Key Idea #2: Hire Service Providers Who Can Read People

Topic for discussion: How does Bill identify people reading skills in the process of hiring a new server?

Answer: First, he looks for strong communication skills and pleasing, appropriate body language. You can learn a lot about a person by focusing on facial expression, posture and gestures. Second, he looks for eye contact because if a person can't look him in the eye, that same person won't be able to look a customer in the eye. And, he watches to see if the person reads his body language and is able to mirror him. This tells Bill if the candidate will be able to "read" the customer, which is the key to success in a service position.

Can you remember a time when you were in a hurry and the server at the restaurant where you were eating was in slow motion? This mismatch of energy makes the customers uncomfortable. Bill wants his servers to naturally match the pace of their customers and at the same time be friendly, creative and flexible

You think about it: Can your service providers read people?

Key Idea #3: Hire People Others May Overlook

Judi Jacobsen started hiring "displaced homemakers" several years ago. She has a group of deaf employees and she has a number of Cambodian and Korean immigrants working for her.

Topic for discussion: What are the advantages of hiring the disadvantaged?

Answer: From a business point of view, they tend to be very loyal. Because they haven't been given much opportunity, they appreciate the job they have, they show up on time every day and they don't complain. From a personal point of view, Judi experiences great satisfaction from hiring people that others avoid.

The only disadvantages are around the issues of training and communication. In Judi's case, she learned American Sign Language so she could communicate with the deaf employees and she offers English classes to the immigrants. A "displaced homemaker" is a woman who raised her children and now finds herself in the workforce for the first time in over a decade. Judi is careful to give them extra words of encouragement which comes naturally for her.

You think about it: Can you use this idea?

Key Idea #4: Hire Nice People With Plenty of Energy

Employees consistently provide the surprise element for the business owner. However, with a thoughtful hiring process, much of the surprise can be avoided.

Topic for discussion: How does Wanda determine the energy level of a person she is interviewing?

Answer: Wanda is an expert and she has years of hiring experience that have taught her that she can measure a person's overall energy by shaking their hand. Buddhism teaches that we have, "energy channels." These are veins within the body through which psychic energy flows. Could it be that Wanda's intuition tells her that by briefly holding the hand of another person in her hand she can learn something about that person's psychic energy? Other business owners have told us that they use a handshake to determine if they want to do business with a potential customer.

Sue Fox and Perrin Cunningham write in their book, Business Etiquette For Dummies, about the handshake. They say, "What a sloppy handshake says about the person behind the hand is that he or she just doesn't have things together. And if you're the sloppy shaker, you're telling the client, boss, or interviewer that you have problems. That conclusion can lead him to make a subconscious decision that he doesn't want to do business with you — or that you won't make a good representative of his company."

In addition to observing a person's handshake, like Bill Sugars, Wanda also watches for eye contact and a person's ability to actively listen and react to questions. Wanda believes that an active listener will be an excellent learner and she only wants to hire people who are teachable.

If a person passes the handshake test and is a good listener, Wanda then tries to figure out if the person is nice. Sounds corny but she only wants nice people on her payroll. Before we interviewed Wanda, we had already noticed how nice everyone in her office is. We mean sweet-and-gentle nice. This is another case for the point that like attracts like. The ninety day trial period is when Wanda can validate her intuition about a person's level of niceness, but Wanda says she can choose nice people. At Tires Plus they said they hired people with nice parents because they don't have time to teach people how to be nice. They are on to something here. Wanda has time to teach a person how to do a job, but, she doesn't have time to polish the rough edges of a person who is insensitive or uncaring. The group of employees who work in the home office of Computer Directions work in close proximity to one another. They share a kitchen and they share in the pay-for-performance plan. They have to depend upon each other. Wanda is wise. She knows nice people are much easier to interact with than the not so nice.

You think about it: What do you look for when you are hiring a new person?

Key Idea #5: Offer A Career Track With Good Pay and Benefits

Government layoffs near Las Cruces motivated Troy to create good work in his home town.

Topic for discussion:What tells us that TMC has a long-range human resource strategy?

Answer: Their intern program is designed to grow their business over the long haul. Anyone trying to make a quick buck wouldn't fool with college kids. The owners of TMC consider it a sacred trust to put a person on their payroll. They have never had to lay-off anyone even though it would have been the easy thing to do. The benefits package tells us TMC is committed to employees. It pays 100% of health care and has annual leave and good wages. Accomplishing this takes enormous will as Troy said, "Everything is important--the marketing, making sure that you track everything, making sure that you treat your customers properly and making sure that financially you're doing smart things, and then, of course, taking care of your people. And if you don't take care of the business, you're not going to be able to take care of your people." You think about it: Business owners are not driven by the same things that drive employees. This is the biggest lesson we all need to learn. Troy, Chris and Leroy have been in the government contracting arena for years and the greatest fear employees have is that they will be laid off if a contract is lost. By building carefully, TMC has taken the fear away for employees.

You think about it: What can you do to make your employees feel secure? Less fearful?

Key Idea #6: Create An Intern Program

Nicole says, "Everybody I have here now, started as an intern. I have so many interns passing through here that if somebody is really good, when they get out school, I hire them."

Topic for discussion: Why is the intern program good for Nicole Miller?

Answer: It provides a fresh flow of talent the company does not have to pay for in hard dollars. Frankly, the stars are perfectly aligned for this to work. First, one of the most famous designs schools is just a block away from Nicole Miller headquarters. Second, Nicole herself attended the Rhode Island School of Design which wants to send her interns. Third, The Nicole Miller brand is now respected and young women want to wear the clothes. And fourth, there are more design students who need and want an internship program than Nicole Miller can accommodate. No wonder this works and no wonder Nicole Miller doesn't have to pay the interns! You can design an intern program that works for you. Many companies pay interns in cold hard cash while other programs award academic credits for the work done. In some industries there is no precedent for interns but that doesn't mean you can't make it happen.

Who are your most valued, productive employees? How do they spend their time? Would they benefit, i.e., would the company benefit, if these employees had some part-time administrative assistance? College students are bright, energetic, and can be of enormous value to a business. Because they work part-time, the business does not bear the cost of employee benefits, making interns a cost effective alternative as well. Talk to your employees, particularly the ones you sense are overworked. Ask them if they perceive any benefit to the idea of starting an internship program.

If you decided to proceed, contact the career center at your local university. But don't stop there. Find out who the appropriate department head is and call him or her directly. Send a job description, hourly wage, and a clear description of how flexible you can be on the number and time of hours worked. Ask the department head to circulate your need to the entire faculty. Students will go to the career center and contact you, but a student recommended by a faculty member may very well be the best candidate.

You think about it: Have you tried an intern program? Why not? What school around you might be open to providing interns?

Key Idea #7: Promote From Within

Bud recognized Judy's raw talent and was happy to create an environment where she could fully develop and use her leadership skills at Nicole Miller.

Topic for discussion: What is the greatest benefit to having a promote-from-within strategy?

Answer:It is motivating to people who truly want to learn and grow. They see an opportunity ahead of them, not a deadend. Thus, they committed to building a farm team so people could see the upward mobility potential. Why would you hire a person like Felicia then not give her a path to growth? Steve says she has what he looks for and that is enthusiasm and personality. He admits he can't teach those things but he can certainly teach a person with those qualities how to run one of his restaurants.

You think about it: What are you doing now that could be de-motivating to your team? Do you have a policy or a procedure that is discouraging rather than encouraging the growth of the individuals on your payroll?

Key Idea #8: Put What You Want In Writing

Tom and Don formed TiresPlus University to teach new teammates what they need to know to be successful at TiresPlus. They are not very concerned with the knowledge that new employees bring to the company. Knowledge can be taught; the raw material is what Tom and Don care about.

Topic for discussion: Why is it helpful to a written description of the type of person you want to hire?

Answer: This many not be needed if you are the only person involved in the hiring process but as you grow, others must be engaged. However, being specific keeps you from falling for what could turn out to be a bad candidate.

TiresPlus is looking for COPS, people who are Caring, Optimistic, Passionate, Systems-disciplined and spirit filled. Finding the right kind of teammates is so important to Tom and Don that they pay a $500 referral fee to a teammate who successfully attracts another teammate to TiresPlus.Tom and Don's feelings are appropriate for any business. Who you hire is more important than what they know. True, training employees is time consuming and costly. But an employee who has the necessary skill set to jump in and needs no training is of little value if (s)he is not motivated, sensitive to customers' needs or a team player whom other employees have confidence in. Better to invest the time training the right person than offer the wrong person a position in your business.

Most companies, when advertising for a position, will include both job requirements and preferences. Requirements are the mandatory criteria that the person filling the position must meet. Skills or experience that are "preferred" indicate that all other things being equal, the applicant also meeting those criteria is more likely to be offered the position. Remember, though, that all other things are not equal. In the end, most companies have found that the intelligent and motivated applicant, who might require a more extensive training period than the applicant with more relevant experience, provides the business with a greater return on investment.

The next time you are hiring a new employee for your business, make two lists. One, list the required and preferred qualifications for the position. These are the technical criteria and required skill sets and will be included in the advertisement for the position. The second list, which you will review just prior to each interview for the position, will include the personal characteristics you would like to see in the new employee. These characteristics will include those most likely to ensure success for the company and the individual if they are appealing to your customer base and current employees. You can make that second list right now!

You think about it: Do you have a written description of the type of person you want to hire? Do you have a list of the technical skills needed for each position? If not, do you think this would help you in the hiring process?

Key Idea #9: Interview and Audition Prospective Employees

Tom is not the only business owner we have heard describe the hiring process in terms of an audition. The Disney Company institutionalized this concept. It calls employees actors and people don't have jobs at Disney, they have parts, or roles to play.

Topic for discussion: Why doesn't everybody use Tom's techniques?

Answer: Because it is hard and time consuming! Some companies are looking for warm bodies, but not Tom. Tom's genius is systems and his hiring system is wholistic, not robotic. A person's resume should have basic information spelled out in black and white so Tom wants to use the in-person interview process to dig down deep and find the soul of the person. He said we need to ask "out-of-the-box" questions. His favorites include: What makes you sad? What makes you happy? Was there ever a time when you failed at a goal you were trying hard to achieve?

Next, he creates an audition by setting up a role-playing exercise. As he said, don't ask someone to tell you how they would sell tires, ask the person to sell you the tire and do it now!

You think about it: Is it time for you to put your interview process in writing? Is it time fo you to try some new interview techniques?

Key Idea #10: Teach, Preach, Coach and Counsel

Albert Black hires people from the poor neighborhood in which he grew up. They have little or no business experience, so he has to spend time teaching not just how to do a specific job, but how business works.

Topic for discussion: What is the difference between teaching, preaching, coaching and counseling?

Answer: He said teaching comes from the intellectual side while preaching reaches the emotions. Coaching is directing and controlling performance while counseling is being empathetic and offering advice. Albert is explaining in a nutshell how complex it can be to build a great team of employees. All of this sounds easy but it is extremely difficult.

At On Target learning is a priority and it isn't just learning how to do a specific job for which a person has been hired. It is about every employee improving their lives. Albert is the role model. Even after his company was enjoying great success, he got his MBA through SMU's (Southern Methodist University) weekend program. It took three years attending class most week-ends while working spending at least 60 hours a week at On Target.

Topic for discussion: Can a small business afford to fund employee education?

Answer: Albert says yes and explains, "We work with people on education. If you don't have a bachelor's degree, if you don't have a high school diploma, we'll send you back to school and we'll pay for it. Some employees have gone during working hours and we've paid them for that time. It's that important to us. I don't remember a situation where we've invested in education that I didn't feel like the company got more than a fair return."

In addition to funding higher education, Albert teaches employees how to spend and manage the money they are earning and how to earn more money. Ninety-five percent of the employees are enrolled in the company 401(k) plan. Albert's goal is for every employee to become part of the "affluent class." Each Friday morning he serves a hot breakfast and offers a training class on a variety of topics but all focused on personal growth and wealth accumulation. He says, "people are becoming members of the free enterprise system, they're saving, they're investing, they are building trust and for the first time in their lives are earning more money than they need to spend. "

You think about it: Do you teach, preach, coach and counsel? If not, do you think you should start? Which of the four activities is the easiest for you and which is the hardest? Who could mentor you where you are weak?

Key Idea #11: Provide Technical and Communication Training

The only way to grow a business is to grow a team of some sort. There is no way to get around it. People are the raw materials you must commit to working with, day in and day out, if you want to grow a company. Businesses that lead with service must fully understand this concept because delivering service requires psychological heavy lifting. Every service provider needs psychological muscle. Lots of it. Psychological muscle gives the employee strength to cope with mean, demanding people and even turn them into nice people. The strong employee can can bounce back quickly from a situation that made them feel bad. Training increases confidence and quality so it must be done regularly.

Topic for discussion: Why does the owner have to deal with an employee's feelings?

Answer: When people feel good they do good. When they feel bad they do bad. This is especially important when you are delivering a service and when it is one as intimate as facials and haircuts, it is critical. Pam's goal is to create a place where every employee feels safe, calm and confident. Employees even said, Gadabout is, "one place you can count on in your life." This is an example of the trend we've experienced during the last decade of the 20th century. We have witnessed the break-down of the family unit and at the same time we see businesses trying to create a family-like feel in the workplace. Pam is on top of this. She was a single Mom for years and she has plenty of women at Gadabout who are the sole support for their families. It is clear that Pam is achieving her goal to be a great place to work.

Topic for discussion: What kind of communications training had all the employees just completed when we taped this story?

Answer: Conflict resolution training. They all learned a four-step process to solving a problem. First, you feel the problem and calm yourself. Second, you deal with it by going to the person with whom you have the problem. You tell them you want to speak with them about a problem. You go to a place away from clients and colleagues. Third, you speak about the problem and listen to the other person. Fourth, you let go of the problem so that it does not affect the future. The big benefit of this type of training is Pam can now hold people responsible for dealing with conflict. Pam doesn't have to take people into her office and work with them to resolve conflicts. Pam is brilliant because not only will Gadabout as a company experience a higher level of productivity, employees can use these skills in their personal lives as well.

Great communicators can have what they want and do what they want in life. We see this proven in every field and while Pam is not a public speaker, she is a powerful communicator. She understands that communication is the oil in the service machine. Gadabout sells plenty of products but it leads with service and in all service-based businesses, communication becomes the product.

You think about it: What do you do now to help people feel good about themselves? What can you start doing? Does your company need conflict resolution training? Do you think this is only needed in a female dominated situation? What can you do to improve your own communication skills?

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Key Idea #12: Train Everyone, Not Just the Sales People.

Topic for discussion: What happened when Jim Schell only provided training for his sales people?

Answer: They increased sales 35% and the rest of the employees where overwhelmed to the point that old processes broke down. We have to think of the entire supply chain and how every person in the organization is impacted by every other person.

You think about it: What kind of training is needed next and when should you offer it?

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Key Idea #13: Listen To All Ideas

Boardroom, Inc. does over $110 million in sales with just 80 employees. This is five times the productivity rate of the Fortune 500 companies. Marty has built a corporate culture that nourishes people. He pays above industry standard but also every employee is involved in this creativity / problem-solving process he calls "I-Power." He believes that every person has an endless supply of ideas and those ideas are needed to improve the business. Every week every employee is asked to contribute two suggestions by answering these two questions: What can I do that would cause my department to improve? And, what can others do that would cause my department to improve?

To top the cake and make the entire process exciting and because Marty knows that what gets rewarded gets done, he pays out cash on the spot for ideas! He wants people to think at work, not just do what they are told to do.

Topic for discussion: Why is this more important now than ever before?

Answer: Just two generations ago, most Americans made a living with their hands doing some type of manual labor. Then we started running machines that were making things like automobiles. Today, more and more employees are either service or "knowledge" workers. In both of these areas, employees have to use discretion and intuition to perform at high levels. You must do everything to encourage people to think. Employees will think hard when someone they respect asks them a question then takes the time to listen.

You think about it: What do you do to encourage employees to think, come up with new ideas and share those ideas with others.

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Key Idea #14: Offer A Job For Life

Joseph Semprevivo is on fire about what he and his team accomplishes. His Mom and Dad owned a restaurant so he learned from childhood what it takes to make a business work. His parents had a terrible set-back when they took a much-needed vacation and returned to their business to find that their manager had stolen all the money taken in over the two-week period and that he had cleaned out the freezers! Even seeing what his parents went through, for some reason, Joseph didn't get cynical about people. In fact, he figures that people will work harder and smarter if they know that they have a job for life. Joseph considers the act of creating jobs a sacred trust. He trusts other to do the work they promised to do and he can be trusted to make the payroll. He sees that it is an honor to have people around him who want to be part of his vision.

Topic for discussion: What has Joseph's philosophy taught him about people?

Answer: If an employee knows he or she will not be laid off or replaced due to increased efficiency, the employee will find ways to increase efficiency. Seems so simple! The person doing a job always has more insight about that job than a supervisor and the best way to reduce the cost of making something is for the people making it to suggest improvements.

You think about it: Why don't more small business owners offer a job for life? Could you do it? Would you do it?