“The idea is to look over the horizon and anticipate your need to increase capacity.” yourself, at some point you’ll need to increase your capacity. That means doing at least two things: Figure out how to become more efficient at what you do, and identify what help you need. Jettison the Clerical Stuff For most hands-on entrepreneurs, the first no-brainer choice is to very reluctantly (I know how much you love it and hate to give up doing paperwork) delegate clerical functions to someone else. Then you can have more time to do field ser- vice work. It’s oſten easier to find someone (spouse, relative, friend etc.) to work part time, possibly from home, if you don’t have an office. Be sure to retain monetary controls — such as signing checks and reviewing of bank statements — so that you don’t get ripped off. Make sure you reconcile cash in and cash out daily! Once you delegate common clerical tasks, immediately be- gin your technician recruiting process. Don’t wait until you are drowning in work, or you may put everything you’ve achieved at risk, as you’re more likely to rush and then botch the hiring effort. Again, the idea is to look over the horizon and antici- pate your need to increase capacity. You may want to review some earlier relevant articles in this series, such as “Tracking and Measuring” tools. Which First: the Chicken or the Egg? For many growing companies, the real challenge is trying to hire one quarter or one half of a person. In other words, you need more capacity but not enough to justify recruiting one whole incremental person. You must accept that you’ll never have a perfect match between demand and production capacity. Obviously, any information regarding your customers’ an- ticipated demand and growth plans could be the key to tim- ing workforce expansion. Any anticipated new customers and incremental work opportunities would clearly be a factor. But, you must also consider the experience level of the person you plan to recruit, what’s available and what you can afford. WWW.ALOA.ORG The Case For Growing Your Own There has been a seismic shiſt in our society from trade and craſt jobs that are more hands-on in nature to financial, cleri- cal and office-type careers that oſten require a college educa- tion. Moreover, today’s youth are less interested in manual labor, and we have inadvertently discouraged apprenticeships in the trades. Indeed, too many vocational schools have been closed, but as more baby boomers retire, we continue to need mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and, yes, lock- smiths. Unions seem to be the only organized source of this type of career training. Faced with this new reality, like it or not, you may have to grow your own technicians. If you opt for this approach, you might want to read Running A Successful Service Company - Made Easy by Tom Resciniti Demont (available from the ALOA SPAI bookstore). This book includes a detailed section on locksmith apprenticeships, including a step-by-step process for training a new recruit. Success will require recruiting the right individual and having a detailed progression plan. Recruiting From the Marketplace If you decide to recruit from the open employment marketplace, the good news is that there are some very efficient and effec- tive Internet resources (LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter and Indeed, just to mention a few) for finding what you’re looking for. But do yourself a really big favor by investing meaningful effort up front, or you will waste lots of your precious time. What do you really need, and is that the same as what you say you want? How much incremental sales volume will you need to offset the cost of the new hire, and how will you obtain it? Why should a promising candidate select your firm? Keep in mind that there are state and county job service or- ganizations that can offer wage guidance and even potential recruits. And don’t forget about our deserving veterans who can be a potential pool of mature individuals looking for careers, rather than jobs. Remember that there are many women who are viable candidates for this traditionally male-dominated career field. Of course, you might get lucky and encounter a promising individual via the old-fashioned word-of-mouth method. Be sure to keep your ears open and let folks know you are looking. But please have a written job description and specific, realistic and relevant “must haves” and also “nice to haves.” Without this, you might subject yourself to being asked (even pressured) to recruit someone’s problem child, an unqualified relative or even some customer’s lost cause nephew. HINT: Look for the telltale forehead tattoo “Failed Inspection!” DECEMBER 2019 KEYNOTES 21
