Tommy: Your manager is one of your most important hires, especially if it's your first store. Here are six things to consider before hiring your next manager.
Number one, nepotism is the death of business. It's really is. Just because you trust your cousin, your best friend, your family friend, your childhood friend. Does not necessarily mean that they are the best person for the role. The manager role is integrity, retail operations. They are responsible for employee management, hiring training, retaining key employees. Coaching young sales associates to become sales professionals. As well as ensuring that you have a high functioning sales team. They also work with you to increase sales and retain customers. Very important role. I had a customer one time telling me that he was looking to hire his friend to Jessel happens to work as a mailman, to be inventory manager. Zero sales experience. Zero team management experience and zero ambition to work in retail. So I asked him, would you consider this person if he wasn't your friend. If the only reason why you considering somebody is your personal relationship with. I just move on. You need to move on. Trust and friendship means nothing when they can't do the job. And you're about to lose your entire life savings. If you're looking to hire a found new member, I highly suggest that you put them through the exact same hiring process as you would everybody else talk to as many people as possible and hire the best person for the job.
Okay. Number two, do you have a candidate profile? What are the skill sets that you're looking to add onto your business? And what are the skillsets that this person must have? If you're unclear with this skill sets that you're looking for. You're going to get unclear results. So what are some examples of skills, hats? A people builder, somebody that can hire train, retain key employees. As well as a mentor to your young sales associates, helping them become sales professionals in their careers. A performance manager, somebody that can create a high functioning sales team and then environment. Where your people will come in, motivated to talk to customers and sell. As well as data-driven somebody that just passionate about the data. And able to leverage data. To push your business to where it needs to go. So get clear on the roles and the responsibilities of your manager. The skillset that this person should have. So you know who it is that you're looking for.
Number three actively recruit. I was in New York last year and I was 30 minutes early for a client meeting. Around me, there was just so many retail shops. So I thought, Hey, what an opportunity for me to assess a talent in this area? I went into a local champs and I was immediately greeted by a helpful sales associate. I was looking for a pair of shoes for my brother. So I went up to the manager and here's a pro tip. This works. A hundred percent of the time. So I asked him, Hey, I I'm starting a retail store. And I'm completely new to retail. I have no idea what I'm doing. Can I ask you a few questions? You mind you have five minutes. And he responded with yes, of course.
How can I help you? So we started talking. So we talk about his hiring philosophy, who he looks for in a sales associate. His interview process. Why do you ask for, and what are the things that he's trying to draw out? His ideal candidate profile. As well as how we coaches and mentors as team. The conversation led to. Performance management. How does he ensure that the team is motivated and knowledgeable and ready to sell? And he mentioned that head office does not give the managers any budget for prizes that the managers, the managers themselves, they pool their own money. To set up prizes for the sales associates. I was mind blown by how passionate he was and ensuring that his team is successful. As well as how knowledgeable he was in retail environments, it was clear to me that this was the profession that he was passionate about. So I asked him, Hey, have you ever thought working? For the cannabis industry. It's a young industry it's growing. And you can grow with it. He said yes, of course. That sounds so interesting. So I got his number. And I gave him to my client. We have such a huge opportunity to walk into a retail establishment, learn, learn as much as possible and talk to young. Passionate sales, associates and managers who want to grow in this industry? The people that do it, have a huge competitive advantage to those that don't.
Number four, establish a hiring framework. Did you know that you were five times more likely to make a bad hire without a structured hiring process? Five times. So. What is the structured hiring process? Well, here's an example of what we use.
Creating a scorecard candidate profile. What are the skill sets that we're looking for? For the position that we're hiring.
Standardizing interview questions. This is shows that we can objectively compare candidates side by side.
Always having two interviewers, which reduces the personal bias that one may have.
Having the two interviewers independently ranked the candidate against the candidate scorecard. And reconciling the differences between the two interviewers side-by-side.
This is just an example of what we do in our hiring process. If you want something more in depth, check out the book who by Geoff smart. Jeff gives an in-depth overview of what a hiring process should look like, but always remember when incorporating best practices to make it your own. And align it with the position that you're hiring for as well as the resources you have internally.
Number five conducted references now. This is part of a hiring process, but it's so important. It deserves his own number. Not too long ago, we were hiring a marketing manager, a very, very important role in the organization. Somebody who's working directly underneath our VP of marketing. So we interview a candidate. They interview went well, but always we always conduct independent references. To verify the accomplishments. That the candidate said they had. So I go online on LinkedIn. I find the CEO of the previous company that the candidate worked for and I messaged him. Hey, we're considering this candidate for a marketing manager position. It's a very important position in an organization. Do you have five minutes to chat? Don't worry, whatever we talk about is strictly confidential. It will remain between me and you. Five minutes later, the CEO messages me back. Here's my number. Give me a call. You'll be surprised at how much other people want to help you. I rarely get turned down when I'm reaching out like this. So I give them a call and we talk. The OTO said that the first six months things went really well. The candidate developed a newsletter and grew that newsletter to 600, 700 subscribers. Things went sour quickly when they had disagreements in the direction of the business. Unfortunately when things, once how her things went sour, the candidate registered. The company's name under his personal email. And the company did so much marketing branding, et cetera, that they decided, Hey, we're going to give you $50,000. For the name and you're going to go your Merry way. I wish that this was the end of the story. It's not the candidate proceeded to take the describer list with him. That he developed for the company as well. He's he tried to poach a key employee to the company. He was going to. Five minutes. All it took was five minutes and a quick conversation. And I saved a world of hurt. It would have set us back a few years. References is by far the most important part of the hiring process. It may be the best five minutes that you'll ever spend.
Number six, learn from your candidates. So you've created a scorecard. Identified the areas in your business that your manager is responsible for. As well as the skill sets that this person should have. Out there spending considerable time with this person. Have you learned to be a better operator? What skill sets has this person shown? That has made you a better operator in your business. So if you're assessing bringing somebody on board, make sure this person. Possesses the skill set and the ability to teach you how to be a better operator.
All right. Six things to consider before hiring your manager. One nepotism never works. Make sure that the person that you're hiring is the best person that you can find for the role. To be clear with the skillsets that you're looking for. If you're unclear with what you're looking for, you'll get unclear results. Three actively recruit.
It truly is a competitive advantage. Or establish a hiring framework. You are five times more likely to make a bad hire without a structured hiring process. Five perform reference checks. It is probably the best five minutes that you ever spend. And number six, learn from your candidates. You were in the season of learning. And the person that you're hiring is an expert and should make you a better retail operator.
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