Success with customer relationship management

Patrick Burgess's success with customer relationship management has spanned 50 years. He has worked for many high profile companies including Legal and General and Cue Design.

Patrick’s strength is in building businesses and establishing market share. He is vastly experienced in trouble-shooting poor performing businesses and increasing their profit margin.

With his superior marketing and business management skills he was once hired by a company who wanted to enter the photographic industry. Patrick exceeded all expectations by securing market penetration on a National Basis through every major Department Store and photographic retailer in Australia! This took him only 12 months.

He has been running his own carpet cleaning company for over two decades. He is now ‘retired’ and spends his time between various business activities. He discusses a few of them here.

Ha ha which one would you like me to talk about? Firstly, I have the One Room Carpet Cleaning Co which I’ve had for twenty four years.

I happened to take one of my dogs to the vet. The Vet and I were on quite friendly terms and he asked me what I was doing, I told him carpet cleaning. He said have you ever thought of the pet owners market.

He said 'you know dogs and cats usually only mess in one room'. So that’s how we got the name. I spent the next ten years learning everything there is to know about pet urine in carpets. The One Room wasn’t the original name, however by changing the name of the business the business just grew.

I am redeveloping it to have 'the one room carpet cleaning co.' in a suburb close to you. It is going to take me a while as I am relying on other people to develop it so it won’t happen overnight.

Any technician that joins us will be trained by me so they will have to be good before they use my business name. We are looking at people that want to start their own business then we can offer a carpet cleaning business quite inexpensive to set up and the use of my business name under licence.

You ran you own business for 24 years! How did you maintain your motivation and remain competitive for over two decades?

Well you see I was never competitive. If there was such a person trying to compete that was their problem not mine. I don’t believe in competition. Just get out there and do what you believe is right for you, and you will achieve what it is your trying to achieve.

As I keep telling everyone the only competition you have is YOU. Motivation, I did have my moments just like everyone does but I enjoyed what I did always have. What I tried to do was never do the same type of work all the time, then it becomes boring.

No day is the same so you look for those challenges that make the day different. We often had to start at 4.00am yet I never ever slept in I was always outta bed long before I had to be. I love what I do and I enjoyed every minute, good as well as bad, because a bad day I learnt from.

Mis management. In every business doesn’t matter what it is you provide a service. If the service you provide isn’t very good you don’t retain your customers. If your service is better than would be expected then your business grows and you make a PROFIT. If you go into business to make a profit be prepared to fail.

In rescuing a failing business you need to look at the business as a whole and in parts. Looking at it as a whole enterprise. What strikes you, what impresses or doesn’t impress you. Location, office set up, facilities etc.

Then look at it in parts. What are the products? What are the prices? What is the stock holding? What are the staff like, are they trained or untrained not only in company policy but products.

Can supply keep up with sales? Are the staff happy with what they do and what they are paid? Every business is different, but by following some basic guidelines you should be able to pick up on what is causing the problem. Then you fix it.

Many new start-ups are hesitant to pay for professional advice from an accountant or solicitor etc. What are your thoughts on this?

An accountant should become one of the most valuable people you know. Yes I know they are expensive but once you start talking to your accountant about your ideas and dreams they will become the devil’s advocate every business needs. Don’t ask them for advice, but bounce your ideas off them that’s when they really become useful.

Accountants are NOT ideas people but they are very well versed in the law and taxation and they will look at your ideas from a legal and taxation view. Ok I know a few accountants will want to disagree but if they were ideas people there wouldn’t be an idea left for us to have, they would have thought of it before we mere mortals got to them.

My accountant has been a true friend to me for over thirty years. He has listened to my often stupid ideas, my thoughts whinges and rants, often keeping a straight face and sometimes appearing not to listen, yet he will come back to me with an answer or an alternative approach to my idea. Then he minimises my tax. Whatta guy.

Solicitors although I’ve never had to use one, I am on friendly terms with three that I could call upon should I require their services.

Start small, think big. When I first started out the only advertising I did was with the local newspaper. Just three lines in the trade section, and 30% of new customers came from this. Instead of a business card I used magnets half business card size that had my business name three line brief job description mobile and website. Try to choose a business name relating to what you do.

My last proper job was with a photographic company which made picture frames. I was employed to develop a market in Sydney. I started out by structuring a letter to all the photographic stores and department stores inviting them to stock out frames.

I then did a follow up visiting all the buyers, getting an order here and another there. After a few months we had a meeting where we tossed ideas around and one that came out of the meeting was that we would advertise on TV. Don’t even ask what we had in mind but we didn’t have the money or even a budget for something like TV.

The MD shopped around and found an independent film maker who could produce a 30 second TV ad for less that we thought possible. Then he approached the TV stations about to air costs.

Channel 10 was the least expensive and with a little bit of adjustments came in with a price we could afford. Mind you it wasn’t primetime TV.

I then went about contacting every photographic store and department store in the country. Within twelve months of starting with this company we had sold our picture frames into every photographic store and department store in Australia. Needless to say we were successful and our picture frames sold throughout Australia strongly for the next seven years.

So start small, think big.

What other business ‘pies’ do you have your finger in at the moment?

It has been suggested by the Australian Institute of Management that I should get more involved in Mentoring. This is something I enjoy via the Flying Solo forum, but it has been suggested I take it more seriously. I am open for suggestions.

Also just recently and I mean very recently I have been asked by Mr. Joseph Adams to help promote a new political party, The Australian Business Party.

Now I'm not really a politically motivated person but anything to do with helping small business develop is one of my passions. So I'm happy to help as membership is FREE, and I like his policies, especially the one about grandparents.

This is a very difficult question to answer, because there are so many pluses. Yes there are negatives when you start to think negatively.

The freedom to do what you want to do. Not having to start at 9.00 and finish at 5.00. To start when you want to start and finish when the jobs done. To charge what you feel you are worth, not what someone else wants to pay you. To be able to say no to a customer. To be able to attend school activities when it’s important to your children. To be able to say no charge when you feel someone deserves a freebie, but don’t do this too often or you will go broke, but occasionally when you’ve had a fantastic week, month or year 'tis nice to do and gives you a fuzzy feeling.

To be able to network and help others in the same industry, and then to be able to do it for other industries. To become YOU. I have always felt that when working for someone you are inclined to think the way they think and to react similarly. You were more concerned with keeping your job than doing what you really felt like doing. Every time I did something like that I ended up being carpeted. So the thing I like being self employed is the freedom to enjoy the journey.

So as you can see retirement has become a new adventure for me and I just love being busy.