Action Plan Online, Part 7 of 12

Who to hire first?

When you want to grow, you must add people. But who should you add first – sales people to get orders, or production staff who can learn the ropes and be ready to turn out a top-notch product? The quick answer, says Marty Park of Evolve Business Group, is sales. Here’s why.

Bottlenecks are likely

It’s unlikely any growth will unfold as smoothly as you’d like it to. Accept that, and it’s easier to decide where you want to the hold-up to come from. “I don’t want the bottleneck to be in business development. It’s easier to make production your secondary focus – a very close second,” Park says. “I see so many companies that start to ramp up on production and forget it may be a 12-month selling cycle.” With much of the labour pressure relieved, it isn’t as difficult to add good staff in a hurry as it once was.

Evaluate the Economics

In stronger economies you could afford to take a misstep here and there when it came to hiring. “If it didn’t work out, you burned through some money and you let them go,” Park says. Today the financial penalties of doing so now will likely hurt a bit more. That isn’t a bad thing. You have to be more cautious, evolve the economics of adding that person, and essentially do business better – a good rule to live by regardless of the economy.

And the one caveat…

You must make sure you hire salespeople. The emphasis being on sales. “In 2007-2008, a lot of managers thought they had salespeople, but they really had order takers,” Park says. “They had people who have been able to answer the phone on the ongoing basis.” In a recovering economy, and even a recovered economy with a little less bloom, that won’t cut it.

RELATED LINKS
Action Plan 2010 in Print, Part 7 of 12: Integrating New Staff to Your Team

If there are such things as business truisms, one would be that companies that succeed in the economic recovery will be those who prepared for it before their competitors.
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Winning the price wars

July’s Action Plan Podcast: Marty Park, President of Evolve Business Group, on how to integrate staff into your business when your company is expanding
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1 Google “onboarding.” Learn its principles and implement 2 Don’t mistake an employee handbook for an orientation 3 Involve multiple players in new employee orientations 4 Explain what a new manager has been hired to do to employees 5 Hire right the first time to save money in the long run