In previous columns, I wrote about our internal process for finding and retaining the right people for our business. But part of that effort that I didn’t mention was making sure those right people also are in the right position within our company so that we all succeed together.
Prospective employees may apply for one position but, after the interview process, start in another. I remember when our marketing director, Craig Camacho, contacted me about 12 years to see about coming to work for our company. Craig and I had previously worked together for a couple years at a dealership where he was selling cars and I was managing the body shop. We’d both since moved on, but eventually he contacted me here at Keenan Auto Body to ask about an estimating position.
One of the things I remembered about Craig was that people saying ‘no’ to him didn’t phase him one bit. He would just persevere in a very intelligent way. So I told him, “I don’t think you’re an estimator. I think you’re a marketer.”
Despite his lack of marketing experience, my hunch paid off. Craig’s marketing over the past dozen years has played a significant role in our growth.
In other instances, we’ve seen people who we know are an asset for our company but don’t belong in the department they are in. We’ve moved people from body to paint (and vice versa), from blueprinting to parts, and from parts to estimating.
Sometimes, like with Craig, we’ve seen strengths and potential they may not recognize in themselves. The manager of one of our locations, for example, started out in the detailing department and then moved into disassembly and reassembly. But we saw what a sharp and organized person he was, and how good he was talking with customers. We just knew we needed him in the office. We trained him first as an estimator, and now he’s among our best location managers.
In other cases, our people have come to us, waving a white flag and saying, “I’m really struggling here, but I want to stay.” They may find there’s too much computer work, for example, yet their technical knowledge and mechanical aptitude may make them ideally suited for a job out in the shop. If we agree they might succeed elsewhere within the company, we try to get them a position in that department.
One advantage of being an MSO is having the option of moving them into an opening at another location. And that’s where the consistency you develop within your operation can really pay off. Think about walking into a particular brand of convenience store for a particular brand of gum; no matter which of that company's stores in any state you go into, you probably know just where to find that gum. We strive for that same sort of consistency. So if we move people from one location to another, it will feel much the same to them. They will know where things are and how things operate.
In short, it will help you, once you’ve found the right people, to make sure you’ve put them in the right position.
By the way, in my previous column about retaining the right employees, I mentioned we were in the midst of an annual reexamination of our health care benefits. I’m happy to say that after months of negotiations involving three different brokers and four different insurers, we were able to come up with a plan that allows us to still afford to cover healthcare for all our employees. It’s been great to hold meetings at each of our locations to let them know that we’re working to help ensure that they not only have a safe and great employment experience here, but a great life experience, too.
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