National Clothesline

Make a decision to break the cycle. What is stopping you?

As we continue through this

journey called business, we must look at the cliché “plowing forward.” Too often our journey is slowed by how much baggage we carry. You cannot plow forward by looking back; the path would be jagged and costly.

And then, the worst thing that can happen to you occurs, a fork in the road in which you must decide which path you need to take: Easy Street or Hard Way.

Easy Street is what you are doing now; comfortable, complacent and going in circles and ending up in the same place you are now.

Hard Way is where you need to be, but you either don’t know how to get there or have fears about how and who to hire.

So let’s hit the obstacles head on.

Most drycleaners owners and managers fear:

• Sales personnel who create a fraternity-like environment that frustrates sales productivity. They might repeatedly hire people with the same sales weaknesses, resulting in across the board ineffectiveness in key areas.

• Their rate of sales staff turnover.

• Being disappointed with their new sales hire six months down the road

• Salespeople who constantly drain the company of time, money and energy.

• Salespeople who spend more time making friends than money.

• The investment of time, energy and capital to get sales people in front of decision-makers only for inadequate results in return.

• Spending the majority of their time, energy and money (turnover) on the weakest salespeople — those who consistently fail to confront objections, side with the prospect's reasons for deferring the sale, and who build a particularly bloated pipeline.

OK, it sounds scary. We understand these fears and it is our job to make sure that we eliminate and prevent half of these out of the gate during the hiring process. It is critical to hire the right person, but it also comes down to training, managing and coaching as well.

Too often just one of these fears becomes the very roadblock that prevents you from plowing forward.

Sales staff is quite different from your production or counter staff and must be treated as such. It is not about production, but construction or growth.

Some of these fears are eliminated through personality profiles like D.I.S.C. by showing you how to manage and direct your sales personnel.

Correct training and proper coaching also will be the preventive maintenance you need to eliminate all of the bullet points above.

The biggest step is not to actually make the right decision, but to accept that it is the decision you need to make.

It’s the decisions you don’t make that cost you money! Make a decision to break the cycle by hiring someone you can trust.

Why is it when we initially hire a new salesperson, we have such high hopes for their ability and future production levels only to be disappointed down the road? Your gut feeling was that this was “the one.” However, this was merely another one who cost you time, energy and money.

You want to break the self-destructive cycle of poor hiring decisions that have cost you so much money in the past and will continue to cost you money going forward if left unchecked. After all, the majority of your time is dedicated to these poor hires, not to the producers.

How much has this cycle cost you? How much will it cost you going forward?

These have to be questions you have asked yourself over and over again and I can understand why. However, I cannot defend and justify your actions. As you watch your competition take the road you need to be on, it becomes more imperative for you to take the right choice and get going and growing.

So now what?

Simply put, your future depends on you, your company, your legacy, your employees and their families. It all comes down to the business decision(s) you make or need to make.

You hear me preach about 21st century drycleaning and how important it is to market and operate as a 21st century drycleaner. Going after market share is what it is all about and how you do it must be proactive, not reactive.

Get on the ball and do what you need to do. It may not be fun and it is certainly not easy. But hard work makes life easier. Building your business starts with hiring the right person, but you must first make the decision to do so.