Roman Peysakhovich has been reviewing household cleaning products for more than ten years, which helped give him the knowhow and experience to start his own online cleaning business, Onedesk. The website lets various clients book cleaning services for their offices and other workspaces.
At Onedesk, Roman Peysakhovich offers the services of cleaning professionals that have undergone rigorous screening and vetting procedures. The company also offers services for household cleaning. Since every communication is done online, the clients go through zero hassle in booking the cleaning professionals they need. Onedesk also lets the clients rate and review the cleaners after they complete the task.
The success of Onedesk has led to recognition for Roman Peysakhovich as one of the leaders in his field. He has been invited to speak at several industry conferences, where he extols the virtue of using technology and software to simplify procedures for cleaning businesses.
Outside of Onedesk, Roman Peysakhovich undertakes extensive research on the cleaning industry, particularly on modern appliances like vacuum cleaners, etc. He reviews these appliances to help Onedesk readers decide on the type of appliance they need for their home.
Roman Peysakhovich and Onedesk have also been featured on several major media outlets, including USAToday, BizJournals, Reader’s Digest, ThriveGlobal, Score, RobinPowered, among others.
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Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Roman Peysakhovich: One of the key things that we are so proud of is our ability to adapt. Competitors in our space have been around for many years, but we’re all in the same boat of needing to rapidly adapt to shifts in the market due to the virus. We didn’t set out to be an eCommerce shop. We initially planned on being a software solution for office cleaning services. When we saw the need for electrostatic spraying and the low supply of sprayers, we knew we needed to adapt to this new need and would solve the issue for many customers and cleaners looking for these devices. When we started selling the sprayers on our site, we were inundated with questions about the pros/cons of each. Nobody knew which products were the best as the whole world of electrostatic sprayers was brand new to nearly everyone in the industry. Based on our early experience with the sprayers, we put up a review page to assist in the buying process. This simple review page has led to an outpouring of appreciation from our customers.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Roman Peysakhovich: When setting up an eCommerce store, I realized the key to not burning out is having the technology to help you along the way. Our CTO, Daniel was hard at work from day one building tools and automation that would streamline everything from the orders being put into a system, to automatically sending out tracking info. There are so many great tools available today that you can utilize that will prevent you from doing those manual tasks that cause burn out.
Jerome Knyszewski: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Roman Peysakhovich: Our family investors have been the answer to our success in being able to quickly set up our store and finance our project. One of our major customer bases has been local schools and police stations. Municipal organizations like these required us to send out the product before they would send out a payment. Due to this, we ran into a serious cash flow issue and would not have made it without our families believing in us and helping to finance these purchase orders. We didn’t have time to prepare our books for a bank loan, so their quick help was vital to our success and continues to be today.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The Pandemic has changed many aspects of all of our lives. One of them is the fact that so many of us have gotten used to shopping almost exclusively online. Can you share a few examples of different ideas that eCommerce businesses are implementing to adapt to the new realities created by the Pandemic?
Roman Peysakhovich: I think the entire eCommerce space has been a lifeline for many people during the pandemic. Imagine how different coronavirus would be in a world without easy online access to many of your needs like clothing, food, masks, etc. The shift away from physical stores was already on the way, but the pandemic has rapidly sped up this shift. Many eCommerce stores are offering memberships to consumers who order their products regularly. I think we will see a big push for a “subscription” model from online businesses, as they will seek to introduce loyalty to the buying process. Most eCommerce businesses today cannot accurately forecast future cash flow. Introducing membership programs can ease a lot of these uncertainties. When Amazon added Prime, they were handsomely rewarded by the public markets, as investors began evaluating the business in a new light.
Jerome Knyszewski: Amazon, and even Walmart are going to exert pressure on all of retail for the foreseeable future. New Direct-To-Consumer companies based in China are emerging that offer prices that are much cheaper than US and European brands. What would you advise retail companies and eCommerce companies, for them to be successful in the face of such strong competition?
Roman Peysakhovich: Build a brand! If you’re competing on price or value, you will eventually risk competition being cheaper. One thing your competitors cannot do is be better at being you. Great customer service, a story behind your product, and an awesome dedicated team is what drives a good product to outlast cheaper competitors. We cannot compete with China when it comes to pricing on our sprayers. What we can do however is answer the phone late at night and guide our customers in their journey, and to promise to be there when they need it.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start an eCommerce business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Roman Peysakhovich: Overpromising! Whether it’s shipping times or its inventory promises, it’s easy to get ahead of yourself in the beginning. You want to do everything for your customers so you over-promise them and then end up disappointing by not delivering. This is the case with so many eCommerce stores. In the beginning, I wish we were more transparent with our customers and told them we are a new start-up and we are doing the best to adapt to this new demand for our products. The best thing you can do is to keep an eye on inventory and know your shipping times cold. Only promise what you can fulfill, even if it’s not what the customer wants to hear at the moment.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience, which aspect of running an eCommerce brand tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Roman Peysakhovich: The most underestimated aspect of running an eCommerce is customer service. Getting a customer to purchase your product is only half the battle. Once you realize you’ll have to constantly manage inventory issues, shipping delays, and defective products, you realize how important it is to have good support. We realized this once we had about 20 people asking questions every day about their order. We were not prepared for this at all. We’ve recently onboarded a full-time support rep to manage customer service for our shop.
Jerome Knyszewski: You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Roman Peysakhovich: You’re too kind! I, probably like many of the people reading this, struggle with digital addiction. If I’m not looking at the screen on my laptop, I’m looking at the screen on my phone. It can be hard to just disengage and live in the moment. One simple trick I’ve started using this year is turning the color filter on my iPhone to grayscale. I’m still able to be productive on my device, and the lack of color really detracts from a lot of the appeal of the phone for the time wasters that all of us fall prey to. I would also encourage a policy of “no-notifications”. This means turning off badges and alerts on your phone. You should be in control of your devices, not have your devices in control of you.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Roman Peysakhovich: Feel free to add me on LinkedIn. I am always down to chat with anyone and try to help with any business matters. I am a knowledge seeker and thrive off learning new things as well as helping out in any way I can. If you need any help with anything cleaning related in the workspace, I am your guy!
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!