Are you building policies from fear or from experience?
A lot of our policies were written after something went wrong. I’ve been bitten by dogs twice. I’ve also had employees put in unsafe situations because a client was negligent about securing their dog. At some point, you stop treating those situations as one-offs. We now have much firmer rules around aggressive dogs, access, and when a technician leaves a property. If a dog is acting aggressively, we leave. If the customer can’t confirm an aggressive dog is secured, we don’t enter. I’ve had to fire clients over it. That’s where I think policies get tricky. You don’t want one bad experience to make the business rigid about everything. But when the same risk keeps showing up, protecting the team has to come before avoiding an uncomfortable conversation with the customer. Good policies should come from patterns, not panic. What policy in your business exists because you learned the lesson the hard way?Should you stop serving neighborhoods that don’t produce route density?
I had to make this decision in my own business. Early on, I said yes to customers 35–45 minutes outside our core area because I wanted the revenue, reviews, and growth. Over time, those accounts became expensive in ways that didn’t show up on the invoice. More windshield time, more miles, fewer stops per hour, and harder routes for the team. We eventually started looking at which cities were producing our best customers and tightened our advertising around those areas. I also had to let go of an original client who had been with us for more than 4 years because she was simply too far outside where the business had grown. That wasn’t an easy conversation. But a $100 monthly customer can look very different financially when they require a 30-minute detour every visit. Revenue alone doesn’t tell you whether an area is worth serving. At what point do you stop advertising to an area or let existing outlier customers go?
Fix the Plumbing Before Adding AI
Greetings Community 👋🏿 A concept I’ve thought about a lot: automating a broken workflow doesn’t save time, it just makes the mess move faster. A lot of teams jump straight to automation and the newest AI tools while the systems underneath are already disconnected: scattered user records, inconsistent permissions, duplicate data, and no clear source of truth. Identity is one of the best places to start. A well-managed IdP gives you a central place to manage users, access, and the SaaS applications your business depends on. It makes implementing SSO, provisioning, and deprovisioning across applications cleaner while establishing clear ownership of identity and access. Now you have a cleaner foundation to connect systems and build automations that actually make sense. Otherwise, you’re just automating the mess.Is “being nice” making your business weaker?
This one can be hard to admit. A lot of service business owners start out wanting to be fair, flexible, and easy to work with. Then slowly, “being nice” turns into saying yes to things that hurt the business. Free extras. Late-night replies. Discounts that were never planned. Custom scheduling for one customer. Skipping fees because the conversation feels awkward. Letting a customer ignore policies because you don’t want conflict. I’ve done versions of this in my own business. At the time, it feels like good customer service. Later, you realize you trained the customer that your boundaries are optional. There’s a difference between being kind and being unclear. Kindness means communicating respectfully, fixing real mistakes, and treating people well. Poor leadership is letting customers, employees, or awkward situations pull the business away from its standards. That eventually affects the team, the route, the profit, and the customers who do respect the process. Where have you had to stop being “nice” and start being clearer?Should owners still work in the field once they have employees?
I think there’s a balance. An owner who never touches the field can lose sight of what the team is actually dealing with. Long drive times. Bad notes. Locked gates. Difficult yards. Awkward customer requests. Routes that look fine on the calendar but feel rough in real life. Getting back in the field occasionally keeps you connected to the work and helps you spot problems you won’t see from behind a screen. But there’s a danger too. If the business only survives because the owner jumps in every time there’s a gap, the owner may still be the safety net holding everything together. I’ve had seasons where covering routes was necessary. Employees were out, someone was leaving, or the schedule had to get done. That’s part of ownership. But if it becomes the normal plan, burnout creeps in fast. The field can teach you what needs to be fixed. It shouldn’t become the place you hide from fixing it. Do you still work in the field, or have you fully removed yourself from production?Is “the customer is always right” hurting service businesses?
I don’t think the customer is always right. Customers deserve respect. They deserve clear communication, fair treatment, and a business that fixes mistakes when they happen. But that doesn’t mean every request is reasonable. A customer may ask for an exact arrival time your route can’t support. Or someone expects free work outside the agreed scope. Another client talks down to your team because they think paying the invoice gives them permission. Those situations affect the whole business. The owner starts making exceptions that turn into expectations. Good service needs boundaries. For us, that means clear policies around service windows, locked gates, aggressive dogs, weather, skipped visits, and what’s included in a visit. When we mess up, we make it right. When a customer ignores the policy or creates an unsafe situation, I can’t treat that the same way. That line matters. Where do you draw the line between taking care of the customer and letting the customer run the business?How early is too early to start servicing a customer?
This came up for me because summer routes can get brutal. When temperatures are pushing 95 to 100 degrees, I don’t want my team out in the hottest part of the day if it can be avoided. In our line of work, the job is outside. It’s physical. There’s no shade in a lot of backyards. The heat wears people down fast. So my general opinion is this: If the sun is up, visibility is good, and the technician can clearly see the yard, then it’s reasonable to start service. For pet waste removal, that means we can see the ground, see the waste, safely walk the property, check gates, read yard conditions, and do the job to our standard. I don’t think the clock alone should decide whether it’s “too early.” The bigger question is whether the customer has been properly prepared for how your service operates. If a customer thinks you’re coming between 10 AM and noon, and you show up at 6:30 AM, that’s going to feel wrong to them. If your onboarding explains that service may begin early during summer months, especially to protect technicians from extreme heat, then the expectation is different. Communication is what makes the difference. For us, this is why customer expectations matter so much. You can’t surprise people with an early arrival and then act like they should have known. They need to know upfront: what your service window is whether you give exact arrival times how much notice they get before arrival what happens if dogs are outside what happens if gates are locked why summer routes may start earlier how you handle extreme heat days I’m a big believer in the on-the-way message. If the customer gets a reasonable heads-up before arrival, they can bring dogs inside, unlock the gate, or prepare for the visit. That message matters even more when service starts early. The goal is not to sneak onto a property before people are awake. It is to run the route safely, protect the team, and still give customers enough communication to feel respected. There’s also a real operations side to this. If you wait until late morning to start every summer route, the team may end up doing the hardest part of the day in the worst heat. That can affect: speed morale safety quality callbacks employee retention A customer may prefer a later visit. But the business also has to protect the people doing the work. If we can safely complete a yard at 7 AM instead of 2 PM on a 100-degree day, that’s usually better for the technician and the route. The key is making sure your policy is clear before it becomes a problem. For example: “During summer months, our team may begin routes earlier in the day to avoid extreme heat. You’ll still receive an on-the-way message before arrival so dogs can be secured and gates can be accessible.” That one line can prevent a lot of confusion. This is another example of something that feels small until the business grows. When you’re solo, you can adjust everything manually. Once you have a team, policies matter more. You need a standard that protects the customer, the technician, and the route. How early is too early for your team to start work? And do your customers know your summer service window before the appointment happens?
