Want to make the jump $10 million or more?
Here’s an attitude you have to adopt: ZERO TOLERANCE.
You must demand excellence and peak performance as cornerstones of your company culture. You must have zero tolerance for anything less.
Here’s an example:
One of my big clients in the HVAC industry was dealing with a rash of rear-end collisions in his service fleet. So he had video cameras installed on the dashboard of each vehicle that would continuously record both forward and backward. In the event of a collision, the cameras would detect the impact, and save the recordings so they could see who was at fault.
Even with the cameras installed, there were still 12 collisions in 3 months. The videos revealed that it was the technician’s fault nearly 100% of the time. They just weren’t paying attention while driving.
So he made the following announcement at the technician meeting:
“If you’re in a rear-end accident, here’s what you do: Get your personal belongings out of the truck, lock the keys in the cab, and go the F&!# home. You’re fired!”
That’s what you call zero tolerance.
Rear-end collisions stopped immediately.
Translation: If I can’t trust you to pay attention when driving (and your own safety is at stake), how can I trust you to pay attention when repairing a customer’s air conditioner?
I heard that story when I was visiting him at his office for the first time. While I was there, he gave me a tour of the facilities.
As we walked down a set of back stairs, he stopped when he noticed a dime-sized spot on the carpet. He looked at his assistant and demanded, “What happened here?”
Zero tolerance.
Then we went into his warehouse. It was immaculate—and HUGE. It looked like a Home Depot, but much, much cleaner and brighter. Then he spotted a 15-inch scuff mark on the floor. He looked at the warehouse manager and asked how it had gotten there (the pallet jack), why it hadn’t been cleaned up yet (it just happened less than 5 minutes ago), and why it hadn’t been cleaned off as soon as it happened (no comment).
Zero tolerance.
A few minutes later, as we walked down a long hallway, he somehow spotted a company truck outside—that was 50 yards away through a glass door—that had some paperwork laying on the dashboard. That was a big no-no. You can’t have ANYTHING on the dashboard. Somebody ran off to find the culprit so it could be removed.
Zero tolerance.
You might think everyone would hate working for a “zero tolerance” boss like this.
Actually, quite the opposite.
The people who hated that kind of scrutiny either never made it through the hiring process, or they washed out within weeks of starting.
And everyone else—the ones who conform to the culture of excellence—absolutely loves working there. They are part of the fastest growing company in the industry. They make more money and have better benefits than their peers. And way cleaner trucks.
I’ve personally worked with this company for 5 years now and never had a problem with the President at all. He’s demanding. He’s intense. He’s a taskmaster. And as long as I continue to deliver great results, on time, he’ll keep paying me good money to do it.
In my upcoming 2-day Seminar, “Make The Jump To $10MM”, you’re going to discover that most of what needs to change to get you to that level is between the ears. It’s a mindset. It’s a mentality.
There’s also the small issue of marketing. We’ll cover a lot of that, too. In detail.
But for now, do a self-introspection: are you a “zero tolerance” kind of guy (or gal)? If not… this course probably isn’t a good fit. How could you improve in this area?
In my next post I’m going to talk about some other bad habits you might have picked up over the years—without even realizing it. These are habits that stall companies out at $3 million… or $5 million. But to get to $10MM, you’re going to have to identify and remedy these bad habits.
Until then, happy marketing!
P.S. In that next post about bad habits that are holding you back, I’m also going to tell you about the CEO of a $70MM remodeling company who flew himself and 3 top executives to my home office and paid me $15,500 for one day to rewrite his sales presentation. The story will illustrate one bad habit that he does NOT suffer from…
Click here to read more posts in my “Make The Jump” series:
© 2017, Rich Harshaw. All rights reserved.
