As I look back over the past 13 years in my recruiting experience, the one question I am most often asked is “What are the keys to helping sales people stay focused, engaged and successful long term?”
This is a very good question that is sometimes very difficult to answer, as there are many moving parts to the success equation for sales professionals.
Most people consider key skill areas such as those listed below to be critical for success in sales:
prospecting
cold calling
lead generation
skills
negotiating skills
good questions
being a good listener
being a “good closer”
The problems is that many good sales people who excel in many of these areas still over time break down, lose their focus and firepower and get out of the game prematurely.
Why is this?
The light bulb went off in my head last summer.
In 2009, as I was training to break a world record in long distance swimming. As an endurance athlete, I have seen many parallels between what it takes to train and perform at very high levels of athletics and what it takes to be successful as a sales person and stay successful long term. Principles such as focus, repetition, efficiency, discipline and good coaching are ones that are more obvious.
Let me set the stage to explain: In October of 2008, I decided to take a shot at breaking the world record for the longest distance swum non stop in a pool, which I learned was 101km (about 63 miles). I train in what is called a Masters Swim group. To give you an idea of distance and difficulty, a normal workout is about 1hr and 15 min and covers about 4,000 meters. Most triathletes and people I train with do this workout about 4 times a week for a weekly total distance of about 15,000-18,000 meters per week. To achieve my goal, I was swimming about 70,000 meters per week which averaged about 4-4.5 hrs per day in the water, 6 days a week. I did this for about 8 months to prepare for the record. By the way, this distance is what Olympians do to train for gold medal performances. The most common question I got was, “how can you do this and not get bored or go crazy?” The answer is that I built my “Staying Power” by discovering what my “Optimal Rhythmic Zone” was and staying in this zone.
Let me explain more clearly what this zone is and how it relates to sales people staying successful. One’s Optimal Rhythmic Zone is a particular pattern and speed of activity that is pertinent to each person’s ability and current condition. That speed of activity is defined as not being too slow, as you need a certain amount of speed to keep momentum and a rhythmic pattern of activity, and it is not too fast, as you can not burn your fuel at too high of a rate or you will run out long before the race is over. Think of a car burning gasoline at its most efficient point. If the car goes too slow, you don’t get optimal gas mileage, as the car engine is running too long covering a given distance. On the other hand, it is not too fast, as the rate of consumption relative to the distance covered is too high. That is why it is often stated as somewhere around 50-60 mph is optimal for maximum fuel efficiency. This would be the car’s optimal rhythmic zone.
Transition to sales people. I will contend that if a sales person is going to be successful and stay successful for the long haul, it is imperative that a sales manager help each of their sales people to really identify each person’s Optimal Rhythmic Zone and manager their activity relative to that number translated into selling activity. For each of 10 sales people, those zones may all be different. That is OK. Only when a sales person is operating in this zone can they operate efficiently and then make progress in realistic increments and stay successful for the long haul.
Check and see if your hiring methodology is in the zone of attracting top performers. Download our FREE Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE to get yours.
When was the last time you and your team assessed your culture. Take our Culture Quiz and see if your team all describe the culture the same way. CLICK HERE to download the quiz.
LinkedIN is a powerful tool for hiring top talent. Join our Hire and Retain Top Talent Group. There is a wealth of articles and discussions for you there. CLICK HERE to join.
The private equity firm was in a world of hurt. They paid over $100 million dollars for this fast food restaurant chain and it was now losing over $40 million a year. Their investment was now effectively worth zero. They called me in to find a new CEO for the company. We interviewed many candidates, but one stood out above the rest. Why? Our questions about leadership brought out his greatest strength. You could tell from his answers he was more than a manager, he was a leader. He came from a very large fast food chain where, frankly, he wasn’t all that well liked by senior management. They were uncomfortable with his “style”. But, his “style” created a team where every person who worked for him loved him and would work their fingers to the bone for him. Not surprisingly, he took the worst region in the company and made it into the most profitable region in the company. This guy worked harder than anyone. Despite being an EVP, he wouldn’t hesitate to grab a rag and wipe down a table when he visited a restaurant. He had example after example on how he turned around his region through hard work and leadership.
When he met with our client, in 15 minutes they knew they had found their new CEO. He took the job and within two years had the company back in the black. How? Was he a management genius? No. He was successful because he was a leader, not just a manager. His team believed in him, his banks believed in him, and his private equity investors believed in him. He was able to get the performance he needed from his employees and the financial backing he needed from the financial community. Good leaders hire good leaders and he was no exception. He hired a good team and the rest is history. He was with the company for over a decade and sold it to a financial buyer for over $600 million. (Needless to say, he’s now “on the beach”.)
Lesson: Don’t confuse management with leadership. Ask candidates for examples of where they’ve demonstrated leadership. Would their subordinates say they were a strong leader? Why? Have a hiring process designed to attract and retain top quartile talent throughout your organization and your opportunities will become endless.
Is your hiring methodology designed to attract top talent? If you want to assess the quality of your hiring process, download a free copy of our 8-Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE to download.
You should also join our Hiring and Retaining Top Talent group on LinkedIn. There are many great articles and discussions on hiring. CLICK HERE to join.
Author’s Bio
Mike is the founder of Hagerthy & Co, an executive search, training and consulting firm. For information on how to arrange for their complimentary Hiring Process Assessment go to www.hagnco.com/page13.html#HiringProcess
People speak a lot about change these days. As you read this, you are exhaling atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen that just an instant before were locked up in solid matter; your stomach, liver, heart, lungs, and brain are vanishing into thin air, being replaced as quickly and endlessly as they are being broken down. The human skin replaces itself once a month, the stomach lining every five days, the liver every six weeks, and the skeleton every three months. To the naked eye, these organs look the same from moment to moment, but they are always in flux. By the end of a year, 98 percent of the atoms in your body will have been exchanged for new ones. Literally, you are not the same person from year to year. Why then, amidst all this change, do we often seek to eradicate changes in our lives, our organizations, our business processes, and in our environment?
Buddy, can you spare the change?
No, you cannot spare the change and neither can your organization! You are in fact changing and your organization will also change. You and it will change or you will die and even death is a process of change. And in today’s modern business world, to focus on the business issues, the pace of change has accelerated to the point of almost blinding speed. It continues to accelerate.
We all know that this is the case, and we all know that it is technology that is driving the acceleration of change. Advances in communication have made our world one global market. We face competition from the same global markets in which we seek the lowest cost labor for our own products. Many of our customers and employees purchase products and work to design products and services from the comfort of their homes. Information (and disinformation) is readily available to all who have access to the internet, and in the industrialized nations of the world, a majority of the people have gained that access one way or another.
We also know that disruptive technology provides leaps in competing products which totally transform the markets in which we move. The classic example is that of the buggy-whip. While focused on making the best buggy-whip in the world, the manufacturer does not see that automobiles will soon obviate the need for buggy-whips. The whole market disappears. Personal computers have totally changed the corporate information system market and have gone on to fuel the changes in how we as individuals use information and communicate in our personal lives. To not anticipate these disruptive technologies, or at least recognize and respond to their impact, is to invite corporate obsolescence.
Why do we fight change?
While intellectually we all know that change is inevitable, that there is no such thing as security or stability, we often have a difficult time accepting that things must change. My experience is that as long as someone perceives that a forthcoming change will increase their authority in the organization, they will embrace the change. If the perception is that authority or power will be lost due to a change, then all stops are pulled to avoid the proposed changes. Rarely do employees willingly make a personal sacrifice in stature, authority, or power for the general good of the organization.
Sometimes the opposition to change may be due to change overload. Perhaps an employee is dealing with an overwhelming amount of change in his or her personal life; children moving away to school, divorce or simply dealing with relationship strains at home, illness in the family. Under these circumstances, employees may well look to the workplace as the only point of stability in their lives. They spend fifty percent of their waking hours at work, and if everything else is in turmoil, they want desperately to have work be the haven from change.
Institutionalizing Change
As if it isn’t enough to deal with the outside forces of technology and globalization of markets, we now have to deal with the institutionalization of change within our corporations. Management initiatives such as Six Sigma and the ISO9000 programs demand continuous improvement. It’s impossible to imagine improvement without some level of change. Relentless pressure to increase human productivity demands changes in our business and management practices even if we determine that our products and markets are well defined and viable.
The essence of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is alive and well today. The name, BPR, has been misappropriated for those who would simply downsize their organizations. Yet the original intent of a careful study, measurement, and radical reorganization of a company is still employed today; we just call it something else! Leadership teams have also recognized the need to make continuous incremental rather than radical changes for many of our business processes. Regardless of how we make the changes, change we must if we are to survive and thrive.
Shaping the Corporate Culture
How well change is managed in an organization depends on the skills of the leadership team. Not only do they need to understand the organization and the requisite changes, but they must understand their employee’s capacity for change and the capacity of the organization itself to support and promote changes.
Mr. Michael Mussallem, Chairman and CEO of Edwards Lifesciences, often speaks of “actively managing the corporate culture.” Part of the company credo is that; “We will celebrate our successes, thrive on discovery, and continually expand our boundaries.” Continually expanding boundaries implies not only technological but organizational change. To actively manage the corporate culture means not only ensuring that the corporate ethics is understood and managed as a process, but that the leadership team affirms and promotes an environment that encourages individual responsibility and a capacity to change the business processes.
So are you ready to embrace change when it comes or are you one who “fights” the changes? What is the culture of your company with respect to change? Do you fit in?
Take a quick assessment of your company’s culture and see if it fights change. Have all your key managers take this same assessment. Then evaluate and discuss the differences. CLICK HERE to download a free culture assessment.
Change starts with an effective hiring process. You must have the right people on the bus. This 8 Point Hiring Methodology Assessment tool will help you build a hiring methodology in your company that attracts top talent. CLICK HERE to download your free assessment.
About the author
Dave Kinnear is a sought after Business Advisor and Mentor. He works with highly successful executives through one-to-one mentoring and coaching meetings. Individuals who are presently running successful businesses and executives in transition work with Dave to ensure meeting corporate and/or career goals. Through his affiliation with Vistage International, Dave convenes and facilitates Advisory Boards comprising Business Owners, Company Presidents and Chief Executives dedicated to becoming better leaders who make better decisions and achieve better results.
The number one reason candidates fail in their brand new job is that they cannot deliver your expected results. The second reason is that they cannot adapt to your unique culture and environment. Adapting to your culture must be measured to ensure a successful hire. Unfortunately, measuring the ability to adapt to your culture is one of those items everyone talks about, but is not sure how to do it effectively. In this Audio Program, Barry and Brad break down the specific tactics on how to measure whether a candidate can replicate their past accomplishments and achievements in your unique culture.on.
To download or listen to the recording CLICK HERE, then scroll down to the recording
“The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.” La Rochefoucauld
In part one, we focused on issues that come up with communication and we will delve further into this complex subject. We knew one organization that placed a very high performing accounting coordinator into a sales role. This person was very unhappy and ended up leaving the company. If they would have simply recognized the skills and desires of the individual, they would not have lost a top performer. If someone is a troubleshooter, let them troubleshoot. If someone is in need of a process then strive to provide that for them. If someone is very creative then tap into it; otherwise, they could feel unchallenged and bored. When we strive to understand people’s strengths and manage accordingly, we then set them up for success. Use the information you gathered during the interview process, reference checking, and an in-depth work style and personality assessment to gain deeper insight for how to effectively work together.
A Success Story
One final story. An organization with a customer service department was not meeting the volume level they had set for inbound calls. The manager blamed the reps and identified them as “C” players. Later, this manager was placed in a different department and a new manager was brought in. This person sat down with each individual and then with the whole group. The manager utilized information collected from in-depth work style and personality assessments of the team to understand the team members.
As a team, they discovered that within twenty-four hours of delivery, calls were coming in to inquire about the time of the delivery and additional questions about the product. The team brainstormed ideas of how to reduce the inbound questions so that they could take new order calls. Together they came up with a simple idea of providing updates to the customer regarding the delivery as well as creating an information page for the typical product/delivery questions. The call volume changed dramatically. The team members were later asked why these ideas had not been suggested in the past. The response was very simple—no one had ever asked them. They had been reprimanded for lack of performance rather then asking for their input in order to solve the problem. The results were improved productivity, performance, and job satisfaction, since they now had an environment that invited participation and teamwork.
Discover Your Leadership Style
To find out what your leadership style is, you can take a quick leadership assessment by clicking on this link:
It is a very helpful tool for managers, supervisors and team members to complete and discuss with their team.
Action Items
The following are some action items to consider:
Contact Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to learn how you can use an in-depth work style and personality assessment for the hiring process, staff development, and personal growth (www.lighthouseconsulting.com).
Utilize the information gathered from in-depth work style and personality assessments to manage more effectively. This will in turn reduce the learning curve for on-boarding and help to better understand the individuals that you work with.
Place yourself and others in positions that take advantage of strengths to ensure success.
Be clear with expectations, listen carefully and paraphrase when something seems to be an obstacle for the person.
Take the time to mentor people to succeed through empathic understanding of how they might approach an opportunity or challenge, and work together to build a common bridge. You can learn more about in-depth work style and personality assessments and how to incorporate them into a hiring and staff development process for your organization by visiting our website, www.lighthouseconsulting.com. There you can sign up for our Keeping on Track publication that provides monthly proactive articles.
Is your hiring methodology designed to attract top talent. If you want to assess the quality of your hiring process download a free copy of our 8 Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE to download.
You should also join our Hiring and Retaining Top Talent group on Linkedin. There are many great articles and discussions on hiring. CLICK HERE to join.
Author’s Bio
Dana Borowka, MA, CEO and Ellen Borowka, MA, COO of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC have over 25 years experience in the area of business and human behavioral consulting. They have been helping organizations both nationally and internationally in raising the hiring bar through using in-depth work style assessments. They are nationally renowned speakers and radio personalities on this topic. They have built a well recognized organization that provides expert interpretation of in-depth work style assessments during the hiring process, providing a variety of workshops and assisting those with communication challenges. They are authors of the book, “Cracking the Personality Code”. To order the book, please go to www.crackingthepersonalitycode.com.
If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com
Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth personality assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, conflict management, workshops, and executive & employee coaching.
“The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.” La Rochefoucauld
Communication has come so far over the years. In less than a split second, we can send emails to thirty different people around the world and everyone will receive the same data. Yet the most difficult challenge that can cost organizations thousands if not millions of dollars is still miscommunication in interpersonal exchanges. It’s amazing that this one area has not changed in thousands of years. One could say to a group, “Think of a whale.” Everyone in the room will have a different vision of a whale in their mind’s eye. Similarly, the occasion for a misunderstanding can occur easily when someone is sharing an idea or giving an assignment.
A lack of loyalty and connection to an organization can develop if people feel misunderstood or not valued. This can result in turnover and the loss of top talent. We are often contacted by individuals who have graduated from top schools, have a good job history, and are looking for career guidance. When they are asked why they are looking to leave their current position, we usually hear that they do not feel valued, engaged, or appreciated. They are typically high-level performers, and the loss to their employers is costly. If organizations take time to simply manage individuals according to their needs rather than just treating them like a mechanical part, then these star performers probably would not have the need to look for other opportunities.
Each of us is a valuable part of the whole, and we need to develop an empathic company culture in order to open lines of communication for creative contribution. That leads to engagement of ideas and respect so individuals feel that they can participate in a vision. Developing a supportive environment that encourages mentoring will create opportunities for knowledge to be shared with the various generations. Additionally, this provides a creative foundation for new and exciting processes, products, and services.
Cracking the Interpersonal Communication Code
But where to begin? How do we crack the interpersonal communication code? First, include others on your team or in your department in the discussion and ask the following questions:
What is an area of your interpersonal communication that is not working as well as you would like?
Have you seen this come up before? Give an example.
What would the ideal outcome look like?
What are you doing that is not working?
What are you doing that is working?
Next, analyze the answers and look for patterns. Now you can start to develop an action plan. Be sure to utilize information from an in-depth work style and personality assessment as described in Chapter 5 that provides the eight ways to gain true insight into personality. This knowledge will illuminate a more effective way to communicate, encourage greater engagement of individuals, and contribute to creating respect, loyalty, and appreciation. The end results: enhanced retention, performance, and positive word of mouth for attracting top talent.
Over the next 10 to 30 years, finding qualified people is going to get more difficult with a predominantly maturing population. Retention of top people will be more important than ever, and positioning your organization for recruitment purposes is vital. People talk and reputations get developed very quickly through the Internet and word of mouth. How your organization communicates within itself is a good indication of how it communicates to the outside world. Putting people in the “right” position will lead to greater job satisfaction and success.
Is your hiring methodology designed to attract top talent. If you want to assess the quality of your hiring process download a free copy of our 8 Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE to download.
You should also join our Hiring and Retaining Top Talent group on Linkedin. There are many great articles and discussions on hiring. CLICK HERE to join.
Author’s Bio
Dana Borowka, MA, CEO and Ellen Borowka, MA, COO of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC have over 25 years experience in the area of business and human behavioral consulting. They have been helping organizations both nationally and internationally in raising the hiring bar through using in-depth work style assessments. They are nationally renowned speakers and radio personalities on this topic. They have built a well recognized organization that provides expert interpretation of in-depth work style assessments during the hiring process, providing a variety of workshops and assisting those with communication challenges. They are authors of the book, “Cracking the Personality Code”. To order the book, please go to www.crackingthepersonalitycode.com.
If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com
Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth personality assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, conflict management, workshops, and executive & employee coaching.
Have you selected one or two key roles and upgrade the positions yet?
If not, what’s holding you back? Don’t miss out on this wonderful special time in history to attract a level of talent to a couple of key roles that you might never again have the opportunity to acquire.
What’s holding you back from taking the first step?
Here are some of the “arguments” I hear against upgrading when I mention this idea in our workshops and to our CEO/President clients:
This person has been with me a long time and is loyal
The individual in that role might have a hard time finding a new job
I’m embarrassed that the hire didn’t work out – I’m hoping it turns around
I think the person will eventually get better
I don’t have time to spend on hiring someone
The person is okay – they do some things well – no rush to make a decision
Not sure I won’t make a mistake the second time around again
No idea where to start or find this person
I can live with this person – I’ll do part of their job
What if I screw up the hire – then I wouldn’t look good to my ____ (fill in the blank)
Does this sound dysfunctional? Sure it does.
The number ONE trait of success for managers and executives is the ability to hire and retain an outstanding team of people. Are you a great manager/executive or an average one?
Do you have an exceptional team in place right now?
Why are you tolerating average/mediocre performance?
Are you doing part of the work your team should be doing?
Do you have some people on your team that are good at doing 70-75-80% of their job, but stink at the other 30-25-20% of their job. Who gets to do this piece your subordinate cannot do? You guessed it – you do.
Before you can blink, 50% of your workload is doing the work your team should be doing. You’re doing 8% of Mark’s job, 5% of Susan’s job, 20% of Kelly’s job. Now you can’t do your job because so much time is being consumed by doing the work of your team.
Why are you continuing to accept this less than stellar performance.
Take action now and upgrade a few key roles that are below your expectations. Emerge from the recession with a team that truly is a strategic advantage.
Recognize that right now is a unique historical time period for hiring. There are some exceptionally talented individuals who might consider your opportunity. As the job market recovers – you may never again be able to acquire and/or afford this talent.
You rarely lose a top candidate at the end of the hiring process. It’s usually in steps taken along the way. In this case the client made a series of seemingly small mistakes that resulted in the candidate declining to go forward. It started simply by the hiring manager keeping the candidate waiting 30 minutes, then, he compounded the problem by not being prepared for the interview. “He didn’t seem to remember much about my background”, the candidate later confided in me. Despite the rocky start, the candidate returned for a series of additional interviews with other members of the management team. All went well, but the last interview was to be with a senior manager who was on a sales trip in Europe. No problem, we would arrange a phone interview. Week one resulted in no interview being arranged. It wasn’t until week two that the senior executive could “make room on his calendar” to call the candidate. The executive was 30 minutes late making the call and it lasted only 30 minutes. (Eight or nine time zones difference and he couldn’t find 30 minutes on his calendar for two weeks?) Finally, the client told me that all of the executives were very excited about the candidate and they wanted to move forward with an offer. I was told to inform the candidate that an offer would be sent to him “in a week or so”, as soon as the hiring manager could get all of the required approvals. At this point the candidate declined to continue. “To me, a hiring process is a reflection of how a company operates and makes decisions. I didn’t like what I saw.” The candidate took a job with a much larger company which had moved faster and more efficiently than this client.
Lesson learned: The best window any candidate has into the culture of an organization is the way it goes about the hiring process. If your process isn’t tight, professional, organized and strategic, top quartile candidates will go elsewhere, and they may tell their friends about their experience. One bad hiring process can equal two problems, the loss of a top candidate and a bad public relations moment.
Check your culture by downloading our Cultural Assessment. CLICK HERE to download a free assessment.
Is your hiring process effective at attracting top talent? Our 8-Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your hiring process.CLICK HERE to download a free scorecard.
Mike is the founder of Hagerthy & Co, an executive search, training and consulting firm. For information on how to arrange for their complimentary Hiring Process Assessment go to: www.hagnco.com/page13.html#HiringProcess.
A newly married couple was beginning their first Sunday meal preparation. The young woman began preparing a wonderful roast of beef while the man was preparing the vegetables. As they worked, the man noticed that the wife sliced off both ends of the roast and then rolled it in spiced flour. Curious, he asked, “Why did you do that?” “Do what?” “Slice the ends off the roast,” he responded, “Does that make it juicier or something?”
“Well, I don’t really know. Mom always does that when she cooks a roast.” So they called her mother and were amused to hear that she also didn’t know why the ends should be cut off the roast. It turns out it was because “your Grandmother always did that and so I do too.” Of course they called Grandmother and heard a hearty laugh when they asked her “why do we always cut the ends off the roast of beef before cooking it?” After Grandmother got control of her laughter, she exclaimed, “I can’t believe you guys are doing that! The only reason I did that in the early years is because your Grandfather and I had only one roasting pan and it was too small for a roast big enough to feed us all.”
How many things are we doing in our businesses that are no longer necessary, no longer efficiently done or are downright damaging to our processes because “that’s the way we’ve always done it?” Do you have a practice of reviewing all of your processes from time-to-time to make sure that they are needed, effective and efficient?
Here’s something to consider in both your personal and business life. Implement a practice of annually or twice a year sitting down and thinking about what you will “Stop,” “Start,” and “Continue” doing from that point forward. Pay special attention to what you will stop doing. As employees, we often will fight this practice since we worry that if we don’t have to do something, then our employers won’t need us. Especially now, with the reduction in force that most companies have experienced, it is critical that we unburden the remaining employees by making it mandatory that they find tasks they can stop doing without jeopardizing customer service. As employees, we need to embrace the concept that we can add value by eliminating unnecessary or less than critical work.
Be ruthless in stopping less than critical work. Be stingy about what you decide to start doing. Make sure the new tasks are goal achieving, effective and integrated efficiently with the rest of the system. And celebrate what you decide to continue doing – that means (hopefully) that those tasks are critical to success, effective and efficient.
Is your culture one of team work and does everyone in your company agree? Have them take our Company Cultural Assessment. CLICK HERE to download your assessment.
Is your hiring methodology designed to attract top talent and weed out those candidates that embellish? You can download our 8 Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard and find out. CLICK HERE to download.
About the author
Dave Kinnear is a sought after Business Advisor and Mentor. He works with highly successful executives through one-to-one mentoring and coaching meetings. Individuals who are presently running successful businesses and executives in transition work with Dave to ensure meeting corporate and/or career goals. Through his affiliation with Vistage International, Dave convenes and facilitates Advisory Boards comprising Business Owners, Company Presidents and Chief Executives dedicated to becoming better leaders who make better decisions and achieve better results.
Finding people is a consistent problem we encounter just about every time we ask CEOs or key executives what their biggest issue is when it comes to hiring. If it isn’t in the top three it is always in the top five.
Yet when you ask them what their process is to find top talent most reply in the same way, “We run ads” or “We post it internally.” That is the way 80% of all companies go about finding people.
Below are three real life examples of alternative ways of finding people.
1) In 2007, I was having lunch with a partner from a local CPA firm. During lunch he commented that they had been struggling for six months to find an audit manager. In fact, he commented that they would pay a $10,000 bounty for an employee referral. I didn’t add a zero. So I asked, “How many people have you hired?” The reply, “None.” They were doing the usual, running ads and asking current employees. That was their process for finding people.
So as the lunch continued, he mentioned to me that they had just brought on a new client and that he had just had lunch with the new CFO at this same restaurant. I immediately asked the partner, “Did you ask the CFO who was the best audit manager at his current company?” or “Who were some of the best audit managers he had worked with in the past?” He had never even thought of this. I suggested that he could contact all of his CFO clients and ask them. After all, it is in the client’s best interest to have good audit managers.
This was such an obvious thing to me and yet he was willing to pay ten grand. For those of you thinking it takes too much time to find good people, I don’t think asking these few questions would have extended the lunch that much.
2) Last year I was conducting one of our in-house workshops for a mid-sized technology company in New York. During the workshop, one of the key executives mentioned how difficult it is to hire technical people. I probed a little further and asked about the type of people they hire. She commented that they want people comfortable with technology. People who understand how networks work, people who diagnose a computer problem when a client calls with a problem, install software, and perform basic repairs that clients need right away if something goes wrong. They were willing to train on their specific systems and software. They just wanted someone that was moderately technical and comfortable with technology.
These people were “extremely” hard to find.
I asked if they ever go to Best Buy and engage the Geek Squad. Have they ever taken in a computer and found someone that provides great customer service and demonstrates that they understand technical issues?
She and her team had never thought about these people. I received an email two months after the workshop letting me know they had hired two people from Best Buy.
3) My best friend manages a store for one of the major retail chains. Every time we play golf, I have to listen to him complain about how hard it is to find people willing to work. He complains that his company works people hard and is demanding. The result is a lot of turnover.
So I asked him how often when he or his team is out shopping and they come across a great person in another retail chain do they engage the person, give them a business card and ask the person to call him, or let the person know that if they ever think about leaving to call him.
I mentioned that I go to a coffee shop most mornings when I’m in town for an hour of work. At this coffee shop, every person is probably in their late teens and early twenties. These people run the coffee shop. They open every morning at 6 AM so they have to get there by 5:30, they are friendly, they know customers by name, the coffee shop is clean and they are great employees. So I asked if he ever asked any of them about potentially coming to work a his store.
In both cases he replied no, and that he doesn’t even encourage his team leaders to be aware of potential employees when they are out shopping.
Qualified people are all around us. As a recruiter, I always have my antenna up. Most CEOs and hiring managers just walk right by these people. Work with your team and start noticing people hiding in plain sight.
Download our Hiring Process Self Assessment Scorecard and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your hiring system. CLICK HERE to get your assessment.
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