) Treat employees well
• B) Pay them well
• C) Incentivize them effectively
• D) Do all of the above consistently over time and track it

… You may notice they end up telling other people about it. And in a local service business, that’ll make a difference in your bottom line.

Idea 2: An incentive-driven internal newsletter

Credit goes to Michelle for this one.

“We don’t even have any regular communication between all of our employees. Usually, it’s just us to them. They don’t even know each other. So setting up a little employee newsletter to let them know what’s going on could be a great way to share that information.”

Turns out, her business doesn’t have any regular communication between management and all her employees. Solution: an internal newsletter.

The problem is, internal newsletters are snore-fests about 85% of the time (not data-backed, but iykyk).

So here’s what you could do…

Set up a private newsletter on Beehiiv. Keep it super brief. Use it to:

• Highlight those referral incentives we just discussed
• Highlight when someone gets rewarded for hitting them
• Highlight any other important or cool thing you want employees to know

And on top of that, don’t just write up this newsletter and pray employees read it.

Incentivize the actual reading of it.

Embrace that Pavlov DOG in you. (Can’t believe we just wrote that.)

Put a $5 gift card for a coffee or something sweet at the end, for every employee who reads it.

Incentivize, incentivize, incentivize.

Case Study 2: “How can we get our vending machines into more locations?”

Owner name: Ross

Location: Corpus Christi, Texas

Industry: Vending

Problem: “The primary issue is the presence of a large competing distributor… My advantage is that I have higher quality machines, higher quality products, and better customer service, and so I’m trying to figure out how I can overcome the competition.”

Initial thoughts: He’s got machines, he’s got the operations, but he’s having trouble actually getting his machines into more locations. Can we come up with ways to turn his strong foundation into more locations, driving sales?

Problem 2 brainstorm

1. Idea: Get everybody in the same room

One issue at the core of Ross’s vending location struggle is how inefficient it is to find out whether or not a spot already has vending.

“For me to identify that they don’t have vending, I have to physically go into the location… See how many cars are there… Continually reach out in hopes that I reach [a decision maker] at a time when they’re actually there.”

Brute force. Not very fun. So let’s step back for a second and ask one of our favorite questions...

What if this were easy?

What if all the owners in Corpus Christi were hanging out in one spot — the manufacturing complex people in one room, the office complex folks in another, the store owners in another?

So that’s what we told Ross — that he should be asking these questions:

1. Where’s the local industrial real estate meetup?
2. Where’s the local property investors meetup?
3. Where’s the local SMB owner meetup?

Go meet the owners, go build relationships at the center of the influence pool, and just explain the business…

“I’m working on this thing right now where we’ve got these incredible vending machines, we maintain them, offer incredible customer service, we’re just looking for more locations…”

Next thing you know, some property manager who’s been trying to offer tenants more amenities could overhear you and ask for your card.

2. Idea: Get the youth involved

Got a niece or nephew? A kid? A neighbor?

Something kind of magical happens when a young, hungry kid asks someone to take a chance on them and their business. People tend to give them opportunities they might not give a 40-year-old dude in a blazer.

So team up with a younger hustler you know and trust, show them the ropes, teach them how to sell, and, importantly, pay and incentivize them — like with a percentage of sales for every lead they bring in.

Then all of a sudden, your competitive advantage isn’t just, “Do you want to switch to a better distributor,” it’s, “Do you want to take a chance on somebody who reminds you of yourself 20 years ago or not?”

3. Idea: Have “a guy” in your city

First of all, there’s nothing cooler than “having a guy” for something.

Now though, instead of paying a guy, you’re gonna have to work with them.

Maybe it’s the real estate agent you see getting coffee every morning (though, not nearly as much as you see them on LinkedIn).

You never thought in a million years you’d ever speak to the local business influencer… but now? Now they might be your secret weapon.

You could even try something fun.

Tell them, “I’m going to give you a vending route. Don’t worry, I’ll operate it and give you the affiliate revenue. We could create content around it, and you could talk about, you know, how you’re serving the neighborhood.”

Next thing you know, he’s connecting you with commercial property owners all across town.

Now THAT’s what we love to see…

It’s never “do what we say” and “x” will happen. Our job here is to bounce ideas around. If and how you want to implement them is up to you.

It is cool, though, to see that at least one of these ideas showed some early promise.

We caught up with Ross and his daughter after our talk, and we LOVED what we heard…

“After our conversation,” Ross told us, “one of the key items that I clawed into was the sending someone younger out to try to see if they can get a location. My daughter is actually visiting me from college for the month… I was like, ‘Do you want to earn some extra money?’”

She did, and so the duo put together a strategy. How’d it go?

“First day, actually, we closed one,” Ross’s daughter told us. “We’ve [also] got leads at other places that we’re waiting to hear back from.”

“I got a lot of no’s at first,” she added. And if there ain’t a lesson in here…

“The one that gave us a solid ‘yes’… was the last spot I was going to stop at.”

SO not boring...

▶️ The Problem Profit: Watch the full segment right here, where dive in deeper.

🤝 We’re hiring a Head of Marketing — please send the best marketers in the galaxy our way.

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