“Necessity is the Mother of Invention?”
Peter Drucker wasn’t god, but he was an amazing man. He had a way of turning parables of management into specific terms a small business or corporation could follow easily in their everyday dealings. I recently began reviewing his works and I thought a bi-weekly blog post would be a fun way to open discussion based on his insights and maybe share his innovation with someone unfamiliar with his visions for chimney sweeping opportunity!
“Process need” is an amazing way to describe the way a working trade succeeds through understanding a need. Possibility for innovation is opportunity driven. This means that a specific need causes an individual to direct his energy to a solution. A problem in field work can cause someone to change the way themselves and others work in that field.
For example: “Take  O.M. Scott and Company, a leader among producers of lawn care products.” This company gained this position at the top by a simple gadget! They called it a “spreader” and I’ll wager most of Americans have one in their sheds right now. It was the first one of it’s kind and the user could evenly distribute proper quantities of lawn-care chemicals and seed around a large square area of land. Before this tool was invented it was almost impossible to get an even spread- and the waste of chemicals was non-trivial. This tool cut costs and made consumers happy by producing and filling a specific need.
By solving a problem the company became the leaders of their field.
Usually, a working trade knows there is a “process need” but no one does anything about it. The standard, although insufficient, becomes the norm and it takes a spark of innovation to change everything. Then, when the innovation appears, it becomes the new norm and excellence becomes the new standard.
The chimney sweeping trade is a traditional trade. I love it and respect it. I am a chimney sweep.
But there is a Process Need. The chimney sweeping trade has a rich and romantic history but what about its future? It shouldn’t degrade into the local butt-crack plumber reputation.
Most of the working sweeps I know have two big headaches in common- Marketing and Scheduling (Customer Relationship Management).
If done traditionally, one’s wife ends up answering the phones like mine, or one outsources it to a company who has no clue what a flue is. If one answers the phones himself, then when he is working one has to answer phone calls, juggle customers, and return calls or advertise during one’s evenings or free time. Â NOT GREAT FOR THE MARRIAGE. I did the same and I knew there had to be another way.
In this case the innovation came with an opportunity and I Â found a way to take this off a chimney sweep’s plate. I found a way to make it efficient, attainable, progressive and just like the “spreader” it is cost effective and it works every time. Thus, saving the chimney sweep time and money. That way while our blazing scheduling center adds customers to your job you can sleep or sweep or take a bath or spend time with your wife to make up for so many past failures.
At Midtown Chimney Sweeps Franchise we are offering you something 10 times better than a piece of software that doesn’t work most of the time. We are offering a business solution to your chimney sweep marketing and chimney sweep phone and scheduling need. Just listen to one of our testimonials from a 20 year veteran of the chimney sweep business after a one day demonstration of the software.
To learn more or to understand more about what we have created here at Midtown Chimney Sweeps please click here!
