Courtesy of Kyle Ray
- Kyle Ray turned his window-cleaning side hustle into a six-figure operation.
- As his client list has grown, so has his number of employees.
- He requires his sales reps and techs to read specific leadership and mindset books.
Kyle Ray turned his window-cleaning side hustle into a six-figure business, thanks to a unique pricing structure and providing what he calls “unreasonable hospitality.”
However, if you asked the business owner what he does, he wouldn’t mention windows or home services.
“We’re not a window cleaning company; we’re a training facility that develops people,” Ray told Business Insider. “My main goal is to make anybody who comes to work with us really successful.”
The career development process starts on day one.
Ray said he sits down with every new hire to discuss their goals and five-year plan: “I always ask them, ‘You don’t ever get into an Uber or get onto an airplane without knowing a destination or where you’re going, right? Why would you start a job where you don’t have some kind of plan?’
And, if I’m a stepping stone for them to go do something that they’re really passionate about, hopefully, I can teach them a lot of skills that will help in the long run.”
Ray, who started Geek Window Cleaning in 2007 while bartending and waiting tables, now services hundreds of members in Houston and Austin. His two main hires are sales reps and technicians.
Each new hire starts at “Tier 1” and has the opportunity to work their way up to “Tier 4.”
“As you progress up this ladder, it affects how much money you make,” said Ray. “You’re paid more as you gain skill, and our goal is to get you to Tier 4 as fast as possible.”
In addition to gaining specific skills before jumping tiers, Ray shared the books each employee has to read before getting promoted. The book list is different for sales reps and technicians.
Technician Tier 1: “Eat What You Kill” by Sam Taggart
The first book Ray has his technicians read is actually a sales book. The author, Sam Taggart, started his career as a door-to-door salesman selling solar and alarm systems before building his own sales training business.
“Just because you’re a tech and you’re cleaning windows does not mean that you shouldn’t know how to sell,” said Ray. “They’re still at a customer’s house, there are still opportunities for them to add services if the customer needs it, and earn commissions on that, so we want them to know how to sell.”
Technician Tier 2: “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles
Ray believes in providing “unreasonable hospitality,” and trains his technicians to go above and beyond when interacting with customers.
“Raving Fans” is meant to further instill that core value into his employees, he said.
“It helps you understand how to create customers that are so satisfied and so happy with the service that they want to refer you to everybody.”
Technician Tier 3: “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Another core value at Geek is ownership, said Ray: “When you’re on the job site, it’s your job site, and you’re the one responsible for doing a good job.”
With “Extreme Ownership,” which is written by two Navy SEAL officers, Ray hopes to empower his Tier 3 techs to take responsibility and lead by example.
Technician Tier 4: “The Culture Code” by Daniel Coyle
The last book Ray requires his technicians to read analyzes some of the world’s most successful organizations and reveals how they build and sustain culture.
“We hire for culture fit and core value alignment, and we want people who are Tier 4 and higher up to help and mentor anyone who’s a Tier 1,” said Ray, adding: “If they get through all the tiers and they decide to go somewhere else, reading this book is really going to give them a leg up on whatever positions they go to in the future.”
Courtesy of Geek Window Cleaning
Sales Tier 1: “Inner Excellence” by Jim Murphy
“Their first book is a mindset book, because door-to-door sales is a tough job,” said Ray, who knows from experience. “You can be wildly successful, but it’s all a mindset game.”
Sales Tier 2: “Eat What You Kill” by Sam Taggart
The one book that makes an appearance on both lists is Sam Taggart’s guide to closing deals.
Sales Tier 3: “The Illusion of Money” by Kyle Cease
“We’re trying to not only change their mindset and show them that they can do hard things by knocking doors, but change their mindset around money,” said Ray. “You can make a ton of money selling door to door, and we pay our sales reps very well, but ‘The Illusion of Money’ really helps with the idea of purpose, instead of just chasing money.”
Sales Tier 4: “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown
Tier 4 sales reps, who work their way up to managing their own team of reps, read Brené Brown’s bestseller on what it really means to lead and how to be an effective leader.
Ray says his list is constantly evolving. For example, he’s reading “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara for the first time and may replace an existing book with Guidara’s if he thinks it’s a better fit.
He reads at least one book a month, and considers it a key to entrepreneurial success: “Every business owner should be reading as often and as much as possible.”
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