You Can’t Get What You Don’t Ask For

Recently, just as it started getting dark I picked up my five and seven-year old girls from a party.  As we were walking in the dark to the car my older daughter, Sarah, noticed my younger daughter, Grace, was carrying a glow in the dark lantern from the party.  Sarah was jealous and did not understand why her sister had gotten one, but not her. They each had received party favors, but only Grace had received the cool lantern. Once we got in the car, it was still bugging Sarah and so finally she exclaimed to both of us, “How come Gracie got a lantern, but I did not?” 

I had no idea and my immediate reaction was “she took it and we would have to go back and return the lantern.” Instead Grace replied in a matter of fact tone, “They gave me the lantern, because I asked. If you don’t ask how do they know you want it?”

This conversation with my two daughters reminded me of a couple of business owners I know that are in the same industry – Les and Richard.  Both had launched their businesses at relatively the same time. Over the years though, Richard has had a much easier time finding new staff among other things, compared to Les, who always appears to struggle to find good team. When the three of us got together one month ago, the subject of recruiting good employees came up.  Richard was recounting how a salesperson he hired earlier this year was “knocking it out of the park.” The other owner, Les, although happy for his friend, could not help but blurt out, “How did you end up hiring him and how did you know he would be good?” 

“It’s pretty simple,” Richard replied. “For instance, everybody who knows me understands that I am looking for great sales people in our industry. I tell my staff, clients, vendors, partners, advisors, and friends I am looking for great talent and if they know somebody, to please let me know. On top of that, I reward staff with a considerable bonus and send gifts to people whenever I get a good referral, even if I don’t end up hiring the person. I also keep a list of all the sales people I have met or who have been recommended to me that I would like to possibly hire in the future and I keep in touch with them on a regular basis. In this case, the superstar sales person was recommended to me by a smart client a couple years back who had bought from him.  It took a few years but this past March the sales person ended up joining my firm.  “Oh,” Les replied in a dejected tone. “Do you think Green Bay will repeat as Super Bowl champs next year?” And he quickly changed the topic of conversation.

(I found out a week later that Les knew not only the person who recommended the sales person, but the sales person as well - no wonder why Les wanted to change the conversation)