Hiring Your A Team
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
How to weed out applicants to get you the best fit for the position!
Hiring mistakes and how to avoid them!
Resources for hiring the ideal candidate!
Pitfalls to watch out for!
…And much more!
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FREE advice call with Catherine
Episode transcript:
Catherine Maley, MBA: Hello, and welcome to Beauty and the Biz where we talk about the business and marketing side of the cosmetic practice. I’m your host, Catherine Maley, author of Your Aesthetic Practice, What Your Patients Are Saying, as well as consultant to cosmetic practices to get them more patients and more profits. So, today’s episode is called ‘hiring your A team’. You know, your staff is your lifeblood. So, they’re either your secret practice building weapon or they’re the patient deterrent team, if you don’t do this, right. And so, your staff really can make or break your practice. And that’s just no doubt about that. Nothing is more important to your success than the Patient Relations skills that your staff has or doesn’t have. Because you know, these cosmetic patients with a credit card, they were really fickle group, they want what they want, they expect to be treated in a professional, courteous manner, on every phone call in every office visit. I mean, they’re fickle. They’re not the easiest patients, although it depends on how you look at that. I’ll take a patient with a credit card any day over a patient with an insurance card any day. But that experience that they have with you, it always starts and ends with your staff, doesn’t it, you’re in the middle there somewhere. But right now, your staff is going to spend way more time with the patients than you are. And frankly, you might not even get the chance to meet these new patients if your staff doesn’t have those skills, or even the interest in getting these patients through the door and through your processes. So, it’s just absolutely imperative that your staff is as committed to the success of your practice as you are. Because every minute you’ve spent and every dollar you’ve invested in setting up and marketing and promoting your practice, and doing your new website and spending a fortune and time on social media, all of that has to rely on your staff support. Because if you really think about it, in our industry, you know how it’s getting a tad commoditized, not even a tad is a lot commoditized. So, what ends up especially for non-surgical treatments, if they think all of your lasers are the same and all of your drug, you know, fillers and Botox are the same, then your staff is the only differentiator. Did you get that? Like, then otherwise, what’s the difference? Because there is a saying, patients won’t remember what you told them or what you showed them, but they will remember how you made them feel. And isn’t that the truth. When we go to a service provider, we’re looking for service, but we’re also looking for a friendly experience, so we want to come back again and again. Think about it in your own life. When you go to a service provider for your own, like let’s say, like wherever you get your haircut, or your favorite local restaurant, or even your lawyer or your accountant or the vendors you work with. What makes the difference for you going to one versus another. And why do you keep going to the same people over and over and over? Well, if you really think about it, it’s because you get great service, they treat you well. Hopefully they treat you in a special way and they make you feel important and special. And it’s the same thing with cosmetic patients. They’re looking for a safe haven where they can go to look good and feel great. And trust me they are not dying to run all over town to save $100 even though it feels like that. Ah, well, the right patient. If you want the Groupon price shopper mentality, patients go for it. But the right patients are the ones who actually will pay a fair price and even extra because they get great service, there’s a friendly atmosphere, they’re treated special, and they’ll pay extra for that, I promise you because in my book, you know, Your Aesthetic Practice: What Your Patients are Saying, I interviewed patients all over the United States. And one of the questions I asked them was how important was staff to your decision to move forward? And what was interesting was the answers were, 79% said the staff was very important, 18% said they were important, and 3% said they were somewhat important. But here’s the big pearl, nobody said staff was not important to their decision. So, you are absolutely instrumental in your skill set but absolutely equally important is your staff and how they treat the patients. Because if you can get the right team supporting you, the patients are going to be happier with the happy staff because your staff is happy and, on their game, the patients are going to pay more for exceptional experience that they’re going to get from your happy staff. And the patients are going to give you better reviews. And of course, that makes the patients refer more often to you. Because here’s the flipside of not getting this right. You know, you’ve all had nightmare stories about staff. Staff is going to be your biggest headache in running a cosmetic practice, but frankly, it’s biggest headache in running anything. Because we’re human beings and human beings are, you know, our ever changing, let’s say that.
So, a miss hire can cost you up to 25 times their base compensation. But it’s not just that, let’s remember how much a bad hire can cause absolute chaos and toxic stuff in your practice. They waste time, there’s bad Mojo, there’s drama that you don’t need. And then there’s non productivity. I mean, everyone’s got stories, I hear them all the time about one staff person who absolutely creates havoc in her practice. And obviously you let it go too long, we all do. But you want to get a handle on that, especially when you’re reading your reviews. Because if you get this right, you’re going to get reviews like this one I saw, I found Dr.– I’ll just call him Dr. Smith. I found Dr. Smith online and was astounded by his before and after photos. His amazing staff guided me through all my questions and concerns. And within days, I was on a video conference with Dr. Smith, he was able to tactfully address my situation and his confidence about what he could accomplish put me at ease. By the way, I hope you’re hearing why this patient chose him, that’s really good stuff. But here’s the important part about staff. Once we came up with a game plan, his staff handled everything from appointments and requirements to setting up a nurse to monitor me overnight. Okay, those are the kinds of reviews that you want, the ones where they’re talking about the staff. And even when they start mentioning the staff by name, that means they’ve connected with somebody in your practice or several in your practice. And that’s what gave them this exceptional patient experience. And that’s why they’re raving about you online. Because on the flip side, here’s the bad review. I found this one quite easily online, it said the lack of friendliness at the front desk makes it hard to want to come back. I’ve also made phone calls to them, which I don’t receive an answer to for five to seven days afterwards, if at all, kind of bombed with how they don’t value their customers. You don’t need those kinds of reviews. Quite frankly, if you’re getting those kinds of reviews, shame on you. Because you should have handled that way sooner. A lot of you like to avoid the staff issues because you don’t want to deal with it. And I totally get it. Nobody wants to deal with it. But look what they can do to your practice. You never want some silly little girl at the reception desk to ruin your reputation. It’s that’s ludicrous and it’s not needed, so I’m going to help you with that. Because this all starts with the who, I highly recommend you read that book. I can’t remember the author’s name but just google it, you know who. Because running a practice, running anything, it’s never about the what is always starts with the who. And you’ve got to have efficient and enthusiastic and well-trained staff. And that doesn’t just happen. That’s the good news. It’s not like there’s a big secret to this, the way you get this done. And let me give you another saying all of this is formulaic. So, with the saying is you get the right people on the bus, you get them in the right seats, you give them the tools they need to succeed, but then you hold them accountable. So, if you do that, you know what’s funny, a lot of you have a tendency to cheap out and you get one person to do it all. So, they’re supposed to be the front desk, you know, they’re supposed to answer phones, be the coordinator, be the office manager, do a little marketing, do some social media, now that that’s important. And you’re asking for an awful lot for one person, you know, and sometimes you can make that happen. But at that point, you’re talking about an exceptional Rockstar who can multitask like nobody else. You need enough people to do the jobs that you need them to do. But also make sure you don’t assign a job to somebody who doesn’t have those kind of skills or personality for it. I see that all the time. You turn, let’s say the esthetician, you make her the coordinator. Those two skill sets are so different from each other that that is usually a miracle. If she can be now become the coordinator. It’s just a completely different mentality, a different personality. Be careful, you might have the right people, they might have the right character and the right enthusiasm, but you’ve got them in the wrong place, so they’re going to fail. Whereas if you put them in the right seat in the bus, they would have succeeded for you. So, because I do so much consulting around the world at this point, as a matter of fact, I’m heading to Scotland next week. Here’s what the staff complains about when I asked them, because I always meet with the staff to and figure out what’s going on here. We’re trying to identify, why aren’t you where you want to be. And the doctor will often complain about the staff, but then the staff also get, you know, I want to hear from them. And this is what they say, they’re not clear about what you want, you know, the vision keeps changing, or you keep changing your mind. And so, there’s not enough consistency for them to understand, what’s the plan, man? And where are we going? And what do you want from me, there’s also I have to tell you, there’s a lot of favoritism that goes on in a sole proprietor kind of practice. And that’s the kiss of death. If you treat one staff person better than another, and it’s obvious, and this happens constantly. It’s obvious who your favorites are, that really hurts morale, you’ve got to, you know, be Switzerland when you’re running a practice. Also, the staff complains that you never acknowledged them, it’s all stress, it’s no fun. You know, staff really wants a pat on the head and acknowledgement and acknowledgement that they’re doing a good job for you and they want encouragement. Because if you just talk to them when they’ve done something wrong, and never mentioned, when they’ve done something, right, if you think about it, I’ll say if you have the right team in place, 80% of the time, they’re all doing what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s the 20%, that goes haywire that causes all the friction and the frustration and that finger pointing. So, if you can just tighten that part up and just take care of your staff, they’re taking care of you and you take care of them, things go a lot easier. Because here’s what staff really is going to need from you, they’ve got to get direction from you. And you’ve got to set expectations ahead of time. And I’ll talk about that in a second. They also need goals, and then a plan for achieving them. But they also need motivation and incentives. Here’s another issue, because it took a ton of drive and motivation. And late nights and extra hours for you to become a surgeon, you assume everybody has that kind of work ethic. And that’s not true, because if they did, they would also be a surgeon. Not everybody can be the big guy. There are, thank God because you don’t want everyone to have huge aspirations like that, because you won’t keep them, they’ll want bigger and better. So just keep that in mind that we all have different mindsets and different visions of who we are. And you need people who think not, not that they don’t want to think big, but they think about you and supporting you. Not everyone is meant to be a leader. Some are leaders, most are followers, and some are just the support team. Just remember that. So please give them some appreciation, let them know that you really are appreciative that they are supporting your bigger efforts.
And then you’ve got to give them continual training and sharpening of the saw. I’ll tell you; I watch this constantly. When somebody is new, you know, when something’s new, we all love it. And we all jump in 100%. And then as the, you know, the novelty of it wears off. And it starts becoming mundane and day to day. Well, you do know most of running a practice is the mundane grind. You know, it just is, that’s what it is. I mean, but you can make it fun. And you can also keep everyone up and motivated by offering them continual training, and always bettering your best. And that means if they’re meeting the goals of the goals, if they like the perks, start offering more perks to get more from them, that kind of thing.
So, let’s talk about where you find a player’s because that is an art in itself, we actually do a lot of HR for cosmetic practices, because I feel so strongly about getting the right team in place, because they can make your life so much easier or they can make your life a living hell. So, we’ve gotten pretty good at it here. But here’s step number one. What do you want? When you’re looking for somebody, what is it you’re looking for? What do you want? So, here’s an exercise. I would write down every position needed to run your cosmetic practice. And don’t get– just be pragmatic. Just forget who’s doing it, just right now it’s the what. So, what’s every position you need? And then you determine if you had that position filled now with the right person or if you need to find the right person that’s going to fit that position. So, off the top of my head, a typical cosmetic practice, will they need a receptionist, a coordinator, a medical assistant, perhaps an injector, unless you’re doing all the injecting, a laser tech if you’ve got lasers, a bookkeeper, and then so on. So just take the emotion out of it for now and write down all of the pieces that make up your practice. Now, the second part of the exercise is, think about the one or two best employees you’ve ever had. And write down what made them the best. And you’re gonna see that you’re going to write down character traits, things like, they were dependable, they were reliable, they always had my back, you know, write all of that down. And that’s what you build into your ad, and you’re interviewing questions, because you’re looking for those character traits more than anything else. Otherwise, if you start getting emotional about this, you’re going to hire you, rather than who you need to hire to compliment you. I hope that makes sense. So, for example, here’s another book, I highly recommend you read, if you want to get good at leadership. It’s Jim Collins and he wrote Good to Great and quite a few other books but he’s just amazing. And here’s what he says and I completely agree with this ad so will you, in determining the right people, the good to great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge or work experience. And isn’t that the truth? How many times have you hired somebody, she was like a silly little intern who was crushing it, like she just had the right character attributes? I found that so many times I call them like the diamond in the rough kind of thing, where you weren’t expecting anything and she just comes out with guns blazing. You love that person. She’s got the right attitude, the right enthusiasm, she’s got the right mindset. You can always teach her the rest of it. It’s not difficult to learn, you know, like the work part of it or the– What’s difficult is getting the right mindset of people who care about other people, who know how to support you, who know how to promote you, who understand customer service and the value of treating patients well, you can’t train that as much as we’ve got some innate personality skills, and you want to find those in each person. So, then number two is what are you willing to pay them, you don’t want to cheap out here, but you also never want to overpay on hire, I say pay on future productivity. So, give them a nice package. And by the way, it’s not always about the money. I mean, money is important, of course. And you can always find what the average is in your area by googling things like glassdoor.com or indeed.com or maybe LinkedIn can tell you some things. But you also want to include all the perks that come with our industry, because a lot of women especially get into this industry, because they love it, they’re drinking the Kool Aid big time. And by the way, you want that kind of staff. If you have staff that would never dream of injecting poison in their faces, they say, how in the world are they going to promote cosmetic services to patients, you’ve got to make sure people love cosmetic surgery, have had cosmetic surgery is even better that, you know, just really appreciate what you can do for a patient to transform their life when you help them look better. But make sure you throw in the perks, things like personal time off, vacation days, sick days, dental health, and then the fun stuff, injectables at cost, free treatments, you have them go to medical conferences with you, and you have fun team events. That’s the kind of thing that especially today’s world, if we have to, you know, deal with all the different generations. I came from a generation where work ethic was, you know, just the number one priority. And I’ve noticed, as my nieces and nephew show up, boy, it’s not about work ethic at all, it’s about fun and purpose and all that good stuff. So, you just want to make sure you’re covering your bases there.
Okay, then step number three, and this is super important. You need to know your own core values. So, you hire people who also have those same core values. So, you know that saying Know thyself, and then know your vision. And hear a couple of ideas for core values and it’s whatever it’s important to you, but just to get your thoughts going, things like integrity, profitability, patient safety comes first, superior customer service, excellence and all you do, teamwork, desire to learn and grow, crush the competition. And I threw that in because I see it all the time. I’ll be in a practice. Where the doctor is, just has killer instincts. Ki is alpha male, he wants to crush the competition, he’s willing to throw a bunch of money at it. But his goal in life is to be the best in his area, and just be better than everybody else and make more money than everybody else. But if he hires a staff person who is all about saving money for the patient and underselling them, and just giving them just a little, because they’re spending the patient’s money for them, those two are so incongruent, that the staff is going to be frustrated, you’re going to be frustrated, because you have different values. Same thing with like a marriage or a relationship, if you have different values, it doesn’t work. So same thing, just make sure you’re clear what they are so you can also mention those in your ad. So, people who are like you are like minded like you will gravitate towards your ad and those who aren’t like that, they can go work somewhere else where their core values are more in sync with somebody else’s.
Then there’s Step four, and that is to set expectations. Now, here’s my [inaudible], you set the expectations now in the ad, you don’t set them later, when somebody’s six months into this, and you’re frustrated with their performance. The reason you’re frustrated is because you didn’t tell them what you wanted them to do way up front, and you can’t change the rules on them. So, if your ad says something, like let’s say for example, you’re hiring a coordinator, but you still need them to answer the phones. I see this come up all the time, because a coordinator often feels like they shouldn’t have to answer phones because they’re supposed to be making phone calls, not answering phone calls, that kind of thing. Well, you have to say that up front, because if they come on board, and all of a sudden, they think they’re stuck doing the grunt work. They’re going to be upset, and they’re going to feel demoralized and demotivated and that’s not going to help anybody. So, in the ad, I get very specific. And I would say something like, here’s what I need. Here’s the responsibilities of a patient care coordinator. And I would say list them out, converting consultations to a yes is the number one priority. And then if you do need them to answer the phones, assist with answering phone lines, also promote you as the best choice. Follow up with prospective patients who don’t book during their consultation. Because how many times do they not do that because it wasn’t part of their job duties? Yes, it is. They’re not supposed to just do a consultation and then forget about the patient who didn’t say yes, they’re supposed to follow up in a strategic way. They also have to schedule surgeries and collect money, make sure you hire somebody who’s not afraid of money, because that’s a really big deal. If a coordinator can’t say $20,000 without, you know, spitting it out in [inaudible] like, they have a money problem. So, they need to be reassigned or you have to change their mindset on that. Also, they’ve got to prepare all the preoperative information and documents for each surgical patient. They’ve got to learn your CRM or your practice management system. Do you know how many times somebody comes on board and they go back to paper because they’re old school, they like paper and they won’t use your CRM? Well, that’s not helping you. Because the minute they leave, all that information is out the window, because nobody knows where it is. Because everyone else uses a CRM, you have to make sure to spell that out. And then you want them to report their weekly numbers to you. Everything you say in that ad is building a vision of who you are, and the quality of work you’re going to expect from them. And that’s why when I do an ad, I do all of this detail, because I don’t need 200 ads of waitresses and people right out of school, I need rock stars that would answer an ad like this and I only need like 10 of them or 20 of them to answer this ad. I don’t need 100 ads; I need 10 really good applicants. But then the question is, so where do you post or find the VA players? Well, in the in some areas, the Craigslist still works for local, you just have to see it. But if you know the usuals or Craigslist, indeed, zip recruiter, LinkedIn, but don’t forget, you also want to post it on your website. You want to do social posts and do social ads on it. Because then you’re going out into the world, you want to ask your staff Actually, I highly recommend having a staff referral program. Those work really well because the staff knows who you are and how you operate. And they can match you up with their friends who are looking for a new growth opportunity. And the staff isn’t going to give you just anybody because it’s going to be their reputation online. So, they’ll be more accepting of helping that person get good at their position, and the other staff will rally around them. Because it’s somebody that they know and it will make the new person’s job easier because they’ll come into a friendly environment. So, I would have a referral program. And typically, it’s something like, you pay a bonus of 250 on hire, 250 at three months, 250 at six months and 250 at one year, something like that. But that can be so much easier than trying to play this other game of the needle in the haystack, you know, trying to find somebody. You can also ask your patients, you know, use some in-house signage, or when you’re talking to them during a treatment, just tell them you’re looking for somebody, and do they know of anybody. Of course, always turn to your vendors, they’re the feet on the streets, they know what’s going on out there. And you don’t normally want to poach a competitor, staff person. But if you find out from the vendor that somebody is ready to make a move, and they’re really good. You want to definitely put your hat in the ring.
And then also in your own meanderings, check out any like five-star hotels you go to or local restaurants or retail stores or the service providers. You can always poach them, you know, if you really like, let’s say, the receptionist at your favorite five-star restaurant in town, you know, chat them up and see if they’re ready to make a move. But here’s my slogan, hire slow and fire fast. Most of you hire fast and fire very slow. And that’s what causes so much havoc in the office. How many times have you let a problem go for one or 10 years? And then you finally take care of it. And what happens? The staff says, oh my god, I wish you had done that years ago. Usually, it’s a long time coming and nobody needed to go through all of that pain. Either did the applicant by the way, and I don’t call it firing. When you tell them you’re freeing them, you’re freeing them to go work somewhere where they’re happier and more productive. And that’s all there is to it. Because you’re trying to run a business here. I know there’s a lot of loyalty. Some of you are so loyal to your staff. But here’s how I look at that. Are they as loyal to you for growing your practice as you are for them for saving them from firing them? Now, if they really cared about you and their livelihood, they would step up. And they will come to you and say, you know what, I just don’t like this position, can I do something else here that’s a value but not in direct contact with patients, let’s say? I mean, that’s what really should be happening. So please hire slow and fire fast. But here’s the pearl, when you’re hiring slow, that means you slow down, and you have many points of contact so you can feel out the applicant for consistency. You keep asking them the same questions, not you. But you ask the questions, your office manager asked questions, your staff asked them questions. So, you want to talk to them in all different forms of communication to see how they respond, like Do they have any sense of urgency, are they articulate in their email, or when they call or when they meet you or when they text you. And then here’s a new rule, you should probably consider, there should always be three candidates to compare, three of you, three different people in your office interviewing them, and then check at least three of their references. So, it’s the three, three and three rules. If you do that it forces you to slow down and think it through. A lot of you meet somebody and instantly connect with them. And then instantly say yes to them. And three months later, you’re regretting it badly. So, when there’s that instant connection, typically that means they’re very similar to you. So that’s why you like them. The problem is, they’re not good for that position. So that’s why you want some rationale involved and you want others involved. I always, always have the staff interview the person that they’re going to have to work with. Because if you just throw somebody into your pool of team members, and they didn’t have any say in it, you’re going to get some resistance probably. But then also make sure you have staff research them online. We do this all the time. And it’s amazing what is online. Some of these people have [inaudible] warrants, they have like domestic violence issues, they’ve had embezzlement issues. There’s a website called mugshot.com, I’ve seen applicants come up on that. It’s crazy, so be sure. You know, thankfully, the internet knows everything about us, so at least that works to your advantage in this case. And you want to check out their social media. Some people are doing some crazy things off hours. And for some reason they’re willing to post that and I don’t know why you would do that in today’s world when you have to get a new job but you want to check out their what they’re doing when they’re not at work. And then ask a lot of questions and then listen. There’s something else that happens, you have a tendency to– when you’re interviewing an applicant, you have a tendency to sell yourself on them rather than let them sell themselves on you. So, I would have a whole bunch of questions in front of you, where, first your office manager asked some questions, then another staff person, then you just see if they’re being consistent with their answers. So, a few questions are, what are your career goals? I’ve asked this so often, and I have been shocked when they tell me the truth. And a lot of them aren’t even thinking what they’re saying but I had my own problem here myself. I was hiring an assistant and I said, what are your career goals? And she said, I want to be a salsa dancer instructor. And I just took that as oh, that’s funny. But it turns out, her heart really was in only salsa. And she could have cared less about office work, and I completely missed it and I shouldn’t have– So you know, asking that question is really important. Some people have some really pie in the sky career goals. And that’s not your job to, like, bring them down to real life, you know, if they want to run their own company, and they’re only 21, that’s not your job. Your job is to hear them say that and realize they’re not going to be in the game. Also, things like what was your favorite job and why? What was your least favorite job and why? Who was your favorite boss and why? And then who is your least favorite boss and why? When I asked that the boss in the job, they tell me that there’s a lot that goes into their answers. They tell me, the boss wouldn’t give me any– they micromanage me, they wouldn’t give me any freedom, they didn’t pay me enough. You’ll hear all of the complaints, hopefully. And then you have to determine. Are you going to have the same complaints? Are they gonna have the same complaints about you? And then what do you like to do? What don’t you like to do? I love to ask the one question and the opposite of the question, because that way, you’ll get the answer two different ways. You’re really trying to get into their heads and figure out, is this person going to be happy in this position that I need them for? And then I always follow up with Do you have any questions for me? Oftentimes, if the only question they have is what time is lunch? And frankly, they say that kind of stuff, what time is lunch? When can I take my first vacation? That’s not the kind of person you’re looking for, you’re looking for somebody who wouldn’t even go on a vacation if they didn’t have to, because they’re so focused on growing your practice. You’re looking for people like that.
And in today’s world, since we’re also tech savvy, or we’re forced to be in everyone’s into iPhones and selfies, have them take a one-minute video before you meet them, and request a video and just say, give me one minute of why you think you’re a great candidate for this position. And number one, you’re checking if they’re tech savvy enough to figure it out how to do a video and then send it to you. But also, number two, let’s face it appearances really count in our industry, and how they show up in this video will tell you a lot, if they dress the part, if they do their hair and makeup, if they’ve got tattoos and piercings. This has saved me so much time when I’m interviewing for cosmetic practices, I do this all the time or I’ll do a Facebook, I’m sorry, a FaceTime interview with them. I’ve had people show up straight from the gym, no makeup, hair in a ponytail, sweaty T shirt. And that’s how they show up for an interview with me, that’s crazy. Or I’ve had them show up with wall-to-wall tattoos from their fingers to their shoulders. And all I’m saying is you can’t discriminate against anybody. So, this is a nice subtle way to see, do they have the appearance that would help represent me as the best choice, because frankly, it’s still your practice and you need every competitive advantage you can get. And if tattoos and piercings and purple hair are going to hurt your brand, then you shouldn’t have to deal with that, as far as I’m concerned. Also, when you have met with somebody, please also have them come back two or three times. And I would actually for the third time, I would actually have a lunch with them where you and your staff meet with them as a team. So, everyone relaxes and you can see how they act when they’re more relaxed. Because by now they’ve talked to you, done a video, maybe texting, maybe emailing. And now they’re feeling like their guard is down a little bit. And now when you’re eating and breaking bread together, they might be more relaxed, and you’ll get to know them more. And your staff can ask them more questions to see who they’re all about. So, more questions, things like so, what are you doing currently or why are you looking for something new? You know, find that out? Why are they or why is there a big hole? Like Where have you been for the last three years? I see you haven’t worked for three years. Or I see that you’ve changed jobs every two years for the last 10 years. You want to find out why that’s happening because if it’s happened before, there’s a good chance it’ll happen again, so get some clarification on that. Also, things like what would your last boss say about you? Because now they realize you’re going to call them, so they better be more upfront. And let’s see things like, Oh, I love asking things like, what three words would your best friend used to describe you or your husband used to describe you if they have a spouse? Is there anything else that would keep you from making a long term commitment to us? I like that question. Because the last time I asked that question, it turns out, well, the girl was going to get married, we were hiring a nurse practitioner. She was going to get married in two months, so she needed to take a month off to prepare. Her marriage was going to be in another country, so she needed a month for that and the honeymoon. And then they were going to travel for his job for another month later in the year. You need to learn that now rather than later when she springs it on you after you know she’s in the position. And then things like what are your outside interests? You definitely want to find out what do they do when they’re not working. And if they say travel the world, just remember that’s going to be a problem for you. Or if they say I just love gardening, perfect. Gardening is great, traveling the world is not good for you. And then always asking, so what questions do you have for me, because you want them to ask intelligent questions, so you know their skin in the game, their head is in the game, and they’re looking for growth opportunities and where they can go. But then be prepared to answer that, you know, if they’re A player, A players want to grow. So, make sure you have a path that they can follow to be the best they can be. And in [inaudible] world, I also highly recommend that you offer testing. Testing, like sales skills, math skills, people skills, organizational, technical, social media skills. So, many times people have said, oh my god, I’m a social media expert. Really? Is that the truth? Well, then take a look at our Instagram and how would you fix it? And why don’t you go ahead and design a post for us. And you have might have to pay him to do that. But design a post and let’s test it and see how it does. Just because people say they’re experts does not mean they’re expert, especially you know, a lot of us can be legends in our own mind. You want them to actually show you how they’re so great. And then the thing about math is a big one, a lot of people don’t understand math, and you’re really trying to find that money mindset issue. You don’t need somebody who crumbles when talking about money, you know, you need somebody who thinks you are so incredible, and love your work so much and love you so much, that they should pay double what the competitors charge. That’s what you’re looking for.
By the way, if you use indeed, they have lots of different tests, I usually have an applicant, they always do at least one test, and sometimes two. And the reason I’m doing that is number one, I want to make sure they can follow directions. If they don’t take the test, then I realized they either didn’t care or they didn’t read through and see that they were supposed to do it. And then number two, you want to see how they read on that test. I’ve had people who– it’s really hard to understand how somebody’s organized, you know, when in an interview, it’s hard to see that. But in an organizational test, I mean, some of these people like have perfect scores, you’re like, Wow, that’s amazing. So, you might want to use those. And then I love personality tests, they’re not the end or the all but they’re all of these tests and questions and multiple contacts, you’re using all of that as little pieces of the pie to give you some direction if this person could be good, would be good. So, I love Kolbe. It’s called Kolbe, kolbe.com. It’s a $50 test, they could literally take it in your office while they’re visiting. You just go to kolbe.com, put in your credit card and you’ll get the results back. It takes about 20 minutes to take the test. And it equals out to four things that you’re going to get four numbers. And I think it’s a 1 to 10 kind of thing. And you’re going to find out if this person is a Fact Finder, a follow through, a quick start or an implementer. This has been imperative for my growth, in my business, as well as for other entrepreneurs who run their own cosmetic practices. If you’re running your own practice, you’re typically a quick start, which means you’re really good at starting something but you’re terrible at implementing. Aren’t we all? Like that’s usually what happens. I’m a really incredible Quick Start, but I can’t stand, fact finding and all the little grunt stuff. I don’t like that and I don’t like implementing as much as I like the bigger picture. But that means you surround yourself with somebody who is a killer implementor or a killer factfinder. Do you see what I mean?
Then another one which is good is wealth dynamics. That’s really comprehensive and another one is called disc. And I’m sure there are a million of them. There’s another one called strengthfinders.com, so decide what works for you. I like Kolbe, it’s just easier and it really kind of gives you the answer quickly and easily. But all of them are very good in trying to help you piece together who could be good for my practice.
Okay, so I covered an awful lot there. I hope that was helpful. If you ever need help finding a player rock stars, do give me a call or just email me on my website. It’s catherinemaley.com or DM me at Instagram. Because I’m pretty good at this. I have a really good track record for finding rock stars. So, in conclusion, would you please subscribe to beauty in the biz? I’d love for you to go to iTunes and give us a review. I’d also love for you to share me with your colleagues and your staff. Maybe not this one. Definitely share this with your office manager or anybody else who’s involved in finding rock stars for you. And then of course I always appreciate your comments and questions, you can always leave them at catherinemaley.com. And then please follow me on Instagram at Catherine Maley MBA. That’s it for now.
