Hire the Best Employees !!

I once saw an ad in a magazine by an employment agency. The ad contained a picture of an empty chair and the words, "It is better to leave this chair empty than fill it with the wrong person." Truer words were never spoken.

Nothing that you spend money on in your business is more important than employees - not your equipment, not your building, not your office furniture - nothing. Let me prove it to you.

I am an avid golfer. I am sixty years old and I have been playing golf since I was 15 years old. That means I have been playing golf longer than Tiger Woods has been alive. I am going to play a golf match against Tiger. The rules are as follows:

• I get to use the best golf clubs made. Tiger has to use an old set made 25 years ago.


• We are going to play a golf course that I have played over 100 times. I know the course and have a great plan for how to play it. Tiger has never seen the course and thus, has no plan.


• I get to have an experienced caddy who can give me great advice. Tiger is going to have to carry his own clubs and has no caddy to advise him.

Who are you going to bet on to win the match? What - you are going to bet on Tiger? Why? I have the best equipment, a great plan, a professional advisor, and I have more experience playing golf than Tiger does.

Of course, you are going to bet on Tiger. He has the talent and the ability. They overcome all of my "advantages." The same is true with employees. Who cares if you have a great plan if your employees can't implement it. Who cares if you have great equipment if your employees do not use it to its potential. Good employees will improve a bad plan. They will correct bad policies and procedures. They will replace bad equipment and get the most out of good equipment. Good employees will overcome other deficiencies in your business. Bad employees will never utilize your resources to their fullest potential.

Here is more food for thought. Your employees represent you and your company to your customers. All of their actions reflect upon your business. Suppose you walk into a Sears store to buy a new lawn mower. You observe two sales people standing nearby talking to each other. They look up and notice you but choose to ignore you and continue talking. You finally get tired of waiting and ask them for assistance. One agrees to help you. You ask questions about the various lawn mowers that are displayed. The sales person can't answer your questions. His general reply to all questions is, "They are all pretty good." You ask for more specific details. He rudely replies, "You can read the directions." and walks away.

You walk out of the store saying to yourself, "Sears employees are rude and give terrible service. I'm never shopping there again." You have condemned thousands of employees and an entire organization based on the behavior of two employees. That is the natural response. Why? Because those two employees represented Sears to you.

The same is true of every business. If you have bad service at an Olive Garden Restaurant you don't say that one server at that particular Olive Garden Restaurant is bad. You say that Olive Garden Restaurants have bad service. Why? Because that server represents the company to you. You don't know the CEO. You have never done business with the VP of marketing. Your contact with that company is that server.

When a baggage handler loses your luggage ..... when a mechanic doesn't repair your car properly .... when the receptionist at the law firm doesn't greet you properly ..... when the claims agent at the insurance company ....etc. .... etc. .... etc.

Do you want to spend thousands of dollars on marketing to attract customers and then have your employees chase them away? I don't think so. If money is tight, save it on anything other than employees. Hire the best, train them and train them and train them again, and reward them properly. Training will the subject of a future posting.

Your comments are always welcome. Please feel free to suggest any subject you would like discussed in the future. Visit our web site at www.sentrabusinesssolutions.com.