(Time to read this Blog is about 2 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking:

1. My biz quote of the week:
   “Some people are immediately likeable, some folks grow on you eventually…and some grate on you forever. But, if you’re kind, energized, helpful and joyful, you’ll be welcome anywhere.”
   …Donald Cooper.
2. Three quick biz tips. This weekend I read a great biz article that offered up these 3 simple tips:  ‘Be an expert, make it easy, make their day’.

   1.  Are you and your team constantly learning and becoming more expert? You can’t grow your business without growing your people…and without growing yourself.

   2. What are 4 things you could do to make it easier to do business with you?

   3. What are 6 things you could do for customers or clients to make their day?

3. The tragedy of dysfunctional or toxic partnerships and family businesses. Many of my Biz Coaching clients over the years have been stuck in dysfunctional or toxic partnerships or family businesses.  The best people leave in frustration, the business stalls, the bottom line shrinks and many lives are wrecked along the way.I’ve just updated my insightful Biz Tool #A-11 that helps folks determine the ‘health’ and sustainability of their partnership or family business.  It takes just 7 minutes to complete. To access this helpful Biz Tool, Click Here.

 Now, to this week’s important topic:

Want to attract top performers?  Pay more and expect more: 

Top performers don’t have to work for ‘peanuts’…and they know it. And yet, many employers offer pay rates well below the poverty line and then grumble that they can’t attract good people.  One business that I know in the USA is offering $15.⁰⁰ an hour for mechanics and $10.⁰⁰ an hour for laborers, and wonders why all he gets is toothless drug addicts who show up irregularly. And remember, “We become what we hire.”            

Brian Parker, owner of ‘Moo Cluck Moo’, a fast food restaurant in Detroit ‘gets it’.  Brian has been paying his staff $15.⁰⁰ an hour for years, because he thinks it’s good business …and the right thing to do.  His competitors pay $8.50.

At ‘Moo Cluck Moo’, productivity is high, staff turnover is low, the business is profitable and customers love the food and the experience.  Everyone is trained to do every job, so they have variety in their work and truly function as a Team.  There’s no ‘us and them’, which is a killer in any business.

Make sure that you don’t pay more, but expect less.  That will kill you!  Hire for attitude and train for success.

Be clear about your high standards of performance, behaviour and integrity…and why you have those high standards.  Always explain why.  Ask good questions and always listen. It makes no sense to pay more to get really good people and then not listen to them.

Be an encourager.  Celebrate and reward success and deal with non-performance. ‘Fix them or fire them’. Anything less is sheer laziness on your part.  Failure to deal with non-performance is one of the biggest problems in many businesses today. Business owners often say this about non-performers, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.”  I say, better not to have any ‘devils’ at all.

So, how could your business and your bottom line be transformed by, ‘Pay more and expect more?’ Hire top performers, train them, empower them, reward them and honor them. How could this give you competitive advantage and grow your bottom line?  Something to think about.

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.