7 Keys to Recruiting the Best Employees: Words of Wisdom from Robert Tunmire
In small businesses and franchises, recruiting and hiring employees can be an overwhelming process, and sadly, many employers believe that good people are hard to find. However, the best people are everywhere working for dozens of other businesses; the hard part is recruiting them to work for you. After 37 years working in the franchise industry, Robert Tunmire, the executive vice president at The Dwyer Group®, has decades of first-hand experience recruiting the best employees for your business. In this article, Robert will share the importance of recruiting and the 7 keys recruiting the best people for your team.
What is recruiting, and why is it important?
When it comes to gaining new employees, Robert explains, “You don’t hire the best; you recruit them,” and recruiting is defined as, “creating an experience that causes people to want to be on your team.” When you compete with other businesses to draw customers, you create an experience or a product that is more attractive or of better quality than what your competitors have to offer, and it’s the same with recruiting the best employees.
When searching for the right employees, you’re competing with other businesses for the people who already have the qualities and skills that would make them a great addition to your team. The catch is that they are probably already working for someone else. So how can you draw them to your business?
According to Robert, there are seven keys to recruiting the best people:
Key #1: Do not prejudge someone. Learn to see people as they can be, not as they are.
Unfortunately, studies in psychology have shown that people naturally tend to judge others by first impressions. However, first impressions are very rarely accurate and can even cause interviewers and potential employers to miss the best qualities in a candidate simply because they made a bad impression. When considering a new employee, see who they can become if only given the right tools, training, and opportunity. Do you best to see beyond the first impression whether good or bad, and see the potential that they have to offer, even if they did not show up for the initial interview.
Robert claims that “some of the finest people that I have ever recruited did not show up for the first interview.” While we naturally tend to assume that someone who fails to show for an interview is unreliable, it might simply be a fear of failure or of change that causes the missed opportunity on the part of both the employee and the employer. So, the next time someone fails to come to an interview, reschedule the interview as soon as possible. Make your decision about the person only after you have had the chance to talk to them face-to-face.
Key#2: Recruiting is active, not passive. Always follow up.
When you find someone that you want to join your team, follow up as long as it takes to get them on your team. “The better they are, the more effort they’re going to take to get on your team,” says Robert. He remembers one of the best technicians that he ever hired took him almost a full year to recruit, but his persistence paid great dividends for years to come. Hiring great people takes time and persistence, but great people are worth the investment.
Key#3: Recruiting has to be done every single day.
If you only recruit new employees when you need people, you are putting yourself in a dangerous position, and your employees know that you need them more than they need you. However, Robert claims, “You cannot be held hostage in your business without your consent.” So if you are actively recruiting the best people and have a list of potential employees, then employee turnover is simply a small inconvenience rather than a detrimental loss.
Key#4: Would you work for you?
Ask yourself these questions, “Are you a people builder, or are you a people user? Do you see people as a means to an end, or do you see your role with people as to help them accomplish their personal financial goals?” If you want your people to go above and beyond for you, you have to go above and beyond for them. Invest in your employees lives. Show them the respect that you as their boss have for their skills and for their goals.
Key#5: Is your business the place of choice to work in your industry in your community, yes or no?
When answering this question, consider what your business looks like, and what people see as soon as they walk up to and through your company’s doors. Is your work space clean and orderly? How do people speak? Are your employees smiling? Remember, you want potential employees to be impressed by the work environment and by the other members of the team so they will want to be a part of it.
Key#6: You can recruit anyone you want if you show them that they can accomplish their personal and financial goals by being on your team.
Make it a point to understand the motivations and goals which drive the people who work for you, and find ways to help them achieve personal success. The key is to show your employees that you are interested in their success. Here are two questions that you can ask to help you identify and understand the goals of your employees:
- What type of income do you want to have?
- Why is that amount important to you?
Key #7: Tell the whole story when you’re recruiting.
If you want the best people, you have to sell them on your company by giving details about how work is done behind the scenes. Letting someone know about your leadership styles, your expectations, what makes your company unique, and how your team works together can be one of the best ways to draw people into your company.
So, remember that the best people aren’t hard to find, just hard to recruit, and when you begin your recruiting process again, remember the 7 keys to recruiting the best people. For information regarding franchise opportunities in your area, contact The Dwyer Group by visiting our website at www.leadingtheserviceindustry.com or by phone at 1(866)-656-1504 for more information.
2 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Website’s SEO: Managing Google’s Panda and Penguin
For the small business owner, a website can be a great way to increase business and recruit new customers, but without proper management, websites can also become lost in the hordes of other businesses that are competing for the top spots on the Google search engine.
Last month, Google AdWords reported that the word “business” was Googled approximately 101,000,000 times. If your business is at the bottom of the Google search results page, well…you have some work to do. Think about it, when was the last time that you scrolled to the bottom of the page to find a link?
Thankfully, there are some basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies that can help you raise your visibility when a potential customer is trying to find a product that you offer.
What is Search Engine Optimization? SEO is a type of digital marketing used to describe how accessible or visible a website is to the general populace. Think of SEO as the online version of television commercials or billboards. Simply by being seen and drawing attention to a product, they drive foot traffic into the store.
Your overall goal as a business owner when it comes to your website should be to drive traffic to your website by getting it to the top of the results list in local search engines. According to Paul Hagan, Director of Strategic Initiatives at The Dwyer Group®, there are two major Google algorithm updates that recently impacted where websites rank on the search engine listings: Panda and Penguin.
What is Panda?
Panda is a series of search algorithm updates used by Google to reward high-quality websites. The more you do right, the closer to the top a site moves on a Google results page. To be on good terms with the Panda updates, you should:
Create Lots of Content and Include Keywords: Using the most relevant keywords or phrases in your content is one of the fastest ways to increase your rankings. Try using Google AdWords to help determine what words would be the best to use in your SEO. Don’t forget your website description or title tags. Using the proper keywords in these areas can be just as if not more important to your site’s SEO.
Getting Your Link Out There: Search rankings are influenced by how many times a site is listed and linked to other sites on the web as well as how often your site links to the websites of other relevant material. Inter-site links are based on a point system, and the more reputable the other site is the more points that your site gets for being linked. So, don’t be selfish when it comes to sharing links and web content. Helping out other sites is equally as helpful to promoting your website, but there’s a catch…beware of the Penguin.
What is the Penguin? The Penguin is another Google search algorithm that punishes sites for cheating the system by using cheap SEO tricks. This can include sites with irrelevant links, unoriginal content, or content cloaking. For instance, link farms are sites which act as portals to an endless series of different sites. They serve no purpose other than to drive up SEO standings. If a site is reported on a link farm it will be demoted in the search engine rankings.
Protect yourself with the Google Disavow. If you discover that your website is listed on a link farm, and you don’t want it to decrease your rankings report the link farm by using the Google Disavow tool. Reporting an unwanted link ensures that the link will not count against you if it is discovered by the penguin.
So, be proactive about your online marketing by taking advantage of the Panda updates to optimize your visibility, but don’t forget to protect your website from Penguin updates.
One of the benefits of owning a franchise is the variety of web development and SEO consulting services that can help you get started increasing exposure for your website. For more information regarding franchise opportunities in your area, contact The Dwyer Group by visiting our website at www.leadingtheserviceindustry.com or by phone at 1(866)-656-1504 for more information.
3 Ways to Help Reduce Employee Turnover
“Employee turnover can cost the small business owner anywhere between $700-$1,000 per employee.”
One of the best ways to grow and expand your business is to have and maintain quality employees who are dedicated to helping your business succeed, and while a steady turnover rate is both natural and even healthy for many businesses, excessive employee turnover can be an expensive and time consuming waste of valuable resource especially for the small business owner. According to an article published by the International Franchising Association® written by franchise owner Harold Jackson, employee turnover can cost the small business owner anywhere between $700-$1,000 per employee.
Between uniforms, tools, and hours of training, each employee becomes an investment of both time and money that are lost as soon as an employee walks out of the door. Not to mention, any unhappy employee leaving on poor terms, can be counterproductive to your business and advertising. According the Global Development Learning Network, every dissatisfied customer expresses their frustration to anywhere between 9 and 15 people. However, the frustration of an employee can be even more detrimental to a business than a customer’s opinion in the eyes of prospective new customers. Therefore it is critical that when employees leave, they leave of good terms and not at an excessive rate.
So, how can small business owners avoid the costs associated with high turnover? According to Robert Tunmire, executive vice president at The Dwyer Group®, there are three main ways that the small business owner can reduce the amount of high employee turnover in their business.
Recruit the Right People:
Hiring the right people for the right position, the first time, is the first step in reducing employee turnover, and ultimately, it can save a business owner a substantial investment of both time and money in the long run. While it may be tempting to fill a position as soon as possible, business owners should carefully consider not only the candidate’s credentials and references but also their long-term potential in the company. Ultimately, supervisors should evaluate the fit of the potential employee with the personality of both the specific position that they are being considered for as well as the company that they will be representing.
When evaluating a potential candidate, consider asking yourself the following questions:
Does this individual exemplify the image that I want to promote in my company?
Will this employee be able to connect with other employees well?
Is this person a team player?
Fairly Compensate Your Talent:
Compensation and benefits plans are a consistent way to show and reinforce how employees are valued in a company. Forbes Magazine recently published an article entitled, “The Only Good Reason to Quit Your Job.” Topping the list of complaints that may encourage people to leave their positions included both feeling underpaid and undervalued. So when structuring payment and compensation plans, keep the following tips in mind. Compensation plans must be:
Simple- Complicated compensation plans are difficult to understand for both the employer and the employee causing errors and fostering distrust amongst staff, and a lack of trust can lead to increased levels of employee turnover no matter how much employees are paid.
Transparent- Be clear and honest about an employee’s paycheck. Allow your staff to easily see how you itemize any deductions or bonuses.
Motivate your staff!
Motivate your staff:
Motivate your employees by implementing a fair a compensation plan.
As discussed earlier, paychecks and benefits are one tool to reaffirm an employee’s value to the company. Whether it be a technician or an office assistant, if an employee feels as though they are being undervalued through a low pay check or poor benefits it can influence their decision to search begin applying to other businesses.
Motivate your employees through team dynamics:
Motivate people using goals and small wins by establish monthly targets and focusing on beating your company’s previous records. When setting your company’s goals, both short and long-term, keep the following acronym in mind: S.M.A.R.T. All goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.
Motivate employees by rewarding performance at every available opportunity. You should reward your employees in small ways throughout the year whenever possible. Rewards don’t have to be large or substantial, and they come in many amounts, shapes, and sizes. Free company paraphernalia such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, and mouse pads, can be more motivating to employees if regularly distributed throughout the year than even an annual bonus because they are consistent reminders of both future goals and past achievements.
So to be proactive about keeping your best employees, remember: recruit the right people, fairly compensate your talent, and motivate your staff.
To start applying these management tips to your new franchise in the near future, contact The Dwyer Group by visiting our website at www.leadingtheserviceindustry.com or by phone at 1(866)-656-1504 for more information.
Top U.S. Cities to Start a Business
Austin, Texas was named as one of six cities considered an entrepreneurial oasis.
One of the biggest questions that needs to be answered before starting a franchise is where will a business thrive? While every city has certain advantages for the starting entrepreneur, some locations are better than others for launching a business. When considering a location for a new business, entrepreneurs should search for cities that make licensing a cinch, maintain low tax rates, and are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed in their efforts.
A recent 2012-13 survey sponsored by Thumbtack.com and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation revealed the best and worst cities for entrepreneurs to start a new business. The survey used a grading scale ranging from A+ to F, and each city is graded on overall friendliness, ease of hiring, ease of start-up, regulations, as well as its training and networking programs. The five cities below received an A+ grade for being the easiest cities for start-up:
Cities Rated A+ for Start-up Ease
- Virginia Beach, Va.
- Austin, Texas
- Columbus, Ohio
- Dallas/Fort Worth
- Nashville, Tenn.
Entrepreneur magazine analyzed the survey above, combining each city’s grades in the five categories. Six cities were considered entrepreneurial oases:
- Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Indianapolis
- Las Vegas
- Minneapolis
- Nashville, Tenn.
- Raleigh, N.C.
In addition to any state and local requirements or incentives for starting a business, an entrepreneur must also consider personal preferences when choosing the perfect place to start your business. A panel of 12 young entrepreneurs shared their thoughts, and below are a few ideas on where to start your research:
- Think about who you know in the area. The place where you network is the largest is where you should be.
- Seek a start-up culture. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals will help your find the resources you need.
- Make sure you like the lifestyle of the city—in business and in your personal life.
- Examine the cost of living and be sure it will work with your lifestyle.
- Make yourself aware of the local laws.
- Search for plenty of co-working opportunities and good office space is a plus.
- Eye the investors—at some point you may need to raise capital from them.
Finally, when considering a place to start a new business, entrepreneurs should keep in mind that The Dwyer Group® is expanding locations across the U.S. You may be able to start a service franchise in your area or in one of the cities listed above, call 1 (866) 696-1504 or visit www.leadingtheserviceindustry.com for more information.
A Case Study: Operation Synergy™
For example, managers and business owners can drill-down to specific call ratings for each technician and each job using Operation Synergy™ technology.
Operation Synergy™ began in 2009 and it started from a very simple concept.
We wanted to answer the following question: how are we doing?
The Dwyer Group® and its franchisees are in the business of acquiring and retaining the right customers. But how does a top franchise business know how well it is doing that? A customer may change his or her mind about a service for any number of reasons; it could be the technician, the workmanship, the product. Business owners find this frustrating. Most of the time they don’t know why they lost a customer, as only a small fraction actually complains.
“For every one complaint you hear, there’s ten that you don’t . What’s the value of them not posting a bad review online? What’s the value of them not trashing you to their friend and family?” asks Paul Hagan, Marketing Specialist at The Dwyer Group. Read more
Sites, Search, and Mobile: Is Your Business Up to Speed?
Even a fifth grader could tell you that there are a few basics every business must have to be successful: a business phone number, a customer-ready storefront if applicable, and a website. Wait, what was that last one?
According to the Small Business Success Index (SBSI), 44% of small-business owners still lack a website, and only 27% of those who do have an SEO program in place. This represents an enormous gap from consumer behavior, with 97% of consumers now searching for local services online.
Do home-service contractors need a wake-up call?
How to Keep Your Small Business in the Spotlight (and When to Avoid It)
What is public relations, and should I be doing it? If you’ve ever found yourself asking this question, here’s some news: you’re already doing it. Public relations (PR) is simply the flow of communication between you and the public. So, how is your communication doing? Is it proactive, or reactive?
The number one thing that you can do to improve your local PR is to ensure that your frontline customer service is top-notch. If your customer service is lacking, then focus your energy on that area before you attempt any mass communications. Any increase in traffic from media coverage will only amplify your business’s deficiencies, and will drive those new customers away if they aren’t responded to in a timely and courteous fashion. Read more
Why Customers First?
by Chris Mellon
I was reading a blog by marketing guru Seth Godin the other day, where he was attempting to define the “best customer.” He made the point that most companies define their best customer with the following criteria… Read more
Working Together is a Win-Win
Adapted from ROI magazine, by Khyla Fellingham
Cross-marketing can reduce marketing costs and generate quality leads.
Brands that share a similar market are starting to work together on marketing ventures. Teaming up can increase reach and cut down on costs. In fact, The Dwyer Group® has a program called My Home Life Team to connect franchise owners in the same area for cross-marketing purposes so that they can save money and share a customer base through shared advertising.
Owners in Windsor, Ontario have seen the benefits first-hand. Richard Hansen (Mr. Electric®) and Dan Lariviere (Mr. Rooter®) worked together recently to support the Ronald McDonald House of Southwestern Ontario. Through their $6,000 gift, Mr. Electric and Mr. Rooter have sponsored a room that will accommodate a family of four, which has been named in their honor. “We feel this is a great way to support our community, and by working together we are able to have the same impact with less cost,” says Hansen.
Holiday Marketing Tips
By Laura Shaheen
With autumn here and firmly entrenched, it’s time to give your company’s holiday marketing schedule some serious consideration. The holidays are one of the best times to reach your customers. Sluggish summer habits get a burst of energy with the snap of the cold and the thought of holiday parties and gift giving. Use this time wisely to attract more customers, and to better serve your current clients.
1.) Make plans: It’s easy to foresee using a fall and winter marketing schedule, but less clear cut to actually establish one. Plan for the holiday months early, and determine any promotions or discounts you’d like to run. Coordinate these promotions with your bursts of advertising or direct mail—haphazard planning in this regard has been many a company’s downfall.
2.) Utilize a direct mail campaign: Once you’ve run the numbers and determined which promotions or marketing you can afford to run, use direct mail campaigns to educate your customers. Consider synching your mailing campaign with promotional e-mails, blog updates, and social media promotion. The more cohesive, the better.
3.) Make your company website holiday appropriate: This doesn’t mean changing the company colors to red and green and posting a garish, bright holiday banner across the top of the page. In fact, we might recommend against such updates. However, talk to your graphics and web designers about sprucing up the company page with a few little holiday reminders. For inspiration in this regard, think Google’s mostly subtle logo changes. It never hurts for a few quick prompt about the holidays to jog a customer’s memory.
4.) Update website user-friendliness: It’s reasonable to expect higher website traffic in the fall and winter months, mostly due to the circumstances of the weather and events. For companies in the home repair business, you can bet things will start going wrong the day before a customer’s house party, or just when the temperature dips below freezing. Be prepared for an influx of web traffic by updating parts of the company website. If you’re in the retail business, is your shopping cart button prominent on every page? Is it simple to purchase from your company? The last thing you need is a lengthy product purchase process that allows customers to get distracted and put off buying. Consider utilizing wishlists or other interactive ways to encourage turning one time buyers in loyal customers.
5.) Utilize SEO: Like we mentioned in our previous blog on SEO, don’t be afraid to make your company as search-friendly as possible. This might include upping the number of blog posts, or changing the titles of your pages to include some more relevant search terms.
At the heart of the matter, all that this comes down to is effective preparation. Be sure that you’re ready for the changing weather and tides of consumerism. Have quality staff, effective promotions and proper schedules set aside. Such arrangements can mean the difference between coming into the holiday months blind and coming in prepared.
