We hear all the time about the importance of hiring the right people and the expanding universe of advice can be overwhelming; hire slow and fire fast, only hire the “right” candidate; ask probing questions; check all references; blah blah blah. For a small business with constantly-strained capacity it can be incredibly difficult to post a job, sort through the resumes, vet the candidates, check those references, negotiate salary and benefits packages, execute the employment agreement, and complete the HR paperwork for payroll, insurance, pension plan, etc. And only when all of that has taken place can the typically months-long on-boarding process begin and the “real” job training and actual work get started. It is an expensive process in both time and treasure and small businesses can easily do themselves great disservice by not executing well and missing the opportunity to find the right person for the job.
For businesses looking to hire a new employee, there are a number of practical things you can do, but also some adjustments in outlook which will help a great deal in finding that perfect someone. But for now you have a problem – filling that position.
So to start, here’s why hiring sucks:
1. There’s a reason you have to hire someone.
The most likely reason that you are hiring is because someone left. Now they may have left on their own, which usually means you didn’t want them to leave and you’re already sad that they will. Or (almost as likely) you had to let them go because you weren’t happy with their work or they just weren’t right for the job. In either case there will be tension surrounding the situation and bad feelings can easily arise.
2. It’s a ton of work.
Every time you hire a new employee there is a huge amount of work to be done: writing the job description, posting the job, reading the resumes, making the calls, interviewing the candidates (often multiple rounds), meeting to discuss the candidates, and then, when you’ve finally made the offer and it’s been accepted actually getting the person through the HR process. Whew. Im exhausted just typing this paragraph.
3. It takes time.
When a dog bonds with a person, that’s it,done deal. The end. Finito. They are friends for life That dog will ever turn on their friend and would never do anything to harm them. Entrepreneurs should learn to show the same loyalty to their team, to their investors, and to their customers. Fierce and perpetual, allegiances should be a priority for you and your team.
4. It’s gonna cost you real money.
Not just the implied cost of the work involved, or the opportunity cost incurred when you have something better (read, “more profitable”) to do, but actual the cash expense of hiring: the advertising cost of posting or the recruiters fees, the separation costs for the departing employee (unpaid vacation and sick pay, contractual obligations such as commissions due and pro-rated bonuses, etc.), the likelihood of an increased salary for the new employee, and the costs of benefits and fringes associated with the new employee. Ugh.
5. There’s a big risk involved.
Finally, there is a very real risk that you could make a bad decision and hire the wrong person. What if they’re just not competent or qualified in the way you thought they would be? What if they come to you with health problems you were unaware of? What if they don’t get along with the rest of the team and stir discord and angst?
So many things to go wrong, right? Well, here’s a list of 10 things you can do about it:
1. Write a great job decription.
The job description is a chance to strengthen your company internally and, at the same time, attract the very best people to your company by helping them understand exactly what kind of organization you are. The first part is about the job itself – what does it consists of? What are the job’s requirements and expectations? What exactly will the new employee be doing? It is crucial to list these out as well as the experience, training, and education required of the applicant to be considered. Next, the job listing itself need to include not just that information, but also information about your company: who are you? What do you do? Who else works there? What is the culture of the company and the working environment? How you write the listing is just as important as the actual content: get your best copywriter to actually write the thing – you want the tone and voice of the listing to say as much about your company as the details included. If applicants are complementing you on the great listing, you’re probably doing it right.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The image to the left shows bugs on a stick – and is one of many unusual street foods sold around the world. Some fascinating street food from around the world – as well as a peek at the diets of people around the world, are in the Other section below.
How To Get The Best Merchant Account For Your Small Business – http://bit.ly/fHPT9m
10 Essential Online Resources for Preparing Your Small Business Taxes – http://on.mash.to/eD3wwp
Small business and startup issues: net neutrality and H.R. 1 – http://bit.ly/hmRs9b
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Mon Paningbatan (crowdSPRING username: LoopDloop) today. Mon lives and works in Manila, Philippines.
1. Please tell us about yourself.
I’m a self-confessed typhophile and iconography aficionado who’s been in the design business for more than 15 years. Surrounded by books and consuming extensive amount of coffee, I continuously conflict my thoughts as a creative exercise and objectively review the process afterwards.
My past stints among a few include: Illustrator for Children’s books, art director for a magazine, and design consultant at Intellectual Property Philippines. Until I decided to set-up my own shop and bite the creative freedom all designers deserve.
2. How did you become interested in design?
There is just something about symbols and typefaces that I consider very interesting. They communicate and identify differently for every individual and if you observe closely, strong symbols unify thoughts of its audience. It may also lead or repress a person’s perception. In this manner, creating a design is comparable to being a leader. You could get to shape minds and have your own Eiffel tower to show off. Narcissistic isn’t it? It is something you can control and reward you at the same time.
I am so over this Winter in Chicago so, naturally, when I saw a logo project on the site for a blog about traveling the world I had to take a look. Little did I know, there was so much more to the blog than just world travel.
Lisa Lubin, the Magellan behind LLWorldTour, is a three-time Emmy-award-winning television writer/producer/editor with more than a decade of experience in television production. She produces a variety of broadcast specials, including food & restaurant segments for WGN-TV.
For about ten years, Lisa produced a weekly lifestyles and entertainment magazine show on ABC Chicago. After 15 years in Television she quit the TV life and spent three years traveling and working her way around the world. She writes about travel and has readers and subscribers from all over the world.
Lisa posted a logo project on the site and awarded esyu! I got a chance to talk to Lisa about her life’s adventures and she has some great advice for you guys…
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
In my professional career as a TV producer, I was fortunate enough to work in broadcast facilities and stations with their own graphic design departments to do any and all graphics, animations, websites, etc. It was a luxury. Now as a freelancer if I have a need for my own website, I have so far just done simple things myself. This is my first project for myself in which I am paying to have something designed. If I didn’t use crowdSPRING, I would have just hired one designer in my price range.
2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?!
A very good friend of mine, who used to work for Feedburner/Google, suggested it to me. She is actually the person that got me going on a WordPress blog in the first place nearly five years ago. She is always in the know of all things web-like and I trust her advice, plus I liked the fact that they were a local start-up. I’m a fan of all things Chicago and it does mean more to me to use a company that I know is right here.
A few years ago, one Saturday afternoon, my car broke down in the middle of Chicago. Stranded—and unwilling to leave my car parked on an expressway overnight—I had the car towed to the only shop still open for the day. The homemade sign hanging on for dear life above the front door as I walked in told me the place was shady—I knew I was about to be taken. A mechanic looked under the hood and then told me that the {something} was broken and that {something, something and something} would have to be repaired.
My back was against the wall–he knew everything and I knew nothing. Given the timetable and location, I had no way to independently verify his assessment. After a short discussion, he quoted me around $1,500 to make the repairs. Feeling uneasy, I paid the tow truck driver $150 to take my car to a shop by my house, 20 miles away.
I relay this story because the situation correctly represents the buying process of merchant services. The credit card processing industry is inherently complex and vendors use their information advantage for their own benefit. The industry is notorious for its trickery and purposeful deception.
Today, however, is your lucky day because I’m going to help you become an informed buyer of merchant services, or at least make you dangerous.
Find a good fit for your needs
It’s worthwhile to invest adequate time upfront to find the right provider. Too often, we see merchants make rash decisions based on advertised fees (which are typically misleading). There are just too many unknowns, even for those with previous payments experience, that could cause serious problems down the road.
To accept credit card payments, you’ll at least need a merchant account and payment gateway. The merchant account, which is not a bank account, requires approval through an underwriting process. The payment gateway is the software that communicates with the financial institutions that issued the cards you’re accepting. You may also need recurring billing, remote credit card storage, and unique solutions for Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance. Some providers package all these services in a bundle, while others only offer one or two, requiring you to assemble your vendors, maintain multiple relationships, and potentially manage the relationships between your vendors. If you can find a vendor that can offer you a bundled solution, take it; otherwise, try to limit yourself to two or three providers who already have working relationships with one another.
Small businesses which are built on the Internet and dependent on it for their livelihoods are threatened by an amendment to the spending bill passed by the House last week. The amendment introduced by Oregon Representative Greg Walden, specifically prohibits the FCC from enforcing its Net Neutrality rules, passed late last year. These rules would effectively maintain a level playing field for small companies, startups, and entrepreneurs. The Net Neutrality FCC rules were designed to prevent large Internet Service Providers, such as Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and others from controlling web content and determining levels of service and from discriminating in any way against content, applications, or services.
The FCC rules are common sense and fairly straightforward and include several important provisions:
Transparency will be required and ISPs would have to disclose information about their network management practices, performance metrics, and commercial terms.
“No blocking” rules would prohibit providers from jamming or obstructing any legal content, applications or services. Mobile providers would be exempt from this rule and would be allowed to block certain services and content that might compete with their own services.
Discrimination of web traffic would also be forbidden and providers could not unreasonably distinguish between traffic sources or provide one traffic source advantage over another. The FCC would be empowered to monitor the broadband industry and maintain legal competitive practices.
Paid prioritization of web traffic would also be banned and providers could not “sell” faster service or better routing to companies.
A complaint structure will be implemented which will allow businesses and consumers to file informal complaints through the FCC’s website as well as formal complaints after first notifying the target of the complaint.
The threat that the FCC is addressing with the neutrality rules is a serious and looming issue. The largest providers are in a position to control which sites users can easily access and the speed at which they can do so. The providers are in a position to determine what content will be easy to find in a search and what will remain virtually hidden from view.
It is critical for internet-based businesses and startups that we all have the same ability to reach our audiences, to find customers, and to produce content that we consider valuable without having to worry that a competitor has paid for access or speeds that we have not paid for nor can afford to pay for. The FCC rules are designed to give all businesses, bloggers, media outlets, and individuals equal access to the tubes and to not permit broadband providers to determine who gets that access and how much they will have to pay for it.
No matter what you may think of the budget proposed by the House last week, and no matter how you look at our government, the least they can do is the right thing for small business and allow us to compete fairly and transparently without having to worry that someone else has an advantage that we don’t.
Last year in our 12 Questions interview series, we profiled Tiffany Reed, a single mom living in Virginia and working as a graphic designer on crowdSPRING.
This past week, Tiffany’s design work on crowdSPRING was covered by Good Morning America (America’s most popular morning show) on their national television show and an accompanying article – Small Biz 101: Resources on Crowd Sourcing.
The video clip is below (the story about Tiffany starts at 1:51 of the clip).
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The image above is a map of the world by the alphabet used in each country on the map. You’ll find a link to the large version of the map in the Design section below.
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners argue that you should always listen to your customers. In fact, the popular lean startup principles advocate listening to your customers and iterating early and often.
But listening to customers – and responding to your customers’ suggestions by implementing all or many of them – are not the same thing. As Steve Jobs wisely said:
Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features.
Unfortunately, many businesses fail because their leaders lose focus while trying to incorporate all (or many) of their customers’ suggestions. It’s easy to fall prey to the “yes’ mentality. Saying yes makes us happy. We believe that saying yes is more likely to cause the customer to buy our product or service. Saying yes makes our customers happy.
Ultimately, don’t we want happy customers?
Of course we do. But making customers temporarily happy while destroying your company is, in my opinion, an unacceptable cost. No company has unlimited resources and when you say yes to customers – you’re committing – and often, over-committing – those resources.
If you’re creating software, you end up with bloated software and a terrible user experience. If you’re creating products, you end up with a complex and expensive product.
Henry Ford famously said:
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.
Many people reading Henry Ford’s quote conclude that innovation is driven by your own ideas – and not by ideas suggested by your customers. After all, how could people who use horses and buggies come up with the idea for a horseless “car”?
The reality is that listening and innovation go hand in hand. Steve Jobs was only partially right. You shouldn’t say yes to everything. But you also shouldn’t ignore what your customers say. The key is in how you listen – and what you do after you understand what your customers are saying.
Part of the answer lies in asking good questions. The quality of answers to your questions depend on the quality of your questions. Ask stupid questions and you’ll get stupid answers. Ask broad questions and you’ll get broad answers.
Moreover, how well you listen is measured not merely by your ability to hear WHAT the customer is suggesting – but also by your ability to understand your customer’s point of view. If enough customers tell you that there’s something wrong with your product, then there probably is something wrong. That doesn’t mean you should change the product at the whim of your customers – but it does mean that you should understand WHY your customers are having trouble with your product and deal with the underlying issues causing problems for customers.
More often than not, you’ll end up saying no to dozens, hundreds, and often thousands of suggestions from your customers. If you don’t – you’ll go out of business.
But how can you say “no” to a customer without discouraging them?
Ross wrote a short post the other day about a funny customer service request we received and mentioned that we have handled well over 100,000 customer service contacts since we launched less than 3 year ago. I looked at that number and my jaw dropped; I know intellectually that we handle a huge volume of support requests, but as we answer our users questions, respond to their problems, thank them for their suggestions, and fix the bugs they report, we don’t think much about how many of these we actually answer, solve, implement and fix. It’s kind of like aging, one day you turn around and your kids are in college and you’re another decade older. How does that happen without you even being aware that it is happening? Same with customer service: the requests come in, you deal with them one-by-one and the next thing you know you’ve done 100,000. Wow.
We are (of course) huge proponents of great customer service and we strive every day to provide a world-class level of support to our users. We make ourselves available 7 days a week, we celebrate the quick response, and we endeavor to solve all requests within 24 hours. And we’ve gotten pretty good at it: we are proud that our average response time is under an hour, and we solve over 80% of requests in under a day. To us great customer service is part of a great user experience, and more than that, we view it as a marketing strategy: great support engenders great word of mouth, and W.O.M. leads to more customers. A virtuous cycle if ever there was.
Not every customer who contacts us is an easy customer. For every whimsical contact that we receive about apples, we get ten more from folks who are upset, angry, vexed, annoyed, indignant, or irritated: the site isn’t performing to their standards; a problem is not being resolved fast enough; a credit card was overcharged; or another user has posted a rude comment. The true art of customer service is not in how you handle someone who gets in touch to have a little fun on the topic of fruit, but in how you handle a seriously upset customer with a real issue. The kind of issue that ties your stomach in knots and that leads to holding phone 10 inches away away to protect your eardrum, or (please Lord, no) an email written in ALL CAPS with crazy punctuation!!??
Here are a few tips for dealing with the these most difficult of customers; some of these are relevant to everyday run-of-the-mill contacts, but for the most exasperating support requests, these 9 tips may be particularly helpful:
1. Know a difficult customer when you see one. Then pounce.
Watch for the signs: profanity, sarcasm, and overt anger are pretty easy to spot but sometimes an upset customer might not be so immediately evident. Watch for keywords like “payment,” “issue,” “problem,” “bug,” or “slow” as these can be good signs that a support request has the potential to escalate. Once you know which they are, make sure that these appeals are not allowed to languish; you should be sure that the most difficult requests move straight to the top of the queue. A happy customer tends to be much more patient than an unhappy one, so deal with those unhappy folks first, ok?
2. Stay on the lookout. Everywhere.
Great customer service can happen anywhere, anytime, but only if you are aware that there is a customer who needs help. The trick is to keep your finger on the pulse and we do this monitoring in several important ways: 1) we make support easily accessible via an obvious “contact us” link at the top of every page, a crowdSPRING user account to which users can easily send us a message, and a chat feature available on certain key pages on the site; 2) We monitor social media for angry customers by using search terms in Twitter, carefully observing your Facebook feed, and making LinkedIn and other services available as contact methods for our users; 3) Watch the blogs and message boards for people expressing their dissatisfaction. Google alerts is a great tool for watching the web for random mentions and comments – set up search terms with your company name and be sure to watch the results closely for trouble.
3. In customer service, it is the hare who wins the race.
In the ancient fable, it is the slow, steady tortoise who wins the race, but in customer service it is the fast response that wins the hearts. People like to know that someone is paying attention and the faster your response, the stronger the message that you are doing just that. Difficult customers especially are time-sensitive and an immediate response will go far to reduce their angst.
crowdSPRING is the world's #1 marketplace for entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits and agencies who need custom logo design, web design, a new company name or other writing and design services. Over 110,000 designers and writers work on crowdSPRING. We are trusted by more than 27,000 happy clients around the world.
We hear all the time about the importance of hiring the right people and the expanding universe of advice can be overwhelming; hire slow and fire fast, only hire the “right” candidate; ask probing questions; check all references; blah blah blah. For a small business with constantly-strained capacity it can be incredibly difficult to post a job, sort through the resumes, vet the candidates, check those references, negotiate salary and benefits packages, execute the employment agreement, and complete the HR paperwork for payroll, insurance, pension plan, etc. And only when all of that has taken place can the typically months-long on-boarding process begin and the “real” job training and actual work get started. It is an expensive process in both time and treasure and small businesses can easily do themselves great disservice by not executing well and missing the opportunity to find the right person for the job.
Small businesses which are built on the Internet and dependent on it for their livelihoods are threatened by an amendment to the 
Ross wrote a 
