Hey!

Chris here. Welcome to Blueprint—the newsletter to help you build a winning engineering team.

Most people who've worked with agencies or service businesses have horror stories. Smooth-talking sellers who disappear once the contract's signed. Teams that deliver work so bad you end up paying twice to fix it.

 I've spent years building and running service businesses like Surton, and I've seen the patterns that separate the companies that thrive from those that crash and burn.

 Want to know what actually works to build a service business that clients stick with for years?

 Let me break it down 👇

📒 DEEP DIVE

My Formula For Winning In The Services Business

If you want to build a 7-figure service business, stop chasing clients and start building practices that make them chase you.

I've spent two decades building service businesses and have seen the same patterns repeat. Most service companies struggle because they focus on the wrong things—fancy websites, clever marketing, or just undercutting competitors on price.

But the companies that dominate their market understand something different: winning in services isn't about your brand or your price. It's about creating a system that delivers consistently exceptional results for clients.

Here are the core principles I've found that separate seven-figure service businesses from those that constantly struggle:

You Need The 1% + 1% Combo

One of the most important pieces to running a successful services business is finding people who are in the top 1% of both communication and execution.

These people are rare. Really rare.

But they're critical because what most clients fear when they engage with an agency is that they won't get this combination.

This is the killer combo that eliminates competitors. Why? Because there simply aren't enough people who excel at both skills to populate all the businesses in your space—especially if you've niched down appropriately.

The communication part is obvious. But it can't just be smooth talking that leaves clients with warm fuzzies, then delivers nothing a month later.

You need someone who can communicate well with clients AND turn around to put really good resources to work solving their problems.

These two skills—communication and execution—build enormous trust over time, turning clients into long-term partners.

Talent Economics: Why "Budget-Friendly" Always Costs More

You also need more top 1% talent across your entire team.

I just did a whole newsletter on this, but I'm still shocked every time I interact with companies that want to cut costs on engineering talent and lower their standards.

The low-quality work that emerges from lower-tier talent is extremely expensive in the long run.

Part of the problem is that clients often don't want to hear how expensive quality work actually is. They think they can make it cost less by hiring cheaper talent.

It literally never works.

They end up redoing all that work, making the "budget-friendly" approach the most expensive decision they could have made.

When building a services business, your early hires especially need to be top 1% talent. There's no way around this.

Be Intensely Biased Toward Action

I've seen too many scenarios where clients ask for something, and then it's crickets. Or they ask, you request clarification, and nothing happens for days.

This passing the ball back and forth is a terrible process that wastes everyone's time.

The solution? Be so close to your customer that you know their mind.

When you understand them at this level, you can make good decisions without constant back-and-forth. You may not be right 100% of the time, but if you're right 99% of the time, that's a massive win.

Remember, clients are busy. They miss messages in Slack or emails all the time. Some of those things are time-sensitive.

You need to be the kind of person who can make a decision, own it, and move forward. If it was the wrong decision, that's okay too—but you've got to keep things moving.

Focus on Value, Not Just Service

Having a strong focus on how much value you're driving for your customers is essential.

I like to think about it in actual financial numbers: How much are they spending, and am I making sure they're getting more value than what they're paying for our service?

Your business moat comes from your ability to build higher value for your customers than what they're spending—while still making a profit for yourself. This is the puzzle every entrepreneur must solve.

If you're not focused on the value driver, you'll see high customer turnover. They'll be charmed by the sales pitch, stick around for a bit, then drift away.

The way you know you're delivering more value than you're charging for is simple: your customers stick around for the long haul.

Overcommunicate (Then Communicate Some More)

I repeat this over and over to my employees: You can never communicate too much.

I've never heard a client say, "I'm just sick of hearing from you." It doesn't happen in a services business (or really in any business). 

When clients are completely dependent on you for what they're trying to accomplish—whether that's software, marketing, or anything else—they spend time staring at their inbox wondering if you got their message.

If a customer has an active project with you, get into Slack and tell them in the morning what you're about to do. Then in the evening, tell them what you did.

This cycle should never stop.

I follow these simple steps every day:

• Morning: "This is what I'm about to do."

• Evening: "This is what I did."

• Quick acknowledgment: If they ping you and you're not available to solve their problem right away, just say, "I got your message, I've read it, and I'm going to work on this in 30 minutes."

This level of service is hard to find in any business, but especially in engineering and technology. It's one of the reasons we, at Surton, have been so successful.

When I think about perfect service, I think of M. Gustav from The Grand Budapest Hotel—paying attention to people's needs and knowing what they want before they want it. 

If you can do that, you can dominate the service industry.

Putting It All Together

When you combine these elements—top 1% talent, bias toward action, focus on value, and overcommunication—you create a service business that's nearly impossible to compete with.

The real secret is that none of these principles are complicated. They're simple, straightforward, and honestly obvious once you see them in action. But they're incredibly difficult to execute consistently.

Most service businesses fail because they can't maintain this level of discipline and quality over time. They cut corners when things get tough, or they get comfortable and start coasting.

Don’t be one of those companies when it’s so easy to be 10X better.

🎙 EPISODE OF THE WEEK

This week on "Build Your Business," Matt and I dive into why sales doesn't have to feel sleazy or scripted.

We break down how the best sales work isn't about smooth talking—it's about authenticity and problem-solving:

• How to build trust through real conversations instead of rehearsed pitches

• Why listening is actually your most powerful sales tool

• The exact framework for discovery calls that convert without feeling pushy

If you've ever struggled with the "sales" part of running a business (I know I did for years), this episode will change how you approach those conversations.

Listen wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

BEFORE YOU GO…

I see the same pattern with a lot of the service companies I advise. They obsess over marketing, sales scripts, and project management tools. Then, they wonder why clients leave after the first project.

Here's what they miss: clients aren't buying your systems or methodology. They're buying certainty. The certainty that you'll solve their problem without creating ten new ones.

Give them that certainty through top 1% people who communicate relentlessly and deliver consistently. That's it.

If you make just one change this week, start with overcommunication. It costs nothing but time and immediately separates you from 90% of your competition.

Talk soon,

Chris.