Pixie dust, beliefs and employee recruitment

One of the biggest challenges in today's business world is finding and keeping employees. I'm told its catastrophic and there's more demand than there is supply of good people.

This is not a new problem. In 2006, my wife and I built our first restaurant. Finding good people was hard back then too. We needed 21 employees on opening day and could only find 15. We needed friends and family to donate their time until we could fully staff the business.

Simple economics states the more available a product, the lower the price will be. With employment, the same can be said. With an abundance of people willing to work, the lower they will accept to be paid.

However there is the other side of that coin. The less you have of something, the more valuable it becomes. 

Less people willing to work means you have to pay higher wages. 

You face a "no win" situation. Either way, you lose customers... 

If you decide to continue paying less wages, you run the risk of increasing number of sick days, increasing employee turnover, increasing training costs, increasing customer wait times and losing customers. 

If you increase wages, you need to increase prices OR understand profit will decrease. Nobody wants to lose profit.  But increasing prices also turns customers away as they find a cheaper alternative.

I believe there's another way around this problem. 

Ray Seggern, a Wizard of Ads partner, brilliantly discovered at the heart of all business are three pillars: Story, Culture and Experience.

Your company's Culture is WHO YOU ARE. It is the experience your employees have within your company.

Your company's Story is WHAT YOU SAY.

Your company's Experience is WHAT YOU DO. It is that experience your customers have when they interact with your company.

Authenticity is what happens when Story and Experience align. When they don't, you get bad reviews and complaints.

High Morale is what happens when Story and Culture align. When they don't, you have cancer, and high employee turnover.

Brand Ambassadors are born when Story and Culture and Experience align. Your customers become part of the family, part of the brand. 

If you want to find good employees, you have to identify why customers buy from you. And why employees stay with you. By uncovering your superpower, you will find people who will want to work for you.

So how do you motivate a minimum wage employee today? They are unreliable, lazy. And when they do show up, they spend half the time on their phones (sic).

If this is how you feel, you either have a problem with your hiring process or your management process. 

There's never been a time in history where kids were respected. 

They do things different from the older generation. Because of it, they are constantly criticized.

You either hire bad or you treat the right person bad.

Employees do quit on the spot, without notice. They have no loyalty and will leave you for 25 cents somewhere else if your values don't align.

In fact, very few people make a change for little increase in pay. They leave for some other reason. They don't like the management style. There's someone in the organization who pushed them to leave. They don't like the hours. They don't like the job.

They may leave for a better paying job if they don't feel fairly paid. But it won't be for 25 cents. 

So how do you find and keep good people?

It starts with belief. You can't motivate someone who doesn't want to be motivated. You have to find people who believe in the same things the organization believes in. When you get a group of people believing in the same things, greatness can be achieved. Groups working on a common goal, in the same direction will motivate themselves. 

Worry less about motivating your employees. 

Identify what your company believes in. 

Find people who believe in those same values. 

Hold everyone accountable to those beliefs, from the janitor to the CEO. 

Celebrate both small and large achievements around those beliefs. 

Creating and maintaining the Culture is like sprinkling pixie dust on your company. It transforms it into a magical business where the work gets done by happy people treating your customers the WAY you would treat them. 

It's your job as the leader to protect that Culture at all costs.

None of this is based on theory. I used it for my restaurants. That first restaurant I spoke of back in 2006 had an annual employee turnover rate of less than 25%. The average turnover rate in restaurants is about 100%.

Learning about beliefs for customer connection, I decided to use it on a recruitment ad to see if it would create a spark with potential employees. 

Placing an ad on Kijiji, we started the ad with the businesses beliefs. 

        We believe work is hard, but we don't let it go unappreciated. 
        We believe we need to have more fun.
        We believe in people before profits. 
        We believe you are not perfect, but neither am I. If you can forgive me, I can forgive you.
        We believe customers deserve our best, even when we don't feel our best.
        We believe karma is a bitch, so we work hard to not upset her.

After one week, we had 14 applicants. With basic information based recruitment ads, 75% of applicants don't show for the interview. With this ad, 12 of the 14 met with me. I hired 8 of them. Two years later, 6 of them were still working for the company. They were paid minimum wage.

Employees are no different than customers.

They are people.

They want to be respected.

They want to be connected.

You care for them.

They care for you.

Happiness is a fish you can catch

Happiness is a fish I remember fondly in my youth.

Mom and Dad didn't have a lot of money. 

Mom was a teenager when I was born. 

Dad was a middle school drop-out.  

Without formal education, the world beat the snot out of them.

Yet I angled mostly good times in my childhood. 

As I aged, it became clear we were poor, living in a trailer, growing our own food and hunting for whatever else we needed.

But...

We were happy.

I think about those days and wonder how my parents kept the wheels on the trailer, both figuratively and literally. 

I went to University for 7 years and got an MBA. 

My sister joined the Army and then became a top Lab Tech in one of the biggest hospitals in Canada. She's 45 and is studying for another degree in Management. 

After the kids left, Mom went back to school and became a nurse. 

Dad kept huntin' and fishin' and growin' his garden because that's what Dad loves to do.

My parents used superglue to create happiness and didn't know it. 

Here's what I've discovered:

Happiness is based on four neurotransmitters/hormones in the brain. Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin.

1. Endorphins are the body’s response to Stress and Pain. 

A good example of an endorphin rush is the Runner’s High. After a marathon, the body will secret endorphins to mask the pain in the muscles. Only a few days later, the runner will realize the stress as the body goes into extreme pain.
Other ways endorphins are released is through emotions. Think of a rollercoaster. 

The adrenaline rush is basically an endorphin surge to protect the body.
Watch a comedy. If you laugh, you received endorphins. 

 
2.Dopamine is responsible for Motivation and Reward. 

Without Dopamine, we’d never know when to eat. It's secreted when we do all the fun stuff: Smoking, drinking, gambling and having sex.
Linked to pleasure and highly addictive, it's dangerous and destructive if unchecked. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt references Dopamine with, “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort”. 

 

3. Serotonin is responsible for Pride and Status, Serotonin is released when we encourage or help someone. Interestingly, it gets released for both the person receiving and the person giving the help or encouragement.  Some say it's the Leadership chemical.  The interesting thing about Serotonin is that most people TRICK Serotonin by buying things. 
 
4. Oxytocin is secreted when there are bonds of love, trust and friendship. 

With intense feelings of safety, we know someone has our back. 

Physical touch, such as hugging, shaking hands can give us a boost of Oxytocin. 

Generosity with time, or showing people we care about them, delivers a sliver of Oxytocin. 
Oxytocin makes us better people. 

It inhibits addictions, boosts our immunity, and increases creativity.
When we are around people who believe what we believe, we feel safe, creating large doses of Oxytocin.
George Sand is referring to Oxytocin when he said "There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved".
 
More interestingly, another fact about Oxytocin is that it is important to childbirth.
It increases four times higher during the last trimester of pregnancy.
A final pulse during birth helps uterine contractions, opens the cervix and moves the baby into the birth canal.
Both mother and baby get a burst of Oxytocin during the last moments of birth.

In the search of my white whale, "What makes us happy"? I've come to this conclusion.

Happiness is both short term and long term. 

It shows up when we buy stuff to make us feel good about ourselves. (Serotonin)
It emerges when we do fun stuff like eating, drinking, and gambling. (Dopamine)
It appears when we laugh. (Adrenaline and Endorphins)
But all three are short-term bursts of happiness. They last as long as the activity and fade as fast as they lit the darkness.

To live a long happy life, we need to give and receive love. 

Love is the nectar to life.

Love is the nuclear warhead that euthanizes sadness. 
Love has to be unconditional as "Mother's love". 

Despite our misgivings, unruly behaviours and blatant mistakes, this love hugs us in a swaddling blanket and says everything is going to be ok. 

You are going to be ok.

Mom and Dad knew that instinctively. 

They didn't have much but they always loved and supported me in my crazy ideas. 

 

When it comes to business, your job is to sell happiness. And the best happiness that is long lasting and unbreakable is through the use of Oxytocin.

Stop worrying about the colour of your logo, the size of your ad, or the shares on Facebook.

Connect with your customers. 
Show them you care.
Love them for their uniqueness.
Listen to them.
Make their lives better.

Encourage them in their dreams.
Support them when they fail.

Forgive them for their mistakes

.
Love your customers as if they were your own children. 

If you do this, Oxytocin breathes into the river of life catching all the customers you'll ever need.

You'll be happy.
They will be happy.

Your business will grow and your life will be AWESOME.

I scream, you scream...

The cops show up and it gets really awkward...

Marketing is a form of sales. Marketing is shared information generating awareness.

There's a problem with marketing. Most of us don't care about the millions of messages directed at us.

And here's why.

Our brains are split into three levels. The first level is what Seth Godin calls "the lizard brain". It is the part of the brain responsible for humanity's ability to survive. It generates "fight and flight". It's been with humans throughout our existence so we continue to use it without our knowledge. Call it instinct.

Here's how the lizard brain processes outside stimuli. 

If these things are not dangerous, ignore it.
If this is not new and exciting, ignore it.
If it is new, summarize it as quickly as possible and forget about the details.
Do not send information to the problem solving part of the brain (neocortex) unless you have a situation really unexpected or totally out of the ordinary.

The neocortex evolved for humanity to understand mathematics, physics, medicine.

The lizard brain makes all initial decisions. It filters all messages before we interpret them in the higher evolved section of our brains.

Knowing this makes it easier to be a good marketer.

The message must be either dangerous, new, and exciting or the lizard brain will ignore it.
Not only must the message be new and exciting, it be unexpected and totally out of the ordinary or the lizard brain will not send the information to the neocortex. The lizard brain is the gatekeeper. The neocortex is the president. The lizard brain is the office secretary who won't let anyone visit the president without a pre-scheduled meeting. And she may not allow the meeting to ever take place if she doesn't see value for her boss.

That's her job as the lizard brain.

When you think of marketing, you have to be willing to take chances. There will be those who will criticize your decisions. But they were never going to buy anyways. Their lizard brains were looking for a reason to ignore you and you gave them an easy reason.

I saw the "I scream, you scream" message on a Dairy Queen readerboard sign. It was intriguing because it was out of the ordinary. I expected "... we all scream for ice cream". But they didn't go to the expected. That would have been easy. That would've been unremarkable. That would've been boring.

It reminded me of two other readerboard signs.

One was from 11 years ago, promoting a liquor store in Alberta. The sign read, "My boss told me to change the sign so I did". The playful act got my attention. The sign changed every week and they were all cute and unexpected.

Thanks to Seth Godin, we've learned in a pasture filled with cows, the purple one will get the attention.

The other readerboard sign never existed but I wish it would. There is a Chinese restaurant in my town with the same message for the past 10 years. It reads, "Experience the difference quality makes". Not only is the message now part of the landscape, it's boring. It's un-unique. It's a cow and could represent any cow-like business or industry.

Quality is nothing. Every one says they have quality. I wish someone would have the balls to put a new message on that board. Something like, "No cat or dog will be harmed in the cooking of your meal here". Deep down we know that restaurants don't use cats or dogs to cook meals. It's become a stereotype. It's a bad joke that lies beneath the covers. If you own a chinese restaurant, use it to your advantage. Laugh about it and others will laugh with you. Some will be upset, only because you said something they were already thinking.

Real marketing happens when someone has enough courage to stand up, be noticed and says something unexpected.

Don't scream to get attention. Say something remarkable. Slip past the lizard gatekeeper and speak directly to the president. She holds the money and decides where it gets spent. Nothing good ever came from screaming, unless you're in the bedroom...

Now I'm just off topic. Sorry...

Business and friendships

If you could own an audience, to the point where they would listen to every word you said, and then acted on your words, what would that be worth?

Is it better to talk to more people screaming from the mountaintops hoping that someone will give a shit enough to listen? Or is it better to have a few friends who like you, respect you enough to listen, and honest enough to not talk behind your back?

Business has lost its way.

Despite what you think, a business does not have to be all things to all people.  It has to be all things to the "right" people.

It is the job of your marketing team to find the "right" people.

Jesus Christ wasn't able to convince all the people.
Why would business people think they can?

Let's paint a picture.

You own a jewelry store and you want to sell 1 more diamond engagement ring each week.

Typically, a smart marketing person would ask questions like,
"Who's the target audience"
"What's your budget"
"Where does the target audience hang-out"

Then, they would market to the target audience screaming from the mountain top hoping someone will listen in their busy lives.

Most won't hear the message.
Some will hear it and not care.
Some will hear it, and consider your product while they shop the best deal, which may not be with you.
Almost no one will buy from you without price shopping first. You haven't earned their respect.

All you got was their attention.

Sustainable business is based on small friendships.

We don't find friends by yelling at them.
We don't find friends by talking to as many people as possible.

Friendship isn't a numbers game. And neither is good marketing.

There are fundamental rules for a friendship to work.
1. We have to want to be around each other.
2. We need to trust each other. (Credible)
3. We want to help the other person without asking anything in return.
4. I need another friend. (Relevant)

Businesses have forgotten the rules of friendship.
Most businesses want only one thing - money from its customers. And in exchange they offer a product or service.

We call that a transaction.
Not a friendship or relationship.

The first time a "target customer" hears a commercial, there has to be a connection in the message. No likeable message, no potential friendship.  As the target continues to hear the ad,  increases in likeability leans toward respect.

Respect is what trust sees in the mirror.

Trust builds confidence and pushes action. When the "target customer" decides to interact with the brand and gets the same experience the ad made him feel, he will buy.

The purchase decision was already made through the emotions the ad created. The experience at the business reinforces the emotion.

Business isn't a numbers game. Let your message hang out with potential customers. Some will hate what you have to say. Some will love it. Let the ones who love it enter your friendship circle. Tell stories. Listen.

Don't yell or brag. In other words, don't be an asshole. Being an asshole attracts other assholes. Assholes aren't good for business unless you sell toilet paper.

With time, there will be new, cool, people hanging out in your business, wanting to buy from you.

Marketing is easy.
Good marketing is hard.

How many friends has your business made recently?

Expertise (or lack of)

Listening in a noisy world is difficult. The internet has made everything loud.

Finding an expert today is like having a conversation in a nightclub with a pretty girl, while the base booms through your arteries.

It seems as though everyone selling themselves on the internet is an expert. The law of averages says that ain't so, Joe.

Choosing the wrong "expert" is wasteful and dangerous.

Remember when there was only one expert in every category? The expert was busy. They didn't have to advertise. Customers rewarded them with oodles of money and multitudes of referrals. 

And then one day, something changed. Choices grew. Businesses became warring factions trying to win over the customer territory.

The experts couldn't do any more commerce.
All the others brawled for the scraps.
The scrappers were plenty.
They quarrelled on price, service, and time.
Always trying to outdo the other.
Everyone claimed to be the best.

Experts said nothing.
They didn't need to.
Customers knew who was the best.
Experts didn't look for extra work.

Experts never bragged. 

I was thinking about this scenario recently as it applied to softball. When a newcomer moves to town and wants to play softball, he puts his name on a "spare" list to get picked up by an existing team. There are about 50 new names every year added to the list. When a player brags about his skill, he's often a dud. 

I watched a guy who bragged about his expertise, strike out four times in his first game. In softball, strikeouts are rare and reserved for awful players. 

I've observed other guys, with complete humility say they had played a bit and would like to come out and have some fun with new friends.  Those guys more often play above their marketed level.

In a noisy world, when a company brags, I believe they are overcompensating for something they are not. Just like in softball, the braggarts are the wrong choice. The humble ones are the winners.

Beware of the "expert" who brags. He's probably just another scrapper looking for crumbs left by the real expert.

If you're looking for marketing help. I may be able to help you. But let's get to know each other first. You can reach me at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com. I am choosey who I work with.

Precision Decision

Making a decision is hard.

Not making one is painful.

The world rewards those who make decisions and eats up those who don't.

I had a boss who didn't like making decisions. He wanted to do the right things all the time. He analyzed a problem for months before making a decision. He preferred to take the big decisions to focus groups for their approval. He was in a position of leadership but he wasn't one.

He used focus groups as a crutch. He blamed the focus group for poor results and thus protected his job.

He was smarter than the average person. Very well read, he explained and taught the latest business principles to his disciples. I learned a lot from him.

Focus groups are not a good validation for any concept. 

There are two simple reasons: 

1. Perspective

2. Physiology

Let me explain.

1. Perspective

A person's expression of interest can be quite different than what they actually will do. They don't know they are lying. They think they know what they want, until it comes time to actually buy.

As a funny example, I owned two restaurants. When asked why customers chose our place, they talked about the healthy options. The top sold menu item had greasy bacon, greasy sausages, greasy potatoes, greasy ham, two pieces of toast greased with butter, with a couple of fruits as garnish. 

A buyer doesn't generally know what they would do until they have to do it. 

This is called Perspective. Without real conditions, perspective is biased, and probably wrong.

2. Physiology

Humans have two brains. The left brain is responsible for analysis and logic. The right brain takes care of intuition and creativity.

Great ideas are born and nurtured in the right brain. The left brain executes them in a methodical, engineered approach. When a great idea is shared in a group for analysis, the left brain goes to work trying to assess and predict its validity. It's not the left brain's job to assess creativity.

Similar to Perspective, Intuition cannot be challenged until you're in the middle of an important problem. That gut instinct cannot be summoned until it's time for immediate action.
Do you know what you would do or do you think you know what you would do?

Most of us think we know what we would do. Therefore, feedback on a hypothetical situation or product is purely speculation. Speculation boils on past experiences combined with future problems.

It's not wrong to get someone else's opinion, if you are unsure of yourself.
Don't blame them when things go bad. You are responsible not only for your opinions but the opinions of others that you decide to consult with.

Focus group consultation is dangerous.
Great businesses are not managed by committee.
Focus groups give feedback like a committee.
Tasks are handled by committees.
Not leadership.

Leadership is reserved for the bold!

We like working with the bold! If you are one of those leaders who are able to make decisions without the use of committees and you want help with your marketing, you can reach me at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com.

Cocaine of Marketing

Imagine going to the doctor with no real ailments. You want to feel better. So he advises to eat healthier and get some exercise. You want to feel better now. So you ask for a prescription of cocaine.

Ridiculous right?

Cocaine solves a short term need but its long term negative effects far outweigh its benefits. Cocaine is not the answer. The doctor is right: proper diet and exercise is the key.

Price discounting works the same way as cocaine. It's never the real answer.

It works wonderfully well.
Put something on sale and customers buy it.
Sales spike.

Business thrives...or so it seems.

Effectiveness of discounting goes down each and every time you snort it. The initial high is never as good as that first time. With proper training, customers won't even enter your store unless there's a discount.

Business erodes.
Profits sink.
Sickness prevails.

The retail industry has become heavily addicted to discounting.

In the battlefield of retail, businesses look for reasonable excuses to put another sale on the window. The traditional reasons to buy for Valentines Day, Easter, Summer break, Back to School, and Christmas are too far apart. Retail looks for other reasons to keep customers coming within the two months of each occasion.

Those reasons feed the addiction. The addiction to looking for a sale.

Retail started advertising "Black Friday" deals about four years ago in Canada.

It doesn't make sense to me.  Traditionally, Black Friday is the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season in the United States. It follows American Thanksgiving, as the last Friday of November.

Canadian Thanksgiving is in October. Black Friday is just another Friday. The unofficial start of Christmas shopping in Canada follows Remembrance Day.

Black Friday doesn't mean anything to Canadians except deep discounts at retailers.

It is normal for consumers to look for a deal.

Until someone gives us a better deal.

When consumers look for deals, there is no loyalty to brands, products or businesses. The sale becomes transactional.

No wonder retail stores close so frequently.
Their competitive advantage is based on price.
And price is always the easiest and fastest thing to copy.

In the words of Roy Williams, "Most retailers are twitchy little weasels".

My advice to retailers:
Don't be a twitchy little weasel.
Don't be lured in by the powder.
It won't make you feel better long term.
It will kill you.

Come up with a better messaging. Give your customers a reason to love you and only choose you when it's time to buy. Look for and engage the relational customer.

They will pay you happily for your product and won't need a discount to encourage them to buy.
Engaged customers, higher sales, stronger profit margins.

Let your coke laced neighbours die. Don't be one of them.

If you want don't want to be a business addicted to discounting, you can reach me at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com to discuss how we can help you.