INTRO  00:00 

Hey there Draye Redfern here and really excited that you're here for a another episode of the ultimate advisor podcast. Before we dive into this week's episode, on let you know of a couple changes that we're going to make over the next few weeks for the podcast. The first one being is that we're changing the format just a little bit, the first way that we're going to do that is every other week, you're going to get access to some of the exclusive content that other individuals have paid for, to join the ultimate advisor platform, maybe they've attended a summit, one of our challenges, maybe they're in our mastermind, or our accelerator program, we're going to give you some tidbits of that content every other week, for the next few months. And then a usual fashion the opposite week, every other week. On top of that, you're going to hear from Bryan, Brittany and myself in the normal foundational way that we've done things. So without further ado, let's jump into another awesome episode of the ultimate advisor podcast. So welcome to the section on employees, and really laying the groundwork and the foundation for the bedrock of your company, which is your employees. Now, I think the most opportune place to start when it comes to employees is actually hiring. They have the old adage, you know, hire slow fire fast, and I agree with that. But I think a lot of business owners hire too late, you know, the hire from a place of desperation, where all of a sudden, we've got a new contract for rolling out this new product, we've got to hire four people by the end of the week, and we've got to find the right fit. Well, that's hard to do, especially in the short timeframe, if you can have a little bit of leeway to actually have a little bit of anticipation ahead of time, it can go a long way. Now there's a variety of ins and outs when it comes to actually hiring the right talent. So in my previous business, the insurance business, we actually didn't care at all if they had any insurance experience what so ever. In fact, it was oftentimes better that they didn't have any experience because we could train them in our methods, you know, even if they were green, all we really cared about was their values. So did they have a good charismatic personality? Did they care do they offer good customer service. And in fact, I'll give you a little hint, you know, in that business in that world, we had no actual face to face customer interaction, everything was done over the phone or on the internet. But what was really cool and really important was that we found a really awesome hack to the system. In fact, almost all of the employees came from the FMB industry, the food and beverage industry. So a lot of them were bartenders, a lot of them were, you know, servers, a variety, these things who offer wonderful customer service who offer an elevated customer experience to an individual. And in fact, most of those individuals have amazing skill sets as that underlying base, but may have not had the formal training in one way or another in their various industries. And I think that is hugely important. Because as a society, as business owners, we're all told that we have to go after these valedictorians or salutatory, they've got to have all of these initials behind your name, and, you know, certifications, and all of these things. And I think that that's great. But when you hire those individuals, you get all of their baggage along with it, you get all of their preconceived notions and preconceived ideas for how that you should run your business. And sometimes that's okay, sometimes that's, you know, they can offer some good ideas or insights. But the vast majority of the time, they're not worth the stress, or the, you know, the hassle of dealing with that old baggage. So what we did was, we found individuals who offer an amazing experience customer service, who have an amazing personality, they're engaging, and fun, and you want to be around. And if you can have that in your employees, all of a sudden, they can carry that forward to the customers that are those customers and clients want to be around those employees, or at least get to know them better. And that helps increase and bolster that customer experience to keep those customers coming back time and time again. So one of the ways that we did is we are members at a country club and found various bartenders or servers or beverage cart, you know, individuals who offered amazing experiences, and then hired them. And it was, it's worked out absolutely phenomenal. And it's an awesome little hack when on the hiring side, because we would bring them in with that and then train them in our methods. Now it took a little bit longer. So if we were to get someone who, you know, had all of these initials and acronyms behind their name, that's great. But we're like we said we're getting the baggage with it. But if we took three to five to six months to train them in our methods, we could train them exactly how we wanted it so that the phone would never go more than two answers or two rings before it was answered, then an email will always be replied, within the first 30 minutes that it was received, that the phone it was passed off or handed off to the next person to the sales agent and the customer service agent in the prompt manner that offered a wonderful experience. We establish scripts that they would follow, and all of these things basically to build in the processes with these hires.

04:59

That made them part of the community. Now, it's really important because you want to train them, you want to make them feel as if they have enough knowledge and skill sets and insights to go anywhere else in the world and offer an amazing impact. But here's the key, you want to treat them well enough so that they won't go anywhere else. So if you can bring them in and train them and your methods and your ways and give them enough technology, or ideas or concepts or abilities, or skill sets to go anywhere else, but you don't want them to do that you treat them well enough, and they'll never leave. In fact, our turn our turnover rate inside of the insurance business was next to zero, because once people came to work for us, they would stay and they would never leave, which is great, because it took us a little bit longer on the front end, to bring them in and train them and get them up to speed. But once we had them, they'd stay forever. And that's incredibly important when you build a business to have the longevity of your employees in mind, because it takes time and it costs money to fire to provide someone else and retrain. And all of these sorts of things that you can completely forego if you actually find individuals with the right values, the foundation of who you are as individual and what you want your company to be, and then train up from that. Now, I recommend doing it before you actually need these people. So you don't have to hire from a place of desperation, you can actually bring them in ahead of time. So the one you really do need them, they're primed, they're fired, they're trained, they're ready to go, they're fired up, that is they're they're ready to go. And that makes a huge difference. Now, I wouldn't do it too much in advance, because you don't want to, you know, lay into your operational capital or have too much, you know, access people on hand that are is bored twiddling their thumbs, because that kind of creates some resentment and disdain inside of the company culture. So really, really important thing that you could do, or keep in mind there that find the values, and then train the individuals, you know, as they're green in your ways. Now, if you're operating a fortune 500 company and you need some sort of MBA, you know, graduate, you know who from you know, Parsons, or design or whatever it may be that you need to fill in those spots. That's one thing. But chances are those individuals are not watching this course. And so that hack, this tactic of hiring someone green and training them in your way, can offer a huge amount of insight to you. Now, on the media company side, we kind of found that exact methodology, but we took it a step further, and we make people jump through hoops. Now I'll kind of tell you what I mean, by that, you see, the more hoops that an individual jumps through to get a job, the more fired up, the more prime they are to actually get that job, the more they actually desire it. And once they have it, the more they actually appreciate it. So some of the things that we've done on the media side are group interviews. So for instance, if you bring if you're trying to fill a position, and you have five or six individuals that you're deciding between, bring all of them in. And an awesome little hack, you know, if you're not too much of the face of the brand is to actually sit in the group interviews, and act like you're being interviewed also. Now, if your face is on the company website, or you're the personal brand, maybe you can't do that. So maybe you have your assistant or someone else close to you who can act as an individual in the group and find out really what the pulse is. And it's amazing, the human psychology that even though they may be in your office, or in your suite, or executive conference, or whatever you may have people talk all the time, about what ins and outs of what they like and what they don't like. And if you have one of your own people almost as a spy, finding out the inner ins and outs of what the people in the group are feeling, you can automatically really tell very quickly who the leader is or who the best personality is or who the most giving is or who the most trustworthy is, if you have someone sitting in there,

Brittany Anderson  08:29

hey, Brittany here, stopping and pausing for a moment to talk about something that we've had so many of you inquire about and that is our ultimate advisor, mastermind. Now, I'm going to start by saying if you are not a growth minded individual, if you are not somebody who is focused on taking your business to the next level, if you're not focused on engaging your team, and helping them to help you in turn, level up the business, the service model, how you provide that wow experience to clients. If those things are not your focus, just fast forward right now, because the ultimate advisor mastermind would not then before you. However, if you are looking to take your business to the next level, if you want to experience exponential growth and feel supported along the way, if you want to start working smarter and not harder, if you want to help your team members to work within the God given talents that they were provided, and use those skill sets in a way they haven't yet to help support you and your business to help them realize their biggest goals, their biggest dreams. If you want creative approaches to marketing, I know that can be an intimidating word. But we're not talking here about the fancy Facebook stuff or you know the latest and greatest But rather looking at how you can market what you do, how you can express how you're different, and how you can truly differentiate yourself in a crowded market space. If those are problems you're looking to solve, then you absolutely want to go check out ultimate advisor mastermind comm to learn more about how we can help you on your path and journey to growth.

Draye Redfern  10:28

Now, group interviews are great, but a lot of people don't actually maximize them to their full potential. And that's one of the ways that you could do is actually having someone sit in there, and then asking questions, and I've actually put the script that we use and ask questions for group interviews below this video. So you could actually use that for yourself. The next thing I like to do, especially if you're hiring for an individual position, you don't want to go through the hoops and hurdles of group interview number one, and then it may be personal, you know, one on one, interview number two, is making someone jump through multiple hoops. So for my assistant, for example, posted an ad on Craigslist. Now Craigslist is usually not the highest caliber of individuals, what you may think out there, but you're going to be proven wrong. You see, I wrote a very long and lengthy description of exactly who I don't want, and an assistant and all of the characteristics that they must meet, you know, confidentiality, be able to, you know, be willing to be trained and see things automatically just want to take the next step, all of these things and say this job is not going to be for you. But if it is, it's going to be the perfect job for you. Now, that was great. And it obviously repelled a huge amount of people, because I said that you have to be ready for anything. But at the end of it, here's what really got interesting is I required every single person for not only send me their resume, but a personalized cover letter that tells exactly why they are the perfect candidate for the job. Now what that does automatically is it makes them take another step to actually realize if they're the right individual for that job, it makes them jump through additional hoops to really take a step back and be like, do I really want to work for this company. Now you want people who are going to jump through hoops, you want people who are going to go to bat for you who are going to go to war for you who have your back. And the more hoops you make them jump through, the more chances they have higher probability to actually find that individual. So that was the first step we send me send us a resume, send a personalized cover letter. And then here's the kicker, here's where no one really follows through on, have them, create a video shoot little, you know what a video camera out or set something up, and send me a video of why you think you're the right person for the job. And the characteristics that you embody, that are going to be best fit for this job. And no one likes to do that. It's funny that you know, everyone says all the sending my resume and you know, let me come in for an interview. But the reality is, is that that's one way of thinking because everyone can just mass send out all of these resumes. But when you make them jump through hoops, you basically test them, just like you're going to test them on the job to see if they will actually follow through and take these extra steps. And then what will happen is a variety of things, if someone's holding their camera out on their phone, and they're walking like this, clearly, they're not taking the time to actually sit down and think about their shot. If they're actually wearing a T shirt, they're probably not going to be the best employee because you want someone who is meticulous with details. And if you're not in like a video setting like we are now you want someone who's going to pay attention to the small things, because whether they're in customer service, or whether they're answering phone calls, or whether they're setting up behind the camera, like you're seeing me on right now you want someone who notices the details. So for instance, in my I've got multiple people who applied for the job, who jumped through all of the hoops, but when my assistant, you know, set up a video camera, and she looked really great, she said in front of a wall. And as she went through ABCD, you know, 123, and four of why she is the perfect candidate for me, all of a sudden, she jumped off the page, and I knew that she was the exact right fit. Because no one else you know, only a few other people actually took the time to do all of these things. So all of a sudden, what I've done is I literally bought back hours and days of my time sitting in interviews and asking questions about people who I don't really care about not to sound like rude or apathetic about it, that I know in the first 30 seconds whether they're probably going to be a good fit or not. So I bought back all of that time. Now, the next step is that someone can actually get through all these hoops is to basically bring them in for an interview. And it's a test put them through a test. You can even ask them questions up front, like your normal interview questions. But I want to see if they can actually do what they say they can do. So for instance, when I hired my assistant, as soon as stay with the same sort of story, I actually had her build a web page, and I had her edit and change the copy to see what she would do differently on my personal one of my personal brands. Now what that did was I could see how her writing style was, I could see how she designed I could see the ins and outs of the way that she thought and her capabilities that most people would never even do. They would just ask questions and say, Well, can you design a website? Can you write copy? And then you find out, you know, 30 days later because they said yes, that they're absolutely awful. And now all of a sudden you've wasted 30 days of your time. You're out the money and the hassle under stress, now you have to find someone else. Whereas if you do all of that upfront, and you actually make them jump through the hoops, and you actually put them through a test of whatever that position may be, all of a sudden, you have a really good idea upfront, if they're the right person for you. So let's talk about customer service and customer experience. So if you are looking for a new receptionist for your front office, well, that's great. So all what you can do is have someone jump through these hoops. And you know, whether it's the ad, and then the personalized cover letter, and then the video. And then when they come in for an interview, ask them questions, get a feel for them, and then put them on the phone. And it doesn't have to be a live call, you could have someone else in your company call in acting, you know, like a customer and see how they handle it, put them through the wringer up front. Now, what is going to do is you're going to put the pressure on them, you're going to see how well they actually survive and thrive under that pressure and under that fire. And honestly, it is life changing for you and your business, the time you can buy back and the stress that you can alleviate and reduce by doing this, because literally you're buying back hours and days of your time. But you're also lowering the amount of pressure and the amount of noise that you have in your mind by actually having to worry about that next individual. And I mean, let's be honest, the best part of any business is the people. And basically being able to provide being able to interact with the people and all of these sorts of things, you know, most likely your employees and your customers. But the worst part of every business is the people and the hassle and the stress and people not performing or they're not doing their job. It's it's a huge distinction between the two. And it's the same thing. So we want to make sure that we can basically alleviate is many ways many ways that those employees can drain time or drain that mental real estate that they may have in your mind and eliminate that as much as possible. And the best way to do that is from the hiring up front. Now that obviously takes a little bit of time to actually structure this process. And below this video, I'm going to give you all of the resources that I've used to actually do this all I'll give you the exact script that I've done to actually acquire you know, hire my assistant, you know, some of the questions we asked in the group interviews, all of that sort of stuff to basically help you alleviate the burden of hiring as much as possible, because from my side, I can train anyone in exactly what they want them to do. And if I can't, I know who I can find to help train that individual to really elevate them to off offer me my company and our customers, the greatest quality, the greatest products, the greatest service, and basically the greatest experience for that end user, I prefer them green, and we can trade them in our own method. And I hope that maybe you know, take a step back and realize that that may be a good fit for you as well. So I'll give you all of those assets below this video. And I hope this was really a step back at a tweak to the way that you think about hiring because, you know it can be a huge drain on you as an individual. So I hope that this was a really great value great lessons for you to help reduce some of that pressure and noise on the hiring side of employees. Because we all know it can be one of the most rewarding sides of business, but it could also be one of the most stressful so go download some of the assets and resources below this video. Give them a look and let me know what you think. Put some comments down below. And let's talk about this. See the next lesson.

Brittany Anderson  18:06

Hey there, Brittany Anderson here. If you are loving what you're hearing on our ultimate advisor podcast, don't keep us to secret. Share us with other advisors that you think would benefit from the messages that you are hearing. The easiest way to do that is to simply send them to ultimate advisor podcast.com. And if you want to learn a few other ways that we could potentially serve you as an advisor, go check out ultimate advisor mastermind.com. As always, we are so happy to have you here with us as part of the ultimate advisor community and we look forward to a continued relationship