Q. What one thing can
prevent a company from
growing?
Not talking with your customers and not knowing
what their goals are. When
you’re working with a customer, take the time to
learn what their goals are.
You have to work together to make sure you’re delivering what they’re looking
for at a fair price. If you don’t
know your customers’ goals,
you’re just not on same page.
Q. How can executives
ensure that their employees
hear their message?
There’s an old saying, ‘Somebody needs to hear something
six to 10 times before it actually
sinks in.’ I do see that, and it’s a
frustration of management. If we have a meeting, we’ll put the
meeting minutes out in writing,
and at the next meeting, we’ll
bring it up again because we
realize it’s not going to sink in the
first time that somebody hears it.
The other thing that I really
dislike from a management
standpoint is e-mail. I’ve told my
managers, ‘We don’t manage
through e-mail.’ It’s so easy for a
manager to send a quick e-mail
out to the staff, but do the
employees read it fully? So
many employees in the work
force today receive so many e-mails, it almost becomes a
background for them.
And it’s the same thing in dealing with your customers: If you
don’t have all the answers, pick
up the phone and call them.
Don’t play pingpong back and
forth with somebody for a week
to try to settle one small issue.
Q. What advice would you
share with other leaders who are
trying to grow their company?
Sign all checks to keep control
over what is being spent in the
company. If you’re signing the
checks, you can see the money
that’s going out and what’s being
spent for different items, the
office supplies or the travel or
the utilities.
If your employees know that
you’re signing every check and
that you’re seeing everything, it
curtails what they spend.
When interviewing someone
for a position with your company, I would recommend having
them take a personality test,
and there are a lot of good personality tests out there. Get a
focus on the employee, know
what’s important to them and
know what values they have
before you hire them.
If you take the time to really
look at the employee before you
hire them, you’re not wasting
your time. They’re going to
work out, and they’re going to
be a long-term employee.
They’re easier to work with, and
they get along with the other
employees.
You want to hire someone
that is looking for a career, not
a job. I’m always looking for
somebody that’s able to grow
within the company. Everybody that is in management
here has come up through the
company, rather than being an
outside hire.
HOW TO REACH: Carefree World Travel, (317) 899-4477 or www.carefreetravel.net