Some Rules Must Be Broken!

“It’s not how much you pay your employees, its how much they cost you.” When I was working with the Wizard of Ads I would hear him say this from time to time to the clients.

Business owners can easily look at their monthly profit and loss statements and see how much they are spending on labor. Like “Cost of Goods”, it’s one of the main areas we have to control to make a profit. Unfortunately, the paperwork doesn’t tell the whole story. If you recall from the August 6th Memo, number 8 of 15 Belief Marketing Beliefs says: "Referrals and reputation are still the cornerstone to business growth." A big part of your marketing’s success or failure is your customer’s PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

“You are on your way to a doctor’s appointment and have a flat tire. You left your cell phone at home. You can’t call for help or the doc’s office to let them know you are going to be late. You end up being eleven minutes late. You try to explain what why you are late. Your excuses fall on deaf ears and the receptionist firmly lets you know you have missed your appointment and will be charged for it anyway because you didn’t call and let them know you were going to be late like their rules clearly state. You leave irate, in search of a new doctor.”
Why are you upset? The receptionist was doing her job, following the rules.

All of the advertising in the world cannot overcome a bad personal experience. It is very important for you to hire intelligent, sweet, EXTROVERTS to man your front line positions. Extroverts enjoy other people. They actually get their batteries charged by interacting with people.

INTROVERTS are energized by getting alone and getting away from people.
I am not saying an introvert can’t do the job of a receptionist. I am saying it takes much more energy for them to be sweet at the end of a long day dealing with people. It can be very easy for introverts to subconsciously begin looking at your customer’s as the enemy.

The reason this topic is on my mind, is because I have a client who has had one of the finest introvert book keepers doubling as his receptionist. The very personality traits that make her the best book keeper, makes her least qualified to work with the public. An accountant must be a legalist. Numbers are black and white. There are solid rules that cannot even be bent. (Not flexible.)

A person dealing with the public must make exceptions to some rules and ignore a few guidelines all together. A person who deals with the public eight hours a day understands it gets messy sometimes. Many people don’t behave properly and “Stuff Happens!” during every work day that causes change in our course. (Totally flexible.)

For a deeper understanding of how personality types directly affect your business, I recommend the Dr. Nick Grant’s video called Synergistic Co-Workers.