Hey, there! In today’s episode, I get the pleasure of diving into what it takes to bring on the right team with the incredible Clay Clark.
Clay Clark is an incredibly successful entrepreneur. He shares that one of the biggest things he had to let go of to become successful was a temptation to lowering his expectations for employees who weren’t motivated.
In the first company he started, a DJ company, he maintained a merit-based pay system and very well-rounded, positive training. For the most part, those he worked with responded well and dominated their roles. Other people, for some reason, kept failing at their tasks and continually required more training, conversations, and answers to their questions.
Eventually, Clay Clark realized that not everyone is at the point in their lives where they can achieve success.
So he decided to stop lowering his business standards and start hiring and retaining committed A-players who were motivated and ready to take on the challenge of success. He laid out the system and gave his employees the tools they needed to thrive – and began trying to weed out those who wouldn’t be a good fit before they even made it in the door.
As a heart-based entrepreneur, it’s easy to make excuses for people and hang on to them hoping that they’re going to turn out. But forcing a fit isn’t good for your business or the happiness of your employees.
Clay Clark also shared that he started tracking KPIs (key performance indicators) as a means of holding his workers accountable. Inspired by Gino Wickman’s book Traction, Clay realized that everyone on the team has to have some kind of metric or key indicators in order to determine whether or not they are thriving in their roles.
For example, if each person on your sales team has a goal of making a minimum of 100 sales called a day and booking 5 appointments on a daily basis, you’ve given them their KPI. Then, you need to track it it. This has really helped Clay Clark’s team to see the high standards and have the communication they need to find out what’s not working if these KPIs are not being met.
With clear communication and a positive challenge, most people respond to any negative gap in those numbers by becoming aggressive workers who are eager to improve. They’re excited to come to work because they know what they need to do.
Bonus: if you take the time to listen to the whole interview, you can catch a super sweet promo that Clay Clark offers for those who are looking for an amazing tool to really springboard your online business to take it Off the Charts.
More About Clay Clark
Clay Clark’s life thus far has been nothing short of Epic. He started his first business out of his Oral Roberts University college dorm room at the age of 18. He was named the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year at age 20, and the Small Business Administration named him “Oklahoma’s Entrepreneur of the Year” at the age of 27.
i020 Clay Clark – How To Set Expectations With Contractors and Employees To Succeed