Finding good salespeople might be the hardest task the small business owner is faced with. There’s a lot I could say about this, but my Great Ideas are short and to the point so here is the first step and the only step we’ll share today (more in the future).

The first step to hiring one is to ask yourself this question, “If that person came to my house to sell me something, would I be impressed? Could I see myself buying from them?” If the answer is “maybe” or “no,” then that person should not be hired.

Entrepreneurs need to hire slow and fire fast. Not hire fast and fire slow. My fellow professional speaker, consultant, coach, entrepreneur, and colleague, Matt Caruso says, “Hire Slow, Fire Less.”

If you’re looking for someone to sell your company to others, then take hiring seriously. And if you don’t think you’d buy from that person if they knocked on your door, what makes you think others would? And don’t think you can change them either. There’s a chance you can make them more than what they are, but you’ll never make them someone they aren’t. Trust me; I’ve tried and failed miserably.

You can still sign up for the June 1st Productivity Secrets Webinar. The cut-off is 10 am, Eastern time, on Wednesday morning. I’ve got some great ideas to share, don’t miss it!

In about 10 days, we’re doing our second webinar. It’s on Productivity and I can hardly wait. I am a bit of a nut (okay, that’s an understatement) on productivity. I am constantly looking for new and better ways to do things at Grunder Landscaping Co. It’s a lot easier to cut costs and improve profitability by finding ways to do things quicker than any other way. So, this week I want to challenge you about a few things I see entrepreneurs doing.

1. Do you process your own payroll? If you do, find a company to do this; get quotes from a few companies. It is very hard to beat what most of these services do for you. And, think about what you might be able to do with the time you now have free if a company is doing your payroll.
2. Do you go to the bank with deposits? If so, why? Banks have scanners that will allow you to do this work from your office. Think about the time and gasoline this will save and think about what you might do with the time you’ll save.
3. Do you always have work with you? If not, you should. How many times is a client late to meet you? How many times are you early? Quit wasting those moments by being prepared to work. Carry articles to read, e-mails to read, and anything else that you need to do but doesn’t need immediate attention. Think about how much time you can save by working in this fashion. And if you like these ideas, then by all means, sign up NOW for our Productivity Secrets webinar.

Recently I was doing a private teleseminar with some of my best, most successful clients that are part of accountability groups we run at Marty Grunder! Inc. We were learning from Joe Calloway, a best-selling author and consultant who helps great companies get even better. We got to the topic of planning and what smart companies do when they are struggling. Joe shared some wisdom with us that I wanted to share with you today.

He said that, in most cases, you should do in the short term what you would do in the long run. I found this to be great advice−advice I took to heart.

It’s spring, for many of you who receive this weekly great idea, you are stressed right now. You have more work than you know what to do with, clients are impatient, it’s hard to find dependable help, and so on. The list goes on. I think when we get stressed out and feel the frustrations, there is a tendency to try something new. In my mind, this isn’t smart if what you’ve done has worked well for you in the past.

Oh sure, you might have the wrong strategy and you may need to change course. But if you’ve sold residential landscaping and done well at it for the last 5 years, why would you stop doing that now just because you had a bad month?

If you have a plan that has worked in the past, don’t be so quick to give up on it. Keep your head down, do what worked in the past, maybe work at it just a little bit harder. Call clients back immediately, get them quotes immediately, take care of problems right away. I’ll stop. You know what to do; just go do it.

Again, do in the short term what you’d do in the long run and more times than not, you’re going to improve.

Don’t miss out on the next Webinar on Productivity Secrets on Wednesday, June 1st. Sign up today! Also, you can sign up now for the 2011 Grunder Field Trips scheduled for July 7-8, August 11-12, and October 14-15. On the Field Trip you get an up close small group experience of how Grunder Landscaping Co. operates.

Do you know what the 3 most important things you must do in the next week to be successful are? Do you take an hour each Saturday or Sunday and sit down and plan out your week? And when you do this, do you include your family stuff too? Are selling initiatives on that to-do list?

Too many of us don’t have a plan. In fact, I believe most Americans spend more time, money and effort planning their vacations than they do their lives and that’s a huge mistake. This week, start planning. All planning is good. Take some time to figure out what you must accomplish, write it down, and then get to work!

I promise you, if you do this and keep doing this, success will find you.

We have a new address, but we really didn’t move. The road moved!

Due to land development around the new Interstate 75/Austin Boulevard interchange and the re-routing of Byers Road, our address has changed to 1900 Old Byers Road. Everything else stays the same:

Marty Grunder! Inc.
1900 Old Byers Road
Miamisburg, OH 45342
866-478-6337, 937-847-9944 phone
937-847-8917 fax

Please make a note of it!

It’s spring and that means a sense of craziness for many of us. And with that craziness comes the danger of forgetting to be thankful for what you have. Don’t get so caught up in the work of the day, week, or month that you don’t show some appreciation to your team.

So, today, go get some frozen yogurt for the team. Give them each a candy bar. Buy pizzas. Or just handwrite a thank you note to those who have been working so hard to help you. A little appreciation goes a long way.

Along those lines, I would like to thank you for sharing a couple of minutes a week with you. It means a lot to me. I appreciate your support!