Why Standardising Beats Customising with One Hand Behind its Back

In business, custom equals death.

These words stuck with me during a conversation I had the other day with a seven-figure entrepreneur. With just a few years under his belt of running his business, he’s already fairly brilliant when it comes to entrepreneurial strategies.

It’s all about standardising, he said. Standardising your processes, how you work, and even whom you work with each day. Essentially, say no to anything custom.

Why? Because custom increases your costs. It increases your variables. You are at the whim of your client, and — maybe the worst aspect of customising — your client won’t see you as an expert.

Custom equals death.

Why Standardising Works Over Customising

This made me think about my own entrepreneurial journey. When I first started out working as a freelancer, I said yes to everything and anything. I thought this would help get my feet wet in the world of business. And it did, in a way.

But I found myself stuck with flaky clients, people who wouldn’t pay me much. I also had to learn new skills and tools for nearly every client. Sure, I learned a lot. But it wasn’t sustainable.

In other words, custom equals death.

Which is why you need to standardise your offer. Whether you offer a product or a service, standardising enables you to set your milestones and objectives so they’re the same no matter your client.

Still tempted to go custom? These seven reasons why standardising works over customising just might change your mind.

1. You’re more referable

The more custom you are, the more likely people will refer you when they come across a need they know you fulfill.

Let’s say you create amazing, high-performing landing pages in five steps. If someone wants to launch a product and needs to convert people during the launch phase, your previous clients would be able to say, “Hey, I know someone who can design that landing page for you!”

2. There’s less customer service

This doesn’t mean you don’t provide quality service. It means you don’t need to chat every day with your client about what they like or don’t like — you’re in charge of your offer.

If your offer is custom, you don’t know exactly what the client wants. You don’t know if you’re on the same page. But with standardisation, there’s less back and forth as you provide the desired outcome for the client.

3. You deal with less problem solving

Your step-by-step is proven. Everyone on your team knows what they’re delivering and what steps they need to take to get there. They know what they need to deliver to whom, they know what’s expected of them, and they know how to communicate.

There’s beauty in this because that means you as the entrepreneur aren’t fighting many fires. Your team doesn’t need to come to you for every little question. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

4. You receive payment upfront

This one is important. If you’re standardised, you don’t work hourly. You charge for the step-by-step services you provide, and it’s a flat fee. That’s it.

You might feel awkward the first time you ask for payment up front, but remember, you charge a flat fee. When it’s something hourly, people expect to pay at the end of the month or whenever the service is completed. But people expect to pay for a product up front.

This is big for cash flow.

5. Staff handle self-training

Standardising means you no longer have to train each new person you hire. You now have employees who handle training new staff independently. I’ve experienced the benefit of this firsthand with my branding agency. I currently have three people in my agency, and I’m expanding to five.

What could have been a long process for training newcomers is now quite easy, all thanks to standardising. I have a process in place just for newcomers to read through and learn about their role.

But even more than that, the processes my staff go through on a daily basis helps with training new staff, too. They are each an expert for the processes they complete multiple times a week. When someone else comes on board, each of my experts can teach the step-by-step process for different aspects of the agency.

6. The business works for you

As a successful, standardising entrepreneur, you don’t work for the business. The business works for you. This links back to you dealing with less problem solving. The business doesn’t need you to fight every fire, answer every question, fill in every gap.

You simply make sure problems are solved and the how of that solving is documented. That way, if that fire flares up in the future, you don’t need to be there to stop it.

Your main job now? Ironing out the kinks and growing your business. And, of course, living a normal life. That’s one of the best aspects of standardising. You aren’t chained to a desk, unable to take time off. Now you can live remotely, take vacations, visit friends, and so much more.

7. The expertise is with you

Have you ever had conversations with a client who thinks they know better than you? They’re convinced you need to provide your service to them a certain way. If you do everything custom, you’ll probably be swayed to believe they’re right.

But when you standardise, you’ve done things 10 times or even 100 times the same way. So you can confidently tell that customer you know what you’re doing, and you can promise them your way works.

Aside from that, when you standardise to one product or service you offer, the customer expects you to guide them. This works out much, much better when working with clients because they won’t think they know more than you. They won’t assume their one-hour design class means they can tell you how to design their converting landing page.

Standardising is Always the Better Choice

Custom equals death. It’s easy to see why my new business friend said those words. I get the allure of custom, though, I really do. Offering anything to anybody sounds like a good plan when you’re just starting out.

But let me save you some time and a lot of money by helping you realise how standardising is always the better choice. If you need help knowing what to standardise and how to start doing it, book a call with me or sign up for my email list. I’ve developed a standard service for this, and it works.