How To Keep Your "A" Players From Leaving You

How To Keep Your "A" Players From Leaving You

By

Eric M. Twiggs

"Clients don’t come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients." -Richard Branson 

“Meet The Fockers”, starring Ben Stiller, and Dustin Hoffman, is one of my favorite comedies of all time.  The most memorable scene in the movie was when Hoffman’s character “Bernie” was bragging about his son Gaylord’s past accomplishments.

Bernie was so proud, he created a special trophy case in his honor known as “The Wall of Gaylord”.  

This presentation was different from your traditional trophy case.  Instead of celebrating his victories, it showcased his 9^th place trophies and participation ribbons! Gaylord was made to feel special just for showing up!  He grew up “feeling the love”, regardless of how he performed.

This reminds me of the mentality of employees entering the workforce today.  This “everyone gets a trophy “culture has led to an environment of entitlement.   You may disagree with this mindset, but here’s the reality:  In 2016, your people are more likely to leave if they don’t feel the love.  

According to research findings reported in a 2012 Fortune Magazine article , 91% of the surveyed millennials expect to stay in their jobs for less than three years.  That number can drop to one year or less, if they don’t like working for you. 

Allow me to paint the following picture:  You just applied what you learned from the How to Hire “A” player’s webinar, to hire “Ann”, who’s a top performing service manager working for your competitor.  She’s great at customer service and can sell water to a drowning man!

If you don’t have certain practices in place, you may be looking for Ann’s replacement within the year!  So what can you do to keep your “A” player from leaving you?   I’ll explain as you read on. 

Offer Unique Perks

The knee-jerk reaction to this employee retention issue, is to throw money at the problem. After all, if you increase their pay, their guaranteed to stay, right? WRONG!  According to Gallup research, 78% of the reasons employees leave companies are reasons under the managers control that don’t involve pay. 

The research concluded, that factors such as a flexible work schedule, and general work environment, play a key role in the candidate’s decision making process.  Offering unique perks is a good way to increase morale and retention rates.  The following are some real world examples from some of our Top Shops:

·         The opportunity to work a four ten-hour day schedule.

·         Cooking a weekly team breakfast on the grill. Some shops do a weekly catered breakfast.

·         Offer the surviving spouse of a deceased employee 50% of their pay for five years.

·         Gym membership reimbursements (Some are as low as $10 per month!)

·         Offer a $30 per month Kindle Allowance to purchase books

Most shops offer unique perks like free car washes and gift baskets to their paying customers, while doing nothing extra for the employees.  All things being equal, the happy internal customer will work harder to please the external one.

Customized Recognition Program

I agree with the late philosopher and psychologist Dr. William James when he said: “The deepest hunger in humans is the desire to be appreciated.”  This makes having a formal recognition program a critical step to retaining your people.

Since everyone is different, offering the same type of generic recognition to anyone who achieves the desired result, will not satisfy the hunger that Dr. James referenced.   Customizing your program based on your employee’s individual interests, is the way to go.

During your weekly one on ones, ask them about their hobbies and interests.  This will allow you to provide recognition that’s meaningful to the individual.

For example, I know a shop owner named Mark who recognized his service manager Butch’s five-year employment anniversary by buying a dinner and hotel stay for he and his spouse.   Mark did this after Butch mentioned how important family time was to him during their weekly one on one.

Other shop owner provides tickets to the race for NASCAR enthusiasts, Gift cards to hunting supply stores for the hunting fanatics, etc.

Summary

Offering unique perks and customizing your recognition programs can motivate your “A” players to stay, regardless of pay.  Your next hire will want to work for you even if he has a “Wall of Gaylord” at home!

Sincerely,

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS.  It takes strong leadership to implement unique perks and a customized recognition program.  Email etwiggs@autotraining.net and I will send you a listing of the top five leadership books that have inspired me.

The Sound Of Silence

The Sound Of Silence

By

Eric M. Twiggs

"Owning a business can easily turn into the business owning you."  Larry G. Linne

The Sound of Silence, is my favorite song title of all time.  This #1 hit was written by Paul Simon, and he along with Art Garfunkel completed the recording in 1964. 

The title resonates with me because it’s a reminder of what I was looking to accomplish back in the day as a district manager.  When doing store visits, my main pet peeve was hearing the hissing sound of air leaks throughout the shop.

The most common cause of this noise is either a worn air hose,bad coupling, or a loose connection. The problem with air leaks is they cause the air compressor to waste energy and work harder.

I knew if I could make the noise go away, I would enhance the performance and life span of the unit while saving money on costly repairs.  Therefore, my goal was to hear the sound of silence as I walked through the shop.

In his book, Making The Noise Go Away,  Larry G. Linne considers the following items as noise for most shop owners:  

·         Anxiety and doubt about the business.

·         Lacking trust that things will get done.

·         Having to do everything yourself.

·         Busy doing everything except what you do best.

·         Having to follow up multiple times to get things done.

If this sounds like a typical day in your life, you have something in common with the compressor unit I mentioned earlier.  You were designed to achieve maximum output but If nothing changes, you will waste energy, work harder, and experience a lower quality of life. 

So what can you do to make the noise go away so that all you hear is the sound of silence?  Keep listening and you will learn. 

Don’t Settle For Less

When I wasn’t walking the shops listening for air leaks, I was interviewing service manager candidates.  Sometimes I would interview a prospect who said the right things, possessed the on-paper qualifications, but for some reason I wasn’t impressed.  My gut would tell me to pass and keep looking for someone who “wowed” me. 

Since I only interviewed when I had an opening, I was desperate to fill a void and hired the candidate anyway.   Because I settled, I found myself wasting time and energy at the new manager’s location doing many of the tasks I was paying him to do! 

Within six months I would be looking for his replacement.  These experiences taught me to always look for the best instead of settling for less. 

Having clarity is what will keep you from settling.   The key is to be clear about what you’re looking for before you start searching. For example, It’s the ability to produce the desired results with minimal supervision, that separates the “A” players from the pack.

The best way to gain clarity is to write down the specific outcomes you’re expecting ahead of time.  You may write that an “A” player will maintain a 54% gross profit, sell 60% or more of what the technician estimates, while maintaining a 95% or better CSI score.   You could then compare the candidates track record and interview performance to these standards. 

The good news, is that a true “A” player’s level of performance doesn’t depend on your presence!  The more of these top producers you have, the easier it will be to eliminate the noise.

Play To Your Strengths

In a previous blog post, I mentioned the idea of letting someone else do what you aren’t good at.  You were provided with specific ideas on how to become aware of your blind spots.  Now that you know what to stop doing and are committed to hiring “A” players, you can focus on what you do well.     

The first step is to make a list of all your current duties at the shop. If you’ve already created a job description, feel free to use it.  Next, go item by item highlighting only the duties that line up with your natural talents and abilities.  Lastly, copy and paste what you identified on a separate sheet labeled as your Ideal Position Description. 

According to Larry Linne, you’re playing to your strengths when at least 80% of your daily duties to line up with your natural abilities.

Take a hard look at your team.   Is there someone on your staff who can assume the duties you didn’t highlight?  If not, what do you need to do to attract the necessary talent, so that you can play to your strengths?

Summary

So there you have it.  When you decide not to settle, and start playing to your strengths, you will make the noise go away.    Did you hear that? It’s the sound of silence.

               

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS.  Looking for that “A” player to help make the noise go away?  Email me and I will send you the Power Point Slides from my “How To Hire an A Player” presentation.  

Are You Driving Blind?

Are You Driving Blind?

By

Eric M. Twiggs

  

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there" Lewis Carroll

My afternoon took a strange turn.    I was talking with a shop owner named “Mark” and our conversation began on a high note. I asked him: “Are you feeling the value of the coaching program?” ‘Absolutely! “he replied. 

“Do you have more money in the bank than before?” “I Sure Do Coach!” And then, things got weird. “Mark, are you on track to achieve your 2016 goals that we agreed to?”  “Umm, what were my goals again?”  Mark was driving blind.   I felt even worse about his condition after reading the following research findings of author & consultant Jon Gordon.

In his book  The Energy Bus,  Gordon writes about a study of two airplane design teams who were placed in separate rooms.  The first team saw a model of the finished product and was given a vision of exactly what they were building.  The second team was told to design each piece without seeing a picture of what the end result would look like. 

The first team with the vision worked twice as hard and finished in half of the time as the second group.  In other words, you will work longer and finish later than someone in a comparable situation who has visible goals.  Driving blind will cost you time. 

July marks the start of the second half of 2016.  Most shop leaders lose sight of their annual goals around March and spend the rest of the year driving blind.  Does this sound like you?  Stay with me and you will learn one big idea to keep your goals in sight:

Visibility

The first half of 2016 is over.  In sports, the great teams use half time to assess what occurred earlier in the game.  Victory on the scoreboard is their visible goal, and they compare their performance to this objective.  As long as I’ve been watching sports, I’ve never seen a team go into the halftime locker room without knowing the score!  Unfortunately, I see this every day as I interact with shop owners. 

This is why having visibility to your goals is critical.  Your phone is the best visibility tool you have because it’s easily assessable and it’s always with you.  Here are two phone apps to help keep your goals visible

Evernote

Evernote is a FREE app which is available on both android and IPhone formats.  Its cloud based, so you can update your notes from any computer as long as you know your USER ID and password.   If your phone is lost or damaged, you can sign in on the app from your replacement device.

Evernote allows you to either type or speak your goals into the app.  It has a key word search feature that gives you access to previous notes by typing in key words. 

For example, let’s say you titled your entry “2016 goals”.  Three months later, you could regain access to your goals by typing the title or any of the key words in your entry into the search bar.    

SMS Scheduler

The SMS scheduler app is available in both android and IPhone format.  This FREE app allows you to schedule and send text messages to yourself at whatever time intervals you set.  You can text  your goals to yourself, and schedule a reminder text  to arrive on either a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. 

You can also schedule a reminder text to your accountability partner or coach, encouraging them to check in with you on your progress.   Texting while driving a car is frowned on, but texting your goals while driving your shop is encouraged!

Summary

So there you have it.  Keeping your goals on your phone via Evernote and the SMS scheduler will keep you from driving blind.   Are you on track to achieve your 2016 goals that we agreed to?

. 

Sincerely,

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS.  Are your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound? Email etwiggs@autotraining.net  and I will send you a checklist to make sure your goals pass the S.M.A.R.T. test.

Have You Murdered Your Traditions Yet?

Have You Murdered Your Traditions Yet?

By

Eric M. Twiggs

“Murder the traditions that aren’t serving you” Sun Tzu 

I’m a creature of habit.  When traveling, I prefer to stay at the same national hotel chain no matter where I go.  This particular establishment is consistent, convenient, and offers a complimentary breakfast.

After checking in, my process for getting to the room follows a certain routine: I always ask the desk clerk for a wake-up call, put my bags on the rolling cart, and slide my key into the room door.   There’s one habit I have that drives my wife crazy:  I keep the room keys after I check out of the hotel!   

While traveling in late May, I decided to conduct an experiment.  Since I was staying at the same chain, I took the key I kept from my March travels and attempted to use it in May at the new location.

As always, I asked for the wake-up call, put the bags on the cart, and walked up to my door.  When I slid the key, the red light came on!  I continued to slide the key like I always did in the past, with no success.   And then it hit me:  What you’ve always done, doesn’t always work!

You may be thinking “Eric, attempting to enter a new door with an old key is crazy!”  I would argue that expecting to attract a successful advisor by running an unsuccessful ad, is just as insane.

If nothing changes, both of us will end up on the wrong side of the closed door!   The key is to murder your traditions that aren’t serving you.    Don’t check out on me before I will be reveal two tools to help you to stop doing what isn’t working. 

The Rule of FIVE

In a previous blog titled How to get out of your box, I introduced you to the idea of “The rule of five.”  Here's the backstory that inspired me to pursue this principle: Last year, a shop owner told me he was doing everything possible to find a technician. 

I asked him to explain what he did the previous week to find help.  I sat on the edge of my seat expecting a long action list, only to hear: “Eric, I ran an ad!”  Several weeks later  I found the rule of five, after reading an article written by Jack Canfield.   

Here's how it works: For any major goal, you must do five different things in a week to accomplish it.  This principle is powerful because it forces you to try things you wouldn’t normally consider.  For example, If I asked you to come up with five strategies to improve your sales, your first thought may be to run an oil change special.

It’s comfortable for you because you’ve done it before. Most people run out of ideas after their third input. This is where things get uncomfortable, and the feeling of discomfort is what inspires you to think differently.   By the time you get to your fifth idea, you would consider mailing socks to a potential fleet customer with a note promising to provide service that knocks their socks off!

If not for the rule of five, you would run the same oil change special, that didn’t work the last time!  If you’re serious about murdering your traditions, commit to doing five different things per week to achieve your goal! 

Start/Stop/ Keep

Dynamic leadership is all about finding different ways to achieve the same goal.  The “start/stop/keep” technique is a strategic thinking tool, that can be a game changer for you.

On a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, have a meeting with your leadership team and ask the following questions: 1.  What new activities or strategies should we start doing? 2. What do we need to stop doing, because it’s not serving us?  3. What’s working well that we should keep doing?

 An example of this in action would be as follows: “We need to start networking with our good employees and customers to find people.   We need to stop running the hiring ads in the local newspaper that haven’t produced any candidates. We need to keep advertising on social media to attract the passive job seeker.” 

This exercise works best when done with your co-owner, service manager, & lead technician.  You will get to the answers faster by focusing on the leaders responsible for driving results in your key areas. 

The answers must be specific and actionable.  An example of a start statement to avoid would be: “We will start trying to make an effort to do better!”

For additional information on how to make this tool work, I recommend reading the book: Scaling Up, by Vern Harnish.

Summary

Implementing the rule of five, and executing the start/stop/keep meeting method, will help you to murder those traditions that aren’t serving you.   I challenge you to commit to the new key, and to dispose of the one that only opens the old door!  Have you murdered your traditions yet?

Sincerely,

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS.  PS. Tired of seeing the flashing red light on your door?   I have a start/stop/keep worksheet you can use to get on the right side of the door.  Email etwiggs@autotraining.net  and I will send it.  

What Are You Building?

What Are You Building?

By

Eric M. Twiggs

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee

During my days as a district manager, I had the opportunity to witness the building of several new locations.  The builders would arrive on site, and we would review the drawings.  I could see how many bays we would have, the layout of the customer waiting area, and total facility square footage.  As I observed, I noticed an interesting trend. The actual building process began the same way every time.

They never started with the exterior lighting.  They didn’t begin by building the roof. They didn’t list plumbing as the priority.   The building process always began by establishing the foundation. I often wondered why they began this way. 

And then it hit me:  You can’t expect to have a strong location, if it’s built on a weak foundation.  

You may be thinking: “Nice story Eric, but I don’t need a foundation. What I need is new customers!”  OK, I get it.  Starting with the foundation isn’t as sexy as the latest car count changing “silver bullet.”

I challenge you to consider the following trend:  During the tough times, those who cry the most about low car count, are those with the least amount of focus on their foundation.   Meanwhile, the owners who’ve built the right way, are experiencing success even though it’s an election year and all the vendors say it’s slow! 

So what foundational focus items should you consider?  Stay with me because I’m building towards the answer.

People

While conducting research for his book Good To Great, Jim Collins examined the performance of over fourteen hundred companies over a forty year time span and found eleven that produced great results on a consistent basis.  The CEO’s of these organizations had one trait in common: They began the building process by focusing on the people.

Collins uses the “the bus” metaphor to describe their step by step process.  Their first priority was getting the right people on the bus.  Next they focused on getting the wrong people off the bus. Lastly they made sure the right people were sitting in the right seats.  Great leaders don’t focus on where “the bus” is going, until they address getting the right people on it and in the right seats. 

Take a hard look at your service writers, technicians, and support staff.  If you could turn back the hands of time, would you enthusiastically rehire everyone based on what you know today?  If you answered “no” for 50% or more of your staff, it’s an indication of a fragile foundation. 

Processes

So once you get the right people in the right seats and get rid of the wrong ones, your foundation is set right? Wrong!   It’s hard to drive your shop forward if the right people don’t know what to do.  This is why having written processes is a critical part of your foundation. 

Your processes are solid if you have the following three items in place:  1. An updated employee handbook with detailed policies.  2. Current job descriptions for every position. 3. Written operating procedures for every task.   

The more routines you have in writing, the less dependent the business will be on your presence.  Your routines will set you free.

The key is to work on finding the right people while you’re establishing the right processes.  Don’t make the mistake of allowing “perfect” to become the enemy of “progress.”  Getting the right people in each key position takes time.

If you delay your search until you’ve perfected your processes, you won’t be prepared if you lose a current employee unexpectedly, or if you suddenly become unavailable.  As mentioned in a previous blog, betting that you’ll always be available is much riskier than recruiting for your replacement.

Summary

As anyone with beachfront property will tell you, the best time to establish a strong foundation, is BEFORE the storm comes.  Building your business with strong people and processes will allow you to prosper while your competitors and vendors complain about the economic storms.  What are you building? 

 Sincerely,

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS.  I have a new list of competency based interview questions to help you get the right people on your bus.  Email etwiggs@autotraining.net  and I will send them to you.