This is my final column for Upstate Business Journal. I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you over the last several years, but all good things must come to an end. I want to leave you with what I think are the best tips for making your business or career a success.
Many of these may seem trite, but you wouldn’t believe how many people do only a few or none of these — and then wonder why they aren’t successful.
Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it. Nothing builds more trust with a client than consistently underpromising and overdelivering.
Take notes during client meetings and then be sure to complete the action items as soon as possible. The faster you get answers to your client the more the client will be impressed. In my career spanning almost 50 years you wouldn’t believe how many people called on me and never followed up. I scratch my head wondering why they even bothered to make one sales call if they didn’t intend to follow up.
Return phone calls, emails and texts within four hours but in no longer than 24 hours. Even if I had a busy day, I didn’t leave the office until I at least attempted to respond to calls, emails and texts before I went home for the day. If I was responding after the end of the business day, I mainly got voicemail, but the impression was made on the customer that I responded the same day that I heard from them.
Hire slowly and fire quickly. By this I mean take your time in hiring and resist the temptation to stick a warm body into an open slot. You will almost always regret this. In my companies we did in-depth interviews with prospective hires, a full background check, reference checks and an IQ test. While I am a sucker for someone with a great attitude, if they don’t have the intelligence to do the job properly, sooner or later they will cost you money. Once you see you’ve made a bad hire, cut your losses and let that person go. Both of you will be happier, as employees who aren’t doing well in their job cannot be having fun.
Build a strong team around you. When you have a small company with only a few employees, you can do the important things yourself. However, as you grow, you need to be able to delegate and you can only do that if you have a solid team around you that won’t let you down.
Outwork the competition. There is no substitute for hard work. Until I retired in February I routinely worked until 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and several hours each weekend day to stay on top of everything I needed to do.
Listen to podcasts, read business books, go to seminars, and join relevant trade organizations and become active in them. Some of my biggest and best customers were people I met through trade organizations. Remember, leaders are readers.
I could go on for days on this topic, but I’m limited to how long my columns can be. It has been a pleasure sharing my thoughts with UBJ readers over the years and I hope that you have benefited from at least a few of my tips. As always, feel free to reach out to me anytime you have a question or want some advice.
Onward and upward!
Jim Sobeck is a Greenville-based serial entrepreneur. He most recently was CEO of New South Construction Supply, a distributor of building products he grew from four locations to 11 locations before selling it in February 2023. He is also the author of “The Real Business 101: Lessons From the Trenches,” available on Amazon. He can be reached at jrsobeck@gmail.com.
