Hire friendly people

Customers care for how they are cared for.

In one survey customers said what they value most – 

19% said best price

36% said high quality

45% said friendly service

Don’t try to hire people and teach them to be friendly.

Hire friendly people for jobs where they interact with your customers.

Equilibrium?

If demand and production match you have some peace in your business.  Things are going smoothly and your problems are small.

But if demand (commitments) are higher and production isn’t keeping up, there is stress.  You are trying to hire, buy machinery, expand or move your facility and it’s a challenge.

If your company is used to higher sales and now demand has fallen, there is stress there too.  You are having trouble paying the bills, you have to downsize – people and physical resources and anything that costs money each month.

The first situation is growing.  The second is responding to change.  Years where there is equilibrium are the best.

What cycle is your business in now?

Do you need more offense or a stronger defense?

If your company does what you do well, but you just need to grow, then you need more offense.

If your company has lots of sales, but lots of quality or production problems, or if you aren’t making money, then you need more defense.

Offense – marketing and sales.  Get more leads or people in the door and sell them what you have.  And don’t blow it when it comes to phone service, sales service or follow-up.

Defense – Produce and deliver what you sell efficiently and control costs.  I have seen companies with lots of sales lose money.  You have to run a clean, tight ship.  Accounting has to know the numbers and tell the tale to leadership.

Which is more important for you right now?

What should you do about it?

Everybody sells

In many companies, salespeople sell and get paid commission.

Well, why wouldn’t everyone in your company be eligible for a commission if they sell your products or services?

You might say, “Well, they get paid a salary or hourly, so I don’t want to pay them more.”

But don’t you want more sales?  Don’t you want ALL your people looking out for prospects?

Deputize everyone in your company to be a salesperson.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

I’m not a hard core student of this, but here is my observation. 

You know how you use Chat GPT to get answers without all the ads?  Well, those days are numbered.

The rush to spend trillions on huge energy sucking data centers by the giants is not to make our lives better out of benevolence.  It’s for profit.

No surprise there, and I wouldn’t expect them to spend that kind of money as a gift.

It’s all about advertising.  Whoever has the audience gets to charge the money.

Right now, Google has a toll booth in front of every business.  Imagine someone setting up a toll booth in front of your business, charging everyone who wants to come in and do business with you.  If someone searches your name and they click on almost any of the results that Google shows, they get paid by that business.  And the price of the toll is mostly set by auction – whoever pays the most, sets the price.  That’s how it is now.

The AI race from this viewpoint, it would seem, is about big companies figuring out a way to dethrone Google and get the money they are getting, and Google defending.

Chat GPT is from a company called Open AI (“Open?”) and the largest investor is Microsoft.  Chat GPT will start showing sponsored results soon.  Companies will have to pay to be in the top results.  Google’s Gemini will be the same. 

It won’t be about information untainted by advertising anymore. 

AI has incredible benefits.  But it seems pure search results won’t be one of them for long.

I’m disappointed.  

Do you spend most of your time fixing your hiring mistakes?

Ouch.  

If you don’t take the time to get the right people for the kind of company you want, you will be forced to take far more time to try to mold them into the people you wished you hired, but fail, and end up starting over.

Hiring well takes patience getting to know lots of people, and really understanding who they are before you hire them.

Do not hire people you are not 100% sure about because you are in a hurry.

It’s “Hell yeah” or no. 

Starting and finishing are different

Starting is easy.  It’s exciting and new.

But what needs to be finished well?

If you don’t understand it, don’t do it.

Warren Buffett doesn’t invest in businesses he doesn’t understand.  That’s good advice.

It’s also good advice for a small business when thinking about adding other services or getting involved in other businesses.

I learned the hard way.

There is a fine distinction.  Maybe with some education you could come to understand a thing.  But if it’s complex and you don’t see a clear value proposition, market, or clean way to operate, then don’t do it.

How can you bring clarity to your team and customers if you can’t get clear enough yourself to explain it?

If I don’t understand it, I should not get involved.

Not micromanagement, but empowerment

You cannot babysit your way to accountability and high performance.

You must unlock it by making your people WANT to give their best.

How? Trust them.  Be clear on expectations and results.  Challenge them.  Believe in them.  Train them.  Gamify or at least measure their work.  Smile at them.  Talk to them.  Listen to them.  Make them feel important.  Thank them.  

If they feel like they don’t want to let you down, you have done your job well.

“Staying busy”, losing money

Doing a deal to keep your team busy is not smart.

Ask “Is this in our wheehouse or core competence?”

Doing things your team is not good at will likely cost you, not benefit you.