Your People Strategy
Having the best people in your business isn't just about finding them. You have to provide an environment where they will succeed and where they can aim for something bigger than themselves.
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Who is Mike Crow?
Mike Crow is a Marketing and Business Expert who has built and managed multiple 7-figure businesses, including two 7-figure inspection firms.
For the past 15 years, he's coached thousands of other inspection business owners and has personally helped 100+ companies grow to $1,000,000+ in annual revenue. He has also helped multiple single-inspector operations earn 6-figure annual revenues (some surpassing $300,000).
Mike can teach any entrepreneur how to systematize and market their business to achieve their personal and professional goals.
Transcript
Hi, this is Mike Crow, and I run home inspection business.
Speaker:In fact, I've run a couple of home inspection businesses.
Speaker:You know, true joy for me, though, has been helping literally thousands
Speaker:of home inspectors build a really solid home inspection business as well.
Speaker:We can help a single man operation be able to do over three hundred
Speaker:thousand dollars a year,
Speaker:maybe all the way up
Speaker:to 400 thousand dollars a year as a single inspector operation.
Speaker:Even better for me is the 80 plus companies that we have helped
Speaker:be able to build million dollar home inspection businesses.
Speaker:I would like to help you be able to do the same thing.
Speaker:Hey, guys, this is Mike, bro.
Speaker:We are here this time talking about Chapter 16 in the book, The Emet,
Speaker:Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and what to do about it, of course.
Speaker:The new version of this book is The Imus Revisited. Now, I say no.
Speaker:It's been out for a long, long, long time.
Speaker:However, I learned from the very original book,
Speaker:The IMUt itself and Chapter 16 talks about your people strategy now.
Speaker:The last time that we got together, we talked about your management strategy.
Speaker:I love that chapter on your management strategy.
Speaker:You know, and I tell my people sometimes I wish
Speaker:that management was it needed.
Speaker:I wish management wasn't needed.
Speaker:I wish that people would just do what they're supposed to do without
Speaker:having to be asked, reminded or directed or are all that good stuff.
Speaker:But unfortunately,
Speaker:that's the same thing as saying, I wish everybody could be a millionaire.
Speaker:And the truth is, I do.
Speaker:But it isn't going to happen because some people are more driven, more organized,
Speaker:more systematized, more conscientious about what they do and everything.
Speaker:Now, with the management system set up right, though?
Speaker:One of the things happens is that you get a consistent
Speaker:flow of your business, you get a consistent product,
Speaker:you get a consistent system of how a service is performed. And
Speaker:the real trick behind that
Speaker:is a series of checklist, a series of checklist.
Speaker:You know, it's funny because I just had a great lunch today
Speaker:with three of the managers here at my company.
Speaker:And one of the things
Speaker:I talked to them about was building a series of checklist for anything,
Speaker:for everything, so that we have it so other people know how to do it.
Speaker:And you really need to do it yourself first, build the checklist
Speaker:and then hand it to somebody else, or you need to hire somebody,
Speaker:put them in the seat next to you and ask them to build a checklist
Speaker:so that you can show it to them.
Speaker:I was explaining to one of our managers that I can't really promote them
Speaker:until they can create the system so that they can train
Speaker:somebody else to take their place so that I can move them up inside the company.
Speaker:Now, one of the things he said was, you know, how do you make it
Speaker:so that people don't get bored or tired of, you know, just
Speaker:doing the same thing every day?
Speaker:The routine, the the checklist, doesn't it get boring for them?
Speaker:And, of course, the
Speaker:the guy at the hotel there said, oh, that's where we really shine.
Speaker:And it does come back to your people strategy.
Speaker:How do you get your people to do what you want them to do?
Speaker:And here's the secret.
Speaker:You can't you can't get people to do anything.
Speaker:People do what they want to do. All right.
Speaker:If you can make somebody do something while you're standing there.
Speaker:But as soon as you walk away, they're going to do whatever they want to do.
Speaker:All right. And good people will want to do things right.
Speaker:They'll want to do what is necessary to make sure that they're moving forward.
Speaker:Your job in building a business is to create an environment in which doing
Speaker:it is actually more important to your people than not doing it.
Speaker:Doing it and doing it right is more important to your people
Speaker:than not doing it. OK, we're doing it.
Speaker:Well, you know, becomes kind of a way of life for them.
Speaker:It becomes part of something they're proud of.
Speaker:And I will tell you that honestly, people want to be proud of what they do.
Speaker:And so you can set it up that direction.
Speaker:So the first thing you know, that surprised me when he came to work here,
Speaker:the manager said, was that the owner took me seriously.
Speaker:I want to make sure you hear that.
Speaker:So I was sitting up front in the kitchen and we had a couple of people
Speaker:come in, one who's
Speaker:just almost finishing up his training and the other one that's brand new.
Speaker:And I and I, I wanted to make sure that when they speak,
Speaker:they know I'm hearing them, that I hear what they have to say.
Speaker:The other thing, of course, I wanted them to know is that the new guy
Speaker:that's getting ready to get turned out on his own
Speaker:are he's struggling
Speaker:a little bit with some of the stuff I just want to know. That's normal.
Speaker:It's normal for all of us to struggle a little bit in some of the things we do.
Speaker:So the manager said that when I first came here, the owner took me seriously, OK.
Speaker:And then he said the second thing that surprised me when I came to work here
Speaker:was how seriously the boss took the operation of the hotel.
Speaker:And it's kind of funny because sometimes people
Speaker:go, Mike, you know, you take everything so seriously.
Speaker:And I'm going, well, yeah, you know, my livelihood,
Speaker:your livelihood, your family counts on us getting it right.
Speaker:So it was like the hotel was an expression of who he was.
Speaker:And I want to make sure you understand
Speaker:your business is an expression of who you are.
Speaker:Now, I want you to take it a step further. Your maven's.
Speaker:When they do business with you,
Speaker:we represent. And Express.
Speaker:Them as well. And I don't think most people understand that,
Speaker:so if you've ever been with me very much,
Speaker:the maven is the customer is the person that recommends us.
Speaker:The client is the person that's paying us.
Speaker:We take absolute top care of the client.
Speaker:They're our most important thing.
Speaker:However, the reason my marketing works so much better than everybody else
Speaker:and works five times better than anybody else is because
Speaker:I understand that if I can get people to refer me.
Speaker:And they can refer me five times a year than that, just
Speaker:that makes everything so much easier.
Speaker:So don't forget that, you know, your business is an expression
Speaker:of who you are. Our business, to some degree, is an expression
Speaker:of who the people are that are referring us.
Speaker:And so it's one of the reasons
Speaker:I love working with certain types of real estate officers.
Speaker:Keller Williams is one of those.
Speaker:But there are a lot of great officers, some independents, in fact,
Speaker:that when we work with them,
Speaker:we are so aligned in making sure that the buyer is taken
Speaker:care of in the process that it feels like we work for the same company almost.
Speaker:But it's because that customer, that that client, that buyer,
Speaker:that home buyer is so important to them and that person is so important to us.
Speaker:OK, so as the manager went on, he said,
Speaker:it was clear to me why I have so much respect for this place
Speaker:is because I have so much respect for the business, for the boss
Speaker:and for the boss to take him seriously and understand
Speaker:how everything is working there.
Speaker:And if I didn't respect the business, if I didn't respect the boss,
Speaker:I don't think I would be as good at what I am here to do. All right.
Speaker:So somehow the idea of what we do here becomes
Speaker:part of the drive for people to want to be able to do that.
Speaker:And honestly, that is you you as a business owner, you are the systems.
Speaker:You are that drive, you are that goal that people are trying to obtain.
Speaker:And you need to make sure you set it high enough and worthy enough
Speaker:that people want to do it.
Speaker:And so he said that's why he took so long to communicate to me on the first day.
Speaker:So when I was sitting there in the kitchen,
Speaker:I probably spent a good chunk of my morning just talking with the new person
Speaker:and making sure that he knew he was welcome and what was going to happen.
Speaker:And, you know, all of the things that he was going to experience here.
Speaker:The work we do is a reflection of who we are and if we're sloppy at it.
Speaker:Well, it's because we're sloppy inside.
Speaker:And if we're late at it, well, it's because we're late at side.
Speaker:If we're bored at it, it's because we're bored inside.
Speaker:May be bored with ourselves, not with the work usually. All right.
Speaker:And so there's a piece of that that we need to know.
Speaker:So work is kind of passive without you.
Speaker:It can't do anything.
Speaker:Work cannot do itself.
Speaker:All right. Work is only an idea before a person does it.
Speaker:You know, I like to tell people that things happen twice, once in your mind
Speaker:and then once in reality.
Speaker:So when I have a job to do, part of my mind is thinking
Speaker:through that from start to finish on what that job will look like.
Speaker:And I could sit out in front of a house before I went in to do the inspection.
Speaker:I could sit out in front
Speaker:of a real estate office before I went in to do a presentation.
Speaker:I can sit in front of a group of home inspectors and I'm getting ready to coach.
Speaker:And I know what's going to happen. I know what I'm going to say.
Speaker:I know what I'm expecting them to get out of it
Speaker:before it happens, because it's all in my brain. OK.
Speaker:Work is only an idea before a person does it.
Speaker:But the moment we do it, the impact of that work
Speaker:on the world becomes a reflection of that idea.
Speaker:And the idea behind the work, as well as the person doing it.
Speaker:So there's no such thing as an undesirable work.
Speaker:When I'm working, especially with managers and different people, I tell them
Speaker:that if we have to empty the trash, that's what we do.
Speaker:If we have to walk around the outside, pick up trash, that's what we do.
Speaker:We have a place here in town called Sools Cadillac,
Speaker:and the city was supposed to clean the street in front of their place.
Speaker:And sometimes the city then sometimes the city didn't.
Speaker:So he actually hired some people and I think eventually even bought
Speaker:their own vehicle to literally clean up in front of the street and everything
Speaker:to make sure that that part of the street was just like super clean and super nice.
Speaker:And there is no undesirable work.
Speaker:You know, somebody at Walt Disney said they were there for orientation
Speaker:and a lady came in and she said, by the way, how many of you are here
Speaker:to be like custodians to help keep the park clean?
Speaker:And like three people raised their hand, she said.
Speaker:I must have misspoken here.
Speaker:How many of you are here to make sure that the parks are kept clean?
Speaker:And a couple more people raise their hand, she said.
Speaker:All right, so maybe I'm not saying this right. Let me be clear.
Speaker:You're all here to make sure the parks stay clean.
Speaker:We're all custodians.
Speaker:And the truth is, in my business and your business, probably it's the same way.
Speaker:How many of us are here to, you know, make sure if there's trash
Speaker:lying on the floor,
Speaker:we pick it up if there's something out of place , that we put it back? OK.
Speaker:And so there is no such thing as undesirable work.
Speaker:What was known to pick up trash himself?
Speaker:You know, it's funny because you go to Walt Disney World,
Speaker:if you just go sit somewhere, you'll watch the clients, the customers,
Speaker:the attendees, the whatever you want to call them.
Speaker:The guest at Walt Disney World
Speaker:pick up trash as much as the employees do sometimes, OK?
Speaker:And there there are certain people out there, though,
Speaker:that will see certain kinds of work as undesirable.
Speaker:You need to make sure that everybody understands we do whatever it takes.
Speaker:I like to write that into the agreement.
Speaker:A lot of times we do whatever it takes
Speaker:to make sure that the business is taken care of.
Speaker:And you want to make sure that they feel this way,
Speaker:not after they've done the work, but even before they've done the work.
Speaker:All right. And you want to make sure
Speaker:that the result is not sloppy, inconsistent, inhuman, you know, or
Speaker:any of that. You want to make sure that they see the opposite.
Speaker:And the reason that it's different is because we want everybody to work here
Speaker:and we want them to have the opportunity to make the choice here.
Speaker:And by the way, we do that by making sure they understand
Speaker:the idea behind the work they're being asked to do.
Speaker:So a lot of times people will think, oh, well,
Speaker:the reason we're doing this is because somebody needs a report.
Speaker:No, no, no. That's not it at all.
Speaker:OK, we're doing this because we want to make sure the floor is clean.
Speaker:No, no, not at it at all.
Speaker:One of my favorite stories about people, especially people strategies,
Speaker:was somebody went into Nassau once
Speaker:and they were walking down and they saw somebody.
Speaker:And they said, what is your job here?
Speaker:Went, Oh, I'm helping put a man on the moon.
Speaker:That was his job. I'm helping put a man on the moon.
Speaker:That's the idea behind all of the work.
Speaker:Turned out he was the janitor or custodian. OK.
Speaker:He emptied the trash. He mopped the floors.
Speaker:But his job, the way he saw his job was that he was helping put a man on the moon.
Speaker:All right. And this is the thing that we want to make sure everybody sees.
Speaker:We really want to make sure that everybody
Speaker:has a safe and wonderful home to live in.
Speaker:All right. And my whole philosophy, of course, is we are here to help people
Speaker:help themselves.
Speaker:We are here to help people help themselves. You'll hear me
Speaker:say that over and over again as you get to know me a little better.
Speaker:The guy said it's the very first place I've ever gone to work,
Speaker:where there was an idea behind the work
Speaker:that was more important than the work itself.
Speaker:More important than the work itself.
Speaker:And the idea the boss expressed to me was broken down into three parts now.
Speaker:The first part was that the customer's not always right,
Speaker:but whether he is or not, it's our job to make them feel.
Speaker:That is right. The second says that everyone who works here
Speaker:is expected to work toward being the best he or she can possibly be
Speaker:at the tasks that they're accountable for or they're responsible for.
Speaker:And then the third says that the business is a place where everything we know
Speaker:how to do is tested by what we don't know how to do, and that
Speaker:the conflict between the two is what creates growth, which creates meaning.
Speaker:So first, customer's not always right, but we want them to feel like
Speaker:they're always right.
Speaker:Second, OK, we want to be the best we can possibly be at
Speaker:everything we do. And third,
Speaker:we want to make sure that this is a business
Speaker:is a place where we know what to do because it's been tested.
Speaker:But we're willing to test it and try new ideas.
Speaker:And all of that comes back to the meaning that we have behind the business.
Speaker:So a business is like, well, let's look at it this way, as the book
Speaker:describes it. A business is like a martial arts practice hall, a dojo,
Speaker:as they like to say, a place where you go to practice being the best you can be.
Speaker:But the true combat in a dojo
Speaker:is not between one person and another, as most people, you know,
Speaker:have this tendency to think, oh,
Speaker:you're going to be on a combat, you know, who's going to be the best at it?
Speaker:The true combat and a martial arts practice.
Speaker:And in every real game
Speaker:we do or everything we do in life is really within ourselves.
Speaker:Am I doing the best I can?
Speaker:And how do I improve even on if I am doing the best I can?
Speaker:And so he says that's one of the things that the owner talked about a lot
Speaker:in their first meeting.
Speaker:And I talk about that a lot with our people.
Speaker:So I want to make sure people understand we are here to help people
Speaker:help themselves. OK.
Speaker:And then he goes on to say,
Speaker:your people do not simply want to work for exciting people, OK?
Speaker:They want to work for people who have a clearly defined structure
Speaker:for acting in a world, a structure
Speaker:through which they can test themselves and be tested.
Speaker:You know, I want to make sure you hear that people
Speaker:want to live up to something higher.
Speaker:If there's a person doing that, let's say it's to put a rocket ship in space,
Speaker:let's say, is to build a car, let's say is to build a toy,
Speaker:whatever it is, it is it about putting the nut on the bolt.
Speaker:It's about what is done with that final product, that that whole thing.
Speaker:And so everything you do, though, can become a game.
Speaker:And I will tell you that
Speaker:as a home inspector, I used to play games with myself all the time.
Speaker:How fast can I get this done? How quickly can I get something done?
Speaker:How accurate can I be? Can I say something that will make people laugh?
Speaker:Can I say something that will make people go, Oh, I get that.
Speaker:Can I get what can I do? So.
Speaker:Everything became a game for me during the inspection process.
Speaker:And there's actually there's nothing better than a well conceived game.
Speaker:And so in every business, you need to make sure that you have
Speaker:and helped create the games for people, a game to be played in which the rules
Speaker:kind of symbolize the idea you, the owner, have about the world.
Speaker:And if your idea is a positive one, your business will reflect that optimism.
Speaker:And if your ideas are negative one, well, your business will reflect that as well.
Speaker:We don't want that, do we?
Speaker:And so the degree to which you buy into your game.
Speaker:Depends upon how you communicate the game to them.
Speaker:And at the outset of your relationship, it's so much
Speaker:easier than doing it after everything has begun.
Speaker:So your people strategy now is what we're talking about here.
Speaker:People strategy is the way you communicate.
Speaker:This idea starts out with your primary aim and then your strategic objective
Speaker:then continues through your organizational strategy, your organizational chart
Speaker:and the position contracts and then the operations manual
Speaker:that defined the work that the people have to do.
Speaker:All of this leads up to creating the game and the game, your business.
Speaker:Is putting out there.
Speaker:So first, last and always is about how you act, how are you going to act?
Speaker:So, for instance, with our inspectors
Speaker:were telling them, hey, you want to be 30 minutes early.
Speaker:You want to dress exactly this way.
Speaker:This is how they are acting.
Speaker:We have a 17 point introduction.
Speaker:I think it's actually an 18 point introduction
Speaker:now that we want to make sure that the inspectors go through OK.
Speaker:And you don't want it to become cynical.
Speaker:You want it to make sure it can kind of come alive and people can come alive
Speaker:while playing it. The game has to be real.
Speaker:You have to mean it.
Speaker:You have to want to make sure
Speaker:that that it's real, not just for them, but for you as well.
Speaker:And don't ever forget the game, the game they're playing, as much as the game
Speaker:you're playing is a measure of you and how you act in the game
Speaker:establishes how you will be regarded by the other players.
Speaker:As always, if you have a question for Mike or just want to say hi.
Speaker:Send an email to Halloa Coach Blueprint ARCOM.
Speaker:And remember, be successful and be around those that are successful,
Speaker:because the more money you make, the more people you can help.
