Winning Advice – Hire Quality People

“Hire Quality People”

It was on a piece of paper, given to me by a dealer mentor when I bought my dealership in 1997. A handwritten recipe with 5 areas I should master to have a successful business. In fact, the entire hand written document only contained about 200 words. There was no fluff, just to the point directives, that if followed, would yield a healthy prosperous business. At the top of the list he had written: People, “Hire quality people”.

From a recent poll in the Kansas City Business Journal:

69% of metro area businesses hired someone in the first quarter of this year!

 

I was reminded of that 15 year old note this past week as we were visiting with the owner of a young growing business. He was telling us how he simply hires the best of the best in what they do. He sees the value in paying for quality and knows the output is going to be relative to the quality of the employee. The other interesting component we heard is how he is defining a culture and when he hires employees that match the company culture the chances of a successful hire increase exponentially.

I thought back to some of the early hires I made and how those decisions positioned us for growth when the opportunities presented themselves in the following years. If you have employees you need to make every effort to get the right people on your team; quality people. Competition is tough and there is no reason to think it will not keep getting tougher.  But if you Hire Quality People you have a great chance to win!

Below are the words typed verbatim from the handwritten note in 1997:

1. Hire Quality People

A) Positions Company Better for Growth

B) Positions Company Better in case of employee loss

C) Customers – See Visually & Experience quality people, thus the dealer can keep customers

D) Gets things done correctly.

What is a Quality person? A quality person does not necessary know everything when you hire them, but they are trainable. They work well in their environment. They understand the whole is better than the individual. They are assertive. They are trustworthy and committed.  They share the company core values.  They ‘get it’.  They want to be there and they are capable of doing the work in the right way.

What is amazing to me is that considering how much has changed in the way we do business in the last 15 years, just how accurate the advice still is. The clear message still resonates even today…Hire Quality People!

We love to hear your thoughts, what are you doing to Hire Quality People?  (Or do you need to get rid of some less than quality people to make room first?)

Chris Steinlage   Kansas City Business Coach

Photo by Phillie Casablanca