Why I Didn’t Hire You
I’m an easy interview, but a tough judge. I don’t use personality or behavioral tests – I’ve tried them all, and I do see some value there, but I’ve also relied on them for hiring decisions, which I later came to regret.
I don’t call your references. It’s a waste of my time and theirs. You’d never give me a reference that would say anything other than the most amazing and wonderful things about you anyway.
Tell Me What You Didn’t Like!
One of the worst things that can happen to any business is to lose customers without knowing why. How do you fix a problem when you don’t know what it is? Often when customers stop using our services they are upset about something. It might be about price, quality or service, but these are all broad areas. What is it specifically? Since we all base our decision as to whether to go back to a certain establishment on our last experience with it, what went wrong? What happened that last time?
What Kind of Boss Are You?
Your behavior in front of your employees is a big determining factor in the way they will behave toward each other, your customers, your suppliers and you. Here are some prevalent and damaging behaviors that some bosses exhibit. If they expect the best from their employees they’ll need to clean up their own act first.
The Squeaky Sales Team Gets the Grease
This month’s article is a bit of fun, a bit of made-for-your-entertainment videography and a bit of a business lesson. My team of transmission sales reps destroyed our $2,000 Dell color laser multi-function printer with sledgehammers. Yep. I let them do it. In fact, I watched from my office window and smiled.
Are You Easily Understood?
People are focused on what’s important to them at the moment. If what you’re saying either doesn’t have enough significance for them or they don’t fully understand it, you lose them. They can look you right in the eye and go “Uh-huh, uh-huh” and not be getting a word of it. When you use words that people can’t understand either because they are technical terms or they’re just above the grade level of education that the average person has, again you can lose them. If you try to use acronyms or abbreviations to shorten up your questions or statements, you need to know for sure that the other person knows what they mean or again you will lose them. In other words, it’s so easy to lose their attention and so hard to keep it. You can keep it, however, by simplifying your terminology and by showing them how what you’re saying benefits them. People always listen when they think they are going to derive a benefit from it.
Work Status
When I was a young manager, I went to work for a shop that required me to manage work flow. At that time in my career that was unusual, because everywhere else I had worked they did not want me to even entertain the idea of managing work flow.
Compliance or Commitment: Which Do You Want on Your Team?
You are completely in control of your attitude. And, as a leader, you can influence the attitude of your people (and, therefore, their performance) by creating an environment in which positive attitude is revered and people with negative or toxic attitudes are voted off the island.
Lead Status
A transmission-shop manager will make a minimum of 100 important decisions a week. Let that settle in for a moment. Now, understand that these decisions will determine the shop’s financial success. Every wrong decision he makes has a consequence. Nowadays each mistake can cost upward of $2,000 – makes it hard for a shop owner to sleep at night if you are the worrying type. However, the good news is, there are time-tested policies and procedures that help keep production mistakes to a minimum.
Your Dollars, My Sense
I get emails each week from dedicated readers looking for answers or help about their sales or service situations. Today, I’ve got a little green Q & A that may relate to your business, your sales or your company right now:
Turning the Tables: What kind of customer are you?
Being a better customer can often get you better service. Think about how good you feel when a customer of yours is pleasant and understanding of a situation that might not have gone very well. In my experience it just makes me want to help a whole lot more than when they come on strong and say agitating phrases like, “That’s not acceptable!”
I remember a time when my flight home out of Chicago was canceled after we were on the plane and ready to go. People were freaking out. They went running up to the counter and some even started yelling obscenities at the young lady working there, who had no fault in the matter and was trying to help rebook passengers on other flights. I was about 20th in line and could see her frustration mounting while each passenger in turn gave her a verbal beating. It got to the point where she started telling them all that there was nothing she could do about getting them out that night and that they would have to go to the ticket counter all the way back in the main terminal to make other arrangements.
Motivating Managers
If you are reading this article and your manager is upfront burning the shop down, keep your seat. I started out as a manager, but most of my career I made a living by managing transmission-shop managers. They are a group who require from time to time, shall we say, a little motivation. There are ways that I know of to do that and I am willing to share.
The New Guy
Instead of hoping that the new guy gets used to the way things are, work hard to leverage his excitement and ideas – they’re often more creative than anything you’ve thought of. Try looking at your business through the eyes of the new guy.
