I’m thankful to have had some outstanding mentors during my career. Starting with my father, who I began working for after school when I was about 12 and continuing on to the present time, I have been able to learn many things the easy way by having some great mentors. Here are a few of them and some of the many things I was fortunate enough to learn from them:
My father, Jim Sobeck:
- Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
- It’s better to be one hour early than one minute late.
- Plan your work and work your plan.
- When doing an estimate always have someone else double-check your work.
- There is no substitute for hard work. If you can’t outsmart someone, outwork them.
- Always keep your word.
- Never jeopardize your reputation. You can always make more money but you can never get another reputation.
My first boss after college, John Evans:
- Always have a plan for a sales call. Never wing it.
- Selling is like a funnel. The more sales calls you dump in the wide end, the more sales come out the narrow end.
- Everyone likes to feel important. Try to find a way to make each of your customers feel important. It is different for each customer.
- Go after a few large accounts instead of a lot of small ones. It’s a better use of your time and gives you a much greater payback.
My boss at Owens Corning, Jim McCauley:
- Use interview teams to get multiple perspectives on candidates.
- Never compromise when hiring. Wait until you find the perfect candidate.
- Hold first-class sales meetings so your salespeople feel special. They will then perform special too.
- Regularly hold sales contests to keep the competitive juices flowing through your sales force.
- Always dress sharp so you stand out from the competition.
Jim Collins, noted author of best-selling business books such as “Built to Last” and “Good to Great”:
- Get the wrong people off the bus and then put the right people on the bus. Don’t bother coming up with a new strategy until you do this. Until you have the right people on the bus implementing a new strategy isn’t going to work.
- Stay out of the limelight and let your people get all the credit.
- Good is the enemy of great. Many companies never become great because they think good is good enough.
- People are not your most important asset, the right people are.
- The moment you feel the need to manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. They need to be guided, lead, taught — but not managed.
These are only some of the lessons I learned from these mentors. I also have had other mentors that are too numerous to list here. I have been very fortunate in my career to have had such great mentors. If you don’t have at least one mentor, seek one out. You will be amazed at how much you will be able to learn from someone who has already achieved some or all of your goals.
Jim Sobeck is CEO of New South Construction Supply, a building products distributor based in Greenville with 10 locations in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. He is the author of “The Real Business 101: Lessons From the Trenches.” newsouthsupply.com.
