Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
By Peter Lyle DeHaan
Her words surprised me.
“I can’t run this ad!”
The rep’s response caught me off guard, but it wasn’t completely unexpected either. “I agree that it’s a bit unorthodox.”
“I might get fired if I publish this.” She fumbled for words. “Or we might get sued.”
“It’s just a classified help wanted ad,” I said. “What are your concerns?”
“Well . . . to start with, I doubt it complies with EOE requirements. And then there’s truth in advertising too.”
“I worked hard to write an ad that is both legal and ethical. I feel I’ve done that and see no reason the ad can’t run.”
She paused and let out a deep sigh. “Let me check with legal.”
I doubted their small operation had a legal department or even legal counsel, but it sounded better than her saying she was going to check with her boss. Though I’m sure that’s just what she did.
She agreed to call me back with the decision.
I waited.
As I did, I contemplated what plan B would be. Yet this was plan B, and there was no plan C. I only resorted to my unconventional ad because I was desperate to hire someone to handle our sales.
The office in question was in a resort town. We served area businesses and needed a salesperson if we were to grow and realize the market’s potential.
Currently, the operations manager was handling sales in addition to her other duties, but she already had too much to do. Responding to a sales inquiry was one more distraction from her primary role. And if she closed the sale that meant even more work for her and her team.
She had no incentive to handle sales inquiries and even less interest in closing a sale.
That’s why I needed to hire someone for sales. I’d been trying the usual approaches for months and had come up empty. That’s when I stumbled onto plan B.
Waitstaff and Salespeople
My idea was to target restaurant waiters. Here’s why a waiter would make a good salesperson.
First, a successful waiter knows how to interact with a wide range of people with different temperaments and expectations. They know who they can banter with, who wants to establish a rapport, and who wishes to keep a professional distance. The same skills are critical for sales.
Second, a successful waiter knows how to read people. Waiters not only listen to what the customers say, but they also tune into the tone of voice and are careful observers of body language. They’ve honed all three aspects of effective communication: words, tone, and nonverbal. They excel in each area. Sales staff must do the same.
Third, successful waiters receive generous tips. The expectation of a financial payoff from each patron motivates them to do whatever they can to maximize their tip. The same principle applies to sales. Commissioned salespeople want to maximize their commissions. Though waitstaff receive tips and salespeople receive commissions, both have a financial incentive to do their job with excellence.
But why would a successful waiter want to exit the restaurant industry to work for a 9-to-5 business? There are several good reasons.
The Benefits
The first reason is better hours. Restaurants schedule staff to work when people want to eat. This seldom fits working eight-hour shifts. It requires short shifts, long shifts, split shifts, and even double shifts.
The second benefit is a more consistent schedule. The work schedule for most restaurant employees varies from one week to the next. There’s a constant juggling of shifts and trading hours. This is ideal for a person who likes variety and is okay with their plans being flexible. Some people can build their life around an ever-changing work schedule, but few people can do so for the long-term.
Third is full-time employment. The nature of restaurants, with most of their activity happening around mealtimes, not only makes an eight hour shift unlikely, but it also requires a lot of part-time staff. But most people want full-time work—because they want full-time pay.
Fourth is protecting evenings and weekends. Though it’s not absolute, many restaurants—especially the upscale ones—do most of their work in the evenings and on weekends. Again, this is ideal for some people but not for most—and not for the long-term.
Working in business sales is a full-time, daytime, weekday job. It smartly addresses the downsides of working at a restaurant.
The Ad
A few days later, my ad contact called me back. “I can’t believe it,” she said, “but they approved your ad!”
It ran that weekend and for the next seven days. I waited for the calls to roll in. Five people answered the ad. Though I’d hoped for more, five responses were more than the none I had been getting.
Of the five, three were interested, two scheduled interviews, and one showed up.
Brandon, however, was not who I envisioned. He fell short of expectations. Yet he responded to my ad for exactly the reasons I theorized. He was tired of the restaurant schedule and wanted full-time, business-hours work.
He was the best candidate I interviewed, but he was also the worst. I hired him anyway. This wasn’t because he was a great match for the position but because I was desperate to hire someone.
The Results
We went through a few days of training, and I turned Brandon loose to work on his own. Brandon, I soon learned, needed on-site supervision, but I was seldom on site. For a while I checked in with him daily by phone, and he told me what I wanted to hear (his waiter skills coming through). But I doubted his veracity.
His results disappointed me as well, with his sales numbers only slightly surpassing the results of the office manager.
Because I was desperate, I worked with him to improve his sales, but the outcome didn’t change. He quit before I could fire him.
The Mismatch
I think my logic in targeting waiters was sound. The failure was that it didn’t apply to our company’s situation. We needed an employee who was self-motivated and needed minimal daily accountability. Had I been running a retail operation, with on-site management and day-to-day oversight, I suspect Brandon would have excelled.
Sales Management Success Tip
Never hire someone because you’re desperate. Better to be short-staffed than stuck with the wrong salesperson.
[In case you’re wondering what the ad said, I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember. But I can assure you it was a wonderful one.]
Read more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s Sticky Series books, including Sticky Living, Sticky Customer Service, Sticky Sales and Marketing, and Sticky Leadership and Management featuring his compelling story-driven insights and tips.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.